Iain Kerr– Vice President & CEO
Captain Kerr, born in Scotland, began his career with dolphins in 1983 as a volunteer research assistant at the Dolphin Research Center in Florida, and in 1984 he earned his Captains License. In 1987, Iain served as a research assistant to Dr. Roger Payne at the New York Zoological Society's whale camp in Peninsula Valdes, Argentina, assisting with the development of new benign methods for the study of the endangered southern Right whale.
In 1988/89, under the auspices of the Ocean Alliance and the Interpolar Research Society, he captained the 85ft. research vessel Siben. The Siben Project was an international research effort involving biologists from the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Ecuador. Aboard the Siben, Iain helped teach biologists new benign research methodologies and the implementation of a multi-beam scanning sonar unit in order to track whales underwater. In 1990, Iain was promoted to Director of Ocean Research for the Whale Conservation Institute and soon after he procured the R.V. Odyssey. The Odyssey is a 93' steel-hulled ketch capable of spending extended periods of time offshore with little or no shore support, enabling OA scientists to study deep water cetaceans like the Sperm whale. In 1993, Iain lead the Odyssey Expedition to the Galapagos Islands. He was responsible for creating the research team, the visiting scientist program and for the development of new technologies for studying whales.
The Galapagos expedition proved very successful; Odyssey researchers were the first to sight Blue whales in this area; visiting scientist Bruce Mate was the first to successfully satellite tag a sperm whale. The first electrocardiogram of a sperm whale was made by Dr. Jorge Reynolds and Iain recorded the first ultrasound of a free ranging Sperm whale from the Odyssey. The remote probe WHALECAM was also developed in the Galapagos. It was in the Galapagos that Iain fulfilled his mission to have the Odyssey become a leading scientific vessel and platform for visiting whale researchers and documentary teams.
To date the Odyssey has been featured on PBS, Discovery Channel, BBC, Canal Plus, NHK and TV New Zealand. In 1995 the IMAX film WHALES was shot aboard the Odyssey and in 1997 Turner Broadcasting System and NHK shot what we believe to be the first ever Hi Definition film on whales "Diving With the Great Whales."
Iain, now Vice President and CEO of Ocean Alliance, is directing much of his energies on a five year program designed to gather the first ever baseline data on synthetic contaminants throughout the world's oceans. This program, the Voyage of the Odyssey will use whales and Albatrosses as indicator species for measuring the health of the seas. Iain will work with Dr. Payne and leading scientists from around the world, using the R.V. Odyssey as the main platform for data collection.
Iain received an honors degree in education from the University of London and his green card in 1997. He is an accomplished speaker and photographer. Iain has led expeditions to all parts of the globe, including Australia, the Amazon Basin, Argentina, Alaska, the Caribbean, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Hawaii and Mexico.
