Dr. Alex Brylske is the author of many diving and marine education programs as well as several books and hundreds of articles. Combining his training as a professional educator and marine conservation biologist, he has forged a highly diverse career serving both the diving industry and marine conservation community. He retired in 2019 as Professor of Marine Science at the College of the Florida Keys, where he developed and taught numerous field-based courses on coral reef ecology, conservation, management, restoration and assessment. He currently operates a consulting company, Ocean Education International, LLC which specializes in marine environmental education and sustainable tourism.
Darcy Kieran: Bio-sketch 2022
In the dive industry, Darcy worked in retail, wholesale, and eCommerce. He's been a Course Director and scuba diving Instructor Trainer with numerous dive training agencies.
He owned/managed dive shops, dive resorts, and charter boats in Canada and the USA. He's been on the Board of Directors of DEMA. He brings with him valuable experience from other industries, including sporting goods, manufacturing, radio & TV broadcasting, railroads & transportation, digital marketing agencies, and education.
Darcy is an engineer, radio announcer, and author.
Bret Gilliam author of Diving Pioneers & Innovators: An In-Depth Series of Interviews
Bret Gilliam has had a 40-year career in professional diving, logging over 19,000 dives in military, commercial, scientific, filming, and technical diving operations. He is one of the diving industry's most successful entrepreneurs with investments in publishing, training agencies (TDI/SDI), manufacturing, resorts, dive vessels, cruise ships, and film production companies. He is a currently licensed U.S. Coast Merchant Officer with the rank of Master, aircraft pilot, deep submersible pilot, and holds a variety of credentials within the diving medical community including Recompression Chamber Supervisor and Diver Medic Technician Trainer. His company Ocean Quest International operated a 550-ft., 28,000 ton diving cruise ship from 1987-1990 that remains the largest single diving operation in history, averaging over 1,200 dives per day among its passengers and staff.
Author of nearly 1500 published articles, his photos have graced over 100 magazine covers, and he is principal author or contributor to over 70 books & manuals. His writing and photography have been published worldwide. He also has worked as location director, cameraman, and operations manager on scores of Hollywood movies, television series, documentaries (including National Geographic and the Cousteau series), and IMAX films. He is a Fellow National of the elite Explorers Club and the world record holder as the deepest scuba diver on conventional scuba equipment.
He continues a limited practice as a widely sought litigation consultant and expert witness for diving and maritime legal cases, appearing in nearly 400 cases without a loss. He also specializes in risk management for diving, shipping, resorts, training agencies, and insurance syndicates, as well as crafting emergency medical treatment protocols for remote accident management of diving injuries where evacuation is not an option.
After nearly 30 years living in the Caribbean and equatorial regions worldwide, he now lives in Maine where he divides his time between two homes and a motor yacht. He is still active in special film and publishing projects. His book, a large hardbound coffee table style volume, Diving Pioneers & Innovators: An In-Depth Series of Interviews, has been met with widespread enthusiasm by reviewers internationally and has become a valued collector’s work.
Diving the Great Lakes Shipwrecks and Caves By Jeff Lindsay
Please join SFDI this coming Wednesday, October 6th , as we welcome Jeff Lindsay of Potomac, Maryland, who will speak about diving the Great Lakes shipwrecks and caves. We'll cover some of the stories behind specific shipwrecks and techniques that Jeff uses for imaging deep water wrecks and caves.
About Jeff Lindsay
From Ontario, Canada
Rebreather / Expedition Trimix / Full Cave / Photographer / Cinematographer
Growing up on the Great Lakes fostered a natural curiosity of the unexplored for Jeff Lindsay; learning to dive in 1990 led to a lifelong desire to visit and photograph the unknown and forgotten. With an almost limitless number of shipwrecks nearby, a natural progression into technical diving was required for the more remote and deeper locations. Known for wide angle photography and varied lighting techniques. Attempting to capture the entire story in 'one shot' remains the elusive goal. He's been invited on numerous projects as team photographer and his biggest thrill is visiting a new wreck or cave for the first time and capturing some, small part of its essence in a photograph.