Goss named senior director of education at SCCF
The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation reported that Mason Goss will fill the new role of senior director of education. The position will serve as the central education thought leader for the SCCF.
Goss will create syntheses across the Sanibel Sea School, Native Landscapes and Garden Center, Ocean Tribe Paddlers, Coastal Watch, and No Child Left on Shore programs. He will be responsible for connecting the public to the SCCF’s nature ethic on Sanibel and Captiva.
“We are thrilled to have Mason join our leadership team in this new role that will strengthen the combined educational strength of SCCF and Sanibel Sea School,” SCCF Chief Executive Officer Ryan Orgera said. “His depth of community knowledge and passion for educating make him a great fit at this pivotal time.”
Growing up on Sanibel, Goss returned last year following 11 years in North Carolina, where he served as associate headmaster and assistant head of the Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill and as head of school at the Triangle Day School. Prior to that, he held leadership positions at Bishop Verot High School and the Canterbury School, and Goss has been an adjunct professor at the former Edison Community College and Nova Southeastern University.
Goss has earned two master’s degrees, including one in Christian studies from the Duke Divinity School at Duke University; he is an ordained Presbyterian deacon. He earned his Doctor of Education from Nova Southeastern University in 2002, focusing on educational leadership.
“I look forward to joining in this important work,” Goss said. “The role of the senior director of education is to lead people to lasting connections to our natural world by informing and nurturing empathy for nature, and helping others draw meaningful conclusions about how we connect to, and affect, our shared resources.”
Goss’ family moved to Sanibel in the 1960s. His father, Porter Goss, became a leading force behind Sanibel’s environmental conservation ethic and was its first mayor following incorporation in 1974. As a result, Goss has institutional knowledge of local environmental successes and challenges.
“I am excited to be able to put my professional experience and personal interest in environmental conservation to use by working with SCCF,” he said. “As local and global human populations expand, it is essential to create awareness of human impacts on our oceans and ecosystems. SCCF is in a wonderful position to continue to improve the future of the ocean and local ecosystems one person at a time through education, care and protection.”