Lauren Rust is the founder & exec dir of LMMN. She received her BS in Marine Biology from the College of Charleston in 2004 followed by her MSc in Ecology from the University of Wales, UK. Before founding LMMN, Lauren managed the research department at The Marine Mammal Center in CA managing the necropsy lab, various research projects and leading the large whale recovery team. Lauren has also worked at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) responding to sick and injured marine mammals in South Carolina and the Environmental Specimen Bank at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Charleston. Recently, Lauren joined the marine biology graduate program at CofC as a faculty member to mentor students. She's passionate about marine mammal research and education and hopes to bring a greater awareness about Charleston's local dolphin population to the Lowcountry. You can reach Lauren at lauren@lmmn.org

In 2008, Samantha Siegel took a stand and started a movement to save the Angel Oak and its surrounding land from impending development. Along the way, she garnered support from many notable conservation organizations, including the Coastal Conservation League and the South Carolina Environmental Law Project. Thanks to those efforts, The Lowcountry Land Trust is now working with the community to turn that land into the Angel Oak Preserve—a publicly accessible park with walking trails and historical, cultural, and environmental information. As we begin the early stages of the planning process, it was only right to bring Samantha back as Project Manager to finish the work she started.