Ed Sobey
Ed Sobey holds a Ph.D. in oceanography and has participated in expeditions to Antarctica and throughout the Pacific Ocean. He has directed five museums, published 21 books, and visited over 60 countries. Ed chairs the Pacific Northwest Chapter and is President of the Northwest Invention Center.
Email: ed.sobey@gmail.com
Lectures: Available to lecture.
Jeanne C. Suchodolski
Jeanne's primary interests are the arctic and the antarctic. She has done expeditions to Greenland, Ellesmere Island, Norway and Churchill, MB. Jeanne is currently serving as the Winter Site Manager at McMurdo Station Antarctica. Jeanne also has a private pilot's license and has been an Amelia Earhardt Research Scholar. When not otherwise occupied at high latitudes, Jeanne works as an attorney.
Email: suchodje@live.com
Lectures: Women pilots, McMurdo Station.
Michele Westmorland
Michele is a professional photographer who specializes in marine life and culture. Her area of interest is Melanesia were her project “Headhunt Revisited” is focused. She has traveled to Papua New Guinea more than 20 times. In addition to her travel to Melanesia, Michele has photographed in Africa, Costa Rica, the Caribbean and Indian Ocean. Her book “Ocean Duets” was published in 2006. Proud to be a fellow of the Explorers Club, Michele is also a fellow in the International League of Conservation Photographers.
Email: photomrw@comcast.net
Lectures: Available to discuss her latest findings from the RAVE in Cozumel for ILCP.
Ron Zuber
Ron Zuber pursues alpine wilderness cave exploration along with academic and professional careers in Landscape Architecture and Arctic Health and Safety Engineering. EC Flag projects include major discoveries and exploration of caves in the American Northern Rocky Mountains. Ron delights in observing his special dream unfold as Adam and Emily Zuber blossom as successful young adults. Each is becoming a top international cave explorer with significant experiences, discoveries and contributions of his and her own.
Email: ronzuber@comcast.net
Lectures: Available to lecture.
Frank Handler
Originally from NYC, Frank now calls Port Townsend home. He considers his time living in Irian Jaya, New Guinea, his greatest adventure but his greatest achievement his two kids, Scott and Kate. Interests include anything dealing with the ecology of our oceans.
Email: frankh2 [at] me [dot] com
Helen Thayer
President Adventure Classroom. Named by National Geographic/National Public Radio as one of the world’s top explorers of the 20th century. First woman to walk alone to the magnetic North Pole. First woman to walk across the Sahara Desert (4,000 miles). First woman to walk across the Gobi Desert (1,600 miles). Honored at the White House by President and First Lady Clinton. Award winning author of three books. Professional photographer. International keynote speaker.
Email: helenthayer@verizon.net
Lectures: Available for lectures to all groups including schools, non-profits and corporations. Motivational programs include professional photography and lecture.
William (Bill) Isherwood, PhD
Joined the EC after two Arctic and three Antarctic seasons doing geophysical studies and exploration. Also worked in areas of geothermal energy, environmental research, and alternative energy systems. A climber and sea kayaker with numerous expeditions. A co-founder of the Rocky Mountain and East Asia sections of the EC and served as Co-Chair, then Chair of Northern California Section. Currently consulting for the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research and teaching summers on the Juneau Icefield Research Program.
Email: billisherwood@earthlink.net
Lectures: Including "Introduction to Gravity," "Geomorphic tour of China," "Future of Fossil Fuels," and "Slowing, Stopping, Reversing Global Warming."
Member Profiles
Lynn Danaher
During the 23 years Capt. Lynn Danaher spent in Alaska, she homesteaded in the bush for 5 years and was a commercial fisherman for 14. Lynn has lectured about Polynesia and Alaska aboard expedition ships from Honolulu to Tahiti, Chile to New Zealand, and down to Antarctica, her 7th continent. Lynn presently splits her time between the San Juan Islands and Kauai, Hawaii.
Email: lynn@islandexplorer.org
Lectures: The Art of Polynesian Tattooing; Polynesia Voyaging; Reef Fish 101; Paul Gauguin: His Life and Art; Raivavae: Lost Island of Polynesia; The Enigma of Easter Island; Commercial Fishing in Alaska, a Lifestyle; Homesteading in Alaska.
Don Walsh, Captain US Navy (ret), PhD
Career naval officer (25 years), submarine captain and deep submersible pilot (#1). BS in engineering science; MA in political science; MS and Ph.D. in physical oceanography. Member, National Academy of Engineering and Honorary President the Explorers Club. Have worked for 50 years in underwater vehicle design, manufacture and operations. World record holder, deepest ocean dive.
Email: imiwalsh@mac.com
W. Benson Harer, Jr., MD
Dr. Ben is a retired physician, a past President of Am College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists. Also retired Adjunct Prof Dept of Art at Calif State Univ San Bernardino. He has been going to Egypt on expeditions almost every year since 1978. He has published extensively in both his fields of interest and is now a frequent lecturer on Egyptology. Most recently about first identification of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in ancient Egypt, a new explanation of King Tut's death, and potential discovery of Queen Teya, who murdered her husband Ramses III.
Email: wbharer@att.net
Dan Mazur
Dan is best known as leader of Greg Mortenson's "Three Cups of Tea" expedition. Also, Dan and his team turned around just below the summit of Mt. Everest to rescue a fallen Australian climber and the story was featured on NBC Dateline.
Email: danielmazur@SummitClimb.com
Lectures: Available December-March and June-August every year. Topics include the story of when Dan climbed Everest as a young man with Anatoli Boukreev and the rescue of Lincoln Hall in May 2006 as featured on NBC.
Erden Eruç
Erden Eruç is a former engineer with masters degrees and an MBA. A long time climber and an athlete, he is currently executing a human powered circumnavigation of the globe by rowing on the oceans, kayaking, bicycling and climbing as necessary. Erden is the president of the nonprofit Around-n-Over, focused on educating and inspiring school children, and on directing charitable resources for primary education in developing communities.
Email: info@around-n-over.org
Lectures: Available depending on geographic location. Priority given to school presentations. Fee based corporate speaking. Topics can be customized for the audience, and may vary; e.g. tall tales of adventure, meeting challenges, goal setting, realizing dreams, career choices, technology applications in expeditions.
Ali Fujino
Ali is the administrator of the Drachen Foundation. A museum specialist since age nineteen when she began work at the Smithsonian Institution, she has long been fascinated with anything that can become airborne. Ali uses kites for kite aerial photography, leading research in the study of whales and mapping Mayan ruins with Oscar Frey. Ali also co-authored the first book on stunt kites.
Email: ali@drachen.org
No photo available
Tamara “TJ” DiCaprio
Tamara DiCaprio is a private pilot, sailor, and diver with several expeditions researching fauna and flora to support sustainable ecosystems. She has flown through Africa and the Americas; and sailed through French Polynesia, Turkey, and West Coast of the Americas. Most recently, she is focused on researching solutions to the impact of increasing population and use of technology (with associated demand for energy) to drive change in cultural behavior and minimize climate change. TJ is currently leading the carbon reduction and renewable energy strategies for Microsoft Corporation, and resides in Bellevue, WA, USA with her golden retriever, Don Diego.
Email: tamaradicaprio@msn.com
Lectures: Driving enterprise wide carbon reduction through efficiencies and renewable energy
