Prof. Peter Herzig has been Director and CEO of the former Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences IFM-GEOMAR in Kiel, Germany since 2004. As of January 1, 2012 he is Director of GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel. Prof. Herzig also serves as Maritime Coordinator of the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein and was appointed Maritime Ambassador of the European Union in 2007. He is a member of a number of national and international boards and committees and was a Senator of the German Science Foundation DFG from 2005-2011. Professor Herzig is currently President of the international "Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean", and a member of the advisory boards of the National Oceanography Centre in the UK, the Halifax Marine Research Institute in Canada and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). In 2000, Prof. Herzig received the prestigious Leibniz Award of the German Science Foundation (€1.5m) for his research on seafloor hydrothermal systems and associated metal deposits. He is a member of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering and the Saxonian Academy of Sciences. In 2011 he was awarded the Medal of Merit of the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein and appointed to the Fore-sight Committee of Schleswig-Holstein chaired by the Prime Minister. Prof. Herzig is a resource geologist and has participated in numerous oceanographic expeditions in all oceans, several as Chief Scientist. He has experience with deep diving and remotely operated vehicles, and also sailed as scientist and Chief Scientist for the Ocean Drilling Program. Peter Herzig received his Ph.D. in Geology from the Aachen University of Technology in 1986. Following an Alexander von Humboldt Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Toronto, he obtained a Research Associate and Assistant Professorship at Aachen University and was a Visiting Professor at the Geological Survey of Canada. From 1993-2003, Peter Herzig was Full Professor and Chair of Economic Geology and Petrology as well as Head of the Leibniz Laboratory for Applied Marine Research at Freiberg University of Mining and Technology in Germany. He served as Dean of the Faculty for Geosciences, Geo-Engineering and Mining from 1997-1999. Following a Visiting Professorship at Southampton Oceanography Centre in the UK, Peter Herzig became Full Professor at the University of Kiel in 2003.