Marine biologist Mar Stiles worked for more than 10 years supporting local leaders in ocean conservation in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia. She serves as a program head for C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and was previously a consultant for the United States Agency for International Development. She has also worked for Global Fishing Watch and Oceana, an advocacy organization focused on ocean conservation. Mar has interviewed coastal communities in central Indonesia about climate change resilience and helped provide technical support to government agencies across the region.

She earned her master’s at Scripps Institution for Oceanography at the University of California San Diego and volunteered as a docent for the Scripps Aquarium and Seattle Aquarium. Mar is an experienced scuba diver, snorkeler, and a native English speaker who also speaks Spanish and Portuguese.