Maxine Montello

Executive Director

Maxine Montello joined New York Marine Rescue Center in 2017, initially as the Rescue Program Supervisor and was promoted to Director in 2018. As the Rescue Program Director, she oversees and leads rescue missions and rehabilitation efforts of sick and injured pinnipeds, small cetaceans and sea turtles.  During her time with NYMRC, Maxine has helped developed critical care methods for sea turtles and pinnipeds and has increased in-house research, which includes cold stun critical care and response efforts, investigation of human interaction cases, and satellite tracking of rehab candidates.

For Maxine Montello, the preservation and conservation of marine species has always been the central theme in her career. Maxine brings a unique background in both wild and captive marine mammal and sea turtle experience. Originally working in the Aquarium world, Maxine became very interested in the clinical aspect of animal husbandry and knew she wanted to pursue wildlife rehabilitation.  She received her M.Sc.  from Pace University  in Wildlife Ecology/Environmental Science where her thesis focused on the ecology and distribution  of nesting sea turtles on the island of Barbuda. Maxine continues to work with her colleagues at the Barbuda Ecological Research Group (BERG) on the island studying the local sea turtle population. Having worked with marine mammals and sea turtles for over 10 years locally in New York and Connecticut, as well as internationally with the sea turtle population in the Caribbean, Maxine is well-versed in the issues that critically affect these species.

Her research has been presented at various conferences, workshops and consortiums nationally and internationally. She recently served as the Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Specialist on the Long Island Sound Ecological Expect Panel for the Long Island Sound Blue Plan and helped identify Ecologically Significant Areas (ESA) for endangered sea turtles and other protected species.  Maxine is also a featured and contributing author to the State of the World’s Sea Turtles (SWOT) yearly reports.