LISA ABEND. As Time magazine's correspondent in Spain, Lisa Abend writes about everything from international terrorism, to climate change, immigration and costumed debt collectors. Her first book, The Sorcerer's Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adrià's elBulli, was published in 2011. Lisa will join us aboard on the second leg of our journey. Read more

JAMES BALOG. Founder and Director of Extreme Ice Survey, a monumental and stunning look at the impact that climate change is having on the world's glaciers. Shocked by the changes he saw while shooting the June 2007 National Geographic cover story on melting glaciers, Balog, who has a graduate degree in geomorphology, initiated the most wide-ranging glacier study ever conducted using innovative time-lapse, video and conventional photography, at sites around the globe. Read more

KEITH BELLOWS. Named editor-in-chief of National Geographic Traveler magazine in January 1998 and a vice president of the National Geographic Society in March 2000. Under his stewardship, the magazine has been nominated for two National Magazine Awards, won more than 60 Lowell Thomas Awards for best travel writing (it has been named best magazine eight of his 11 years), and seven Folio Awards for Best Travel Magazine. He recently led a National Geographic team to create Journeystreams, an open-source online product to enable students to tell and share multimedia stories. Read more

GRO BRUNDTLAND. Former Prime Minister of Norway, now UN Special Envoy on Climate Change, recently served as co-Commissioner with Sven Lindblad on Aspen Institute Commission on Arctic Climate Change. Read more

WADE DAVIS. Anthropologist and Ethnobotanist, is a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and an honorary member of The Explorers Club. Described as "a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet and passionate defenderof all of life's diversity," he spearheaded National Geographic's Cultures on the Edge program, highlighting vanishing cultures around the world, and his numerous film credits include the award-winning National Geographic Channel series Light at the Edge of the World. Wade Davis will join the first half of our voyage in March 2012. Read more

SYLVIA EARLE. Called "Her Deepness" by The New Yorker and The New York Times, "Living Legend" by the Library of Congress, and the first "Hero for the Planet," Dr. Sylvia Earle is an Oceanographer, Explorer, Author, and Lecturer with experience as a field research scientist. She is founder of the Mission Blue Foundation and is also executive director for corporate and nonprofit organizations, including the Aspen Institute, the Conservation Fund, American Rivers, Mote Marine Laboratory, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Rutgers Institute for Marine Science, the Woods Hole OceanographicInstitution, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, and Ocean Conservancy. Read more

JOHN EVANS. Orignial member of an historic 10-member expedition in 1966, sponsored in part by the National Geographic Society that became the first to summit the highest point in Antarctica: Mount Vinson, the 16,067-foot-tall crown of the Sentinel Range in the Ellsworth Mountains. The American Antarctic Mountaineering Expeditionwas well documented in a feature article in the June 1967 edition of National Geographic magazine. Read more

The 1966-67 American Antarctic Mountaineering Expedition had as its primary objective the first ascent of Antarctica's highest peak-the 16,067-foot Mount Vinson which at the time was the only unclimbed continental high point. Other objectives included the ascents of other nearby peaks (all of which also had never been climbed) as well as a research project in geologic mapping and sampling. John Evans served as lead scientist for the geologic work as well as one of the 10 climbers.

John's long experience in Antarctica began with work as a Ph.D. candidate in geology at the University of Minnesota in the 60's. Their geologic sampling included outcrops on the lower slopes of Mount Vinson, and nearby peaks where they found fossil leaves (Glossopteris), which helped establish one of the many pre-plate tectonic ties of Antarctica to Gondwanaland.

John's mountaineering experience began in the early 60's on rock towers in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and mountain-related activities (rock, ice, and peak climbing) have since been a major focus of his life.

From 1981 to the present, John has been involved with extensive field research, often supported by National Science Foundation, in various earth, oceanographic, and biological sciences with environments including Mt. Everest, Antarctica, and the sea and sea ice around Antarctica, and he will share his insights and observations with Lindblad guests.

With Antarctic Support Associates from 1991-1999 (which held the contract with the National Science Foundation for Antarctic support), John managed the U.S. portion of Ice Station Weddell, a joint Soviet-American project entailing the deployment, support, and recovery of a drifting oceanographic research camp on sea ice in the western Weddell Sea. Among other projects, he coordinated and provided safety oversight for the Anzflux Project, a multi-component oceanographic research project involving a series of temporary drifting research stations placed on very thin and unstable sea ice in the eastern Weddell Sea in winter.

From 2000 to the present, the Antarctic support contract has been held by Raytheon Polar Services Company. During this time John has served as Coordinator of Special Science Projects. Among highlights of thisperiod, John organized support for diving in the Deception Island caldera to collect genetic material from the bones of whales that had been processed there in the heyday of Antarctic whaling. And throughout thisperiod, he also supported a long-term summer-only penguin study at a little facility known as "Copa" in Admiralty Bay, King George Island, plus a handful of island field camps for paleontology in the James Ross basin, plus a number of various research projects whose only common thread is that they need to work where there is no established base facility.

From 2000 to the present, the Antarctic support contract has been held by Raytheon Polar Services Company. During this time John has served as Coordinator of Special Science Projects. Among highlights of this period, John organized support for diving in the Deception Island caldera to collect genetic material from the bones of whales that had been processed there in the heyday of Antarctic whaling. And throughout this period, he also supported a long-term summer-only penguin study at a little facility known as "Copa" in Admiralty Bay, King George Island, plus a handful of island field camps for paleontology in the James Ross basin, plus a number of various research projects whose only common thread is that they need to work where there is no established base facility.

John's other interests include a long-time fascination with herpetology, and a strong interest in river boating, thanks to his life companion, Loie, whose father was one of the early Grand Canyon river greats. This led to many interesting trips on a variety of rivers and boats. "And, oh yes," John says, "I had a single mainstream job. Worked at a big tall bank (!) in downtown Denver 1982-1990. Learned much but don't intend to go back!"

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV. Former President of the Soviet Union, Nobel Peace Laureate, Cold War reformer and 20th-century visionary; now promoting peace through the Gorbachev Foundation and Green CrossInitiative, an environmental organization. President Gorbachev will meet with Lindblad guests in St. Petersburg. Read more

Mikhail Gorbachev has been one of the twentieth century's most pivotal leaders. As President of the Soviet Union, he ended the fifty years of nuclear brinkmanship named the Cold War. In its place, he taught his country and the world two new ideas: glasnost and perestroika. These revolutionary concepts led to the blossoming of freedom in Eastern Europe and the introduction of democracy to Russia.

