BOARD OF DIRECTORS: BIOS

President – Travis Knorr: president@masna.org

Travis Knorr, a former aquarium fish collector in the Florida Keys, worked as the aquaculture lab technician at the College of the Florida Keys where he also co-founded the CFK Aquaculture Club.

In 2020, he became the Curator and Operations Manager of the Key West Aquarium, and then began work at MOTE’s Elizabeth Moore International Center for Coral Reef Restoration and Research as the Life Support Systems Manager.

In his free time, he runs a home marine aquaculture company with his amazing wife, Mick Walsh. The duo also maintains mixed reef, FOWLR, and freshwater aquaria including an aquaponic system.

Educational Experience
2022, B.S. Marine Resource Management, College of the Florida Keys
2017, College Credit Certificate, Scientific Diver, Florida Keys Community College
2017, College Credit Certificate, Tropical Ornamental Mariculture Technician, Florida Keys Community College
2017, A.S. Marine Environmental Technology, Florida Keys Community College

Aquarium Societies (Past / Present)
FMAS – Florida Marine Aquarium Society
CFKAC – Founder, College of the Florida Keys Aquaculture Club

 

Lou Ekus MASNA

Lou Ekus MASNA

Vice President – Lou Ekus:  vp@masna.org

Lou Ekus is CEO of Tropic Marin USA and, along with his wife, Leslie the Tropic Marin USA COO, are responsible for all Tropic Marin products, product support and aquarist assistance in the US and Canada. Lou has been actively involved in the marine aquarium industry for over 25 years.  He frequently works with aquarists, helping them with system issues big and small from large public aquariums to ½ gallon nano reefs.

Lou has been a saltwater aquarist most of his life. As an adult, he designed and built a multi-tank system in his home consisting of a 150-gallon mixed reef tank, a 150-gallon community fish only tank and a 90-gallon predator tank. This system also incorporated a custom lighting and filtration systems all designed and built by Lou. Due to time and traveling constraints, Lou has downsized and is enjoying, as he always has, the many tank systems he assists people with internationally.

Lou is an avid saltwater fly fisherman, holds a commercial hot air balloon license, is a BBQ pit master, and is an antique car enthusiast, often taking trips in their 1931 Ford Roadster, named Irma, with Leslie. There’s no telling where the three of them will show up!

Lou and Leslie have recently taken on the management of Aquarium Munster USA as well.

 

Ed-Wiser-MASNA

Ed-Wiser-MASNA

Secretary General – Ed Wiser: secretary@masna.org

Ed Wiser has been a life long aquarium hobbyist. He started keeping marine aquariums in the early 1980s.

As a moderator on Fishnet on CompuServe, he ran the speakers program and has attended each annual MACNA since MACNA 3. Ed was on the founding board of directors of MASNA and helped form the base that our current MACNA’s are built upon. His club has also individually hosted 3 MACNAs over the years.

Ed believes that learning from other hobbyists and marine scientists will help the hobby and the world’s oceans.

Aquarium Societies (Past / Present)
Louisville Marine Aquarium Society (LMAS) – 1989 -present
Aquatic Gardeners Association (AGA) – present

 

Christine Rowe Shelton MASNA

Christine Rowe Shelton MASNA

Treasurer – Christine (Shelton) Rowe: treasurer@masna.org

Christine’s love of the reef began in 2000 on a snorkeling expedition to Key West, Florida.  Since then, she has been an avid study of all things Marine related.  She previously co-owned a aquarium maintenance company locally and enjoyed having tanks of her own.

Meanwhile, Christine recently celebrated her 22nd year as the Office Manager of a small specialty accounting firm in the beautiful foothills of Central Virginia giving her the chance to pass on her accounting knowledge to the Board of Directors as Treasurer of MASNA.  She is the ‘keeper of the coin’.  Christine is proficient in human resource management, accounts payable, accounts receivable and is a ProAdvisor with Intuit assisting her clients with accounting software. Christine has been with MASNA since 2015 and is the founder of Kid’s Cove at MACNA.

 

Leslie Ekus MASNA

Leslie Ekus MASNA

Director of Membership – Leslie Ekus: membership@masna.org

Leslie Ekus is the Chief Operations Office for Tropic Marin USA and has been in the Aquatic Industry for over 25 years.  She is also Co-Manager of US Operations for Aquarium Munster USA.  Her love of everything aquatic started when she became attached to a Wobbegong Shark, who she would hand feed shrimp on a stick.  Through the years, she & her husband, Lou, have had a variety of tanks in their home, both marine and freshwater.

Leslie worked for the NH Department of Environmental Services’ Drinking Water Program for several years, where she processed the data for the state’s drinking water supply inventory and reported that data to EPA’s FRDS program.  In 1997, she moved to Montague, Massachusetts, where she lives in an old, renovated mill on a mill pond with her husband, Lou, 2 big hairy dogs and 6 chickens.  She loves to work in the garden, read, swim in the pond, and spend time with family.

