ABOUT US
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The TeamThe support team The role of the administration team is to enable the staff on the ground to deliver high quality training which exceeds the client's expectations. We work hard to achieve this and pride ourselves on the level of customer satisfaction and repeat business that we receive. Below we have listed who to contact for different parts of the businesses. Please do contact us if we can be of any help. ECG Team
Outsourcing Manager WE TeamNicola
Conway – Expedition Manager WET TeamAngie McPhilbin
– Youth Enrichment Satellite Business Manager
Steve Fullard - ECG Training Satellite Business Manager ME Team Katie Eves - Medical Expertise Satellite Business Manager Resource TeamAubrey Malcolm-Green - Resources Satellite Business Manager Peter Harvey – Managing Director
Peter is passionate about personal development both for ECG staff and in the work that the companies do. His focus on quality and value has allowed the companies to grow and mature without losing sight of the founding principles. Having left Wellington in 1991 Peter went to Southampton University where he gained a degree in Environmental Science. He is a fully qualified mountaineer and has run personal development expeditions for young adults all over the world. Peter is also a qualified Remote Medical Trainer and works with exploration teams as far afield as Iran and Guinea. His work as a remote medic includes work with the National Park service in Alaska and Mountain Rescue teams. Over the past 5 years Peter has become involved in designing and implementing Health, Safety and Environmental systems for large companies. This combines his training skills with an understanding of simple practical solutions. These skills have been applied to the exploration and expedition industry and he continues to provide support to a number of organisations not least the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), Young Explorers Trust (YET), Small Expedition Providers Association (SEPA), British Schools Exploration Society (BSES), BP and Rio Tinto. In his spare time, Peter is a Major in the TA and works as an assessor at Westbury for the Commissioning Boards. He has seen active duty with 3 Commando Brigade in Kosovo and Iraq. Life is busy having just started an MSc in Psychology at Work and with his training for the Atacama Crossing Marathon in 2006. Peter is kept relatively sane by his wife Claudia and their dog Oban! Richard Mayon-White - Business and Operations Manager
In his spare time he has travelled extensively, climbing Kilimanjaro and Mt Aconcagua as well as trekking to Everest base camp. He has also climbed mountains in Norway, Kenya and Greece. A commercially endorsed RYA Yachtmaster, Richard has both taught sailing and skippered yachts in the Fastnet Race and the Three Peaks Yacht Race. In his spare time, Richard now concentrates his efforts on triathlon events and off-shore yacht racing. In November 2005 Richard, along with his partner Elizabeth, competed in the Trans-Atlantic Rowing Race from La Gomera to Antigua . Forming the Row4Cancer team, they raised funds and awareness for the Sail 4 Cancer charity (he is seen here on the right of the picture rowing against Ed Coode the Olympic Gold Medallist from the Athens Olympics!). They completed the crossing in 60 days, having endured some rather extreme weather! www.row4cancer.com
A New Zealander, Nicky has spent most of her life in the outdoors and is passionate about travel. She graduated from Wellington's Victoria University with degrees in maths and accountancy before taking to the open road.
Nicky has travelled to more than 40 countries and enjoyed many adventures along the way. Prior to joining Wilderness Expertise, she worked for Explore Worldwide (Europe's leading Adventure Travel Company) and has lead over 50 tours in a variety of countries across the globe.
After 3 and a half years "on the road", Nicky took up the post of Operations Manager (Americas) for Explore where her skills and experience were put to good use in training new Leaders and managing existing product.
