Evelyn Monroe Neill

Ocean Advocate and
Program Director

Co-Founder

Evelyn Neill, the child of a science teacher and an engineer, found that she inherited a passion for nature, a gift of memory and a predilection to be a writer. As a teenager, she had a profound experience at a summer program at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. There, seining in the life-changing hydrogen-sulfide stench of marsh mud and trolling around the bay in a bucket of bolts shrimp trawler, she observed and inhaled the gifts of the ocean.

Later in college when she worked for Seacamp in the Florida Keys, amongst the future scientists and science educators, she ran the visitors’ day events and planned all the evening programs. In short, though impassioned by coral communities and mangrove communities and fish taxonomy, she was responsible for the “camp” part of Seacamp. She has come to accept the unique quality of her passion like the Hawaiian nene accepts that he’s a goose that can’t fly. One applies one’s gifts where one can.

Throughout life, she has described herself as a biologist groupie, an avid naturalist, or an absurdly scientific creative person. But as for a career, she fell into advertising and over the last 20 years has been first an advertising writer, a creative director and an executive creative director. She has created ads for Nike, Microsoft, Coke, Westin Hotels, United Technologies, ITT, Knight Trading, Sandler O’Neill and Ian Schrager Hotels. She oversaw ads in Pakistan, India, Asia, all of Europe, including a stint at an outpost in Amsterdam. And her last advertising job was that of President of Creative at Doremus Advertising in NY, a hundred-year-old agency that began as part of the Dow Jones.

Advertising has taught her much about the absolute staggering power of communication. And it has turned a desire to communicate about nature and conservation into calling. And that is where her partner in life, Dr. James Bruce Neill comes into the picture. Together the two of them have ambled for many years through thoughts of creating a school to teach children about the ocean. And finally, they came to the same conclusion – if this dream is to become a reality it requires full dedication and passion. Fortuitously, they realized they have both and the timing is right. The rest of the story is what they will build with, they hope, your involvement.

Leah Biery

Ocean Advocate

Leah grew up on Lake Norman in North Carolina, but spent many summers on Sanibel Island as a child, exploring the beaches and mangrove forests with her father and a dip net. Later, she learned to snorkel and scuba dive, and fell in love with marine ecosystems while exploring them on sailing trips with her family.

She studied Zoology and Nonprofit Management at North Carolina State University and spent a semester of college studying wildlife management and baboons in Tanzania. It was there that she realized she was better suited for work in marine environments than in the hot, mosquito-infested African bush. 

Leah has worked as a camp instructor at Sanibel Sea School in the past. She is currently producing a variety of public education materials that will teach residents of Florida and other Gulf Coast states about the importance of protecting our local and global marine resources for the future.

Making science accessible to the average citizen is something Leah is passionate about, and she plans to spend her life promoting conservation through a career that combines science, writing, and education. Leah’s hobbies and interests include travel, learning, exercise, and making the world a safer place for fish.

J. Bruce Neill, Ph.D.

Ocean Advocate and
Executive Director

Co-Founder

Bruce’s passion for the ocean and natural exploration began at an early age. Growing up in Miami, he snorkeled the seagrass beds, mangroves and coral reefs of southern Florida and the Bahamas before first attending school. His family spent countless hours fishing the Gulf Stream and exploring life in and around drifting seaweed communities. As a high school student he became fascinated with birds, which ultimately led him to obtain a degree in zoology at the University of Georgia.

After working as a technician for a blue-water oceanographer, he attended the University of Guam Marine Laboratory and received a master’s degree in the biology of coral reefs. There, he studied differences in territorial behaviors between closely related sea urchin species. He went on to obtain a Ph.D., studying genetics, evolution and conservation biology at Montana State University where he used emerging DNA technology to evaluate the survival probabilities of small bird populations.

He held academic positions at liberal arts colleges, field schools, and community colleges. His true academic passion is teaching – and it shows in his teaching enthusiasm. Recently, he has turned his attention to a younger audience, teaching at several private elementary schools in the New York area, and in the American Museum of Natural History Science and Nature Program.

He believes that his best contribution to conservation is to convey complex scientific findings to the typical person.  In particular, he likes to expose youngsters to the joys of discovering nature. Age-appropriate knowledge and experience of the natural world is a gift we can give our children. It is Bruce’s hope that by sharing the wonders of the sea with younger kids, he will be able to provide them a lifetime of discovery, and a passion for stewardship.

His most recent undertaking is as a co-founder of Sanibel Sea School, a non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting marine conservation through experiential education.

Sanibel Sea School: where every day is a field trip.

Liz Hilliker

Ocean Advocate

Liz is a Florida native. She grew up in Ft. Myers and lived on Sanibel for several years in middle school. Liz is thankful to live near the beautiful beaches on Sanibel and grew up going to the beach with her family and looking for mermaid purses after reading a book on them in her elementary school library.

Liz has a passion for working with children and studied Elementary Education at Furman University in Greenville, SC. She taught fourth grade for a year in SC before moving back to her home in sunny Southwest Florida.  She spent the last year here at the Sanibel Sea School and has loved every minute of it.  Her favorite part is definitely the excitement and experience of Summer Camp.  

When not engaged with kids, Liz answers the phone, makes bookings and keeps the Sanibel Sea School calendar on an even keel. Liz loves to spend time with her family and her 7 dogs. She especially loves to float in the waves in the beautiful Gulf of Mexico, of which she plans to do much of this summer! 

In the fall, Liz will attend Clemson University to get a M.S. in Childhood Counseling.

Emily Eng

Ocean Advocate

Emily Eng grew up in Seattle, Washington where she dug for gooey ducks at low tide and poked around tidepools. Fleeing to warmer weather and waters she attended Santa Clara University in California. She majored in Biology and minored in Environmental Studies, Studio Art and Religious Studies. After too many hours studying in the research lab with only petri dishes for company she set her sights to the awe-inspiring outdoors.

Emily took her love of science to the streets, or at least the waters of Maine. She began teaching marine science on a lobster boat in Maine and then migrated south to the warm waters of Seacamp in the Florida Keys. Between snorkeling coral reefs and kayaking through mangroves, Emily started her connection with the unique flora and fauna of southern Florida and her passion for sharing science in an outdoor classroom. Teaching science took Emily up and down the California coast from Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria down to the University of Southern California’s Wrigley Institute on Catalina Island. But the warm tropical waters of Florida called her back.

Now Emily is often found with her partner in crime Bean the dog. The two can be spotted beachcombing, snorkeling and lounging in the shade. In her free time Emily enjoys painting watercolors, eating elaborate sustainable meals, finding and photographing nudibranchs and introducing other marine organisms to Bean.