About Us
Board of Directors
The Sea of Change Foundation’s Board of Directors is comprised of accomplished individuals who are passionate about marine and terrestrial conservation, educating our communities about the environment, and providing scholarships to those who are dedicating their future to marine conservation and education.
Director Wayne B. Brown
Aggressor Adventures,® LLC – Chairman & CEO
Wayne Brown grew up near the ocean in Jacksonville, Florida and spent as much time in the water as possible. When his son turned 15, Wayne started looking for a hobby they could share since he knew his son would soon want to spend more and more time with his friends. A scuba dive shop was on the way to Wayne’s office, so he asked his son about scuba diving. That was 1999 and today, Wayne, his son, his son’s wife, his daughter and her husband were all certified divers. Wayne’s wife, Dana, while not a diver, enjoys being onboard the Aggressor yachts relaxing, reading, and spending time with the entire family on the water. Wayne has always looked for industry-related charities that his businesses can partner with that will result in long-term benefits for both. With the Sea of Change Foundation, 100% of funds raised go directly to global conservation and scholarships thereby helping to ensure all families, both now and in the future can enjoy exploring the natural world as Wayne and his family have and are still today. Learn more about Aggressor Adventures®.
Director Anne Hasson
Aggressor Adventures,® LLC – Vice President, Reservations, Advertising & Marketing,
Anne started diving at age 14 and immediately fell in love with it. As co-founder of the original Aggressor Fleet in 1984, she spent the past 39 years working in the dive-adventure business. She is now Vice President of the Aggressor Adventures’ Marketing/Advertising department. She was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame (WDHOF) and is an SSI Platinum Pro5000 Diver. Anne is an avid wildlife photographer and loves spending time with her family. She reside in Naples, Florida and has two grown children. Learn more about Aggressor Adventures®
Director Doug McNeese
SSI USA – President
Doug McNeese has been involved in the diving industry since the age of 10 when his family opened up their first dive store ‘The Dive Shop, Inc’. Through high school and college, Doug worked his way to become the top sales person and earned his Open Water Instructor rating in 1974. In 1982 he purchased ‘The Dive Shop’ from his father and began the expansion of the company and his training, which now has four locations in the Southeast United States, all with indoor pools. Doug has two passions – retail and training. His second passion led him to purchased NASDS and in late 1998, after a call from an industry veteran, Bob Clark, with Scuba Schools International (SSI) and merged with SSI. In 2008, Doug McNeese and Robert Stoss purchased SSI. In 2014, SSI was sold to the Head Corporation to continue the quest of strengthening the growth of training and to help retailers succeed. Responsible for sales, including training and marketing, Doug is still the President of SSI USA and will continue to be a driving force to promote SSI worldwide and strengthen its growth through retailers and manufacturers. Doug strongly believes that the “doorway to diving” is the retailer. His passion is to go beyond what has been done, bring more people into the sport and to make scuba diving a lifetime sport. Learn more about Scuba Schools International (SSI)
Director Mike Haber – Mike & Mike Photography School – Partner/Instructor
Mike Haber has been an underwater photographer for 36 years and a topside nature photographer longer than that. As a professional photographer, Mike has experienced and studied the enormous transformation that has taken place in photography over that time. As a partner in the original Jim Church School of Photography (now the Mike & Mike Photography School), Mike has helped thousands of students create beautiful images of our underwater world.
While his base of operations begins in Miami, Florida, his photographic workplace extends around the world. Traveling extensively, Mike has amassed tens of thousands of images. His catalogue of photographs encompasses scenes from all over the natural world, from distant reefs and dozens of exotic underwater destinations, to the American wilderness, to the streets of Europe. His images represent views of the world few individuals ever have the opportunity to capture. Mike’s studio subjects and nature images reflect the wide range of his photographic skill and creativity. Learn more about the Mike & Mike Photography School
Director Ted Foreman
Regional Sales Manager, South Florida & The Caribbean, Aqua Lung Group
Ted grew-up in Dallas, TX but always had a passion for the ocean and all things underwater and never missed an episode of Jacques Cousteau’s Underwater Adventures. Ted spent his early 20’s as a horseshoer and real estate agent before finding his passion in the scuba industry. He has been a certified diver for over 40 years. As a PADI Course Director he ran several retail dive stores, instructor training centers and dive charter operations in Texas and Florida.
