Courtyard Marriott North Ft Lauderdale
2440 W. Cypress Creek Road
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309-1829
Feel free to join us for dinner @ 6:00 PM in The Bistro, food and beverage service provided, located in the Courtyard By Marriott North Fort Lauderdale/Cypress Creek. Social Time begins around 7:00 PM in the Florida Room. The general meeting starts at 7:30 PM with current events, announcements of local dives, mini-trips, status of overseas trips, announcements of social activities, and the Lobster Pot! Then our monthly guest speaker takes center stage for an informative, often educational, definitely entertaining presentation on a dive subject, exotic dive destination, or perhaps new equipment. Please come to one of our meetings the first Thursday of each month. Visitors and guests are welcome.
Program:
Presentation by Bonnie Barnes
Bonnie Barnes currently serves as Development Manager at Reef Environmental Education Foundation, an International Marine Conservation organization headquartered in the Florida Keys. Bonnie’s heart is in conservation, whether scuba diving, traipsing through a forest, or swooshing down a mountain, she loves and cares about our environment. Having started her first business at 17 in her hometown of Las Vegas, she eventually found her way to Florida where she owned a marketing company for another 14 
years in Jacksonville, FL. After earning her MBA in 2006, she jumped head-first into the nonprofit world, as Executive Director of a land conservation organization, North Florida Land Trust. Through this relationship, she was instrumental in the donation of a critical oceanfront property to the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research at UF, to preserve this land in perpetuity as a prime turtle nesting site.
As an avid diver, she volunteered regularly to monitor the offshore environment with the Jacksonville Reef Research Team. For her environmental work, Bonnie was awarded Florida’s Sea Grant Volunteer of the Year Award in 1991. With over 10 years in nonprofit management and cultivation of donors, Bonnie has found her way to the Florida Keys, where she can combine her love of diving with protection of our ocean life by actively engaging and inspiring the public in its care.
Bonnie will provide an overview of the 30-year-old organization, updates on special projects and a preview of upcoming work underway regarding Lionfish, Nassau Grouper, Exotic and Invasive Species, Diadema and other marine-related projects.