President Gorbachev dedicated himself to building a relationship of mutual trust betweenthe Soviet Union and the United States, signing two broad disarmament pacts that dramatically reduced the danger of worldwide nuclear destruction. For his extraordinary efforts, he was awarded the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize.

Now retired from politics, Gorbachev continues to strive towards achieving his global vision of peace. In 1992, he founded the Gorbachev Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation dedicated to addressing the challenges of and articulating new priorities for the post-Cold War world.

In 1993, he founded Green Cross International, an environmental organization with the mission to help ensure a just, sustainable and secure future for all by fostering a value shift and cultivating a new sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility in humanity's relationship with nature.

PETER HILLARY. The son of the first man to summit Mount Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary, Peter Hillary was born into mountaineering royalty. He's summited the highestmountain on each of the seven continents, established a new overland route to the South Pole on an 84-day trek, and is the sole survivor of a storm that claimed seven of his K2 climbing team. Read more

Peter Hillary has guided former astronaut Buzz Aldrin on an expedition to fly a small aircraft to the North Pole, he has trekked overland to the South Pole, and he's stood at the highest point on earth. Peter and Edmund Hillary are not only the first of two generations to summit Everest, but also the first father-son to stand on the North and South Poles. Two of the five Ross Sea routes to the South Pole were established by members of the Hillary family.

Peter Hillary began climbing roped to his father at age 7, and his first trip to the Himalayas came at age 11. At Peter's first summit of Everest in 1990, the Hillarys became the "first family" of Himalayan mountaineering with two generations of Everest climbers. Peter summited Everest again in 2002 in celebration of his father's historic first ascent with Tenzing Norgay. The expedition is the subject of the National Geographic documentary Everest: 50 Years on the Mountain.

 
Peter Hillary has led expeditions to mountains in the Asia-Pacific region, completed high-altitude traverses in the Himalayan Range, and traveled to Antarctica 18 times. In 2008, Peter summited Mount McKinley in Alaska, bagging the final peak of the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, and joining the exclusive Seven Summits club.

The Hillary family has a deep connection to the Himalayan people. Sir Edmund Hillary dedicated much of his life to building and running 42 schools, hospitals, clinics and forestry programs in the Himalayas. Today there are Himalayan Foundations in six countries to support this work, and Peter Hillary is a board-member, fundraiser and regular Nepal visitor to continue this commitmentof helping and educating people. He now dedicates most of his time to promoting and fundraisingin support of his father's Himalayan Trust, and he is also a patron for the Everest Rescue Trust, a non-profit independent trust setup to operate and manage high-altitude helicopter rescues in Nepal.

EDWARD LARSON. Pepperdine University professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Edward Larson's latest book was published in May 2011, An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science. Larson places the famed voyages of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, his British rivals Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton, and others in a larger scientific, social, and geopolitical context in this terrific new history, much enlivened by his own Antarctic travels. Read more

Larson writes in the book's preface: "Conducting scientific research in Antarctica has always required collaboration, and this is true for my study of its history as well. This book is the direct product of my participation in the National ScienceFoundation's 2003-4 Antarctic Artists and Writers Program. Always traveling with others, and frequently in the company of experts, through this program I saw much of what the earlyexplorers saw, from Ross Island and the Great Ice Barrier to Beardmore Glacier and the South Pole. On December 18, 2003, exactly one hundred years after Scott, Edgar Evans, and William Lashly became the first humans to enter an Antarctic dry valley, I retraced their steps through Taylor Valley with the longtime manager of its research camp, Rae Spain. A few weeks later, I camped near Shackleton's winter quarters at Cape Royds with David Ainley, who has studied the cape's Adelie penguins for years. Both Spain and Ainley know the region's human history. Such experiences made this book possible."

Larson was born in Mansfield, Ohio, graduated from Williams College, received his law degree from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in the history of science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2004, Larson received an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Ohio State University. He held the Fulbright Program's John Adams Chair in American Studies in 2000-01 and participated in the National Science Foundation's 2003-04 Antarctic Artists and Writers Program. Larson has authored or co-authored nearly a dozen books, including his 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Summer for the Gods, and Evolution's Workshop, his account of the history of science and exploration of the Galapagos Islands. His articles have appeared in Nature, Scientific American, Atlantic Monthly, The Nation, American History, Time, and various academic history and law journals. He has lectured on various cruises to the Galapagos Islands.
 

JIM LOVELL. Astronaut & NASA legend; one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon. He is most well-known as the Commander of the courageous Apollo 13 mission (“Houston, we have a problem.”) which was safely brought back to Earth by the inspiring efforts of the crew and mission control. He’ll share experiences from his history-making career and thoughts on the future of space exploration. Read more

GREG MARSHALL. Scientist, Inventor, and Filmmaker who has dedicated the last 25 years to studying, exploring, and documenting life in the oceans. He is the inventor of Crittercam, a research tool to record data from an animal's perspective, especially marine species. Read more

In 1986, while diving in the reefs off Belize, Greg Marshall encountered a shark and was struck by the sight of a remora fish clinging to the shark's side. Imagining the unique perspective the remora must have when hitchhiking with its host, Greg conceived a remote camera that would mimic the remora's behavior. If the camera were small and lightweight, it could attach like a remora to a host and record the behavior of sea creatures in situations where a handheld camera could never venture. Recognizing the scientific potential of such a tool, Greg decided to make it a reality.

Greg began developing a revolutionary animal-borne research tool to record images, sound, and data from an animal's perspective. Today that tool is called Crittercam, and it has been used in groundbreaking studies on dozens of marine species.

Deployed on whales, sharks, seals, turtles, penguins, and other species, Crittercam has enabled Greg and his research collaborators to capture information that, until now, was inaccessible to humans. In 2003 Greg and his team deployed the first land-based Crittercam on wild lions in Kenya, capturing remarkable new images and insights and ushering in a new era of behavioral science.

Funded by National Geographic Television, philanthropic foundations, and U.S. federal grants, Greg has created not only a scientific tool, but also a major collaborative research program engaging scientists worldwide. Over ten years, Greg's Remote Imaging Program has collaborated with over 30 scientific groups on over 50 different species.

In addition to providing critical scientific data for basic biology and habitat management, Crittercam's unique perspective captures the imagination of television audiences. Shared through National Geographic films, the stories these images convey fuel public awareness of the extraordinary lives and challenges many marine species face. With heightened awareness comes caring, and with caring, conservation.

