NOAA Office of Program Planning and Integration

Patricia Montanio

Patricia A. Montanio
Assistant Administrator
Office of Program Planning and Integration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
tel. 301-713-3318
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Pat Montanio came to the Office of Program Planning and Integration from her last assignment as the Director of the Office of Habitat Conservation. Pat was the Director since March of 2006 where she oversaw the conservation, protection, and restoration of oceanic, coastal, estuarine, and riverine habitats vital to our nation’s marine fisheries. She was Manager of the NOAA Habitat Program and a member of the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program’s senior management council.

Pat has served NOAA for over 20 years and over the time has also held the position of Chief of the Office of Response and Restoration’s Damage Assessment Center in the National Ocean Service. There she was involved in implementing the natural resource damage provisions of the Oil Pollution Act and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (Superfund) for NOAA. Prior to that, she served as Deputy Director of the Office of Response and Restoration. In both positions, she advanced the protection and restoration of coastal resources by developing improved strategies and partnerships, provided scientific guidance to federal, state and local agencies on oil and chemical spills and waste site clean-up decisions and promoted the restoration of natural resources affected by hazardous materials.

Prior to her stint in NOS, Pat was the Deputy Director of the NMFS Office of Protected Resources. There she directed programs for the conservation of marine mammals, endangered and threatened species, and other species of concern. She led agency efforts to develop new approaches to improve the implementation of the Endangered Species Act, as well as a legislative proposal under the Marine Mammal Protection Act establishing a new model for managing interactions between marine mammals and commercial fishing.