Cedric Georges: President
Cedric is the founder and President of Kosamare. He is graduate as Ingenior in Environmental Sciences from Louis Pasteur Univerty of Strasbourg Professional Master and a Scuba Diver Instructor. He has participated in conservation programs in Galapagos Island, Mexico, Bolivia, Uruguay before to finally settled in Kefalonia. Cedric first came to Fiskardo in 1999, when he was involved with the Fiskardo Nautical Environmental Club, setting up an Environmental Museum and running education and awareness programs. He set up the Fiskardo Divers Eco-Dive-Resort in 2006 that he still run during the summer month
Spiros Thanasoulas – Administrative Officer
Spiros is a computer security researcher obsessed with all things diving. Above water he is usually working on network measurement and distributed systems problems, performing security assessments. Below the surface he enjoys silently floating in underwater caves and helping new divers discover the beauty of these hidden worlds. He worked for 5 years as a public safety diver with Larimer County Dive Rescue and served for 2 years in amphibious operations with the Hellenic army. His diving qualifications are: NSS/CDS: full cave CCR diver. IANTD: trimix MEG 2,7 diver. PADI: Open Water Scuba Instructor.
Alma Gombert: Co-Director
Alma is a biologist and diver. She started her degree in Rennes University and specialised in marine biology during her last year in Rimouski University in Quebec. Born in a diver’s family and growing up next to the sea, Alma has been a diver since she was 8 years old. She is now a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor and engaged with Kosamare since 2019.
Alex McMaster: Co-director
Alex is a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor and journalist. He studied biology and geography at the University of St Andrews, with specialties in scientific diving and marine biology. His research interests are in landscape and culture, and the use of folklore and traditional knowledge in conservation. Alex has sailed in the Arctic, Atlantic and Southern Oceans, and travelled the length of Africa by bicycle.
Daniel Faget – Researcher
Professor of history at Aix-Marseille University, Daniel Faget was born in Saint-Tropez in 1962. This writer, who is also a professional scientific diver, is a specialist in the history of marine biodiversity and fishing communities in the Mediterranean. Fascinated by the shores of this sea, he discovered Kefalonia more than fifteen years ago, and has since been making regular visits and scientific missions there. He considers this island in the Ionian Sea as a laboratory for observing the effects of global change, but also as a space where the path to sustainable and equitable management of natural resources can be invented today.
Cat Fotherby:
Cat is a Marine Biologist and a diving instructor with PADI, she has been diving since 7 years old and loves the sea and everything in it, when she’s not diving, you can find her surfing. Cat is happiest when teaching diving and conservation.
Dan Green
Dan is freelance commercial diver/supervisor, from the South East of England. He joined the team in 2016 whilst studying marine biology and is now one of our scientific diving instructors, Dan is particularly interested in ecological engineering and sustainable aquaculture projects. Shoreside you can find him seeking out music or the mountains, in the water Dan is as happiest upside down looking for nudibranchia… or up to his armpits airlifting mud.
Dan’s dive experience includes: PADI Scientific Dive Techniques; Marine Conservation & Research and Self-reliant Diver speciality instructor, HSE Surface Supplied Air Diver and Marine & Survival Instructor.
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Nicoletta Kavvadia
Nicoletta is a freelance videographer and photographer. She was born and raised on Kefalonia island and met Cedric when he first came to Kefalonia. She is passionate about her island and the life it surrounds it. She doesn’t know how to dive (YET) but she is eager to help KOSAMARE in anything she can above the water (FOR NOW).
Board of Advisors
As a small organisation, we benefit from the collective knowledge of our experienced board of advisors. The board meets biannually to discuss the work of KOSAMARE, and members are regularly involved in our projects.
Spyros Krotsis
Spyros is actively involved in green event organization and management. President of IASON sailing club, Vice President of International Kiteboarding Association (IKA), is responsible for the Olympic class of Kiteboarding and IKA green agenda. Holds an MSc in Environmental Protection & Waste Management, BMath & BEng. Professional sailor and diver for more than 25 years, has been sailing all his life in the Kefalonian waters.
Julien Pfyffer
Julien has been a journalist, sailor and professional diver for ten years. Through various professional experiences in the press including Paris Match , Le Figaro Magazine , Time Magazine , he was able to measure the impact of the media on the public. It is by practicing navigation and diving during numerous maritime expeditions that he initiated and directed that he realized the little information which the general public can benefit from on the marine environment. He therefore decided to dedicate, through the Octopus Foundation, an important part of his life and his financial resources to improving universal knowledge about the marine world.
Joan Gonzalvo
Joan is the scientific director and project coordinator of the Ionian Dolphin Project, run by Tethys Research Institute. He holds a PhD in Biodiversity from the University of Barcelona. In 1999 he started his collaboration with the Tethys Research Institute, and has been a member of their board of directors since 2007. For over two decades he has spent 1,000+ hours observing dolphin groups in their natural environment in different Mediterranean locations and has designed and executed numerous public awareness campaigns. Since 2020 he has been chair of the European Cetacean Society council.
