Marine Careers Day 2025 Speaker Bios

Christopher Drew is a founder of Scuba.Tech and videographer with Dive Voyager Expeditions. He loves instructing and filming on NJ&NY-area shipwrecks, with other research worldwide making use of digital survey. Whether training in archaeology, photogrammetry, or framing the perfect shot, he knows that every dive will uncover history and adventure!

Paul L. Washington, Jr is a Scientific Diver, Diving Safety Officer and SCUBA Instructor with multiple certification agencies including the American Academy of Underwater Scientists (AAUS), the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI), the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI). He has been diving for over 37 years in a variety of warm and cold-water environments. During that time, he has served in several diving organizations including as President and Executive Director of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers Foundation (NABSF), Co-Chair of the Science and Education Committee of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers (NABS), Member of the Diving Control Board for the Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF), and as Administrative Officer, Assistant Dive Safety Officer and Member of the Dive Control Board of the NABSF-NABS Scientific Diving Program. As a volunteer Scientific Diver for NOAA and Instructor with Diving With a Purpose (DWP), he has supported the archeological survey and data collection of multiple submerged cultural sites including one believed to be the Pirate ship Guerrero that is known to have transported hundreds of kidnapped Africans to Florida after the abolition of slavery in the US.

I am Melissa Wiggins. I have a Bachelors in Marine Science. Last year I completed scientific diver and dive master training. I have a passion for the oceans and to help others enjoy through education.

Twenty-five years ago Margo Peyton founded Kids Sea Camp. Kids Sea Camp, lead her to adding 8,000+ PADI youth diver certifications. Kids Sea Camp programs have introduced thousands of families to the underwater world. This dedication to youth dive training has earned Margo deserved recognition; 2025 Beneath The Sea Pioneer of the Year Award --2024 International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame Inductee-- 2020 PADI Lifetime Achievement Award (only the second recipient, after Sylvia Earle) – 2019 Beneath The Sea Diver of The Year Award -- 2018 DEMA Hall of Fame Reaching Out Award -- 2009 Women Divers Hall of Fame Inductee. Margo has been a PADI Ambassador since 2017. She is one of few female members of the SCUBAPRO Deep Elite Ambassadors. She is a recognized expert and source for data on youth diving, training and travel. Margo has been a contributor to and featured in many publications such as: Diver Magazine, Working Mother, Departures, Dive Training, The Undersea Journal, Sport Diver, Skin Diver, Scuba Diving, Alert Diver, and many others. Margo and Tom Peyton co-founded Ocean Wishes; a non-profit supporting ocean conservation, training grants, and scholarships. Margo remains a passionate underwater photographer.

George Buckley, environmental consultant, educator and film maker is the President of the Boston Malacological Club.    He has worked with HABITAT Bonaire, EARTHWATCH Expeditions, ENVIROTHON, EARTHECHO, Woods Hole Oceanographic, New England Aquarium and other organizations and as Co-founder of the Harvard University Environmental Management and Sustainability programs to promote the study and protection of environments the world over.  A Director of the Boston Sea Rovers oceans group, he is a Beneath the Sea Diver of the Year and has received numerous awards for his environmental work.

As a college freshman, Ryan Hunter was chosen as one of the first groups of Boston Sea Rovers Summer Interns during which he became an advanced SCUBA diver and participated in the Human Powered Submarine Races program that inspired him to continue to assist with its annual events.  He was then selected as the first recipient of Beneath the Seas 'Sea of Tomorrow' scholarship and became active in their Marine Careers program.   Many years later, he works in computer engineering, is active as  a member of the Sea Rovers and manages  technology programs in concert with their Oceans Conference.

Dr. Shirley Pomponi is an ocean explorer and marine biotechnologist, recently retired from Florida Atlantic University-Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. She received her PhD from the University of Miami. Her research focuses on development of sustainable methods to produce sponge-derived chemicals with human health applications. In June 2022, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for In Vitro Biology for her research leading to the development of the first marine invertebrate cell line. Shirley was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in 2003. She chairs the WDHOF Scholarship Committee, which has awarded more than $900,000 to 700 individuals since 2002. In November 2024, she received the NOGI Award in Science from the Academy of Underwater Arts and Science.

Alex Rose is the Science Editor for Ocean Geographic Magazine, and the Managing Editor for Ocean Geographic Explorers. Alex is also an award-winning nature photographer, violinist, Explorers Club Fellow, PADI Divemaster, and lover of all things aquatic. She founded ocean conservation company, Blue Ring, at the beginning of 2017 in an effort to create a new method of ocean conservation accessible to and inclusive of everyone. Her driving goal is to find ways to protect our world’s precious marine habitats through diving, writing, photography, education, and research.

