Take the Next Step
The Los Angeles Chapter of the American Cetacean Society is looking to fill a few key positions.
2024 Annual ACS-LA Board Potluck
Eric Martin, Daniel Genuth, Patty Farrell, Louisa Beck, Corrigan Lewis, Colleen Carroll, Cathy Hachigian & Alisa Schulman-Janiger. Missing: M’Liz Callender, Christina Tombach Wright, Carolyn Veek & Jayne Goocher.
Join us and help set the tone and direction of our Los Angeles chapter
We are looking for individuals who:
- Are willing to make a strong commitment to the LA Chapter of ACS for no less than two years.
- Possess skills and resources needed to augment current leadership.
- Desire to help lead the LA Chapter in the 21st century.
- Must be a member of the LA Chapter – American Cetacean Society. (May join after applying.)
Open Board Positions
While our Board Positions are currently all filled, we are actively looking for new ACS-LA Team Members to work with the Board.
If you are interested in any of our open positions, please complete our Team Member Application and send it to acs.lachapter@gmail.com
Open ACS-LA Team Member Positions
Social Media Chair – Create an ACS-LA Instagram account and post cetacean content to inspire and educate. Assist with posting news articles to our Facebook page. Looking for someone who is knowledgeable about cetaceans and passionate about social media!
Requirements to be a Team Member:
- Attendance at Board meetings is mandatory for all team members. Board meetings are held every other month. Of course, everyone takes a vacation now and again or has a life situation which makes this impossible, but an effort should be made to attend all meetings unless there’s an extraordinary circumstance;
- Attend the annual in-person Board meeting – it’s usually a BBQ and is a lot of fun and a chance for board members and team members to meet each other in person and hang out;
- Participate in ACS-LA events (attend fund-raising events, whale festivals, our monthly webinars, boat trips, etc.) … of course not all events must be attended, but an effort should be made to participate and attend as many as possible each year;
- Volunteering for one of ACS-LA’s programs (including Whalewatch or Census) is encouraged, but not required.
Our ACS-LA Board Members
Patty Farrell – President
As the former Membership Chair of the ACS-LA Board, Patty is honored to take on the role of President of ACS-LA (Sept. 2023). Patty is a Whalewatch Naturalist through the joint venture Whalewatch Program of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Cetacean Society and the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. While her roots are in LA, she is currently living in Orange County, so is also a Whalewatch Naturalist through the sister program in Orange County sponsored by ACS-OC. She is a citizen scientist with the ACS-LA Gray Whale Census Project at Point Vicente in Palos Verdes, helping document the gray whale migration. As a docent at Cabrillo Marine Aquarium (CMA), she gives guided tours of the Aquarium to field trip children on a weekly basis during the school year. She also voluteers to educate LAUSD students about marine life during the Spring Program at CMA. As a US Coast Guard licensed captain, Patty is an avid boater who is passionate about marine life. She has 5 children and her lifelong professional experience was as a financial advisor and Certified Financial Planner in Beverly Hills.
Louisa Beck – Past President
My love for the ocean and cetaceans was Inspired by former Prescott High School Marine Biology teacher, Steven Gianelli (also my SCUBA instructor).
- President of ACS-LA during the years 2019-2023
- ACS-LA Board member since 2015
- Worked and Volunteer at Marine Mammal Care Center where I was trained to tube feed seal and sea lion pups
- Member of Oiled Wildlife Care Network – responded to the Refugio Oil Spill 2015 for the Marine Mammal Care Center
- Certified Marine Mammal Observer
- Cabrillo Whalewatch Naturalist since 2015
- NAUI SCUBA certified
- Assisted humpback whale entanglement off So Cal coast with NOAA in 2016
- Volunteer/Assisted in numerous necropsies on small and large whale species (Pygmy sperm (Kogia brevicep , Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), Pacific Gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus).
