Jessie Turner is the executive director of the International Alliance to Combat Ocean Acidification. A voluntary initiative of national and subnational governments, the OA Alliance works to raise ambition for climate action and transform the global response to climate-ocean change.
As executive director, Turner sets the strategic direction of the OA Alliance and develops and carries out annual programming, including contributions to international convenings. She also establishes partnerships across a variety of disciplines and coalitions, deploys communications strategies across multiple scales, and supports members in the development of practicable ocean acidification adaptation and resilience strategies.
Turner served as lead facilitator to the Pacific Coast Collaborative’s Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Working Group between 2014 and 2023. The PCC is a collaboration between the U.S. states of California, Oregon and Washington, and the Canadian province of British Columbia working together on climate issues that impact the North American West Coast region.
Turner has 15 years of experience working in public policy development, advocacy and stakeholder engagement at local to international scales. She has worked on wide-ranging issues, including affordable homeownership, healthcare, energy efficiency, food waste, climate and marine policy.