I began my career with PICES 19 years ago. I was the Assistant Executive Secretary of the Organization from May 1, 1996 to May 31, 1999, and the Executive Secretary from June 1, 1999 to December 31, 2014. I serve now as a Special Projects Coordinator in PICES, and in this capacity I am responsible for managing two projects supported by the Japanese Trust Fund:  a project on “Marine ecosystem health and human well-being” (funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan) and a project on “Effects of marine debris caused by the Great Tsunami of 2011” (funded by Ministry of the Environment of Japan) , and coordinating the PICES 25th anniversary celebrations.

In my pre-PICES life, I graduated from the Moscow State University (Chemistry, with distinction), received my Ph.D. (in Analytical Chemistry) from the USSR Academy of Sciences (V.I. Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Moscow), and then spent more than 20 years working as a Research Scientist and Head of the Marine Hydrochemistry and Geochemistry Laboratory at the V.I. Il'ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute in Vladivostok. My scientific interests have been focused on the carbon cycle in the North Pacific and its marginal seas. I was involved in national and international cooperation related to the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), and served as a member of the JGOFS Scientific Steering Committee, co-chairman of the JGOFS North Pacific Task Team, and chairman of the JGOFS North Pacific Synthesis Group.