M’liz Callender – Treasurer
M’Liz has been sailing all her life, and doubled her enjoyment of the ocean when she joined the ACS-LA Gray Whale Census Project in 2012. She joined the board in 2019 and currently serves as the Treasurer. Her professional experience includes 25 years in the Commercial Real Estate Industry, as a Project and Asset Manager, and she holds an M.B.A and a B.S. in Economics.
Corrigan Lewis – Secretary
After being landlocked for her whole life, Corrigan is always looking for ways to be on, in, and around the water. Corrigan joined the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium and the ACS-LA’s Whalewatch program in 2022 and has since joined the Board as Secretary. By trade, Corrigan is a systemic impact litigator, specializing in advocating for the civil rights of people with disabilities across the country. She moved to LA from St. Louis in June 2021 with her husband and two Siberian Huskies, Atticus and Scout. In her free time, Corrigan enjoys open water swimming, hiking, and learning more about the ocean.
Alisa Schulman-Janiger – Director Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project
Alisa Schulman-Janiger is a marine biologist, cetacean researcher, and educator. She is a Research Associate at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. She has been the Director and Coordinator of the full-season shore-based ACS/LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project since 1984, and is an instructor for the Cabrillo Whalewatch Program. Alisa is Co-Founder of the California Killer Whale Project and their Lead Research Biologist; she has been photo-identifying California killer whales, archiving sightings, and studying distribution, natural history, and behavior for over 40 years. She is a naturalist on whale watching boats, NOAA Marine Mammal Observer, and responder for the NOAA California Stranding Response Team and the Large Whale Entanglement Response Team. Alisa taught marine biology, advanced marine science, and biology in San Pedro High School Marine Science Magnet for 21 years, and was the head marine biologist/educator on LAUSD’s Sea Education Afloat for 10 years. She has authored and co-authored many papers and presentations on killer whales, gray whales, humpback whales, and pilot whales, as well as killer whale and gray whale photo-ID catalogs.
Photo taken by Gray Whale Census observer,
Sarah Ford
Cathy Hachigian – Cabrillo Whalewatch Program Chair
Living by the water, Cathy has always had a love of lakes, rivers, and the ocean. In 1991 she joined the Cabrillo Whalewatch Naturalist program, a joint venture of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Cetacean Society and the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. Holding the positions of Secretary, Treasurer, Sales, and Chairperson within the Advisory Committee. She joined the ACS-LA board in 2011 as the Chair of the Whalewatch Program. Her professional experience includes 22 years in Information Technology. Cathy loves the water and its marine animals, traveling with her husband, spending time with her family, playing with her dog, and working on computers.
Christina Tombach Wright – Director Grants Program
Christina Tombach Wright has been involved with ACS-LA on and off for over two decades. She joined the board in 2011 and currently serves as the ACS-LA Grants Chair. Christina’s career has been dedicated to the ocean. She has worked with cetaceans on both the east and west coasts of North America and her research has taken her as far away as Russia, where she was involved in a Photo-ID study of Western Pacific gray whales. Christina Co-Authored the book “The Western North Pacific Gray Whales of Sakhalin Island” in 2009, and has authored and co-authored many scientific publications and presentations at National and International Conferences. She is currently a consultant in Goleta, CA, working on new technologies for detecting marine mammals. She also volunteered for many years for Gray Whales Count, in Goleta, CA, during the northbound census each year.
Daniel Genuth – Outreach and Education
Born and raised in the South Bay, Daniel has always had a love of the ocean. Through working at the Manhattan Beach Roundhouse Aquarium for 4 years, he learned first-hand in the field about marine life and how to effectively educate kids and adults alike about our planet. Currently working professionally in an electronics retail and support environment, he takes every chance he can to teach and inspire others about marine science and conservation. In his free time, Daniel loves exploring nature with his wife as well as making educational videos of cetaceans he’s filmed using drones.