Greg is a two-time Emmy Award winner for cinematography and sound, for the National Geographic Specials "Great White Sharks" (1995) and "Sea Monsters: Search for the Giant Squid" (1999). Since then, Greg has created and been executive producer of a 13-part series and 6 hour-long NG films on Crittercam.

Greg earned a bachelor's degree in international relations from Georgetown University and a master's degree in marine science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is currently discovering extraordinary creatures named Connor and Logan - his sons.

BOYD MATSON. As a leading on-air journalist for National Geographic, Boyd Matson has the enviable job of traveling to exotic locations and joining thrilling expeditions. Going above and beyond the call of journalistic duty to satisfy his own powerful curiosity about the world and bring a unique personal perspective to his stories, Boyd's National Geographic series airing on PBS called Wild Chronicles connects viewers to the pulse of the planet. Read more

DR. ALFRED S. MCLAREN. Captain McLaren "has probably spent more time than anyone else beneath the earth's northern ice, measuring its thickness, probing dark waters below, investigating its life and mapping the plains, crags and fissures of its seabed," reads The New York Times. Captain McLaren, a retired Navy submariner, explored it on three expeditions, the last as commander of his own sub. Read more

After retiring from the Navy in 1981, he earned a Ph.D. in polar studies from the University of Colorado and focused his research on the Arctic's role in climate change. Since then, Dr. McLaren has explored the deep ocean. He has studied ecosystems teeming with life and made the first human dives on the Bismarck, the German battleship that sank in during World War II.

Research scientist, writer and lecturer, Captain McLaren is the new President of the American Polar Society, and a partner of Sub Aviator Systems, where he is senior pilot of their revolutionary new submersible the Super Aviator. He is also a director of The Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M, Director Emeritus of the Lindbergh Foundation, and Honorary Director and President Emeritus of The Explorers Club, where he has served as President (1996-2000). In 2000 he received The Explorers Club's Lowell Thomas Medal for Ocean Exploration.

Captain McLaren received his Ph.D. in the Physical Geography of the Polar Regions from the University of Colorado Boulder, an M.Phil. in Polar Studies from Cambridge University (Peterhouse), England, and a M.S. in International Affairs from George Washington University. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Naval War College, and the U.S. Navy Major Shore Commanders Course, Captain McLaren was among the first 100 selected by Admiral H.G. Rickover to attend the newly inaugurated Nuclear Power School.

As a naval officer, Captain McLaren made three Arctic expeditions on nuclear attack submarines, one on board the USS Seadragon during the first submerged transit of the Northwest Passage; two others were on the USS Queenfish: a Baffin Bay cruise and a North Pole expedition that included the first and only survey under ice of the entire Siberian Continental Shelf. He commanded the Queenfish during the latter expedition and for a total of four years. He was subsequently honored, in 1983, with the Societe de Geographie de Paris' Silver Medal for Polar Exploration and La Medaille de la Ville De Paris (Echelon Argent). A veteran of more than 20 Cold War submarineoperations, Captain McLaren's awards as a Cold War submarine captain include: the Distinguished Service Medal, the nation's highest peacetime award. He completed lengthy dives during 1999 to both R.M.S. Titanic and the Rainbow Hydrothermal Vents near the Azores, using the deep diving Russian MIR submersibles. During June 2001, Captain McLaren participated as a diver in "The First Manned Dives to the German battleship Bismarck," using the deep-diving Russian MIR submersibles to depths of almost 4,800 metersbeneath the sea.

His first book, Unknown Waters, A First-Hand Account of the Historic Under-Ice Survey of the Siberian Continental Shelf, By USS Queenfish was published in 2008 and is in its third printing. He is presently at work on a second book, entitled Tales of the Cold War.

MARTIN MEREDITH. Most of Martin Meredith's working life has been spent writing about Africa: first as a foreign correspondent for the London Observer and Sunday Times, then as a research fellow at St. Antony's College, Oxford, and now as an independent author and commentator. He is the author of many acclaimed books on Africa including biographies of Nelson Mandela and Robert Mugabe and a history of the continent since independence, The Fate of Africa. Martin will join the second half of our voyage. Read more

FEN MONTIAGNE. Journalist and author of Fraser's Penguins: A Journey to the Future in Antartica, his acclaimed account of spending five months on the Antarctic Peninsula working with ecologist Bill Fraser, who has long studied the impact of rapid warming on the region and its Adélie penguins.Montaigne's work has appeared in National Geographic, The New Yorker, Outside, Smithsonian, and The Wall Street Journal. Read more

A former Moscow bureau chief of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Montaigne is also the author of Reeling in Russia and has co-authored two other books. For his work on Fraser's Penguins, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2006. He now works as senior editor of the online magazine Yale Environment 360.

"Fraser's Penguins warns that what's happening on the Antarctic Peninsula now is a taste of unsettling changes, elsewhere, to come," The Sunday New York Times Book Review said. "Despite this sobering message, Fraser's Penguins leaves one feeling exhilarated - by these remarkable creatures, the landscape they inhabit and the scientists who've devoted their lives to studying both."

WILLIAM READDY. Former Astronaut and Space Explorer. Captain Readdy flew three space shuttle missions and supported well over 80 other missions. He has participated in some of the most important NASA missions in the agency's history. He is a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, American Institute of Aeronautics and the Astronautics, Royal Aeronautical Society. Read more

In 1986, shortly after the Challenger accident, Readdy joined NASA as a research pilot and astronaut. Previously he had served as a Navy carrier pilot and test pilot. Before joining NASA, he was deployed to the Caribbean, North Atlantic and Mediterranean flying from the decks of the aircraft carriers Forrestal and Coral Sea accumulating over 500 carrier deck landings. He's an experienced pilot with over 7,000 flight hours in all types of airplanes and helicopters.

His first flight assignment with NASA was STS-42 aboard the space shuttle Discovery in January 1992. The mission was a laboratory flight using the European Spacelab module. The international crew conducted around-the-clock scientific experiments for eight days before returning to the Edwards Air Force Base in California. One highlight of the mission that would be repeated later on all his missions was the inclusion of the IMAX camera.

Readdy's second space flight, STS-51 in September 1993, also aboard Discovery, featured the deployment of an advanced communications technologysatellite that paved the way for our modern generation of 'switchboard in space' communication satellites. During the mission the crew also deployed an ultra-violet telescope pallet with the shuttle's robot arm and retrieved it later in the flight demonstrating the rendezvous techniques that would later be used during the US-Russian Shuttle-Mir docking missions. During the flight the crew also conducted spacewalks to demonstrate the tools and methods that would be used later that year to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. STS-51 also made the first night landing to the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center.