In her spare time, Nicky loves to trek in the mountains and even spent her honeymoon traversing the Bernese Oberland in the Swiss Alps. Naomi Starling - Expedition Manager
Naomi comes from a background in Expedition Management and has lots of experience within the outdoor industry. She has previously worked as a lecturer and instructor for an adventure sports department at a College of Further Education and came to Wilderness Expertise from XCL, a management development company in Cheshire. Naomi has spent time in Uganda, Guyana, Ghana, India (she loves the country and the Himalaya), Costa Rica and Nicaragua on expedition. She is qualified in a number of outdoor skills and often goes on personal sea kayaking expeditions as well as enjoying walking and has completed the Three Peaks Challenge within 24 hours. Naomi's main focus is on the organisation and logistics of all the overseas trips as well as parent and teacher liaison. Liz Gray – Expedition and Marketing Consultant
Liz then spent several years working for a couple of expedition organizations before landing on ECG's doorstep in April 2002. She has worked part-time for the company since then and her roles include country research, marketing and instructing on UK courses. She has her Mountain Leader (Summer) qualification and has led expeditions for Wilderness Expertise and several other youth development organisations over the last 10 years to destinations all over the globe including Mongolia, China, Malaysia, Ghana, Namibia, Nepal and the Sinai Desert. Liz is the co-founder of the Small Expedition Provider's Association (SEPA) and manages this alongside a voluntary role on the Board of Trustees of the Young Explorer's Trust (YET). In her spare time, Liz works for several event companies as a facilitator on corporate events and is also qualified as a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician. She is still a freelance illustrator and spends some of her time illustrating obscure medical and natural history books as well as working on private commissions. Liz plays the viola with the New Bristol Sinfonia (www.newbristolsinfonia.org.uk); is the 2005 Ladies World Nettle Eating Champion and enjoys taking part in highly inadvisable endurance events. Liz lives in Bath with her paintbrushes and in a house that will never quite be finished! back to topDr Caroline Baugh – Company Doctor
This, and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine, at least partially prepared her for a two year post, working as the Medical Director for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) in Northern Sudan. This entailed the medical management of a large country programme; treating a variety of diseases including Severe Malnutrition, Malaria, Leishmaniasis, Tuberculosis, HIV, and many others. She was responsible for the medical planning and implementation of MSF emergency health and nutrition programme in response to the ongoing crisis in Darfur, the largest ever MSF response. She was also responsible for the health of over 100 international and 1,200 national staff. When not at work, she tries to get as far away from it all as possible, usually either by heading out sailing or by walking up some hill or other. She recently skied over 600 km in the Arctic on an endurance race to the Magnetic North Pole adding to her first hand knowledge of medicine in rather extreme and unusual environments!
Inspired by her first expedition experience in Kenya when she left school, Fay has been involved in the world of expeditions ever since; as team member, leader, trainer and organiser. Whilst reading geography at University College London she led a university team to study wetlands in Malaysia and upon graduating, went to work at the Royal Geographical Society. Based in the Expedition Advisory Centre she ran training courses and events for aspiring expedition planners, and at the same time learned a great deal more about the wider expedition scene from an extraordinary and inspiring array of hardened field scientists and explorers. During this time Fay was a leader on two schools expeditions with BSES Expeditions, to Iceland and India. She went on to organise developmental expeditions for school groups with World Challenge Expeditions. As Expedition Manager she looked after teams travelling to Namibia, Botswana, Borneo, Mexico, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina and then as Head of Research, took on responsibility for overseeing in-country research and pioneering new destinations.
Fay has travelled extensively and has been fortunate to spend time in Arctic Norway, Eastern Turkey (including an ascent of Mt Ararat), Patagonia and Iran, among many others.
Recent challenges have been much closer to home and Fay is now kept out of mischief by daughter Coco.
Angie McPhilbin – Behavioural Educational and Enrichment Programmes Satellite Business Manager Biography and picture coming soon!
