SAVE OUR KEY DEER
BOARD AND OFFICERS

Valerie Preziosi (President and Secretary)

Valerie Preziosi is a recently retired Critical Care RN originally from New York. She worked for 35 years in: the Veterans Administration Hospital, and the Scripps and Sharp Health Care Systems in San Diego, CA. She and her husband, Jan Svejkovsky are avid adventure travelers and found BPK while testing a new ocean-worthy folding kayak. They love the natural beauty of the Keys, but especially fell in love with the unique Key deer so moved to BPK full time in 2015. They’ve been deeply involved with Key deer issues since their arrival. Val and Jan have extensive wildlife rehab experience caring for orphaned or injured birds and small (and large) mammals. Val is deeply honored to serve as president and secretary on the SOKD Board of Directors and greatly looks forward to doing all she can to advocate on behalf of the deserving and precious Key deer.

Dr. Jan Svejkovsky (Treasurer)

 Jan Svejkovsky emigrated to the US from Czechoslovakia as a teenager. He has a BS in Biology from Brown University and a PhD in Biological Oceanography from The Scripps Institution of Oceanography. While in graduate school, he founded Ocean Imaging Corp. (OI). Initially OI specialized in satellite data processing for fisheries applications, then expanded to satellite and aerial sensor data collection and analysis for a wide range of environmental monitoring applications (see http://www.oceani.com). OI’s remote sensing technology has won several federal and industry awards, and the company continues to conduct applied research through federal and corporate funding. Svejkovsky has served on advisory committees for NASA, NOAA and the National Academy of Sciences, and is a regular reviewer for several scientific journals. Along with his wife Valerie, he enjoys mounting adventure backpacking expeditions to remote locations that have included several Arctic trips, and jungle treks in the Solomon Islands, Micronesia and Central America.

Deb Wahl (Director)

Deb has been on Big Pine Key for more than 20 years. By trade she is a chemist and currently a successful Entrepreneur. She feels love alone for the deer is not enough – we need a well oiled machine to protect, educate, raise funds and expand habitat for our endangered Key Deer.

Dr. Jennifer Warren (Advisor to the Board)

Jennifer Warren, MD is the Co-Founder and Medical Director of Physicians Healthy Weight Center in New Hampshire. She lives part time in Marathon, Fl. and is interested in working in both the micro and macro level for preservation of the natural world. Jennifer believes it is our responsibility as humans to clean up what we have damaged, and to try to save individual members of species, while simultaneously working on larger issues of climate change, ocean acidification, and future sustainable life on this planet.