Orca Relief Staff

Mark Anderson is the founder and executive director of Orca Relief Citizens' Alliance, a non-profit organization aimed at reducing the death rates of killer whales. He is also a director of The Hybrid Vigor Institute, a new effort to improve the quality and quantity of scientific discoveries by providing new platforms and tools for enhancing interdisciplinary research.

Mr. Anderson is also a leading international analyst and forecaster on trends in information technology.

He is the founder of Strategic News Service (SNS), the first subscription-based newsletter on the Internet, which is read by industry leaders and investors worldwide.

Mr. Anderson is also president of Technology Alliance Partners, which provides trends and marketing alliance assistance to countries and companies interested in the convergence of telecommunications and computing. He is the founder of the Washington Software Alliance Investors' Forum, Washington's premier software investment conference, and he has participated in the launch of many software startups.

Mr Anderson is a member of the Merrill Lynch TechBrains Advisory Board and is involved in Zendit, ONTAIN, E-CHRON, Trilogy Advisors, and Ignition. He is also a principal in the investment advisory firm Resonance Capital Management, which manages the accounts of institutions and high-net-worth investors focused on technology markets.

Mr Anderson has lectured at the universities of Stanford, Harvard, and Washington.

Dr. Birgit Kriete, Ph.D. brings nearly 20 years of whale research experience in Europe and North America to her position as Executive Director at the Orca Relief Citizens' Alliance (ORCA).

Birgit Kriete obtained her Ph.D. as a whale researcher through the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C. in 1995. Her dissertation, "Bioenergetics in the killer whale, Orcinus orca", determined the energetic requirements of free-ranging killer whales. She has been an independent researcher since then.

Her many years of studying whales includes serving as research and education director at The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, Washington as well as work as a research intern and assistant at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, MA, where her work included research on right, humpback, and finback whales, focusing on prey items of the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale. Dr. Kriete also conducted research on the "Killer Whale Population Assessment in Sweden and Norway" through Memorial University, St. Johns, Newfoundland.

Birgit Kriete currently resides in Friday Harbor, Washington.

Amber Himes, M.E.M.
Director of Public Policies

As the Director of Public Policies, Amber Himes, M.E.M., is the newest addition to the Orca Relief Citizens' Alliance. She recently graduated from the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences with a Master's degree in Coastal Environmental Management. Her master's thesis focused on the socio-economic impacts of marine protected areas on local Sicilian fishing communities.

Ms. Himes' research has included a user analysis of the Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary in Savannah, GA; analysis of the socio-economic effects of a potential marine reserve in Bermuda; and research on the potential for an international marine protected area in the North Pacific for Pacific salmon.

She will be starting a PhD in fisheries economics at the University of Portsmouth in southern England and will continue to work with ORCA from England.

Amber Himes currently resides in Seattle, Washington.

Melissa Milburn brings more than 20 years experience to Orca Relief as a public relations executive in Seattle. She received a B.A. in Communications and Certificate in Public Relations from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. She has experience in strategic communications, media relations, crisis management, special events, public affairs, project management, TV news, and community relations. Her television broadcast experience includes news anchoring, reporting, producing, writing, and editing.
          Milburn is the founder and president of M3 Communications where she is an independent communications consultant for public relations projects. Currently she represents Convergent Technology Group, Inc., Advanced Interactive Systems, Inc. and Mohr, Davidow Ventures. National media placements include: The New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, ABC News, NBC Nightly News, CBS News, CNN, CNN Headline News, MSNBC, Fox News and Tech TV.
          Before starting her own consulting company, Milburn was vice president of the technology group at APCO Worldwide Public Affairs and Strategic Communications where she was responsible for growing technology public relations business from $300K to more than $2 million in less than a year. She currently serves as a special advisor to the agency.

Her extracurricular activities include being a fundraising volunteer for the Ronald McDonald House and PONCHO, an alumni of Kappa Kappa Gamma, participate in the Junior League of Seattle and the Northwest Women's Golf Association.

Milburn currently lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and 2 year old child.