After the Berlin Wall came down, NASA embarked in a new, joint space program with the Russians. Readdy was sent to Star City as operations director to establish the operations and training for the NASA crews, who would fly to the Mir space station and later to the International Space Station. Living and working side-by-side his Russian cosmonaut colleagues helped set the stage for broader cooperation in space.

On Readdy's final flight he commanded Atlantis on STS-79, a docking mission to the Mir space station in September 1996. Following a year in the Space Shuttle Program Office, he was 'promoted' into NASA's executive ranks and assigned to NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he was in charge of Space Shuttle, International Space Station, Expendable Launch Vehicles and Space Communications.

During his tenure, NASA initiated satellite communications support to the Antarctic, and most notably to Amundsen-Scott Station at the South Pole. NASA's support of telemedicine led to the in-situ self-diagnosis and treatment of the 'Winter Over' physician, Dr. Jerri Nielsen, M.D. in 1999 until she was MEDEVAC'd from the South Pole.

After the tragic loss of Columbia and her crew in February 2003, Readdy was chosen to lead the return-to-flight effort. Colonel Eileen Collins and her crew successfully returned Discovery to space on July 4, 2005.

As a participant in some of NASA's most ambitious missions, Captain Readdy offers a rare perspective on what it's like to fly a space shuttle or travel around the world in 90 minutes. Readdy has been a part of the original X-Prize and now working on the Google Lunar X-Prize. He has many entrepreneurial interests in the emerging commercialspace industry. He looks forward to sharing 'space exploration stories' and speaking with Lindblad's guests about the future of space tourism and exploration.

MARY ROBINSON. The first woman President of Ireland and formerly the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson has spent most of her life as a human rights advocate and is a world leader who putsher humanity very much at the forefront of her politics. Recently, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom-the highest civilian honor-for her significant contributions to the nation and the world. President Robinson will join the first half of our voyage in May 2012. Read more

She now chairs the Council of Women World Leaders and is Founder and President of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative. She has been named a "Hero and Icon" as one of Time magazine's 2005 top 100 men and women whose "power, talent or moral example is transforming the world." In 2006, President Robinson received Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias Award in Social Sciences prize for her work as a global human rights campaigner, singled out for her "moral strength," her defense of "ethics in the field of politics and academic research," and her "tireless efforts to bring about a world without borders." In 2009 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest honor conferred to a citizen.

Broadening her international scope, President Robinson expands her leadership into other areas including business enterprise, corporate citizenship, and the broad reform of some of the world's most prestigious organizations. She serves as Vice President of Club of Madrid, working to promote democracy worldwide. In business, she is one of five prestigious board members of the Mastercard Foundation, a newly established independent foundation focusing on microfinance, youth entrepreneurship and education. President Robinson was recently appointed to the UN Global Compact Board, a group of 20 global business, labor and social leaders working to advance ten universal business principles in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption for this large voluntary corporate citizenship initiative. With her emphasis on making human rights the compass which charts a course for globalization that is fair, just, and benefits all, she retains a high visibility on pressing issues such as global health,the battle against poverty, and supporting microfinance in many nations.

Robinson recently became a member of The Elders, a group of world leaders who contribute their wisdom, independent leadership, and integrity to tackling some of the world's toughest problems with the goal of making the world a better place. This group of luminaries was founded by Nelson Mandela, Graca Machel, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Based in New York, her work with Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative is supported by a partnership with the Aspen Institute, Columbia University (where she is a professor of practice) and the Swiss based International Council on Human Rights Policy. Its goal is to bring the norms and standards of human rights into the globalization process and to support capacity building in good governance in developing countries. The recipient of numerous honors and awards throughout the world, President Robinson is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and the American Philosophical Society and is Honorary President of Oxfam International. She also serves on many boards including the Vaccine Fund, the Global Commission on Migration, the Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights, and the International Commission of Jurists.

Educated at the University of Dublin (Trinity College), King's Inns Dublin, and Harvard Law School to which she won a fellowship in 1967, she holds honorary doctorates from over 40 universities around the world, including Harvard, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Oxford, Cambridge, London and Edinburgh. Continuing her educational experience, she now serves as Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa as well as a Council of Goodwill Ambassador.

As an academic, legislator and barrister, she has always sought to use law as an instrument for social change, arguing landmark cases before the European Court of Human Rights as well as in the Irish courts and the European Court in Luxembourg. In 1988, Robinson and her husband, Nicholas Robinson, founded the Irish Centre for European Law at the University of Dublin, since then, she has been Chancellor of the University.

CARL SAFINA. A prominent Ecologist and Marine Conservationist, Carl is President and co-founder of Blue Ocean Institute, an environmental organization based in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. A winner of the prestigious Pew Fellowship, MacArthur Fellowship and Guggenheim Fellowship, Carl has written five books and more than a hundred scientific and popular publications on ecology and oceans, including featured work in National Geographic and The New York Times. Read more

His first book, Song for the Blue Ocean, was chosen a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His second, Eye of the Albatross, won the John Burroughs Medal for nature writing and was chosen by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine as the year's best book for communicating science. Many of us saw him regularly during the coverage of the Gulf oil spill. And his most recent book, A Sea in Flames: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Blowout, was just published in April of 2011 - the same month in which his TV series, "Saving the Ocean" premiered on PBS.

Given Carl's abiding love for albatrosses and his deep familiarity with their few and far-flung habitats- a key one being the Falklands-we can think of no better companion with whom to share the experience of visiting their wild home.

DR. KENDRICK TAYLOR. Ken is a Research Professor with Nevada's Desert Research Institute. He was first drawn to Antarctica in 1981 by a desire to better understand the physics of the Earth, and because it was the biggest blank spot on the globe. Currently he is the Chief Scientist for a project that is investigating the role of greenhouse gases in climate change and the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet. The WAIS Divide ice core project is a decade long effort funded by the National Science Foundation which includes 44 scientists. Read more

LECH WALESA. From Labor Leader to Nobel Prize winner to the elected President of Poland, Walesa left a changed world. He is fascinating and will visit with Lindblad guests in Gdansk. Read more

SIMON WINCHESTER. Best-selling author, journalist and broadcaster, Simon has worked as a foreign correspondent for most of his career and lectures widely at universities, geological and historical societies. His current book is Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories. Read more

The author of 21 books, including the best-sellers The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom, The Professor and the Madman, an account of the men behind the Oxford English Dictionary, A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906, and The Map that Changed the World, about the nineteenth century geologist William Smith, Winchester specializes in eccentric, obsessive geniuses. He is praised for his skills as a masterful and riveting storyteller both on the page and in lectures.

