Building the Smithsonian's Sant Ocean Hall―like any major exhibition―was a major undertaking. Over the course of five years, it required hundreds of people with a vast array of skills and backgrounds. Many of these people worked on one aspect of the exhibit, such as the whale model, the fabrication, or the writing.

Dr. Michael Vecchione is a zoologist, who represented the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on the Core Team. Because of his background in Biological Oceanography, he brought a broad oceanographic perspective to the team.