Nancy J. Wheatley

As senior vice president of safety and environment for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., and chair of the company's safety board, Nancy J. Wheatley's primary responsibilities are operational and environmental safety.

Wheatley oversees development and implementation of all corporate environmental strategy and activities for Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises. She also supervises current environmental and safety operations and capital programs.

Since Wheatley's arrival in 1998, the company's environmental and safety policies have consistently exceeded compliance regulations mandated by federal and international maritime authorities. She has enforced the lines' rigid new environmental programs, which have guaranteed that Royal Caribbean International's and Celebrity Cruises' combined fleet of 16 ships operate at the highest standards and are environmentally responsible.

In an era of heightened environmental awareness, Wheatley has become a valuable addition to Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. She joined the cruise company from the County Sanitation Districts of Orange County, Calif. As director of technical services there, Wheatley's department conducted ocean monitoring and managed regulatory compliance for federal and state Clean Water and Clean Air acts, beneficial reuse of biosolids, and control of industrial and other toxic discharges.

Previously, as director of technical support for the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority in Boston, Wheatley helped develop policy and special projects, such as a wastewater and residual emergency disposal program for federal court approval.

A member of the Hawaii and Massachusetts bars, Wheatley practiced law in the field of public utility rates and economic and environmental regulatory policy, and served as deputy general counsel to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Quality Engineering. She is vice chair of the government affairs committee of the Water Environment Federation, and served on the Florida Governor's Ocean Committee, as well as the American Bar Association's natural resources, energy and environmental law section.

In 1996, she was awarded the National Performance Review "Hammer" from Vice President Al Gore for her contributions to better government, and, in 1997, Wheatley received the California Poppy Award from the California Department of Parks and Recreation for her advocacy of solutions to beach pollution in state parks. She is a member of the board of the Miami Museum of Science and the Gables Stage at the historic Biltmore in Coral Gables.

Wheatley holds a bachelor of science degree in oceanography and geology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and graduated cum laude from Suffolk University Law School in Boston.