Winchester's journalistic work, mainly for The Guardian and the Sunday Times, has landed him in Belfast, Washington, DC, New Delhi, New York, London, and Hong Kong, where he covered such stories as the Ulster crisis, the creation of Bangladesh, the fall of President Marcos, the Watergate affair, the Jonestown Massacre, the assassination of Egypt's President Sadat, the recent death and cremation of Pol Pot, and, in 1982, the Falklands War. During this conflict he was arrested and spent three months in prison in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego on spying charges. Although he graduated from Oxford in 1966 witha degree in geology, Winchester only spent a year working as a geologist in the Ruwenzori Mountains in western Uganda and on oil rigs in the North Sea, before joining his first newspaper in 1967. He now works principally as an author, although he contributes to a number of American and British magazines and journals, including Harper's, TheSmithsonian, National Geographic Magazine, The Spectator, Granta, the New York Times, and The Atlantic Monthly. He was appointed Asia-Pacific Editor of Conde Nast Traveler at its inception in 1987, later becoming Editor-at-Large. His writings have won him several awards including Britain's Journalist of the Year. He writes and presents television films, including a series on the final colonial years of Hong Kong and on a variety of other historical topics, and is a frequent contributor to the BBC radio program, From Our Own Correspondent. Winchester is a fellow at London's Royal Geological Society.

He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) 'for services to journalism and literature' in the New Year Honours list for 2006. He was elected anHonorary Fellow of St. Catherine's College, Oxford, in October 2009.

Simon Winchester, who is married to the former NPR producer Setsuko Sato, lives in New York and on a small farm in the Berkshires. His interests include letterpress printing, bee-keeping, astronomy, stamp-collecting, model railways and cider-making.

DAVID WRIGHT. Filmmaker David Wright shot exclusively in Svalbard for over two years to make the National Geographic film Realm of the Great White Bear, which follows a family of polar bears during a two-year Arctic odyssey. The project won an Emmy for Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking and an Emmy nomination for Cinematography. Read more

David's work has taken him around the globe, filming both wildlife and human interest stories for not only National Geographic, but the BBC, Discovery Channel and more. His work covers a wide variety of projects. Presenter-led series such as Sir David Attenborough’sseries Life in Cold Blood or Animal Planet’s 13-part Ms Adventure, shot over an eight-month schedule, or National Geographic’s Snake Wranglers. Sonabai, a portrait of an Indian sculptor, was shot to accompany a fine art exhibit. As well as long-term natural history stories, such as twoyears shooting the Emmy award-winning film Realm of the Great White Bear. He’s currently shooting a National Geographic program about a shipwreck located 300 feet down in the middle of Lake Superior, and next he will be shooting a story for National Geographic in Canada on big-horned sheep. David specializes in using the latest imaging technologies including HD high speed cameras, gyro-stablised units to film from helicopters and ultra high definition cameras.

In addition to film production, David Wright has also participated in biological research projects and undercover investigations that have resulted in significant findings; for example, the capture of a new species of Australian snake and giant spider, documenting new and dramatic feeding habits of saltwater crocodiles and highlighting the illegal trade in ivory, rhino horn, whale meat across Asia and Central Africa.

BUZZ ALDRIN. Legendary Astronaut & Space Explorer. Share one of the most exhilarating adventures left on Earth with a space hero — veteran of the historic Apollo 11 moonwalk mission — in the 40th anniversary year of that epic achievement! Read more

HUGH DOWNS. One of the most familiar names in the history of American television as the host of ABC News’ 20/20, the prime-time news-magazine program, for over 20 years. Downs hosted NBC News’ Today program, where he interviewed world leaders, and will share experiences from his long career. Read more

In September, 1962, Mr. Downs began a nine-year career as host of the Today program where, each morning, he reported to the nation on the news of the day and interviewed statesmen and leaders from around the world.

In addition to his role as host of 20/20, he went into the field to report news features and to profile important personalities. He prefered to concentrate on issues of science, medicine, aging, adventure, the fine arts and family. He also provided commentary in connection with various 20/20 reports.

JIM FOWLER. One of the world's best known naturalists, has presented information about wildlife to the American public on television for more than 40 years. He first served with Marlin Perkins as co-host and later became host of the award-winning Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. An active conservationist, Fowler will provide a unique perspective on the wilderness of Svalbard on the Aug. 6 and 13, 2010 voyages. Read more

ELKHONON GOLDBERG. Scientist, Educator & Clinician, renowned for his work in neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience. Author of The Wisdom Paradox: How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows Older and The New Executive Brain: Frontal Lobes in a Complex World. Read more

Dr. Goldberg studied at Moscow State University with the great neuropsychologist Alexander Luria and moved to the United States in 1974. Currently, he is a Clinical Professor of Neurology at New York University School of Medicine, Diplomate of The American Board of Professional Psychology in Clinical Neuropsychology, and Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Adviser of SharpBrains, an online brain fitness center.

An active researcher, he has lectured worldwide and published extensively in scientific and professional journals, and will speak to Lindblad guests about how our brain ages, the executive brain, and neuroplasticity and cognitive fitness.

Dr. Goldberg is the author/co-author of several books. The Executive Brain: Frontal Lobes and the Civilized Mind is the first popular book about the most human aspects of the brain. It has been translated into 11 languages and has met with international acclaim. The Wisdom Paradox: How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows Older, published in 15 languages, is about the mental advantages of aging and what can be done to improve our cognition as we age. While most of us have heard the phrase "use it or lose it," very few understand what "it" means, or how to properly "use it" in order to maintain brain function and fitness. The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness helps readers navigate growing brain research and identify the lifestyle factors and products that contribute to brain fitness.

GIL GROSVENOR. Former chairman of the National Geographic Society's board of trustees and its Education Foundation. He retired June 1, 1996, as President of the Society, the fifth generation of his family to serve in that position. He will share his insider's perspective with Lindblad guests aboard. Read more

Gil Grosvenor was born in Washington, D.C. and graduated from Yale University. He first joined the Society staff as a picture editor. He was editor of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine from 1970 to 1980, when he became the Society's 14th president. A member of the board of trustees since 1966, he was elected chairman in 1987.

 

In June 2004 Grosvenor received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is a director or trustee of numerous foundations and corporations, including Chevy Chase Trust, The Jason Foundation, Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, National Wildflower Research Center and Federal City Council (Washington). He also is a member emeritus of the board of visitors of Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment; chairman emeritus of the foundation board of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf; former vice chairman, President's Commission on Americans Outdoors; and former member of the President's Commission on Environmental Quality.

