Our Team
After more than a decade working in healthcare policy and nonprofit program management, Graham’s career trajectory changed during a dive trip where he witnessed the mass bleaching of a coral reef. As a long-time diver, watching a vibrant ecosystem collapse into a mass die-off was a pivotal moment that pushed him to refocus his work on ocean conservation.
Graham began working on coral restoration and monitoring initiatives across the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, becoming a certified scuba instructor along the way. Through this experience, he recognized an untapped resource: dive professionals. While they facilitate millions of introductory ocean experiences and observe reefs daily, they lacked a unified framework to protect these ecosystems. Seeing this as a critical missed opportunity, Graham partnered with his co-founder, Tamara, to help turn this potential into positive ocean outcomes.
To bridge the gap between policy and science, Graham returned to academia. He now holds a Master of Science in Marine Science alongside a Master of Public Policy and an undergraduate degree in International Development. His work focuses on designing conservation projects that connect scientists, dive operators, and local communities to deliver measurable, scalable results for coral reefs, and ensuring that the ocean policy world and those on the front lines operate in close partnership.
Graham Patterson, MSc, MPP
Executive Director
Tamara Silverstone
Executive Chair and Project Lead
For as long as she can remember, Tamara has been known simply as "the ocean girl." Growing up near the coast and diving since age nine, her life has been defined by the sea. These early underwater adventures took her to many beautiful places, but they also revealed a troubling shift: vibrant reefs were increasingly replaced by plastic pollution and distressed coral.
Determined to turn her passion into a solution, Tamara dedicated her career to marine conservation. She holds a degree in Environmental Science and Sustainability and manages REEF Scuba projects in the Coral Triangle. There, she empowers local communities and divers with the scientific skills needed to not just explore their reefs, but to actively monitor, protect, and restore them.
Paul Lucky
Chief Financial Officer
Paul has always been a vocal supporter of the causes he believes in, and was happy to bring his expertise to the REEF Scuba team. He focuses on keeping the books in order and helping facilitate the growth of the organization. He loves being part of "the wild ride" of building an organization and helping it scale.
Ayat Aji
Social Media and Listenership Growth Lead
Ayat Aji joins the team with a mission to prove that ocean health and human health are inextricably linked. Leveraging her background in Health Science, she translates complex ecological issues into personal, urgent narratives that resonate with a broad public.
A Syrian creative living in Lebanon, Ayat is instrumental in helping REEF Scuba engage diverse, non-traditional audiences across cultural divides. She leads our digital growth with a commitment to high standards, constantly propelling the organization to find new voices and operate at the highest level of engagement.
Justine Wollman, MPH
Research and Partnership Coordinator
Justine has always loved being around the ocean and realized that a unique focus area might be the connection between public health and ocean health. Justine holds a Master's of Public Health from Tulane University. The primary focus of her work is the connection between people's health outcomes and the health of the environments where they live. She now manages research and opportunity building.
Ronairee Flores
Outreach and Special Projects Coordinator
Ronairee is a statistician and activist, assisting a variety of non-profit organizations in the pursuit of their missions. She joined the REEF Scuba team, where she manages outreach, volunteer coordination, and oversees special projects. She looks forward to contributing her diverse skill set to help expand people's knowledge of the ocean, and their passion for saving it.