International Advisory Council
SAM BRANSON
Sam Branson is the founder of Sundog Pictures. He is a social entrepreneur, adventurer and philanthropist – and is passionate about the medium of film and the positive impact it can have on the planet.
JACKIE CHAN
Jackie Chan is an internationally renowned kung-fu action hero. He has been acting since the 1970s and has appeared in over 100 films. Chan has received stars on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He is a keen philanthropist and a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, having worked tirelessly to champion charitable works and causes. He has campaigned for conservation, against animal abuse, and has promoted disaster relief efforts for floods in mainland China and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. He strongly supports tiger conservation programs and has filmed numerous PSAs with WildAid since 2002.
SILENCE LEUNG
Entertainment, concert and television producer heavyweight, Silence Leung has been working in the production industry for over thirty years. Silence has made a name for herself since the ‘90s in China spearheading numerous major concerts for top leading Chinese singers including Anita Mui, Jacky Cheung and Faye Wong etc. Leung’s creativity and vision in the industry is undeniable and she has produced concerts and reality TV shows featuring major-league celebrities which led and shaped entertainment trends and behavior in China. For more than 25 years, Silence has generously given her time to support the following charitable organizations and events: The National Tour of Disaster Reduction in 1993-1994, The Poverty Alleviation concert Live in Shanghai and Beijing 1998, The Wenchuan Earthquake Fundraising of Olympic Champions 2009 and Partnership with WildAid in 2019 to produce the shark documentary “The Gentle Giant”.
SUE CHEN
Sue Chen founded Nova Medical Products in 1993 when she was just 23 years old with a strong vision to improve lives…with style. Sue was a finalist for the prestigious Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, recipient of the Community Leadership Award from the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, and named one of the ten most powerful entrepreneurs in Fortune Magazine’s Most Powerful Women issue. In 2011, Sue helped successfully lobby the California legislature to protect sharks with the passing of the shark fin ban. Sue is an Annenberg Foundation community champion, YPO member, trustee of the California Lutheran University Board of Regents, founder of Operation Blue Pride, and director of Reef Check Foundation. She is also a shark advocate, avid diver, classical music junkie and author of “Confessions of the Walker Stalker.”
DUNCAN CLARK OBE
Duncan draws on three decades advising investors in technology and innovation in Asia as Chairman of BDA from offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Beijing. Duncan founded BDA in 1994 after four years as an investment banker with Morgan Stanley.
An early advisor to China’s Internet founders, including Jack Ma, Duncan’s 2016 book “Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built” chronicled the rise of China’s Internet sector and entrepreneurial class and was named Book of the Year by The Economist and short-listed for Business Book of the Year by the Financial Times, appearing in over 36 languages. His forthcoming book AIBaba will profile China’s rapid advances in AI and their global impact.
In Japan, Duncan serves on the Board of Councilors of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and is Adjunct Researcher at the newly established Institute of Japan in the Global Economy (JGE) at Waseda University.
Duncan is an early-stage investor in a number of Silicon Valley ventures.
A graduate of the London School of Economics (LSE), Duncan has also served as a Visiting Fellow at the LSE and has endowed the David and Duncan Clark Scholarship until 2032, allowing two students per year from emerging economies to fully fund their Master’s degrees at the School of Public Policy at the LSE. He was also a Visiting Scholar for three years at Stanford University.
In 2013, Duncan was awarded an OBE for services to UK trade and investment. Raised in the UK, US, and France, Duncan is fluent in French and Chinese, and conversant in Spanish and Japanese.
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU
Philippe is son of Jan and Philippe Cousteau Sr., and the grandson of Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau. As a member of the legendary family, Philippe is continuing the work of his father as CEO of EarthEcho International, a non-profit organization he founded with his sister and mother. Philippe serves on the board of directors of The Ocean Conservancy, Marine Conservation Biology Institute, and the National Environmental Education Foundation. He is also the advisory board of Discovery Communications Inc.’s Planet Green. He holds a master’s degree in history from the University of St. Andrews.
DR. SYLVIA EARLE
After receiving her PhD from Duke, Dr. Earle started her career as a research fellow at Harvard, then went on to the resident directorship of the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory in Florida. In 1969, she led the all-female Tektite II, Mission 6 living for weeks in an enclosed habitat on the ocean floor fifty feet below the surface. After, she began to write for National Geographic and to produce books and films. 1979, Dr. Earle walked untethered on the sea floor at a lower depth than any living human being before or since. She described this adventure in her 1980 book: “Exploring the Deep Frontier.” In the 1980s, along with engineer Graham Hawkes, she started the companies Deep Ocean Engineering and Deep Ocean Technologies. In the early 1990s, Dr. Earle took a leave of absence from her companies to serve as chief scientist of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. There, among other duties, she was responsible for monitoring the health of the nation’s waters. Today she is explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society. Dr. Earle is married and has three children.
DAVID KRACKE
David Kracke is an attorney in Portland, Oregon specializing in environmental issues including endangered species protection. He has authored and co-authored 12 laws in the state, including a 2022 law focused on zoonotic disease and the banning of live animal markets, making Oregon the first state in the USA to do so. In 2011, David was part of the legislative team that banned the possession, sale and trade of shark fins within Oregon, and in 2017, he wrote the initial draft of Oregon’s landmark anti-poaching law which dramatically increased penalties for poaching Oregon’s wildlife, including bear and cougar. He served on the board of directors of the Rhino Trust where he worked closely with the late Anna Merz. David studied international environmental law at Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, and at the University of Nairobi Law School in Kenya.
FRANS LANTING
Frans Lanting has been hailed as one of the great nature photographers of our time. His influential work appears in books, magazines, and exhibitions around the world. For more than two decades he has documented wildlife and our relationship with nature in environments from the Amazon to Antarctica. Lanting’s work has been commissioned frequently by National Geographic, where he served as a photographer-in-residence. He has received numerous prestigious awards for his work, including the Lennart Nilsson Award in 2005. In 2001 H.R.H. Prince Bernhard inducted him as a Knight in the Royal Order of the Golden Ark, the Netherlands’ highest conservation honor. He has received top honors from World Press Photo, the title of BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and the Sierra Club’s Ansel Adams Award. He has been honored as a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in London.
DR. ELLEN K. PIKITCH
Dr. Ellen K. Pikitch is the executive director of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science and a professor at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University. Recognized as an international expert in ocean conservation science, she has authored and edited more than 100 articles and books on fisheries science and management. The scientific work of Dr. Pikitch has informed policy decisions such as the listings of both the Atlantic and beluga sturgeon under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, a U.S. ban on the sale of beluga caviar, and passage of the U.S. Shark Finning Prohibition Act. Dr. Pikitch received a PhD in zoology from Indiana University and MA and BS degrees in mathematics from the City College of New York.