After 6 years with PADI’s International Sales Team and contract Instructor Examiner, Ted joined Aqua Lung as a Regional Manager in 2002 covering the Caribbean, South Florida and the Florida Keys.
Throughout his career Ted has had the opportunity to travel and dive around the world. He also enjoys hunting, fishing and playing golf but diving is his passion and prefers to do that over almost anything else.
Director Jerry Beaty
Jerry Beaty started scuba diving in 1967 and in the 1970s began a career in the dive industry as an equipment representative. He then opened All Sun Tours, a nationwide dive travel wholesale company which became the largest dive wholesale travel company to cater exclusively to dive retailers and their students.
In 1996 Jerry joined Dive Training magazine as advertising manager and was quickly promoted to Associate Publisher. As a veteran of the dive industry, Beaty has been a part of developing and patenting the Supplied Air Snorkeling for Youth (SASY) and starting the nonprofit foundation for the ocean and marine education of young people, Oceans for Youth (OFY).
Beaty is certified by several certification agencies and is an SSI Platinum Pro 5000 cardholder. When asked to name the most rewarding part about working in the dive industry, Jerry cites the friendships he has had the privilege to enjoy and the honor of developing relationships with the business owners he has assisted.
In Memoriam
Director Wayne Hasson (1950 – 2020)
Captain Wayne Hasson was a family man, Marine, SCUBA Diver extraordinaire and instructor, boat captain, pilot, world traveler and true pioneer in the SCUBA diving industry. Wayne was born in Columbus, Ohio, lived in the Cayman Islands for 20 years, then settled in Naples, Florida in 1999. Wayne fell in love with the sea at an early age while living at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. There he learned boating, diving, fishing, and boat building. He studied business and accounting at East Carolina University. Wayne was a proud U.S. Marine serving from 1970 – 1978, including a tour to the Far East supporting operations in Vietnam and service aboard USS Okinawa assisting in the evacuation of Saigon. After the Marines, he moved to the Cayman Islands where he managed “Casa Bertmar” Dive Resort and met his wife Anne.
In 1984, Wayne became the first captain of the new Cayman Aggressor (one of the first liveaboard dive yachts) growing it to become the Aggressor Fleet. The fleet later became an internationally recognized brand and leader in exploratory and expeditionary travel known as Aggressor Adventures, with luxury yachts at the best dive, safari, and river boat locations around the world. Wayne later became partner and President of the new expanded travel company until his passing.
Wayne’s passion was to inspire youth to explore, understand, and respect the ocean and its wildlife through SCUBA diving, ocean education, and conservation. He was also an avid pilot and encouraged countless students of all ages to fly through the Young Eagles program. Wayne served on numerous company boards and business groups, including President of the Cayman Islands Watersports Association, Vice President of the Sister Islands Tourism Association, the Diving Equipment & Marketing Association (DEMA), Board of Directors, Cayman Islands Hurricane Relief Team, the Sea of Change Foundation, Oceans for Youth Foundation, Friends of Rookery Bay, and the Florida Gulf Coast University’s Eagles Club Advisory Board.
Wayne received numerous awards throughout his career, including: Beneath the Sea’s “Legend Award,” “Pioneer Award,” and “Diver of the Year – Environment Award,”; SCUBA Schools International “Platinum Pro 5000 Recognition Award”; Rotary Foundation’s “Paul Harris Fellow Award”; and was inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame. Wayne was an active member of the Naples Pelican Bay Rotary Club and the Naples Marine Corps League, E.T. Brisson Detachment, and donated much of his personal time to ocean conservation and civic service.
