Michael Boatright (Founder, Managing Partner)
Born and raised in New Orleans, Michael has been an entrepreneur since an early age. A founder and owner or Priority EMS, he was an innovator that grew the once-small company to more than 400 employees and diversified into air ambulance, Internet, software development, and healthcare design. He also served as an adjunct instructor at LSU in Emergency Management for Homeland Security. Since 2004, Michael has been passionately devoted to reef sciences and has worked closely with academia and local NGO’s in the Gulf of Mexico, studying reef systems, designing high-density aquaculture systems, raising local game fish for stock enhancement, and participating in a number of studies involving oil platforms and the ecosystem. As a direct result, Marine Gardens LLC has made key discoveries that link reef abundance to basic sciences and solutions leading to a healthy Gulf ecosystem.

Kristen Boatright (Director of Media and Communications)
Kristen is a seasoned multi-media journalist with experience covering news, business and finance, arts and culture, travel, and food and wine. Born and raised in New Orleans, Kristen received a degree in Broadcast Journalism from Emerson College in 2005 before moving to New York to work as a television producer. She is now back in New Orleans, using her media and video skills to illustrate the problems and solutions surrounding coastal erosion in southeast Louisiana.