RICK HAUCK. Former Astronaut and Space Pioneer. Captain Hauck presided over some of the most important NASA missions in the agency's history. He flew with Sally Ride on the Challenger and Captained the Discovery on the first shuttle mission after the 1986 Challenger tragedy. Read more

Hauck landed in NASA's astronaut corps in 1978 after serving in the Navy's Advanced Science Program and earning a master's degree in nuclear engineering from MIT. Before joining NASA, he was deployed to the Western Pacific in the Navy, and he flew 114 combat and combat support missions in Southeast Asia off the carrier Coral Sea.

His first flight assignment with NASA was as pilot for Challenger in 1983. The mission featured the shuttle's first five-person crew, including the first American woman astronaut, Sally Ride. The Astronauts deployed two communications satellites, tested the 50-robot arm, conducted the first formation flying with another satellite, and carried out several experiments.

History's first space salvage mission began in 1984 when Captain Hauck and his four crew members blasted off in Discovery to rescue two communications satellites stranded in useless orbits. Hauck pursued the wayward Palapa and Westar payloads, and skillfully guided Discovery to successful rendezvous with first Palapa and then Westar. Two space-walking crew members, after some technical difficulties, succeeded in corralling both and berthing them in the cargo bay for return to earth and repair.

After the space shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, killing all seven crew members, NASA launched an extensive investigation and initiated a multi-million dollar overhaul of the remaining fleet. When NASA was ready to return to flight in 1988, Hauck was selected to command a crew of five veteran shuttle fliers to test the redesigned spacecraft. Discovery lifted off flawlessly, and at a White House ceremony, President Ronald Reagan announced "America is back in space!"

As a participant in some of NASA's most ambitious missions, Captain Hauck offers a rare perspective on what it's like to fly a space shuttle or travel around the world in 90 minutes. He also looks forward to speaking with Lindblad's guests about the future of space tourism and exploration.

THOR HEYERDAHL, JR. Travel with Thor Heyerdahl Jr. , who joined his Norwegian explorer father on a famous expedition to Easter Island in 1955, worked as a marine scientist doing whale research and tagging polar bears in the Arctic, and is the present-day chairman of the board at the Kon-Tiki Museum, Oslo. Read more

Thor Heyerdahl Jr. has had a hand in some of the greatest expeditions of moderntime. His father, Thor Heyerdahl, is best known for his work in recognizing the cultural similarities in communities separated by vast swaths of ocean. Early on, Heyerdahl Sr. proposed that natives of South America sailed across the Pacific Ocean to populate the Polynesian islands. But instead ofthe passive researcher's speculation, Heyerdahl built a primitive craft like the ones Polynesians would have used, and sailed on the voyage along with five of his compatriots. He made a career of voyages like this, seeking to prove the plausibility of early cultures stretching across all the world's oceans.

Thor Heyerdahl Jr. joined his father on one such expedition. He served as a deckhand and archaeological assistant on the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to East Island and theEast Pacific in 1955-56. This voyage and research would come to be known by the public through the book and documentary film Aku-Aku.

Two years after that expedition, Thor Heyerdahl Jr. graduated from high school and then attended the Military Academy. He served as a tank commander, patrolling the Norwegian border along what used to be the Soviet Union.

He has researchedwhales off the coasts of Greenland, tagged live polar bears in the Arctic, monitored pollution in the North Sea, and studied fisheries in Norwegian costal waters-all while working as a marine scientist at the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, Norway.

Since 1990, Thor Heyerdahl Jr. has served as director and later the chairman of the board of the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, which houses the primitive ships his father built to sail across the world's oceans and test his theories. For many years, the museum has been engaged in archaeological and ethnographical research in the Pacific area, mainly Easter Island and Peru.

Thor Heyerdahl Jr. is an author of a multitude of publications and articles, and has served as a guest speaker for the National Geographic Society. We welcome him aboard and look forward to his deep well of first-hand knowledge of polar bears on Land of the Ice Bears: An In-depth Exploration of Arctic Svalbard.

ELIZABETH KOLBERT. As a staff writer for The New Yorker, Elizabeth has profiled Giuliani, Bloomberg, Hillary Clinton and more. Her series on global warming, The Climate of Man, appeared in 2005, and her award-winning book Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change brings the environment into focus for the American people. Read more

Elizabeth Kolbert traveled from Alaska to Greenland, and visited top scientists, to get to the heart of the debate over global warming. Growing out of a ground-breaking three-part series in The New Yorker (which won the 2005 National Magazine Award in the category Public Interest), Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change brings the environment into the consciousness of the American people and asks what, if anything, can be done, and how we can save our planet. She explains the science and the studies, draws frightening parallels to lost ancient civilizations, unpacks the politics, and presents the personal tales of those who are being affected most-the people who make their homes near the poles and, in an eerie foreshadowing, are watching their worlds disappear. Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change was chosen as oneofthe 100 Notable Books of the Year (2006) by The New YorkTimes Book Review. She is currently at work on a new book about mass extinctions that will weave intellectual and natural history with reporting in the field (2012). As with Field Notes from a Catastrophe, the book began as an article in The New Yorker.

Elizabeth Kolbert has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1999. She has written dozens of pieces for the magazine, including profiles of Senator Hillary Clinton, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Her series on global warming, The Climate of Man, appeared in The New Yorker in the spring of 2005, and has won the American Association for the Advancement of Science's magazine award, as well as the 2006 National Academy of Sciences Communication Award in the newspaper/magazine category. She has also been awarded a Lannan Writing Fellowship (2006). Her stories have also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, and Mother Jones, and have been anthologized in The Best American Science and Nature Writing and The Best American Political Writing. She edited The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2009. A collection of her work, The Prophet of Love andOther Tales of Power and Deceit, was published in 2004. Prior to joining the staff of The New Yorker, Kolbert was a political reporter for The New York Times. She is a graduate of Yale University. Elizabeth Kolbert lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts with her husband and three sons.

TED KOPPEL. Senior news analyst for National Public Radio and contributing analyst for BBC America’s World News America. From 1980 until 2005, he was the anchor and managing editorof ABC News Nightline, one of the most honored broadcasts in television history. His interviews and reporting touched every major news story over a span of25 years. Read more

A member of the Broadcasting Hallof Fame, Koppel has won everymajor broadcasting award including 42 Emmy Awards (one for lifetime achievement), eight George Foster Peabody Awards, 10 DuPont-Columbia Awards, and two George Polk Awards. His 10 Overseas Press Club Awards make him the most honored journalist in the Club’s history. He has receivedmore than 20 honorary degrees from universities inthe United States.

