NOAA’s Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary announced the appointment of two new alternate members to serve on its advisory council. The appointees bring a valuable range of experience to the council, which provides sanctuary staff with input and recommendations on sanctuary programs and management.

The new appointees to the advisory council are Melissa Williams and Casey Dennehy.

Williams, the education alternate, is executive director of the Feiro Marine Life Center in Port Angeles. She has a master’s degree in instructional leadership from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from New College, Fla., with a focus on animal cognition and behavior.

Dennehy, Marine Resources Committee alternate, is the Pacific Coast Program coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation. Prior to joining Surfrider in 2012, he worked for Mount Rainier National Park, Washington Department of Ecology, The Nature Conservancy and Center for Natural Lands Management.

Both appointees are filling vacancies that opened in the spring 2014; their terms will continue through Dec. 31, 2015, when they will be eligible to reapply for a three-year term.