Dave Pittenger

My work focus has shifted a bit in the last couple of years from the environment to advocating for those who face addiction issues and most recently discrimination by virtue of being a member of the LGBT community. I am the volunteer President of the Tuerk House and the Interim Executive Director of the Free State Legal Project.

From March 2012 until February 2013, I was the Director, Trash Free Seas at Ocean Conservancy. This program grew out of the International Coastal Cleanup, which is conducted around the world each fall and involves about 500,000 people in the world’s largest volunteer effort for ocean health.

I began working at the National Aquarium in 1979, two years before it opened, as its Director of Education. In 1995, I became Executive Director.

In addition to Tuerk House, I am involved in a variety of community and business organizations, including Blue Water Baltimore, the Healthy Harbor Initative (a program of the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore) and the Social Venture Network.

Before the National Aquarium, I was the Executive Director of the Gulf of Maine Aquarium, a seasonal park ranger in Everglades National Park and a teacher/naturalist at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.

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