Nicki Rosenfeld
Director of Vessel Operations and Programs
The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk
Nicki Rosenfeld serves as director of vessel operations and programs at the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk in Connecticut. She has been with the aquarium for nearly 15 years, rising from a staff educator to a manager, then an associate director, and now a director and member of the senior leadership team.
During her time at the Maritime Aquarium, Rosenfeld has “constantly challenged herself to take on more responsibility and create innovative education programs for the 60,000 students and children who participate in its programs”, said one person who nominated her.
Among her achievements at the Maritime Aquarium, Rosenfeld contributed to the aquarium’s on-the-water educational and public programming on its research vessel, the R/V Oceanic. She designed the programming offered on the vessel and served as crew, and then obtained her captain’s license to serve as senior captain. In recent years, she led the aquarium’s first all-female crew on an expedition.
In addition, Rosenfeld volunteered to co-chair the aquarium’s green team, an interdepartmental team exploring more sustainable and carbon-neutral alternatives to its traditional operations. With a climate commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2035, Rosenfeld is co-leading an aggressive effort by the aquarium.
In addition to her lead on re-powering the aquarium’s signature vessel, Rosenfeld is involved in the greening of its fleet of cars and vans, reducing energy consumption through solar panels and CHP, sourcing supplies for animal feed, and administrative needs.
“Nicki is a model for the education professionals in the AZA community… and she is positioning herself as a leading expert in sustainability,” the nominator added.