Daniel Thorne

Director
London, United Kingdom

Born in New York, educated in New Hampshire and Berkeley California, in his adult years Dan has lived in Galveston, Texas, Sunapee, New Hampshire, Islesboro, Maine, San Francisco, California, New York, London and Portugal. 

Dan is a founder and remains an active member of the Board of Directors of Hamilton Thorne Ltd. a publicly traded leading biotech company in Boston specializing in creating the state of the art tools needed for assisted reproduction and research in the human fertility field

A lifelong conservationist he is founder and Chairman of the International Wildlife Trust dedicated to bringing to justice organized criminal networks responsible for the international wildlife trade. He served on the boards of WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society and for 20 years on the board of the Dian Fossey International Gorilla Fund.

He is also a dedicated preservationist. In the past he has served as Vice-Chair of the National Trust for Historic Preservation where he remains as a Trustee Emeritus, Vice-Chair of the South Street Seaport Museum, and for 12 years as Chairman of the Global Heritage Fund. He is President of the US organization supporting the preservation of the Tudpr warship the Mary Rose in Portsmouth, England.

In 1988, being an avid off-shore sailor, he visited the Azores and witnessed the beautiful sailing vessels deteriorating on the shore that until 1984 were used there to hunt sperm whales, and resolved to set an example by restoring one.  Ultimately at his instigation apprentices were found to work with the last living master boatbuilder to build the first new whaleboat since 1945, the BELA VISTA. He documented the process by employing a well-known French watercolorist to paint each step, required the lead apprentice to keep a daily diary, and for a local maritime preservationist in the US to write the historical perspective. Subsequently he arranged to amalgamate these elements and had a US publisher publish the resulting book “Twice ‘Round the Loggerhead”. When the boat was finished it radically changed the attitude towards these boats. The focus changed from melancholic longing for whaling to return to inter-community boat racing. Every village in the Western and Central Azores wanted one. Since that time more than 30 new boats have been built. Instead of being a macho whaler-only activity there are now annual regattas, with women crews as well as the old whalers. It is a major tourist draw for the islands and he has been told it is perhaps the most impactful project that has been executed in the Azores. A documentary has been filmed of this story and is awaiting post-production work. The boat was subsequently donated to The New Bedford Whaling Museum and the Azorean Maritime Heritage Society.

He is currently working to help to establish a National Trust for Portugal.