“TAC” Carrère
Founder, Executive Director,
Mississippi Sound Conservancy
As Executive Director, Tac is responsible for assisting the Board in the formation and implementation of the Conservancy’s ongoing efforts to build advocacy, develop educational programs, and the building of science-based programs to better the coastal water quality and sustain critical habitat in the Mississippi Sound. He is responsible for working with the Board raising resources to enable the Conservancy to build the necessary infrastructure to carry out its mission.
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Tac’s past experiences have included management of land holding companies, managing administration of land planning and regulatory compliance. He has 20 years as a principal of a real estate, risk management brokerage and property management firm, and served as a member of a Regional Planning Board for the “Post Katrina Task Force” and 2 years on a local government development board. Tac co-chaired a policy initiative at the James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy, that worked toward developing a white paper on Federal Public Policy recommending efficiencies in regulatory permitting. He served 4 years as principal of a development company representing land owners lobbying legislative initiatives with the US Department of Interior and congressional offices in Washington, DC.
Tac is a lifelong conservationists and avid outdoors-man that has been the recipient of many years of the Mississippi Sound’s bountiful ecology. His years of aquatic endeavors have traversed rivers of the Rocky Mountains as well as navigating the Mississippi River, its delta and its neighboring sounds as well as its interior coastal marshes and tributaries and outward to the depths of the Gulf of Mexico for over 50 years. With many decades of experience in environmental stewardship, he remains actively committed to ensuring a sustainable future for Mississippi’s and Louisiana’s coastal natural resources by pursuing the implementation and management of science based conservation, management and restoration programs. Tac’s objective is to leave the coastal ecology better than we found it.
Elizabeth Perrin
Chair Marketing Comm.
Mississippi Sound Conservancy
Elizabeth has uncompromising vision and an intuitive understanding of brand identity and has made forward-thinking creative direction the cornerstone of her work. Whatever the medium – photography, digital platform, or film — her sharp eye is sought after by brands both local and national.
Elizabeth is applying her decades of experiences and talents towards the important building of the Conservancy’s development programs and digital marketing and web site functionality.
Brad Humber
Co-founder
Mississippi Sound Conservancy
Brad is instrumental in the formation and implementation of the Conservancy’s ongoing science based programs to better the Mississippi coastal water quality and to sustain critical habitat in the Mississippi Sound. He has past employment experiences with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources as well as The Nature Conservancy. Brad is also involved with an environmental restoration company where he has designed, permitted, and constructed and monitored environmentally sensitive habitats.
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Sharon Hayes
Mississippi Sound Conservancy
Sharon is an Ecological economist with teaching experience in economic principles, environmental economics and sustainability at the graduate and undergraduate levels. She has expertise in environmentally sustainable businesses, policy, and management with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Dole Food Company, Inc., and the White House Council on Environmental Quality
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As Senior Policy Advisor at the Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds, EPA reporting to the Director, Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds led the Coordinating Committee of the Gulf of Mexico Nutrient Reduction Task Force and the EPA Hypoxia Program.
As Acting Chief, Coastal Management Branch, Office of Water, Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC Sharon managed a Branch responsible for environmental issues affecting the US coasts at the national level, including the Climate Ready Estuaries (CRE) Program, the National Estuary Program, the Large Aquatic Ecosystem Council, and the National Coastal Condition Report.
Represented EPA on an administration initiative related to ecosystem protection and restoration in Louisiana and Mississippi (the ‘Restoration Roadmap’) and supported the EPA’s input into the development of national ocean policy. Drafted Congressional testimony, responded to Congressional inquiries, and worked closely with states and other stakeholders on nutrient reduction, as well as coastal restoration issues.
Sharon has provided guidance, assessed performance, and worked closely with the National Estuary Programs in the implementation of $15 million annually in grants, engaged in all aspects of personnel and financial management for the Branch, including budgeting and strategic planning.
Sharon’s broad experiences have been and continue to be a valuable resource for the Mississippi Sound Conservancy.
Rich Batiuk
Rich Batiuk is the Associate Director for Science, Analysis, and Implementation at the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office
Rich Batiuk was the associate director for science, analysis, and implementation at the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office located in Annapolis, Maryland. In his 33 years with EPA and working for the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership, he led the integration of science into multi-partner policy-making and collaborative decision-making. Working with academic, agency, advocacy and business experts, Rich was responsible for providing federal, state, regional and local partners and stakeholders with innovative technical and programmatic solutions to complex policy issues facing restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and the surrounding 41 million-acre watershed.
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Rich has now teamed up with Holly Greening, former Director of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, as co-founders of CoastWise Partners to apply their combined 70+ years of experience to provide help with development and implementation of collaborative watershed management strategies. They are working with a wide array of agencies, organizations and partnerships across the country and around the world.
He received his Bachelor of Science in environmental science from the University of New Hampshire in 1984 and his Master of Science in environmental toxicology from American University in Washington D.C. in 1985. Rich lives in Annapolis with his wife Susan, enjoying more time for fly fishing, kayaking, hiking, camping, bird watching and traveling to some amazing natural places.
Captain Louis Skrmetta
4th Generation COO for
Ship Island Excursions
A conservationist active in the pursuit of restoring the ecological function and balance of the Mississippi Sound. Louis is building advocacy for establishing science-based sustainable conservation and fisheries management practices in the Mississippi Sound. His family has been operating in the Sound for four generations as part of the rich seafood and tourism fabric of Biloxi. Louis’ vast stable of professional and personal relationships on the Gulf Coast as well as his broad understanding and passion for and of the Mississippi Sound’s plight, history and needs and his lifelong community involvement in conservation activism are valuable resource to the Conservancy.
