Leads BALLE’s services that identify and spread best practices, including oversight of the BALLE conference and webinar series; other focus areas include sponsor and partner development, and member network relations.

A facilitator, trainer, and network connector, Alissa holds degrees from Brown University in Environmental Studies and Development Studies. With Michael Shuman, she recently co-authored Community Food Enterprise, a global study examining two dozen local ownership models for food enterprise. Previously, she served as global steering committee chair of the International Year of the Reef 2008, a conservation campaign involving more than 50 nations, and as national communication and outreach manager for NOAA’s 26-office Coral Reef Conservation Program and the 19-agency U.S. Coral Reef Task Force. She directed two capacity-building training and technical assistance programs, at NOAA and at Dickinson College, which assisted more than 180 organizations during her tenure with organizational development, strategic communications, public education, and environmental management. Alissa has delivered more than a hundred invited talks and training workshops in the United States, Mexico, Japan, Palau, and the U.S. territories, is fluent in Spanish, and has lived and worked abroad.