Prof. Dr. Jan Mees, Director of the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) in Belgium, has been elected as the new Chair of the European Marine Board. Professor Mees has represented FWO, the Flemish research funding agency, as a Marine Board delegate since 2001 and served as EMB vice-Chair from 2006 to 2011. Professor Mees represents Flanders on several other international networks including the IOC of UNESCO, POGO, MARS and EurOcean and is also a part-time Professor of Marine Biology at Ghent University. The election of Professor Mees at the EMB plenary meeting on 14 May in Brest has been warmly welcomed by the EMB members and partners across the European marine science community. In his address to the EMB members, Professor Mees committed to work on behalf of the EMB members to reaffirm the EMB’s key role and added value as the primary foresight and strategy network for marine science in Europe. Professor Mees replaces the outgoing EMB chair, Dr. Kostas Nittis, who served for three years. Dr. Nittis’s contribution to the EMB during his tenure was warmly commended by the EMB members.