Prior to her appointment at Climos, Inc., Margaret Leinen was Assistant Director for Geosciences at the National Science Foundation. She also served as the Co-Chair of the Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Science and Technology, the federal interagency committee that coordinates ocean science among the participating federal agencies and she served as Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on Global Change/Climate Change Science Program, the federal interagency committee that coordinates global change science among the participating federal agencies.

Before serving at NSF, Leinen was Dean, Graduate School of Oceanography and Vice Provost for Marine and Environmental Programs at the University of Rhode Island. She was also Acting Dean, College of the Environment and Life Sciences.

Leinen is past president of The Oceanography Society. She served on the Board of Governors of the Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc., on the Board of Directors of the Bermuda Biological Station for Research and on and the Ocean Research Advisory Council. Leinen also served as the Vice Chair of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme and on the Board on Global Change of the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Geological Society of America.

Leinen received her B.S. degree (1969) in Geology from the University of Illinois; M.S. (1975) in Geological Oceanography from Oregon State University; and Ph.D. (1980) in Geological Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island.