Chloe Harvey
Executive Director
Favourite marine critter: The Wunderpus Octopus (Wunderpus photogenicus)
Chloe has been leading Reef-World’s fundraising efforts, international strategy and conservation programmes since 2008. She has a First Class degree with honours in Marine Biology from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (2005) and has been a keen diver since the age of 12. She is a qualified BSAC Assistant Instructor and spent most of her teenage years enjoying the sights and sounds of the underwater world around the UK coast.
Alongside JJ (her husband and Reef-World Director), Chloe has led the international development of Green Fins since 2008 under the direction of UNEP. Following in the footsteps of Reef-World’s founder Anne Paranjoti, Chloe has absorbed the Reef-World “to inspire and empower” philosophy and blended this with her scientific nature to drive the Green Fins management and training systems towards the practical approach it is today delivering tangible results across SE Asia.
She has been involved in establishing, capacity building, and the implementation of Green Fins within the government and private sectors in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Maldives and Vietnam.
Chloe believes that education is her most powerful tool to save our coral reefs. She feels that we all choose to do things because of how we've been brought up, the experiences we've had and the lessons we've been taught. The Reef-World recipe is simple; provide people with knowledge to inspire change and match this with simple tools and guidance to practical solutions to instigate behavioural changes, the result; people taking meaningful and lasting action for environmental protection.
Chloe can be contacted directly at chloe@reef-world.org
Get to know Chloe.
James J. Harvey
operations Director (interim programmes manager)
Favourite marine critter: Blue Ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
As Director at Reef-World, JJ has led the development of Green Fins across 14 South East Asian, Middle Eastern, Pacific, and Caribbean countries since 2008 training national governments and NGO's to manage the initiative. Today, Green Fins is a globally recognised approach for managing sustainable diving activities internationally with a proven conservation impact.
He is also a marine biologist and Divemaster with over 16 years’ experience working in tropical marine environments in over 20 countries. This combined background provides a scientific and balanced approach to training, helping to educate those in a position to act and explain how and why it is important to reduce threats to marine ecosystems. JJ has worked closely with national governments, the private sector and international agencies to achieve successful outcomes that are meaningful to all stakeholders.
JJ enjoys the everyday challenges of his work, specifically working alongside complex social and industry dynamics and the varied environments and cultures that he’s exposed to. He believes that nobody wants to harm the very environment we rely on to survive, and that by investing in the education of key people, Reef-World can achieve conservation impact on the ground and on the reefs.
He also brings to the team a knowledge of the opportunities of IT and the power the online community can bring to Reef-World, its projects and partners and continues to make our work more accessible to everyone, everywhere.
JJ can be contacted at jj@reef-world.org
Get to know JJ.
Erin Larissa Canto
Programmes Officer (digital community)
Favourite marine critter: Porcelain Nudibranch (Ardeadoris egretta)
Erin is a marine conservationist and a freediving enthusiast. She studied Computer Engineering Technology and worked in the industry for a while, then traded her pair of shoes for a pair of fins. Her love for the ocean led her to study for a Bachelor's in Marine Biology. While studying, she got actively involved in marine conservation, climate change and plastic pollution issues. Through her advocacy work, she got the chance to be an academic fellow at the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) under the Environmental Issues and Natural Resource Management programme hosted at East-West Center, Hawaii.
Before joining Reef-World, Erin worked for an NGO that focuses on projects on localising circular economy and stopping plastic pollution at the source. She loves to volunteer in different organisations ranging from disaster risk management, water safety, youth programs, animal welfare, terrestrial and marine conservation through experiential learning. The ocean has always been her comfort zone, and for her, it feels like coming home on every dive.
Erin can be contacted directly at erin@reef-world.org
Get to know Erin.
EMMA LEVY
PROGRAMMES OFFICER (Operations)
Favourite marine critter: Coconut octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus)
Emma is a marine conservationist and dive instructor. She studied Journalism at Goldsmiths University London before spending several years working within the charity sector. In 2017, Emma decided to leave the city life behind and pursue a career in marine conservation.
Before joining The Reef-World Foundation, she worked for several small NGOs and is skilled in community and government liaison, educational outreach and coral reef monitoring and rehabilitation. She always felt at home in the ocean, so naturally fell in love with diving when she did her open water course at 18 years old. She’s a coral fanatic and still gets mesmerised by the incredible variety of coral species on a dive.
Deciding that she wanted to use her skills to communicate the importance of environmental sustainability around the world, she sees herself helping to bridge the gap between the realm of science and the communities to which it serves.
She can be contacted at emma@reef-world.org
Get to know Emma.
Sam Wilson
Programmes Officer (Data Analyst)
Favourite marine critter: The Peacock Mantis Shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus)
Sam is a marine biologist and scuba diving instructor with a Masters in Ecosystem-based Management of Marine Systems who has been working in marine conservation since 2014.
Sam’s early career as a project scientist actually began on land, monitoring terrestrial habitats in the UK, Costa Rica, and eventually in Mexico, where he found his passion for diving. From there, he began monitoring marine ecosystems and developed a keen interest in the importance and challenges of conserving coral reefs.
