Dan Haifley has been Executive Director of O’Neill Sea Odyssey, a free, ocean-going science and stewardship program that has served 100,000 elementary school youth, since 1999. Haifley served as District Chief of Staff for the late California Senator Henry J. Mello from 1993 until 1996; Executive Director of Save Our Shores from 1986 to 1993; and Community Affairs Officer for PG&E in the Monterey Bay from 1997 to 1999. He is past Chair of the Santa Cruz County Commission on the Environment, past Co-chair of the Dominican Hospital Community Advisors Committee, and currently serves on the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council, where he also previously served from 2001 to 2007. Since 2008 Haifley has collaborated with UCSC Professor Gary Griggs to publish a weekly ocean column in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. He has received recognition from the California State Senate, State Assembly, the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments and the City of Santa Cruz for his efforts to establish the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, promote 26 California local ordinances regarding offshore oil and protect California’s coastline. He also received the 2011 Ocean Hero Award from Save Our Shores. Haifley holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is married to Rebecca Haifley and has two grown children, Aaron and Julia.
