The Board of Directors and staff of Clean Ocean Access (COA) are thrilled to announce our newly appointed Executive Director, who officially joined the team on January 3, 2022. The Board and dedicated search committee considered many qualified candidates to select a new leader who will continue to reenergize COA’s vision for a clean, healthy ocean that is accessible to all. COA is excited to welcome Pamela Cook, who will help shepherd COA into the new year. 
With a long history in the nonprofit world of education, Pam has over twenty years of advancement, enrollment, and communications experience in private schools in Massachusetts. Over the years, Pam, her husband, and their four children have greatly enjoyed all the natural resources that Aquidneck Island has to offer. Her dedication, positive attitude, vibrant personality, and ability to connect with everyone she meets will allow her to foster our mission across Aquidneck and Conanicut Islands and beyond.
Pam looks forward to engaging with our volunteers, donors, and partners as we start a new chapter of COA’s story. She shares, “I am honored to lead Clean Ocean Access as the next Executive Director. The dedicated staff and board have built a strong foundation and COA is poised for tremendous growth, opportunity, and success. I am excited to build on this momentum and carry the organization to the next level while advancing our mission.” Pam will base her leadership around fulfilling the goals of our Strategic Plan, including our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, science-driven programming, and supporting the needs of our community. She is well positioned to support COA’s growth as a leader in protecting and preserving coastal environmental health with input from our engaged, informed community.
We are grateful that Dave McLaughlin, the co-founder of COA as an initial grassroots organization and founding Executive Director as a nonprofit, will be moving to a new position of Program Director. In this new role, he will ensure that Pam has the support and knowledge base she needs, from the initial action that led to COA’s formation to the current day organization that has the respect and recognition of the community from our fifteen years of environmental efforts. As Program Director, Dave will reimagine, reignite, and reinvent our founding programs while furthering deep integration of more recent initiatives. These initiatives focus on innovative technologies, transformational behaviors, and circular economies. He looks forward to supporting this growth, all while furthering his dedication to the sustainability and succession planning of this group, originally formed by wave riders in 2006.
As Ben Tuff, COA’s Board President, shares, “We hope that you all are as excited as we are to welcome Pam to lead our organization. On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, we are thrilled to have in place a 3-year Strategic Plan, a newly hired Executive Director, and an amazing and talented staff. Together, we are ready to take greater strides and bolder steps to improve ocean health.”
Reach out to Pam to share your ideas for the year, ask questions about our upcoming work, or just say hello! We look forward to a successful future together as we continue to strive to keep our ocean clean, healthy, and accessible to all.
Contact information for Pam:
Pam Cook, Executive Director
[email protected]
(401) 314-0548