Chair
Ted Morris is an Eagle Scout who attended a dozen schools due to his military father’s frequent transfers. He graduated from the University of Montana with a Bachelor of Arts, with Honors, in Environmental Biology, and entered the U.S. Air Force as a Distinguished Graduate of the Reserve Officer Training Corps. For the next 20 years, he served as an Air Force pilot and in various command and staff positions.
Following his retirement from the Air Force, he worked as an executive for the Boy Scouts of America, and then as the Manager of the Las Cruces International Airport in New Mexico, during which time he was twice elected to the presidency of the New Mexico Airport Managers’ Association.
Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Ted returned to government service and spent several years abroad supporting combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ted eventually rejoined his family and has spent the time since indulging his various interests, including helping the Chagos Conservation Trust establish the Chagos Marine Protected Area, and as the Chair of the Chagos Conservation Trust U.S. affiliate.
Secretary
Lotte Purkis is a GIS consultant and marine cartographer who has produced maps for tens of thousands of square kilometers of the world’s seabed, including the Chagos Archipelago. Lotte runs her own consultancy, working with clients such as UNDP, IUCN, the Smithsonian Institute, and The Nature Conservancy. Lotte graduated from the University of Southampton, U.K., with a B.Sc. Hons in Oceanography and Chemistry and then went on to earn her M.Sc. in International Development Management from the Open University, U.K., specializing in inter-organizational relations and the wider socio-economic impacts of not-for-profit foundations. Lotte lives with her husband Dr. Sam Purkis in Miami together with their two daughters.
Vice Chair and Treasurer
Dave Snell is the son of Steve Snell, an early CCT member and previous Vice Chair and Treasurer. Like his father he is a retired U.S. Navy officer who has a long connection to the sea. After going to sea for the first five years of his service, he transferred to cryptology, providing signals intelligence support to the nation’s elite special operations community. He is a long-time SCUBA diver who has a deep love for coral reefs and sharks; both he looks forward to seeing every time he dives. Since retirement from the Navy, he worked as a consultant for several large companies before deciding to be an entrepreneur providing information security services to medium and small businesses. He has strong organizational skills.