Before becoming Nightline anchor, Koppel worked as an anchor, foreign and domestic correspondent and bureau chief for ABC News.

A native of Lancashire, England, Koppel moved to the United States with his parents when he was 13 and became a U.S. citizen in 1963. Koppel speaks fluent German, adequate French, and smatterings of a half dozen other languages. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Syracuse University and a Master of Arts in mass communications research and political science from Stanford University.

ERIC LARSEN. Modern-day explorer and expedition guide Eric Larsen's life epitomizes adventure. A polar adventurer, dog musher and educator, he has traveled to some of the world's wild places. Currently, Eric and his team are in the last phase of his Save the Poles expedition, traveling to the North Pole, South Pole and the summit of Everest all in one year in an attempt to tell the amazing story of these last frozen places while promoting solutions to the challenge of climate change. Read more

In 2006, Eric and Lonnie Dupre completed the first ever summer expedition to the North Pole. During this journey, the duo pulled and paddled specially modified canoes across 550 miles of shifting sea ice and open ocean. Eric successfully led his first expedition to the South Pole in 2008, covering nearly 600 miles in 41 days. Eric is now one of only a few Americans in to have skied to both the North and South Poles.

In November 2009, Eric returned to Antarctica for the first leg of his world record Save the Poles expedition. This time he completed a 750-mile ski traverse to the geographic South arriving on January 2, 2010. Two short months later he was dropped off at northern Ellesmere Island for a winter-style North Pole Journey. The international team reached the North Pole 51 days later on Earth Day - April 22, 2010. He is currently embarked on the final leg of the Save the Pole expedition - climbing to the summit of Mt. Everest. Eric is planning a book and documentary about the Save the Poles expedition.

Eric's other expeditions include dog sledding in the Canadian Arctic, training trips to Hudson Bay and countless dog sled races. He has summited Mt. McKinley, ridden his bike across theUnited States, been a backcountry ranger in Alaska and a white water canoe guide in Colorado. Eric has dedicated his adult life to sharing his love for the outdoor world with others. As an educator, Eric strives to connect people to places and issues. In recognition of those efforts, Eric was elected as one of Outside Magazine's Eco All Stars in 2008. He was also inducted as a member of The Explorers Club based in New York City.

RICHARD LOUV. Journalist and Author of seven books about the connections between family, nature and community. His most recent book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, translated into 9 languages and published in 13 countries, has stimulated an international conversation about the relationship between children and nature. Read more

Louv is also the Founding Chairman of the Children & Nature Network, an organization helping build the movement to connect today's children and future generations to the natural world. Louv coined the term Nature-Deficit Disorder™ which has become the defining phrase of this important issue.

In 2008, he was awarded the Audubon Medal, presented by the National Audubon Society. Prior recipients have included Rachel Carson, E. O. Wilson and President Jimmy Carter. Louv is also the recipient of the Cox Award for 2007, Clemson University'shighest honor, for "sustained achievement in public service" and has been a Clemson visiting professor. Among other awards, Louv is the recipient of the 2008 San Diego Zoological Society Conservation Medal, the 2008 George B. Rabb Conservation Medal from the Chicago Zoological Society, and the 2009 International Making Cities Livable Jane Jacobs Award. He was recently named Honorary Co-chairman, with Canadian artist Robert Bateman, of Canada's national Children and Nature Alliance.

Louv has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Times of London, and other major publications. He has appeared on many national TV shows, including NBC's Today Show and Nightly News, CBS Evening News, ABC's Good Morning America, and NPR's Morning Edition, FreshAir, and Talk of the Nation. Between 1984 and 2007 he was a columnist for The San Diego Union-Tribune and has been a columnist and member of the editorial advisory board for Parents magazine. Louv served as an advisor both to the Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Changing World award program and to the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child.

His eighth book, The Nature Principle, is due on bookshelves in May 2011. This book focuses on the restorative power of nature. Richard is married to Kathy Frederick Louv and the father of two young men, Jason, 28 and Matthew, 22. He would rather fish than write.

MARILYN MCAFEE. Former US Ambassador joins us for talks on democracy building and the complex problems facing the US in Europe and beyond. Since retiring, she has participated in special delegation visits to Morocco, Egypt, Jordan and most recently to a government-sponsored trip to Baghdad. Talking with her will be interesting! Read more

Ambassador Marilyn McAfee (Ret.) majored in history at the University of Pennsylvania where she received her BA cum laude in history and at The Johns Hopkins University where she received her Masters degree. She served as a career foreign service officer for 31 years and received the Presidential Meritorious Award, the Superior Honor Award and the Distinguished Honor Award. She was promoted to the rank of Career Minister in 1997.

Assignments included 4 1/2 years in Iran and subsequently three years in Washington on the Iran Desk during the Revolution and hostage taking. She also had responsibilities for Afghanistan and Pakistan making multiple visits to both countries. Official travel included ten weeks in Israel and extended inspection visits to Russia, South Africa and China as Assistant Secretary General for Inspections, Office of Inspector General, Department of State. Since retiring, she has participated in World Affairs Councils of America special delegation visits to Morocco, Egypt, Jordan and in January 2009 to Baghdad at the invitation of Ambassador Ryan Crocker to meet with Iraqi officials and help launch the new U.S. – Iraq relationship. Democracy building and conflict resolution have often been a special focus in Ambassador McAfee’s assignments, many of which were in Latin America --Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Chile, including Bolivia where she was Deputy Chief of Mission with special responsibilities as Coordinator, Counter Narcotics Operations and Guatemala where she began her career and returned to serve as U.S. Ambassador 1993 - 96.

Since retiringfrom diplomatic service Ambassador McAfee served six years as President of the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville and currently serves as Chair of theCouncil’s Advisory Board. She has also served on the National Board of the World Affairs Councils of America. McAfee is a member of the University of North Florida Foundation Board, the Board of Baptist Medical Center Beaches, Rotary International Foundation Board (Downtown Jacksonville) and is a former two-term Board Member of the Jacksonville Port Authority. In 2005 Ambassador McAfee was awarded the Florida Times Union’s Eve Award for Outstanding VolunteerService.

Ambassador McAfee is an international consultant affiliated with Manatt Jones, Washington, D.C. She is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in American Politics. She is a lecturer for National Geographic/Lindblad Expeditions and World Affairs Councils of America. Her home is in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fl.

