Caiti Waks is co-founder and president of Debris Free Oceans, a nonprofit inspiring communities to responsibly manage the lifecycle of plastics and waste as part of a global initiative to eradicate marine debris. An attorney, she is also program and outreach director for the Herbert W. Hoover Foundation, where she creates and manages a wide portfolio of ocean conservation projects in Ohio and south Florida. While at law school, as a legal associate at the University of Florida Conservation Clinic, Waks facilitated the establishment of the Long Island Marine Managed Area in the Bahamas, a current Mission Blue Hope Spot. She specialized in coastal and marine law and policy in law school and earned a BA in ecosystem science and policy.