The NACA Governing Council elected Dr Cherdsak Virapat as the next Director General of NACA and he will commence duties in June 2014.Dr Virapat is presently Executive Director of the International Ocean Institute (IOI), where he has worked since May 2008. He previously served as an officer of the Royal Thai Government for 27 years. He worked as a fishery biologist for the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperatives during 1981–2002. He was appointed director of IOI–Thailand Operational Centre by the Office of the Thai Marine Policy and Restoration Committee, Office of the Prime Minister, and worked voluntarily in this position during 2000–2008. He was also chief of the Public Sector Development Group, Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment, during 2003–2005 and chief of International Coordination and assistant executive director of Thailand's National Disaster Warning Center, Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Information & Communication Technology, during 2005–2008.
He holds a BSc in fishery management from Kasetsart University, Thailand; an MSc in fishery science from the University of Helsinki, Finland; and a PhD in fisheries management from Dalhousie University, Canada. While serving in the Royal Thai Government, he obtained the Royal Decorations of the Exalted Order of the White Elephant and the Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand.
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