Oceana appoints Vera Coelho as Senior Director of Advocacy in Europe

Press Release Date: April 1, 2020

Location: Brussels

Contact:

Emily Fairless, Communications Officer | email: efairless@oceana.org | tel.: +32 478 038 490

Vera Coelho joins Oceana in Europe’s Brussels office as the Senior Director of Advocacy — a new position that oversees our four campaigns and represents Oceana before key partners and institutions in Europe.

Before joining Oceana, Vera worked with national, European and global non-governmental organisations including The Pew Charitable Trusts, Seas At Risk and Wetlands International. She is intimately familiar with EU decision-making processes and brings considerable knowledge and experience in strategy development for ocean conservation and fisheries management.

“I am delighted to be joining Oceana”, says Coelho. “Despite the inevitable delays due to the current worldwide health crisis, we still have important targets to achieve to protect our ocean, especially in light of the increasingly urgent need to address the climate and biodiversity crises which threaten our life support systems”.

A polyglot (she speaks five languages fluently), Vera is eager to start this key role that combines policy and advocacy work, communication and science-based research so that Oceana in Europe’s campaigns and communication activities lead to the protection and restoration of the world’s ocean. This position reports to Oceana’s Executive Director and Vice-President in Europe.