NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Society for Freshwater Science
Attn: Andrea Ward, Media Officer
communications@freshwater-science.org | 608-438-6156
freshwater-science.org
Gessner elected President of the Society for Freshwater Science
Marks will serve as Vice-President; Barnett, Reisinger, and Wanderi elected to three-year terms
May 20, 2025 — The Society for Freshwater Science (SFS) today announced that its members have chosen Mark Gessner to serve as SFS President in the Society’s 2025 Leadership Elections.
“I feel honored by the outcome of the election in these turbulent times and look forward to living up to the trust expressed by the membership,” Gessner said.
Mark Gessner is currently department head at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Germany, professor of Applied Freshwater Science at the Technical University of Berlin, and adjunct professor at the Australian Rivers Institute of Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. His research is primarily focused on understanding consequences of global environmental change on the functioning and biodiversity of streams, lakes and wetlands, addressing fundamental questions around how organisms affect ecosystem processes and how environmental context shapes these relationships.
Gessner has been elected to serve a three-year term: as President-Elect in 2025–26, President in 2026–27, and Past President in 2027–28. He has appointed Jane Marks, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Northern Arizona, to serve alongside him as SFS Vice-President.
SFS members have also elected the following individuals to serve three-year terms in leadership roles:
- Zanethia Choice Barnett, Non-Academic Representative — Barnett is a Research Fisheries Biologist with the USDA Forest Service and currently serves as Chair of the SFS Council of Underrepresented Voices.
- AJ Reisinger, Secretary — Reisinger is associate professor in the Department of Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences at the University of Florida, and has been serving as SFS secretary on an interim basis since 2024.
- Elizabeth Wanderi, International Representative — Wanderi is a Fisheries Officer with the Kenya Fisheries Service and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Eldoret, Kenya; she currently serves as the Early Career & Capacity Building Coordinator for the African Chapter of SFS.
The newly elected officers will take office on May 20 at the Society’s annual meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico. For more information, please visit freshwater-science.org.
#####
The Society for Freshwater Science (SFS) is a premier international organization of aquatic scientists. Our members study freshwater organisms, biotic communities, physical processes that affect ecosystem function, linkages between freshwater ecosystems and surrounding landscapes, habitat and water quality assessment, conservation and restoration. SFS fosters the exchange of scientific information among its membership, and with other professional societies, resource managers, policymakers, educators, and the public.