 

Tim Law MASNA

Tim Law MASNA

Director of Conservation – Dr. Tim Law: ILOC@masna.org

Dr. Timothy Law is Chief Medical Officer, Vice President Integrative Care Delivery at Highmark, Blue Cross Blue Shield.

A board certified physician with two decades of clinical experience, Dr. Law serves as the Medical Director and Principal Investigator of the Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute (OMNI) at Ohio University with millions of dollars in NIH grant funded research in healthy aging and wellness. He has served as President of multiple boards including the Ohio University Medical Alumni Association, Ky Osteopathic Medical Society and the OU Board of directors.

Dr. Law is in active clinical practice as a rural Family Doctor in Central Ky. He uses virtual health and house calls to perform full service family medicine to include obstetrics and minor orthopedic and dermatologic surgeries.

In addition, he has an aesthetics practice for over 15 years. He currently does traveling Botox and Filler parties around the country and is collaborating medical director for an aesthetics practice in Beverly Hills, CA.

Dr. Law earned his medical degree from Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, and an MBA in Health Care Management from Indiana Wesleyan University. He completed family medicine residency at Ireland Army Community Hospital, Fort Knox, KY.

His interest in the aquarium hobby started as a pre-teen when he made extra money raising fresh water Betta’s. He quickly switched to salt water and currently has a 200 gallon show tank, a 15+ year 29 gallon AIO and multiple other tanks culturing coral and red ogo.  He is a lover of all coral with a special knack for propagating SPS.

An avid SCUBA diver, Dr. Law has a special interest in conservancy. He studied marine biology in Woods Hole, Mass. and did his oceanographic studies aboard the RV Westward research vessel in 1985.  He is proud to be the Director of Conservation for MASNA.

 

Kat Dhawan MASNA

Kat Dhawan MASNA

Director of Public Relations – Kat Dhawan: publicrelations@masna.org

Kat is well known in the hobby since she dove into saltwater aquariums 12 years ago and won multiple Tank of the Month recognitions and contests. She brings over 20 years of business management experience to the board. She has previously served on a non profit organization as the national brand strategist.

Her passion for the hobby fueled her motivation to start her own marketing company with a focus on the hobby. Her first client was Marine Depot for whom she managed social media, brand ambassador and affiliate programs. Kat has experience managing social media for national shows and well known brands in the hobby. She has her finger on the pulse of the industry and knows the saltwater community both from a hobbyist and business viewpoint.

Kat is a community builder. She has played an important role in hosting Women in Reefing events and a fun game show on behalf of reefs.com for virtual MACNA. In addition, she has hosted and been a guest on many podcasts as well as a speaker. She considers herself a hobbyist at heart. In her free time she makes handcrafted botanically correct flowers.

 

Larry Blighton MASNA

Larry Blighton MASNA

Director at Large – Larry Blighton: Larry@masna.org

Growing up on the coast of Florida has always fueled Larry’s desire to learn as much as possible about the ocean and all things in it. While serving 20 years in the military (Navy), he has kept both freshwater Tropical’s and Reef tanks and had the opportunity to have traveled the world visiting some great aquariums, which even furthered his desire to become more involved in all aspects of the hobby. He has attended the last 8 MACNA’s and has served five years on the Marine Aquarium Society of North America’s (MASNA) MACNA Planning committee.

Aquarium Societies (Past / Present)
(1) SDTFS – San Diego Tropical Fish Society, (2) SDMA – San Diego Marine Aquarists club, (3) GSDBC – Greater San Diego Betta Chapter (GSDBC), (4) SDGA – San Diego Guppy Association, (5) SDKG – San Diego Killifish Group, (6) SCWGS – Southern California Water Garden Society, (7) SDLA – San Diego Livebearers Association, (8) IBC – International Betta Congress, (9) IFGA – International Fancy Guppy Association, (10) AKA – American Killifish Association, (11) FAAS – Federation of American Aquarium Societies, (12) IGEES – International Guppy Education and Exhibition Society.

 

Dennis Diaz MASNA

Dennis Diaz MASNA

Director at Large – Dennis Diaz: Dennis@masna.org

Dennis is a fun-loving, happily married aquarist with two of the most incredible kids ever. He has been in the hobby for over 25 years. It has always fascinated him, and it led him to be an aquarium store owner for six years. He loves learning, hobbies, friends, family, and especially loves helping people learn.

He also enjoys spending time outdoors, biking, hiking, water sports, scuba diving, camping, photography … anything that lets them relax and get away from the busy life. He loves spending time with my kids, and loves attending MACNA!

He has helped start various aquarium clubs and was the Volunteer Coordinator for the 30th MACNA in Las Vegas (which was also the first MACNA to be held in Las Vegas).

Aquarium Societies (Past / Present)
LVVR – Las Vegas Valley Reefers (Defunct)
LVMAS – Las Vegas Marine Aquarium Society
ROLV – Reefs of Las Vegas
LVVRK – Las Vegas Valley Reef Keepers