DAVID CONOVER 

David was born and raised in a New England family with strong ties to the sea and a tradition of active storytelling. He and his two sisters and brother grew up around boats and the mountains, inspired by the adventures of their parents.  David attended Bowdoin College, where he majored in religious studies and describes his collegiate highlight as a sea semester at the Williams College-Mystic Seaport program.  

After college, he worked as a hired yacht captain then completed two transatlantic crossings and five years as an educator at the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Maine. He studied Leadership and received his master’s degree in Education and Moral Development at Harvard School of Education, while producing his first film for National Geographic Explorer, about Outward Bound. While in Cambridge he also met his wife Beverly, as she completed her doctorate work in psychology. In 1994, they moved to Camden, Maine to raise a daughter and a son.

David founded Compass Light Productions, a producer of science, history and expedition/travel films for worldwide broadcasters and clients while Beverly established a private practice. Topic genres include marine science and genetics, maritime history, marine fishing policy, aquaculture, energy, and changing climate. Thirty years -and some 800 films- later, the company has been listed as a “Top 100 Global Production company” by ReelScreen. Highlight series and films include Sunrise Earth (Discovery), Big Picture Earth (CuriosityStream), and Behold the Earth (independent feature doc), and The ReelEarth Collection. 

In 2014/15, David took a “reverse sabbatical,” as the Coastal Studies Scholar at Bowdoin College, where he developed and taught two original courses: Digital Seashore Diaries, and Science to Story. In 2015/16, he founded the Conservation Media Group (CMG), a not-for-profit organization that supports the next generation of filmmaker activists and organizations campaigning for healthier oceans, and a just and fossil-free economy. Significant CMG organizational partners have included the Ocean Recovery Alliance, the Pew Charitable Trust, and 350.org. 

Over the years, David has volunteered as a Board Member at the Penobscot Marine Museum, and as an Advisory Board Member at the Mystic Seaport Museum, Alnoba and the Lewis Family Foundation, and the Ocean Foundation. David and his parents and extended family have also been the volunteer seasonal caretakers at the Curtis Island Lighthouse for the Town of Camden for nearly forty years.