Karen Koltes directs the Coral Reef Program in the Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs. The program annually grants $2,000,000 to the U.S. territories and Freely Associated States for coral reef research and management. She also advises the Secretary and Department on issues concerning marine resource protection, including the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force (Chair, Ecosystem Science and Conservation Working Group) and the Oceans Commission. From 1991-1998, Dr. Koltes was an ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, providing technical support to a national research program on coastal and marine resources. As a post-doc with the Smithsonian Institution’s Marine Systems Laboratory, Dr. Koltes directed MSL’s field station in the Turks and Caicos Islands (1984-1986), and the Chesapeake Bay Mesocosm Project (1986-1988). Since 1993, she has been Carrie Bow Cay’s site director for CARICOMP, a regional monitoring program. Dr. Koltes has a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island and a B.A. in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania.