Bernie is an Adjunct Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California Santa Cruz, where he co-directs the Coastal Conservation Action Lab. He is the Founder of Island Conservation, which has created over 900,000 hectares of new marine and island protected areas and protected over 250 seabird colonies and 250 insular endemics from extinction. Bernie is also co-founder and Board Chair of Conservation Metrics, a for-profit social venture dedicated to improving conservation through better monitoring, and co-founder of Freshwater Life, which saves endangered freshwater species by eradicating freshwater invasives.

Bernie is a member of the IUCN’s Invasive Species Specialist Group and Commission on Ecosystem Management. Bernie serves as a consultant to the Mulago Foundation’s Henry Arnhold Fellows Program, and is on the boards of OneReef and the Tony Hawk Foundation. He earned his B.S. in Biology from UC-Santa Cruz, an M.S. in Marine Sciences from San Jose State University, and a Ph.D. in neurobiology and behavior from Cornell University.