College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Fisheries and Wildlife

Nancy Leonard joined Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission in 2019 as a Program Manager, where her work currently focuses on leading three regional data management programs to facilitate exchange and communication of Federal, State and Tribal Partners' fish data to inform regional decision-making processes: the StreamNet Program, the Regional Mark Processing Center (RMPC) and the Fish Inventory System (FINS). Nancy’s team is also leading the development of a new collaborative data system to support the Klamath Basin Fisheries Collaborative in sharing their fish tagging related data in a standardized manner that all partners of the collaborative can access to submit and access data to inform their management decisions and research questions.

Nancy gravitated to these PSMFC regional data management programs because she appreciates the importance of maintaining and enhancing access to quality data to inform effective management, mitigation and recovery decisions. In her current role at PSMFC, Nancy also represents PSMFC in the Pacific Salmon Commission, serving as the U.S.A co-chair of the bilateral Technical Committee on Data Sharing, and also chairs the RMPC Regional Committee on Marking and Tagging, FINS Steering Committee, and StreamNet committees. She also co-leads, in partnership with the Pacific Northwest Aquatic Monitoring Partnership (PNAMP), the Collaborative Assessments Partnership, and serves on PNAMP’s Steering Committee and Fish Monitoring Work Group Core Team.

Prior to her current position with the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, Nancy served for over 11 years as the Program Performance Manager with the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, an interstate compact agency in the Pacific Northwest, which is charged with assuring a reliable electricity supply while mitigating for the adverse effects of hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River Basin's fish and wildlife. Prior to her work with the Council, she worked over 4-years as an Academic Specialist-Interjurisdictional Fisheries Policy, Governance, and Management with Michigan State University, during which part of her duties involved working with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

Nancy has a PhD in Fisheries and Wildlife from Michigan State University, a Master in Environmental Sciences from Miami University, and a Master of Science in Biology from Carleton University.