Captain Neill Holland
Ocean Conservation

Captain Neill Holland, President of Ocean Aid 360, is a career non-profit executive specializing in federal grant implementation, management, and compliance; and a graduate of Columbia University in New York. Ocean Aid 360 is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization registered in Saint Petersburg, Florida, and a recipient of grant awards from NOAA's Marine Debris Program, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and/or private foundations each year from FY18. Operating at Director level since OA360's start in 2017, Holland has co-led OA360 through all 55 of its unique marine debris removal events, focused on ghost gear and ocean plastics, between FL and the Bahamas, to 425,000 pounds removed. Outside of Ocean Aid 360, he has held direct responsibility for USDA federal grant awards to $33m, and U.S. Department of State federal grant awards in Egypt, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal; and he received a Nobel Peace Prize citation with his World Food Programme team in 2021. Neill Holland grew up in Tampa Bay, became a charter captain at age 18, and after more than 10 years working internationally from New York, returned to St. Petersburg to lead Ocean Aid 360. He and his OA360 team expect to reach one million pounds of marine debris removed by the end of 2025.