Katie Eves – Medical Expertise Business Manager
She then went to Ghana for 3 months with Raleigh International as a staff member, staying out in West Africa after her expedition to work with the Red Cross in Togo. Katie has spent the last year working in London as a Management Consultant and also as an incident manager for World Challenge Expeditions. She joined the Expertise Consultancy Group as Medical Expertise Business Manager in October 2005. Her role includes the planning and running medical training courses and managing the whole business unit. Katie lives in London and plays lacrosse for Putney. She has gained her Summer Mountain Leader Training and when she has some spare time she returns to her family's farming roots and helps out with the lambing season! Paul Evans – Behavioural Education and Enrichment Programmes (Midlands)
Prior to joining the Expertise Consultancy Group Paul spent 3 years as a Team Leader for the Prince's Trust Cymru in North Wales. This involved developing young people into being able to take up employment or further education. He has also spent the last 10 years working part-time for a company called 'Prospects for young People' which is a residential home for young people between the ages of 7-16 with emotional and behavioural problems. Paul's role within ECG is as a trainer working on the BEEP programme with Rivington & Blackrod High School in Bolton. In his spare time he competes in triathlons and Iron-man races across the UK. This year Paul was one of 1800 Iron Men that took part in the first official UK Iron-man race held in Dorset. Paul and his girlfriend have also just bought a vintage VW camper van which will be touring up and down the country in the next few years, so if you see loads of smoke in your street get the kettle on! Jon Parry - UK Short Courses Satellite Business Manager
Jon has come from a background of city business following a degree in Biology from a London University. Having seen the light, he left the office environment to complete an Outdoor education course in Bristol before joining The Expertise Consultancy Group. He is a qualified ML and has led a number of expeditions to various countries including Malawi and Peru. He takes to the Hills when he can in between his new found responsibilties as a father. He claims to be proficient enough to hold a conversation in Spanish as well as designing and constructing a variety of wooden furniture. Christine Cooper – Finance Manager Chris joined Provident Life in 1973, for what she believed to be a stop gap, little was she to know that she was going to spend the next 27 years helping the business evolve and progress. Eventually the time came to make a break and Chris joined the team in 2000 to become the Finance Manager. Chris runs all aspects of Finance for the companies. Aubrey Malcolm-Green – Resources Manager
Once back in real world, he joined World Challenge Expeditions to combine his love of travelling and education. This prompted him to formalise his interest in the developing world and rural communities. The Landy expedition took medical supplies to a clinic, the Doctor of which introduced him to a school in need and The Sabre Charitable Trust ( www.sabretrust.org ) was born. Aubrey left World Challenge Expeditions and developed the organisation which fosters and supports educational and cultural links between schools and communities in Africa and the UK. In addition, Aubrey runs volunteer trips and expeditions to Ghana and throughWest Africa. He has an expedition truck that is used to take volunteers and teaching resources from the UK to a project in Mauritania and one in Ghana. Aubrey has joined the Expertise Consultancy Group to support and develop the resources systems and management. Mark Brazier – Expedition Director and Safety Officer
Mark has led over 25 expeditions in the deserts, mountains and jungles in all but one of the world's continents. He has worked for a number of expedition companies as a freelance leader. Mark's responsibilities include the operational safety of all programmes within the group and in particular the delivery of the overseas, expeditions.Totally committed to the Personal Development process and Outside the Classroom Learning, he is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and a qualified Mentor / Practitioner for the Institute of Outdoor Learning. Mark spends his spare time attempting to keep fit or riding his motorbike, refusing to believe that he is just too old for either!
