Adena Leibman

Adena Leibman JD ’13 joined the Biden-Harris administration in late February 2022 as a senior advisor to the under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere, who is the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Previously, Leibman was a senior manager for federal affairs at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where she led the oceans and wild-caught fisheries national policy work. Before that, Leibman worked for U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) as his lead ocean and coastal policy staffer and appropriations manager. She oversaw the development and passage of the bipartisan Save Our Seas and Save Our Seas 2.0 Acts, which address marine debris and plastic pollution; creation and initial funding of the National Coastal Resilience Fund; and drafting and introduction of the BLUE GLOBE Act, an ocean data and exploration bill. Earlier, Leibman served as plastics initiative manager and staff attorney with Ocean Conservancy, clerked with the U.S. Department of Justice and Bonneville Power Administration during law school, and started her career in policy as a NOAA Sea Grant Knauss Legislative Fellow. She holds a BS and an MS in marine science from the University of South Carolina.