John Bullard

New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States

John Bullard is President of the Sea Education Association (SEA) in Woods Hole, Mass. SEA teaches college students and others about the oceans with a 12-week SEA Semester. Students spend six weeks on campus learning Oceanography, Nautical Science, and Maritime Studies. Then they board one of two 135’ tall ships for 6 weeks. There they sail about 3500 miles in the Atlantic or Pacific while doing scientific research. The title of Bullard’s presentation – “Global Warming: What’s going on here? What do I do about it?” – is taken from the two questions he asks students to keep in mind while at sea. You can find out about SEA at www.sea.edu.

From 1986 to 1992, John was mayor of the City of New Bedford. During his three terms he introduced community policing, recycling, AIDS prevention, and other programs. He also brought the city into compliance with the Clean Water Act by planning and financing a secondary wastewater treatment plant. Fierce neighborhood opposition to the siting of the plant cost him re-election. He lost by 390 votes – the price of clean water. In his service to New Bedford, John also led the revitalization of the waterfront historic district from 1974 to 1986. The area surrounding the Whaling Museum is now a National Historic Park and continues to serve the working waterfront. He also worked for the fishing industry as they faced the crisis of depleted stocks.

That work led him to Washington, where he joined the Clinton/Gore administration in 1993. As head of the first federal Office of Sustainable Development (located in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), John developed programs to assist fishing families in New England, the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Northwest, and Alaska. He also worked on the President’s Council on Sustainable Development developing policies to unite the goals of economic opportunity, environmental health, and social equity. John’s work on sustainable communities led him back home in 1998 after completing a fellowship at Harvard’s Institute of Politics.

John earned his Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude at Harvard in 1969. He received both a Master of Architecture and a Master of City Planning from M.I.T. in 1974. He has lectured and written widely and received numerous awards, including an Honorary Master of Public Service from UMass Dartmouth. John is active in many local organizations. He chairs the Strategic Planning Group of the Massachusetts Ocean Partnership Fund and the Southeastern Massachusetts Commuter Rail Task Force and is the immediate past chair of the Coalition for Buzzards Bay. Recently, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick appointed John as a Trustee of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

John has been active in politics since the 1960s. Besides holding office himself, John has worked on state races in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and in national campaigns in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. John and his wife, Laurie, live in a restored house in New Bedford, which has been their home since 1977.

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