Spring 2025: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution elect a returning Trustee and New Corporation Members
An aerial view of Woods Hole, Massachusetts (© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) May 21, 2025
Woods Hole, Mass. – At Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s (WHOI’s) Spring Joint Meeting of the Board and Corporation, Institution leaders elected one returning Trustee and five new Corporation Members.
"WHOI's President and Director, Peter de Menocal, commented, 'We are thrilled to welcome Jamie Austin back to our Board of Trustees. Jamie's 50 years of affiliation with WHOI and his extensive experience in ocean sciences will be invaluable as we continue to advance our mission. It’s also a pleasure to welcome and thank our newest Corporation Members for joining the WHOI community. These new volunteer leaders, along with our trustees, bring a powerful blend of expertise in strategic communications, data science, sustainability, and innovation, united by a shared commitment to leveraging science and technology for the greater good.'"
Returning Trustee
James “Jamie” Austin, Jr.
After serving 17 years as a WHOI Trustee, Jamie Austin was again elected to an additional one-year term to the Board of Trustees.
After growing up in the New York metropolitan area, Jamie attended undergraduate and graduate school in Massachusetts. He has been a scientific staff member in the geological sciences at the University of Texas/Austin for 41 years. In addition to being a WHOI Trustee, Jamie is a member of the advisory bodies at the Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, and the School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering at the University of New Hampshire. He has homes in Austin, TX, and Chilmark (Martha’s Vineyard), MA.
New Corporation Members
Michael Freitag
For more than three decades, Michael has served as a strategic communications advisor to a wide range of companies, individuals, and not-for-profit educational and cultural institutions, with a particular focus on crisis management and other significant communications challenges and opportunities. He is currently a partner at Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher, a leading public relations and investor relations firm based in New York and San Francisco. Earlier in his career Michael was on the staff of The New York Times, including a two-year stint as the news clerk to A.M. (Abe) Rosenthal, the legendary former Executive Editor of The Times. Michael has a B.A. from Yale University. A lifelong sailor, Michael lives in Cos Cob, CT, where he serves as a Trustee of Greenwich Library. He and his wife Jennifer also have a home in North Truro on Cape Cod.
Daniel Fry
Daniel Fry is a data scientist and conservation advocate dedicated to marine sustainability. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of New Hampshire. Recently retired from a two-decade career in quantitative investment research at Two Sigma, Daniel is also an active B Corp private investor, supporting mission-aligned innovation. In addition to his investment and philanthropic support, Daniel volunteers directly in the field, most recently participating in water quality sampling and monitoring migratory eel and river herring populations with organizations including Save the Sound, NYS DEC, and Seatuck. He serves on the board and Citizen Science Committee at Edith Read Wildlife Sanctuary in Rye, NY and is an active leader with Scouting America through Rye Troop 2, focusing on conservation and outdoor education. Daniel is keenly interested in data-driven advocacy for environmental protection and promoting equitable access to coastal environments, with a focus on restoring and preserving marine habitats and estuarine ecosystems to ensure their long-horizon sustainability. His additional focus areas include supporting veterans and military families, empowering neurodivergent children, and addressing food insecurity in partnership with his wife, Laura Renga Fry. In his spare time, Daniel enjoys kayaking, birdwatching, tinkering with DIY robotics and environmental sensors, and exploring new places with Laura, their two sons (ages 10 and 13), and their shepherd mix, Otie.
Daniel Hui
Daniel Hui has a lifelong personal connection to the ocean and a deep respect for its power and mystery. As an avid sailor, he is happiest on the water and is continually inspired by the natural world. As founder and president of HOPE Charitable Foundation, he brings a data-driven and systems-thinking approach to the foundation's support of science, sustainability, and community initiatives. He recognizes the ocean is essential to understanding our planet as a whole. Daniel is a graduate of UC Berkeley with highest honors in electrical engineering and computer sciences, and began his career as a software engineer. He has since worked in the real estate and farming industries and remains a true geek at heart.
Gwen Krivi
Gwen Krivi grew up in New England and spent summers at the beach on Martha's Vineyard. She was always interested in marine sciences and pursued her Ph.D. in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program and later earned an MBA from Washington University. In the 1970s, marine biology was mainly a descriptive science, and she ultimately did her thesis work in experimental basic biochemistry at MIT, followed by postdoctoral work in developmental and molecular biochemistry. The postdoctoral work led her into pharmaceutical R&D and to her passion for taking basic science discoveries through development to the market to make lives better. This mission is relevant to all areas of science, including the work done at WHOI. Gwen is retired as VP of Product Development Lilly Diabetes from Eli Lilly and is active with Mote Marine Laboratories and Aquarium in Sarasota, FL.
Radhika Malpani
Radhika Malpani is a senior executive with over 30 years’ experience in the technology sector, working at leading organizations like Google, Hewlett Packard, and Siemens. At Google, Radhika was a senior engineering director and was responsible, over a period of nearly 20 years, for initiating and scaling up several critical products. Starting with leading Google Ads in 2000, Radhika built Google Images, growing it to over 1B queries/day. In addition to starting Google Local Search, she also led Google Travel Search to help users plan their leisure trips better. With a deep-seated interest in leveraging technology for social good, Radhika left Google in mid-2019 to focus full-time on working on climate adaptation and mitigation. She serves on various boards and is a venture partner at CLAI Ventures, an early-stage fund investing at the intersection of Climate and AI. She co-teaches entrepreneurship focused on climate change both at Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability, where she is a lecturer, and at UC Santa Cruz, where she is an associate adjunct professor. A fellow at Stanford’s Distinguished Career Institute, class of ‘21, she also works closely with the Center for Ocean Solutions at Stanford where she has been directing her energy at marine carbon dioxide removal. Radhika got her master’s in computer science from UC Berkeley. In her spare time, she loves hiking or spending time by (and in) the ocean.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930, its mission is to understand the ocean and its interactions with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate an understanding of the ocean’s role in the changing global environment. WHOI’s pioneering discoveries stem from an ideal combination of science and engineering—one that has made it one of the most trusted and technically advanced leaders in fundamental and applied ocean research and exploration anywhere. WHOI is known for its multidisciplinary approach, superior ship operations, and unparalleled deep-sea robotics capabilities. We play a leading role in ocean observation and operate the most extensive suite of ocean data-gathering platforms in the world. Top scientists, engineers, and students collaborate on more than 800 concurrent projects worldwide—both above and below the waves—pushing the boundaries of knowledge to inform people and policies for a healthier planet. Learn more at whoi.edu.