Title: Trustee and Executive Director
Company: The Nicholas Endowment
Location: Irvine, California, United States
Daniel T. Stetson, the executive director at The Nicholas Endowment, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Executives for dedication, achievements, and leadership in the nonprofit sector.
Since 2016, Mr. Stetson has distinguished himself as a trustee and the executive director of The Nicholas Endowment, a private foundation that seeks to support organizations and individuals in reaching their full potential, be it in the performing and visual arts, in the advancement of science and education, or in civic service. In his role, Mr. Stetson coordinates with various nonprofits in underwriting costs and providing funding for their operations, as well as in setting strategy and ascertaining individual responsibilities.
Previously, Mr. Stetson found success for more than two decades as a member of the Ocean Institute, an ocean education organization that offers marine science and maritime history education for students and their teachers. Having joined in 1992, he rose to become the president and chief executive officer of the organization in 2005, and remained active in this role until his retirement in 2015. During this time, the Institute was hailed for the quality of its educational facilities and programs, and it received several accolades, including the Inaugural Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence and two awards from the National Science Foundation.
Prior to his role at the Ocean Institute, Mr. Stetson worked as a consultant regarding an oil spill incident on behalf of Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro from 1991 to 1992. In this role, he handled the compensation process for over 2,000 claimants for the largest oil spill in the history of Los Angeles Harbor. He also served as a member of the U.S. Coast Guard, through which he traveled overseas to Portugal during the 1970s.
After attending the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center in Yorktown, Virginia, Mr. Stetson studied at the University of California Santa Barbara, where he received a bachelor’s degree in English in 1977. Decades later, he attained an MBA from California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), in 2002. In 2007, he was recognized as one of the top 100 alumni at the CSUF College of Business and Economics’ 50th Year Anniversary Celebration. In accounting for his overall success, Mr. Stetson largely credits the influence of his mentors, as well as the lessons instilled in him by his parents, who always taught him to be the first to volunteer and to be the last to leave when a project is finished.
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