Catharine Robinson

More Information Coming Soon!

Ed Westergaard

An outdoor enthusiast from an early age, Ed decided to pursue a degree in geology when he discovered it would require long periods of time camping, traveling to remote locales, and exploring. Through the years Ed has continued to combine work and play by obtaining assignments in places like Alaska and Scotland and doing fieldwork on five continents.

Ed have a Bachelors and Masters of Science degree in geology and is a certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) with a wilderness upgrade. He volunteers as an EMT with Highland Rescue Team in Colorado and has been pursuing further education in disaster management and response, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Weapons of Mass Destruction first responders course for nuclear events (!) and the American Medical Association's Basic Disaster Life Saving course for mass causalty events. 

Ed heads up Sentinel Consulting in the US and provides training in remote first aid and outdoor leadership as well as support to field leaders with field planning, risk assessments and emergency response planning. On the ground I also specialize in logistical support, geological training, HSE advice and emergency response for groups in the field.

Ed has recently started to explore a remote a 120 km by 65 km area of Utah called the San Rafael Swell. His intent is to string together a couple of traverses across this rugged and mostly waterless feature while learning about its geology and archeology, as well as documenting its spectacular scenery.

Dr Matt Ladbrook, TD BSc MBChB PhD MRCGP DRCOG FAWM

Matt's interest in remote medicine began whilst working as a mountain leader on overseas expeditions.  He has over a decade of experience planning, leading, participating in and supporting remote expeditions all over the world.  This includes living, working and providing care in arctic, desert, jungle and high altitude environments.

Matt provides medical support to 50 expeditions annually and is the Chief Medical Officer of the Earthwatch Institute.  He also works as a freelance medical advisor and trainer.

Matt is a qualified Wilderness Physician and Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine.  He is a member of faculty of the Wilderness Emergency Medical Services Institute-International (a not-for-profit group of volunteer trainers).  Through WEMSI-International, Matt helps to provide advanced training in wilderness medicine to expedition medics and fellow doctors.

Matt served as an officer in the Territorial Army for 16 years and earned his Commando beret.

Matt combines his interest in remote medical care with a career as a general practitioner.  He lives in Berkshire with his wife and daughter.

Naomi Roberts

Originally a Veterinary Surgeon, Naomi switched to 2-legged medicine through her work as a mountaineering instructor and guide. In wilderness medicine I saw a way to combine my love of medicine with my love of remote mountainous areas. In the past I have run my own trekking company and training organisation.

Naomi is a qualified veterinary surgeon, and has a masters degree in social psychology. She is a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician and International and Winter Mountain Leader. Naomi is currently studying for a postgraduate diploma in infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Naomi works for Sentinel Cobnsulting and provides medical consultancy and training for life and work in remote areas. This covers all aspects of Health Policy, First Aid, Safety Systems and Incident Management. She is particularly interested in trainer training and quality assurance.

Naomi has got war stories from climbing mountains on seven continents and some very tall tales of surviving a South Atlantic storm. She can also provide animal behaviour counselling for owners (or their pets) and has recently discovered that the same techniques work on toddlers!

Joe Riley

More Info coming soon!

Mick Merry

Mick joined Equip Me in early 2011 after spending longer than he cares to remember with the Civil Service.  He first discovered his love of the outdoors whilst in the scouts and venture scouts, and now spends a lot of his spare time combining his fondness for rambling with investigating historic buildings and landscapes.

Despite having given up playing rugby years ago, in winter months he can also often be found on a touchline somewhere offering unsolicited advice of questionable value.

Mick is responsible for making sure that all of our rental operations run smoothly from the initial enquiries to the maintenance and packing of kit.

Elaine Brown

Elaine's career began with a spell in the RAF as a photographer although the majority of her time was taken up by her athletics. As a competing track athlete Elaine experienced success and inspiration later becoming an athletics coach working with inner city youths in Manchester. Through this work Elaine became a passionate supporter of Manchester's bid for the 2000 Olympics. The air force career as a photographer did have it's own impact however and Elaine continued to earn a living as a photographer and later as an Operations Manager of a fleet of photographers for several national companies.

Elaine's career progressed into Key Accounts Management and sales for Fuji Film UK after she earned her degree in Psychology at Manchester University. This promotion also saw Elaine relocate south to the beautiful Wiltshire borders where she still lives today . A high flying corporate career came with pressures, however, and inadvertently introduced Elqaine to Rock Climbing as a form of stress relief! The sport soon became her passion and a momentous decision was made to leave the trappings of a corporate life and to focus once again on developing youths through sport, this time using outdoor education as a medium.