An instructor at the age of 22, Lenny attended Commercial Diving School in 1979 and has worked in the recreational and commercial diving field ever since. His list of clients includes the Diving Equipment Marketing Association, several local dive retailers, and several diving engineering houses in Connecticut. He is certified to work on nearly every brand of diving equipment currently on the market and has over 40,000 repairs completed to date. He is also a member of the Historical Diving Society and the Northeast Equipment Diving Group. Mr. Speregen has performed on television and in the movies as a stunt actor. His list of credits include Miami Vice, Bette Middler's Artyfacts, Nickelodeon’s Pete-n-Pete, as well as numerous commercials. When he is not actually underwater, you can find him at the local shop talking and breathing diving or customizing some new piece of equipment.

Dr. Bretsch is a Marine Science Lecturer at Stony Brook University and Director of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences' immersive undergraduate program the Semester by the Sea.  He also teaches a summer Oceanography course which is open to high school students who would like to earn college credits and explore the waters of Long Island's East End.  Both opportunities are offered at the Marine Science Center of Stony Brook's Southampton campus, an active research and teaching facility.  Dr. Bretsch's career has focused on providing field intensive experiences for undergraduate and high school students.  His training and teaching have taken him above and below the waves throughout the Caribbean, at Seacamp in Florida, aboard a tall ship in the western Atlantic, to the Pacific, and in freshwater systems throughout New York State with extensive experience in the 1000 Islands.

Dan Orr retired from the positions of President of Divers Alert Network (DAN) and Chairman of the Board of International DAN after 23 years helping DAN focus on its worldwide diving safety mission. Prior to coming to DAN, he worked and taught recreational diving in a retail store, developed and implemented course curricula in the academic environment as part of Wright State and Florida State university diving programs, collected data and supervised research efforts in the field of science diving. Dan was certified as a US Navy diver and tested diving equipment for military contractors. As a diving industry consultant, Dan provides consulting expertise on diving safety to a number of companies in the global diving industry.

He has been an invited speaker at many national and international diver education programs including Beneath the Sea, The Scuba Show, Boston Sea Rovers Clinic, the British SubAqua Club Annual Convention (Birmingham, England), the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, Beneath the Sea, the Scuba Show, Boston Sea Rovers and the Mayo Clinic Diving Medicine Workshops and the Diving Science Symposium. Dan also does regular webinars on a variety of diving safety topics. Dan also has conducted nearly 100 webinars as a part of his Scuba Diving Safety series.

He has served on the Boards of various non-profit and for-profit organizations during his career including the Historical Diving Society (President, Chairman of the Board and Advisory Board), Our World Underwater Scholarship Society (Board of Directors), Recreational Scuba Training Council (Coordinator), Force Blue (Chairman of the Board), WCH Media Group/Best Publishing Company (Chairman of the Board), the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association-DEMA (Chairman of the Board) and the Academy of Underwater Arts & Sciences (President).  

He has published and co-authored over 200 articles and a dozen books and manuals including: 101 Tips for Recreational Scuba Divers, Scuba Diving Safety, Diving Science – Revisited, Pocket Guide to First Aid for Scuba Diving Injuries; Pocket Guide for Hazardous Marine Life Injuries; and the DAN Oxygen First Aid for Scuba Diving Injuries Training Manual. He is the Industry Relations Editor for DiveNewsWire and the Safety/Health/Legislation/Legal Editor for Scuba Diving Industry Magazine contributing regular articles on a variety of diving safety topics.

He has also been honored by his peers by being the recipient of many prestigious awards and honors including the NOGI Award in Sports/Education, the Leonard Greenstone Award for Diving Safety, the Our World-Underwater Award, Beneath the Sea’s Diver of the Year, the Wyland Foundation Award for Lifetime Achievement and the DEMA Reaching Out Award, Sea of Change Foundation Lifetime Explorer Award and NAUI Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a member of the Explorers Club, NAUI Hall of Honor, Hall of Fame for Disabled Divers, the Diving Industry Hall of Fame and the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame. Dan is also the Goodwill Ambassador for the Women Divers Hall of Fame.

Betty Orr is Vice-President of Dan Orr Consulting, providing a variety of services to the global diving community. She retired from Divers Alert Network and DAN Services after 23 years as Vice-President of Insurance Services. Prior to coming to DAN, she worked for the Florida Department of Regulation as an agent in the Division of Planning and Research and Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio as an Associate Professor of Biology.

Betty has served as Copy Editor for Scuba Diving Industry Magazine since 2024. She served as Managing Editor for Dive Training Magazine and Dive Center Business Magazine until 2020. Betty has co-authored a book with Dan Orr, her husband, 101 Tips For Recreational Scuba Divers. She has been a lecturer at Boston Sea Rovers, Beneath the Sea and The Scuba Show, has contributed to many books and magazine articles in scuba diving and is an editor for books of all genres. Betty has Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Biology. She is a proud inaugural year member of The Women Divers Hall of Fame.