Over the years, he has used his knowledge to develop and support impactful conservation projects that benefit local communities while educating people on the importance of marine habitats and how they can help them.
And now Sam will be using his knowledge of the underwater world and skills in data analysis to maximise the impact of Reef-World’s conservation efforts.
Sam can be contacted directly at sam.wilson@reef-world.org
Get to know Sam.
JOYCE YANG
COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
Favourite marine critter: Sea otter
Joyce joined Reef-World from the private sector and the higher education industry, bringing over 12 years of global working experience in communications, international marketing, and business development. She is a trained scuba diver who was the Marketing Manager for the Eastern Markets for Tourism Tropical North Queensland in Australia.
She has been fortunate to have the opportunity to dive often on the Great Barrier Reef. Witnessing the serious challenges faced by our oceans motivated her to steer her career to focus on reef conservation.
She worked in the energy, events, tourism, international education, technology and international affairs sector. She is passionate about marine conservation and is a remote working advocate. Her professional footprint has covered Australia, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Germany, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Born in Taipei and educated in London, LA, Beijing and Zurich. She gained a thorough understanding and in-depth knowledge of international markets and cross-cultural communications. She’s also an influencer on a few social media channels; her content focuses on international and remote career development.
Joyce is responsible for shaping the charity’s communications strategy, managing the day-to-day communications operations and supporting the delivery of the Green Fins initiative.
Joyce can be contacted directly at joyce@reef-world.org
Get to know Joyce.
TERESA MOH
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER
Favourite marine critter: Flamboyant cuttlefish (Metasepia pfefferi)
Teresa is a scuba diving professional and has had years of working in the design and creative field. Ever since the first time she went diving in 2013, she has been hooked on blowing bubbles underwater and fallen completely in love with the ocean. Deciding to leave her job as a graphic designer in the corporate world, she went on to pursue a new career as a dive instructor and eventually took on the position as a dive resort manager for an eco-resort.
After a dive career spanning nearly a decade and over 5,000 dives as a professional, she’s witnessed the beauty and destruction underwater and knew she had to do something to stop the destruction. She left the dive tourism industry in pursuit of her newfound passion for marine conservation. Teresa believes her experiences, knowledge and skills could be put to work for a better planet. Combining creative communication and conservation to help spread the message to protect and preserve the ocean for future generations.
Teresa can be contacted directly at teresa@reef-world.org
Get to know Teresa.
Samantha Craven
Programmes Consultant
Favourite marine critter: Harlequin Shrimp (Hymenocera picta)
Sam read marine biology at the University of Plymouth, graduating with a First class honours degree (2006) and achieving a distinction in her Masters in Applied Marine Science (2007). Working as a field biologist and project manager, Sam got years of experience leading teams and teaching biology and conservation issues from ridge to reef in Singapore and Malaysia. In 2011, Sam decided to pursue a career more tightly focused on marine conservation and moved to her mother’s homeland, the Philippines. Sam found her professional home in Reef-World in 2012 and continues to seek professional development. In 2016, she was selected as a Kinship Conservation Fellow.
Having witnessed first-hand the degradation of marine resources and dived some of the best coral reefs in the Philippines and neighbouring countries in the Asia-Pacific region, she stands firm in her belief that with the right information and tools, communities all over the world can have significant, positive effects on their coastal habitats to sustain their livelihoods. Sam is committed to continued growth both personally and professionally to achieve that goal and has built a substantial following of her marine biology and conservation awareness blog, Mad as a Marine Biologist.
Sam can be contacted directly at sam@reef-world.org
Get to know Sam.
Juliana Corrales
Creative Consultant
Favourite marine critter: Oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus)
Jula has been working with Reef-World since mid 2015, she started as an intern for 6 months where she was trained as a Green Fins assessor with a main focus on Communications and Design - one of the biggest projects during that time was the overhaul of Reef-World’s brand. After the internship she was hired as the Communications Manager, managing social media, article development, stakeholder engagement, material development, etc. During those 4 years she was based in Dumaguete, Philippines working hand in hand with the industry and with the Reef-World team. She assisted different dive conferences such as ADEX and DEMA, developing all the necessary materials. Jula supported Green Fins implementation in the Philippines, Palau and Costa Rica.
From mid-2019 to early 2023, she moved on to a consultancy service and moved out of Asia, working 2 days a week solely on graphic design work. She also supported the implementation of Green Fins in Costa Rica - her home country.
Jula is very creative; her background is mostly in graphic design but she has developed many skills around communication and behaviour change. She loves the ocean and will always aim to focus her energies and work on bringing people closer to the ocean.
Alongside the Reef-World team, she’s worked to develop a behavioural design approach to marine conservation, uniting creativity with conservation.
Juliana can be contacted directly at juliana@reef-world.org
Get to know Juliana.
Vanessa Buvens
FUNDRAISING Consultant
Vanessa is a freelance consultant working on fundraising, strategy and innovation for mission-driven organisations. She has over 10 years of experience designing programmes and raising funds for social enterprises and NGOs, helping them build strong foundations, deliver on their missions and become more financially resilient. She is delighted to support Reef-World at a time of rapid growth and demand, to unlock the resources to deliver their ambitious strategy and expansion.