Eric Martin – Board Member
Eric has been with the Roundhouse Aquarium since the year 2000. He started as an Aquarist Assistant and moved his way up to Co-director in 2004. He has nearly 30 years of teaching experience. In 2011 Eric was honored with the American Meteorological Society’s award for Outstanding Non-Formal Educator for his great teaching at the Roundhouse.
Prior to the Roundhouse, Eric worked for many years as an educator in the animal care unit at the former Marineland of the Pacific. Since then, he has been working in conjunction with the Center for Whale Research on the orca project and with Cascadia Research working on blue whale and humpback projects.
Eric continues with his work by taking his boat and camera out often to document the whales and dolphins that roam in the Santa Monica Bay. The Roundhouse uses his footage for field trips and to help educate the children about the wonders of the ocean.
Carolyn Veek – ACS-LA Representative to National
Carolyn Veek is a South Bay native who has always loved being around the ocean. Her love for cetaceans grew at Carson high school where Bill Samaras was her Biology and Marine Biology teacher. Carolyn also was a TA for Bill. Carolyn’s father, Andy, was a long time member of the Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project at Point Vincente. She would go with him out to Pt Vicente and to the end of census picnics throughout the years. This eventually led to her becoming a member of ACS-LA. She has been a board member since 2020 and is currently the ACS-LA Chapter representative with National ACS.
Jayne Goocher – Membership Chair
Growing up in the Midwest, I dreamed of the ocean. I realized my dreams almost 40 years ago when I moved to Hermosa Beach.
I’m ‘new’ to the Board but not new to ACS-LA. Throughout the 1990’s, I served on the Board of ACS-LA; spent hundreds of hours on local boats as a whale watch naturalist, served as a docent at Point Vicente Interpretive Center educating children, and led fundraisers for both the Friends of the Interpretive Center and ACS-LA.
In 1992, I became a PADI certified SCUBA diver and have been diving California and waters of the world every year since. In 2005 I earned my NAUI Asst. Instructor certification. I love traveling. My favorite country is Bali, my favorite diving is a 3-way tie between Cozumel, Hawaii and Indonesia. If its ocean related, I am there! (my license plates are OCEAAN and LUSEA).
Professionally, I was a contract computer programmer/Project Manager throughout SoCal for 40+ yr. Of course, my favorite job revolved around the ocean: for 4 Years I logged hundreds of hours sailing onboard Supertankers between LA and Valdez AK. It was truly my dream job and a once in a lifetime!!! Prince William Sound was my first ever Orca sighting!
I am retired and work a few hours a week at a local Lavender farm and ushering at an entertainment venue. I am an avid gardener, working towards a Riverside County Master Gardener certification. My husband and I share a love of the ocean and together we have 4 daughters, 2 son-in-laws, 4 grandchildren, 2 cats and 1 dog. Life is good and I am honored to be part of the ACS-LA Family again.
Our ACS-LA Team Members
Colleen Carroll – Social Events Chair
Colleen grew up in the sunny land of enchantment, Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she was surrounded by majestic mountains and breathtaking desert landscapes. Growing up, her family’s vacations to the Pacific Northwest were pure magic, especially when she saw whales in the wild—an experience that left her in awe of these magnificent creatures. In 2015, Colleen traded the desert for the dazzling city of Los Angeles, California, to chase her dream of becoming an occupational therapist.
She graduated from USC’s Chan Division of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy Master’s program in May 2019 and wrapped up her doctorate degree in August 2020. She is passionate about mental health and working with people who live in underserved communities. As the current OT director at Gateways Hospital & Mental Health Center, she supports individuals navigating a mental health crisis, helping them to discover and engage in activities that bring them the most joy and meaning.
Colleen joined the Cabrillo Whalewatch Naturalist program in 2023 and is honored to serve as the social events chair for ACS-LA. In her free time, Colleen enjoys engaging in meaningful activities such as gardening, baking, event planning, and travelling the world with her husband.
Our Partners and Sponsors
