HARBOR BRANCH - OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

SHIRLEY POMPONI APPOINTED PRESIDENT AND CEO OF HARBOR BRANCH OCEANOGRAPHIC

FT PIERCE, Fla., Oct. 22-- Yesterday during their semiannual meeting, the Harbor Branch Board of Directors and Board of Trustees unanimously approved appointment of Dr. Shirley Pomponi as the institution's new President and CEO.

"We feel very fortunate to have somebody of Dr. Pomponi's stature at the helm," says Adm. Paul Yost, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees, "and we are confident Harbor Branch has a bright future ahead under her proven leadership."

Arriving in 1984, Dr. Pomponi was instrumental in building the institution's drug discovery program, which she directed from 1994 to 2002. She was co-discoverer of the sponge that produces discodermolide, a chemical compound currently in human clinical trials as a cancer treatment. Her previous post was as Vice-President and Director of Research.

Dr. Pomponi currently serves on the executive committee for the National Academy of Sciences Ocean Studies Board, the BIOFlorida board of directors, the executive committee of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE), and the U.S. committee for the Census of Marine Life. She has held numerous other positions in establishing federal ocean policy, including an appointment to the President's Panel on Ocean Exploration in 2000. Dr. Pomponi is also a member of the Women Divers Hall of Fame.

"I'm humbled by the confidence that the board and the institution have placed in me to lead the organization, and at the same time I'm enthusiastic about leading," says Dr. Pomponi, "I'm excited about our future, both restoring our facilities after hurricane damages and continuing to expand our research programs."

To receive high-resolution photos or b-roll of Dr. Pomponi, and to arrange interviews with Dr. Pomponi or Adm. Yost, please contact Mark Schrope at 772-216-0390 or schrope@hboi.edu.

HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution was founded in Ft. Pierce, Fla., in 1971 to support the exploration and conservation of the world's oceans. The institution has held to this mission and grown into one of the world's leading oceanographic institutions with a 500-acre campus, over 200 personnel, and a fleet of sophisticated research ships and submersibles.