The Tampa Bay Estuary Program's Policy Board has chosen longtime Program scientist Holly Greening to succeed retiring director Dick Eckenrod at the helm of the Estuary Program.

Greening will take over from Eckenrod, who has run TBEP since its inception in 1990, in early 2008.

The board chose Greening, Science Director for TBEP, over two other finalists for the job: Theresa Bert, senior research scientist at the state Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, and Charles Jacoby, a research scientist and teacher with the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences in Gainesville.

Greening has a master's degree in marine biology from Florida State University. She was the first person Eckenrod hired in 1991. She has served on the Governing Board of the Estuarine Research Federation, and three recent National Research Council Committees on coastal issues, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Ocean Studies Board.

She takes over a staff of 7 with an annual operating budget of $877,000. The Estuary Program is a federal-local partnership that coordinates implementation of a comprehensive management plan to restore Tampa Bay.