Tamara Thomas, Executive Director of Ocean Ties and ocean advisor to the IUCN, brings several years of expertise on Ocean Issues – across several international conventions and relevant fora including the Convention on Biological Diversity; UN Framework on Climate Change; BBNJ; as well as on matters related to seabed mining. Among her previous roles, she served as Director of International Ocean Policy for Conservation International, International Ocean Policy Advisor of the Global Oceans Program at The Nature Conservancy and Advisor to the Chair of the United Nations Preparatory Committee of BBNJ. Ms Thomas aides in the creation of country and international level policy to support integration of marine nature-based solutions and innovative finance approaches and positions them as integral to global development agendas. She holds a masters of environmental management from Yale University and currently serves as Ocean and Ocean-Climate Advisor to The Republic of Seychelles and co-leads, within BBNJ, Area Based Management Tools including Marine Protected Areas and Environmental Impact Assessments within the African Group.