This decision was made eight years ago and Elaine has been a lively and positive facilitator in many different youth settings since. She is equally at home in a class room or lecture theatre delivering learning models or in the forest delivering survival skills.

Elaine's newest appointment ia as trainer liaison with the Wilderness Expertise team. This role will see her supporting the professional development of the freelance trainers who work at the coal face of Wilderness Expertise; but will by no means see her reducing her participation in youth development programmes.

Denise Gray

More info coming soon!

Steve Gray

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Antonia Cook

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Rob Wallbank

Rob started with Wilderness Expertise in mid September 2011 as an Overseas Expedition Manager.

In the past ten years he has worked in the UK as an intensive youth worker, and overseas managing youth outdoor activity provision in large hotels across the Mediterranean and beyond, as well as being fortunate enough to supplement this experience with various independent worldwide travels.

Upon return to the UK from a spell living in New Zealand in late 2010, he set to work to tie the main threads of his professional and personal experience together. A year later, after much searching the process was complete after discovering Wilderness Expertise during the summer of 2011.

Rob is looking forward to working with the schools, leaders and destinations to make all future expeditions a great success.

Chris Schenk

If you call the Training Expertise office you are likely to speak to Chris who deals mainly with the course coordination, logistics and pretty much everything else that keeps th company running smoothly!

Chris comes from a tourism/hospitality background and has a National Diploma in Tourism Management as well as a qualification in Events Organising.

His love for the outdoors stems from his childhood in South Africa and in particular his university internship in the mountains, where he worked for a mountain bush camp. Chris has also worked as a medic for a private ambulance and is thus able to link his passion for the outdoors with his medical understanding.  In his spare time he plays touch rugby in a local league, enjoys watching motorsport and rugby as well as exploring the countryside. 

Kevin Mann

More Information Coming Soon!

Jon Parry

Jon comes from a background of managing youth development companies as well as a previous life in the financial industry in the City!  He graduated from University College London in 1997 with a B.Sc (Hons) degree in Biology and has developed a passion for personal development ever since.  In his spare time he runs Mountain Marathons, trains to keep fit, paints from time to time and plays drums in rock band.  He lives in Hampshire with his wife and two young children.

Jo Payne

Jo joined the team in August 2010 as Expedition Manager. Her career in the travel industry began when she took off to Nepal after rebelling against holidays to Weston-Super-Mare! Jo's passion for travel and the outdoors led her to study a BA (Hons) in Adventure Tourism Management, which opened the door to leading expeditions and tours across the globe, bridging all ages and just about every environment. More recently her professional interest in development projects resulted in Jo managing and co-coordinating the launch of a mobile library service for children in Zambia, where she worked on joint projects with US Aid and UNHCR. Jo is building on her experience of development issues by studying an MSc in Development Management, which she hopes will be put to good use through the many projects and partnerships that Wind Sand & Stars are associated with.

Fay Cox

Fay is Director of Operations and responsible for overseeing all of our Sinai journeys. Her background is in personal development expeditions, having spent many years running expeditions for school groups worldwide, with a particular responsibility establishing project partnerships and ensuring smooth operations in-country. Prior to this she spent several years working at the Royal Geographical Society's Expedition Advisory Centre (now Geography Outdoors), coordinating training on a range of subjects from funding and logistics to health and safety, environmental issues and field research techniques. Her childhood experiences living in Oman and Qatar gave her a taste for travel and a love of deserts. She has travelled widely in the Middle East, Africa and further afield.

Sean Day

After studying Sport and Physical Education at university Sean saved enough money to go travelling in 2010. Flying into India the trip began with a massive culture shock and this continued as he travelled overland through Nepal, Tibet and China. From here he headed to Oz and New Zealand where he explored mountains, glaciers, volcanic geysers and national trails. The final leg of the trip saw him travel the length of South Africa and finish the adventure in the spectacular city of Cape Town. On his return to the UK he had no idea what to do with himself but after months of reflection and research he came across WE and hasn't looked back!

As an apprentice Sean supports the rest of the overseas team whilst learning about the role of an Expedition Manager and working towards valuable qualifications in the outdoor industry. He is always up for a challenge and on his days off can usually be found up in the mountains, out on his bike or at the local rugby club. In the future he hopes to embark on many more adventures and top of his list are to climb Mount Kenya, journey through Russia on the trans-Siberian railway and explore South America.

Carl Blunden

More info coming soon!

Isaac Hernandez

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Christine Cooper

Chris joined Provident Life in 1973 for what she believed to be a stopgap. 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. Be nice to her – she pays all our bills!

