Jan Mees (°1964) is the general director of the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) in Ostend since its establishment in 1999. He is trained as a marine biologist (MSc Zoology, MSc Environmental Sanitation, PhD Biology) at Ghent University, where he is part-time professor and has been teaching courses on data analysis, statistics, coastal ecosystems and fisheries. An experienced marine ecologist and taxonomist - contributing a.o. to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) that is hosted at his institute - he is the author of more than 100 scientific publications, most in international journals with peer review. Jan Mees represents his institute and the Flemish government in several European and global oceanography and marine biodiversity networks, e.g. IOC/UNESCO, MARS and EurOcean. He was Chair of the European Marine Board from 2014 to 2019 and is currently Co-chair of the Editorial Board of the Global Ocean Science Report 2020. Jan has served on the WoRMS Steering Committee since 2013 and was Vice-chair in 2013-2016.