Since then, Ruth has been freelancing for various outdoor organisations. She has been assistant leader on two youth development expeditions to Nicaragua and China. Ruth has her SPA qualfication, is Summer ML trained, has achieved her REC Level 4 First Aid qualification (working towards her REC Trainer Award), is a PADI Rescue Diver and is gradually working her way up her canoeing qualifications! Ruth works within the ECG hub and spends her time with various parts of the company during the week. She invariably spends 1 day with WE working on overseas expedition planning, runs courses every week for the BEEP programme and also with schools alongside other trainers from the WET team. As with everyone in ECG, Ruth loves travelling and alongside her trips to Europe, Morocco, China, the Via Ferrata and Nicaragua she hopes to explore more of the world in her time with ECG. Ruth lives in Berkshire and her favourite pudding is sticky toffee pudding with custard. Steve Fullard – ECG Training Satellite Business Manager
In '98 Steve was a member of a white water kayaking group expedition to Nepal and immediately fell in love with the rivers and people of this diverse country. In 2000 he returned to set up his own company running white water kayaking courses, for beginners to experts on several of the different rivers of Nepal. On return to the UK in 2004 Steve studied for a PGCE at Kings College London in Science and is now adding to his bag of outdoor qualifications including training to become a mountain leader and climbing instructor. |
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A
graduate of King's College London, Richard has many years
experience of developing companies and managing teams, in
both large organisations and smaller companies. He has a strong
focus on the personal development of individuals within a
company as being the key to effecting long term, sustainable
change. 
Nicola
Conway – Expedition Manager 
Liz
graduated from Middlesex University in 1992 with a First Class
Honours degree in Scientific Illustration and spent several
years working with publishers in the UK and US illustrating
natural history and medical books. Cabin fever eventually
got the better of her, and she joined Raleigh International
as an Expedition Artist. Four years later she came home having
worked on 5 expeditions - Belize, Chile, Uganda (twice) and
Zimbabwe and parts of several other trips in Borneo and Uganda/Kenya.
Caroline qualified as a doctor in 1998 and rapidly developed an interest in emergency and pre-hospital care. She has worked in various hospitals in London, gaining experience in a number of different specialities, from Accident and Emergency to Anaesthetics, Intensive Care, Paediatrics and High Risk Obstetrics. She is ALS, ATLS and APLS qualified.
Katie
studied Anthropology and Politics at Oxford Brookes University,
and followed this by working for Mencap for a couple of years
as a Charity Event Manager. 
Paul
joined the company at the end of August 2005 and got to know
the company through his girlfriend who is a regular trainer
and Expedition Leader for WET and WE. 
Jon joined The Expertise Consultancy Group in September 2002 and
is the UK Short Courses Satellite Business Manager. This means
managing all aspects of the short course Business, liaising
with schools and occasionally training on them to ensure quality
control.
After
leaving school some years ago, Aubrey joined an overland expedition
in Nigeria and there developed a passion for Africa, expedition
vehicles and walking around in flip-flops among other things.
After returning home he taught at Milton Abbey School and
raised enough funds to buy an old Landrover. The reason for
this was to convince several friends to join him in a charitable
trip across the Sahara desert to Ghana delivering medicalsupplies
and library books to a school and clinic. After an eventful
journey down (lots of mechanics thrown in along with a Coup
d'Etat), they spent several weeks basking in the glory of
their achievement. Their glory was short-lived however as
they attempted, once again, to get the engine started for
the journey home. This involved putting the vehicle on a downward
slope - compression was very poor and the rear crank seal
had gone, and it turned out to be a long drive home as there
aren't many downward slopes in the desert! 
Mark Brazier recently left the regular Army in the rank of Major after 25 years service. During this time he gained a huge amount of experience in the outdoors, both with youth groups and adults. He also gained nationally recognised qualifications in Mountaineering and Water Sports. Mark is also qualified as a 
Ruth
left Swansea Institute of Higher Education with an HND (3
years) in Water-Sports and Adventure Activity Management.
During her course she undertook several work placements one
in Austria spending
four months white water rafting and the second saw her spending
4 months in Greece working for a scuba-diving company. After
all these years of study, Ruth took off with a friend of hers
and took part in the LINK charity hitch from Swansea to Morocco. 
After
graduating in Chemistry from Exeter University in '97 Steve
packed his skis and kayak leaving the UK in search of bigger
mountains. He spent the next 7 summer seasons teaching white
water kayaking and canoeing in the French Alps and is now
a Level 4 Kayak Coach. During the winters he worked in Val
D'Isere for 2 seasons and then in Breckenridge, Colorado skiing
up to 6 days a week for 5 months of the year. 