Georgia Yurkwich-Spink

Georgia joined WE as an Expedition Manager in 2007 and was promoted to Senior Expedition Manager in September 2011. Originally (and proudly!) from Whitby in North Yorkshire, she defected to the south due to a job in the bar industry. When working late nights and weekends became more pain than pleasure, she took the not too distant leap into the wine sales industry. Whilst in this role, Georgia was able to pursue her interest in water sports and joined a local Dragon Boat Team. One year later she was representing Great Britain and had become a World Champion! This radical life-changing moment made Georgia re-think what she wanted from her work life and so she went back to university to study Sports Leadership.

This led to Georgia discovering Wilderness Expertise and she spent a hectic summer in 2006 getting to know the company. It wasn't long before she'd worked her way in permanently and is now a very happy member of the team.

Georgia has been lucky enough to travel to several countries, including Mexico, Hong Kong, China, Australia, Indonesia, Venezuela, Morocco, numerous places in Europe and now thanks to her role at WE has finally been to Africa which she totally loves and is itching to explore more of. Uganda was her favourite and Ethiopia is her next goal!

Georgia is passionate about travel and sport and knows only too well about the fulfilment, excitement and challenges that both can provide. She hopes to venture to yet more new places whilst on board at WE and continues to be passionate about sport- although after 4 years representing GB she has hung up her paddle and turned her hand to Touch Rugby!

Kim Hurley

Kim joined us in 2010 after emigrating from Zambia. He was born and bred on a tobacco farm in Zimbabwe, is the father of 3 and has a passion for nature and the outdoors. After the evacuation of farms in Zimbabwe, Kim worked in Resource Management in Harare and Johannesburg and managed an estate in Zambia.

Kim brings his African passion with him and loves fishing, white water rafting, canoeing and photography. He now lives in the picturesque countryside of Berkshire and enjoys long country walks where he can get to know the different bird calls, flora and fauna of the UK. Somewhat different to Africa but great none the less!

Kim is responsible for the smooth running of the warehouse including health and safety and logistics. Kim also looks after the company vehicles and other facilities for the Expertise Consultancy Group companies.

Mark House

Mark's love of the outdoors started at a young age through Scouts, Army Cadets and any other way he could find to spend time away from home and in the outdoors. Since these early days Mark has tried most outdoor activities but has a particular passion for hill walking and canoeing.

During his time at university in the Lake District Mark worked in an Outdoor Clothing and Equipment shop where he developed a passion for gear. Mark followed this career path after graduation to spent five years working for an outdoor Clothing and Equipment manufacturer; firstly in the overseas buying department and then as a sales rep.

Mark heads up Equip Me as well as working on web marketing across the Expertise Consultancy Group companies. When he's not in the office and there's no rugby matches to watch Mark can generally be found somewhere in the mountains whether they are in the UK or abroad.

Justin Tarrant

Justin joined WE in November 2008 and manages the UK programmes. Justin's previous life saw him running an electrical engineering company, and in a bid to escape the office took on a number of outdoor qualifications including his summer Mountain Leader Award, Single Pitch Award and NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). He used these skills to form an outdoor activity development company, and then made the move to Wilderness Expertise. Justin has yet to expand his travel wings to the wider globe, but spends lots of time hill-walking, climbing, mountain biking and generally getting muddy in the UK.

Peter Harvey

Peter is passionate about youth expeditions and a believer in the personal development benefits of outdoor education. In 1995 he set up Wilderness Expertise and has been involved ever since. His expertise in remote travel has led him to working with a number of different companies e.g. BP, Rio Tinto, EarthWatch and the Royal Geographical Society.

His work in the youth expedition industry has involved founding the Expedition Providers Association and supporting the Young Explorers' Trust. He was also part of the technical committee for the British Standard for overseas expeditions (BS 8848) and is currently co-chair of the ISO for Adventure Tourism.

Peter is a qualified mountaineer and has run personal development expeditions for young adults all over the world.

Peter has also worked as a remote medical practitioner and still gets out on adventure races when he can. Peter lives in Catterick with his wife Claudia, Son Edward and dog Talisker, when he is not off traveling!

Richard Mayon-White

Richard has many years experience in developing companies and managing teams, in both large organisations and smaller companies. Prior to joining the Expertise Group, Richard managed the operations of a national sailing school on the South Coast of England. His role within the Expertise Group is as overall business manager working across all the satellite units of the Group.

In his spare time Richard has travelled extensively, including climbing Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua. A commercially endorsed RYA Yachtmaster, he has skippered yachts in the Fastnet Race and Three Peaks Yacht Race. He now concentrates his efforts on triathlon and offshore yacht racing and in early 2006, he rowed across the Atlantic with his fiancee setting a record time for a couple in the race.