Paul Holthus
Founding President and CEO, World Ocean Council
Paul Holthus is the founding president/CEO of the World Ocean Council (WOC), the Global Blue Economy Business Organization. WOC brings together shipping, oil and gas, fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, offshore renewables, ports, seabed mining, submarine cable and other ocean industries, as well as investors to create leadership, collaboration and action on “Corporate Ocean Responsibility”. Among other things, Holthus initiated the WOC “SMART Ocean-SMART Industries” program to foster and scale up ocean data collection from ships/platforms of opportunity, and the WOC Ocean Investment Platform.
Holthus has worked in over 30 countries with companies, communities, industry associations, United Nations agencies, international NGOs and foundations. He has held senior positions with UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) and international environmental organisations, including deputy director of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Global Marine Programme. Since 1998, he has worked with the private sector to develop practical solutions to ocean sustainability and responsible use. He is a graduate of the Universities of California and Hawaii, was a Fulbright scholar in Australia and is an East-West Center alum.