Vera Coelho | Oceana

Vera Coelho

Executive Director and Vice President, Europe

Executive Committee

Vera Coelho is Executive Director and Vice President at Oceana in Europe. She leads the organization’s campaigns and a team of 30+ advocates, scientists and communicators in multiple office locations across the continent.

Vera joined Oceana in April 2020 and has helped the organization secure more than 20 policy victories for European waters.

Vera is a political scientist with nearly 20 years of experience working with national, European, and global environment NGOs to protect freshwater and saltwater ecosystems. She is intimately familiar with EU decision-making processes and what it takes to successfully implement EU campaigns to achieve measurable conservation impact.

Before joining Oceana, Vera worked with The Pew Charitable Trusts to secure EU support and leadership on marine conservation and fisheries management. She also worked with Wetlands International and Seas At Risk to promote the adoption of EU environmental legislation, fisheries policy and regulation, and international treaties and agreements on climate and biodiversity.

Vera grew up in Portugal and has lived, studied, and worked in six European countries. When she is not advocating for policies to protect and restore the biggest ecosystem on earth from damaging human activities, she can probably be found reading contemporary fiction by female authors.