PAUL NICKLEN. National Geographic Extreme Photojournalist and authorof Polar Obsession. Paul worked as a wildlife biologist for four years in the Northwest Territories before becoming a nature photojournalist. His goal is to "bridge the gap between scientific research and the public by producing stories for magazines such as National Geographic." Since 1994, he has published in hundreds of magazines around the world. Read more

Growing up in a small Inuit community in Canada's Arctic, Paul spent his early years observing nature and traveling on the land. On Baffin Island, he learned from the Inuit and developed a true passion for observing wildlife and watching the light play shadow games off of the sea ice.

After completing a Bachelor's of Science degree in Marine Biology at the University of Victoria, BC, Paul landed a job as a wildlife biologist with the Department of Renewable Resources in Canada's Northwest Territories. He was fortunate enough to work on such species as lynx, grizzly bears, bison, caribou and polar bears. He soon realized that he could better serve wildlife populations by becoming a wildlife and nature photojournalist. His goal is to continue bridging the gap between scientific research and the public by producing stories for magazines such as National Geographic.

In the last few years, he has published seven stories in National Geographic magazine: "Atlantic Salmon," July 2003, "Northern Exposure," January 2004, "Phoenix Islands," February 2004, "Where Currents Collide," August 2006, "Deadly Beauty: Leopard Seals," November 2006, "Life at the Edge," June 2007, "Narwhals," August 2007. Other stories are in the works. Paul currently lives in Whitehorse, Yukon.

VERNON PENNER. FormerU.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Cape Verde. In his words, "Darwin, aboard the Beagle, found the Cape Verdes almost as unusual as the Galapagos." He'll share his insights on Cape Verde's history, culture, music, literature and his own contribution to archaeological discoveries. Read more

A native of New York City, Ambassador Penner joined the U.S. Department of State as acareerdiplomat in 1963 and subsequently specialized in political/military relations, program direction and consular affairs. He served seven tours in Europe including assignments in Frankfurt, Warsaw, Oporto, and Zurich. He also spent two years in Kobe-Osaka, Japan and served as chief of liaison tothe International Control Commission in Viet Nam in 1973. He was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary ofState as Director of the Visa Office in the State Department in Washington in 1983. Three years later, Vern was confirmed as Ambassador to the Republic of Cape Verde where he served until 1990.

During his tour in Cape Verde, he was the first US Ambassador to visit all the inhabited islands by sailboat or local plane and, with his academic background in history, he contributed to several archeological discoveries including 17th century Hebraic tombs and early 19th century grave markers of deceased US Navy seamen.

Vern also established the first Peace Corps Program in the islands recognized as one of the most successful in Africa. Most recently, Ambassador Penner chaired the Interagency Intelligence Committee on Counterterrorism responsible for the issuance of US Government public threat assessments. He was selected in 1993 to be Political Adviser to the SACEUR, General Shalikashvili, at SHAPE HQ in Mons, Belgium with special responsibility for military cooperation and the Partnership for Peace program.

In 1997, Ambassador Penner was confirmed by the NATO Military Committee as Deputy Commandant of the NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy. Since his retirement from active duty in 2001, Ambassador Penner has lectured widely on security affairs and international relations. He wrote several articles and publications during an earlier tenure as Department head at the Institute for National Strategic Studies.

Verne's foreign languages include German, Polish and Portuguese and he has received a number of awards and special recognition from foreign governments and the US Departments of Stateand Defense. He continues to be an avid sailor, skier, hiker and diver. He is married to the former Dorothy Anne Skripak (who was coach of the National Tennis Team of Cape Verde) and hastwo grown children.

DAN RATHER. Journalist & former News Anchor for the CBS Evening News, now Managing Editor and Anchor of a television news magazine, DanRather Reports, on the cable channel HDNet. Contributor to CBS’ 60 Minutes. His assignments spanned the JFK assassination to Watergate to Saddam Hussein and beyond. Read more

ROZ SAVAGE. Adventurer Roz Savage is a British ocean rower and environmental campaigner, who in 2010 became the first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean. Coupled with her solo row across the Atlantic in 2005-6, she has now rowed over 11,000 miles, taken 3.5 million oar strokes, and spent cumulatively nearly a year of her life at sea in a 23-foot rowboat. Read more

A latecomer to the life of adventure, she decided in 2005 to compete in the 3,000-mile Atlantic Rowing Race. In 2008 she became the first womanto row solo from California to Hawaii. In 2009 she continued from Hawaii to Kiribati, and in 2010 she completed the Pacificcrossing byrowing to Madang in Papua New Guinea.

She has braved 20-foot waves, been capsized 3 times in 24 hours, faced death by dehydration when her watermaker broke, and nearly drowned after becoming separated from her boat. Shehas encounteredwhales, dolphins, sharks, and turtles, and admired the timeless beauty of sunrises, sunsets, and star-filled night skies.

 

An eloquent campaigner against marine plastic pollution, Roz Savage is also a United Nations Climate Hero and an Athlete Ambassador for 350.org. She has been listed among the Top 20 Great British Adventurers by the Daily Telegraph, and Roz's past speaking engagements include the TED Conference and the Vail Symposium. Her book, Rowing The Atlantic: Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean, is published by Simon & Schuster.

TIM SEVERIN. Explorer, Author and Filmmaker; has literally traveled the route of myth and established historic facts from the adventures of Jason and the Argonauts to the descendants of Genghis Khan. His most recent quest: to identify the real Robinson Crusoe. Hear first-hand accounts of his fascinating life. Read more

ROBERT SIEGEL. A senior host of NPR's award-winning evening newsmagazine All Things Considered, Robert got started in radio news when he was a college freshman in 1964. He's still at it. As a host, Siegel has reported from all over Western and Eastern Europe. He now concentrates on domestic stories. During the autumn of 1992, Siegel took a short leavefrom the show to anchor Talk of the Nation, NPR's nationwide live call-in program. Read more

DON WALSH. Oceanographer, ocean engineer and retired Navy Captain. Dr. Walsh and his co-pilot hold a record for the deepest manned dive in human history. Awarded the Legion of Merit by President Eisenhower, he subsequently served two presidential appointments - by Presidents Carter and Reagan - to the National Advisory Committees on Oceans and Atmosphere. The rest of his credentials, plus his status as an Honorary Life Member of The Explorers Club guarantee that he will be an engaging member of the expedition community. Read more

SPENCER WELLS. Geneticist Spencer Wells is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society and Frank H. T. Rhodes Class of '56 Professor at Cornell University. He leads the Genographic Project, which is collecting and analyzing hundreds of thousands of DNA samples from people around the world in order to decipher how our ancestors populated the planet. Read more