MEET OUR TEAM
President, Captain Jeff Pierce
The president of Safeguard Marine is Captain Jeff Pierce. Captain Pierce is recently retired Alaska state licensed maritime pilot with federal licenses for all Puget Sound waters, South Central and Western Alaska. He has Standards of Training, Certification, and Watch keeping for Seafarers certification as an instructor for basic and advanced Polar Code Operations. He was an Alaskan state pilot for nearly forty years and performed over 8,000 ship movements. He is currently an advanced ship handling instructor, utilizing simulators and manned models with MPI. He has provided expert testimony about maritime navigation and environmental risks to the Alaska State Government.
Vice President, Jonathan Pierce, Ph.D.
The vice president of Safeguard Marine is Jonathan Pierce, Ph.D. Dr. Pierce specializes in designing and conducting qualitative risk assessments. He is also a statistician and can perform a wide range of quantitative analyses, including policy and economic analysis. He has two decades of experience teaching and researching risk, judgment and decision-making, research design, and qualitative and quantitative data analysis. He received a doctorate in Public Affairs specializing in public policy from the School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado Denver. He has taught over 30 courses in public policy and analysis, statistics, quantitative and qualitative research methods and design, program evaluation, and advocacy at the University of the Pacific, Colorado College, the University of Colorado Denver, Seattle University, and Denver University. He has authored over 25 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on various public policy issues.
Research Assistant, Daniella Viso
Daniella Viso supports Safeguard Marine as a contracted Research Assistant. She is a recent summa cum laude graduate of the University of Florida, where she pursued a dual degree program in Statistics (B.A.) and Psychology (B.S.) with an emphasis on Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience. During her undergraduate career, she spent two years conducting addiction research under a behavioral economic lens. Drawing on her background in decision-making and data analytics, she has worked under Dr. Jonathan Pierce since June 2025. As the daughter of a retired harbor pilot, Daniella was exposed to the maritime industry at an early age. Before assuming her role at Safeguard Marine, she worked at a variety of educational and youth-serving nonprofits like the Smithsonian Institution and the YMCA. Outside of work, you can find Daniella escaping to her native Florida to scuba dive.
Pilot Advisor, Captain Peter Garay
Captain Garay is a graduate of Linfield College (BA 1976) and California Maritime Academy (BS 1980). In 1988, he became licensed as an unlimited master mariner. Captain Garay has worked as an unlimited licensed marine pilot in Western Alaska since 1990 and recently retired in 2023. His favorite quote is: “Dry again?” said the crab to the tide pool. Replied the tide pool, “So would you be mister crab if you also had to satisfy the insatiable sea twice a day.”
Environmental Advisor, Nicole Schmitt
Nicole is the Executive Director of Alaska Wildlife Alliance based in Anchorage, Alaska, and has dedicated her professional life to grassroots mobilization and philanthropic administration. Nicole studied geography and international development at the University of Denver in partnership with Peking University in Beijing, China. Nicole has worked in research and grants management for various government agencies and nonprofit organizations—including the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Yosemite National Park, and the Global Greengrants Fund. Nicole was excited to return to Alaska in 2018 to exercise her skills for Alaska’s wildlife, and since then has been recognized as an “outstanding young professional” in Alaska’s 2022 Top Forty Under 40 class. When she’s not in the office, Nicole can be found biking, running, kayaking, or climbing across Alaska with her dog, Riley.