I live in Kona, Hawaii, with my beautiful wife, April, an acupuncture physician. The two of us have dedicated our lives to helping others and our planet.

Since 1996, I’ve made it a point to associate myself with difference-makers—people who help others and have a world-centric mindset.

I have enormous experience practicing mental toughness and emotional fortitude to overcome obstacles and challenges. My former addiction to alcohol, PTSD diagnosis, severe childhood physical abuse, and the loss of sight in one eye turned out to be some of my greatest assets. These challenges gave my life purpose - the gift of helping others. 

I recognize the importance of being true to oneself and living purposefully. Now, in my early 60’s, I have plenty of experience with one of life’s most significant ongoing challenges – change. I have learned how to deal positively with aging, self-doubt, loss of parents, serious family health crises, and changing jobs to fulfill future goals.  

I also learned mental toughness by spending most of my life outdoors. As an avid outdoorsman and waterman, I’ve worked and played on all seven continents. Have extensive backcountry experience in hazardous environments, including sub-freezing temperatures, avalanche dangers, wintertime river crossings, deadly crevasses, high altitudes, oceans, rivers, and deserts. I’ve worked with various potentially dangerous animals, including sharks, grizzly bears, wolves, lions, and elephants, to name a few.

 My extensive ice climbing, rock climbing, and technical mountaineering skills, along with wildlife helicopter experience, ultimately led me to become a helicopter team coordinator and team member of one of our country’s leading high-angle search and rescue teams for over eight years in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. Heading into danger and tragedy was a common theme. 

 I worked as a researcher, field safety supervisor, and co-leader of a forty-year Antarctic research project. I was responsible for keeping morale high in challenging conditions associated with remote, mentally taxing fieldwork. I dealt with extreme weather there, like sleeping outside at -58 F. I also spent four seasons in a remote field camp in Antarctica and received grants for novel research techniques under the ice pack. In doing so, I received an Antarctic Service Medal from The National Science Foundation for scientific achievement and exploration. 

To encourage participation in environmental conservation, I wrote two books: 100 Great Day Hikes around Bozeman and the Greater Yellowstone and Fun Family Day Hikes in Yellowstone National Park, hiking over 2,500 miles in the process. A former professional fishing captain, I also wrote science articles for popular big game fishing magazines and a local Hawaiian newspaper.

I have mentored men with alcoholism and addiction issues for over 27 years. Helping people with addiction issues and rescuing those in need doing my Search and Rescue days made me passionate about helping others. I have witnessed people transform and bloom into a new person, and I have witnessed people die from physical tragedy but even worse, mentally giving up. I have always wanted to see others not only survive, but thrive. I wanted to reach a larger audience. Hence, I became a coach.  

Currently, I’m passionate about coaching Unbeatable Mind, Hypnotherapy, and Breathwork practices.  Since 2014 I have been blessed to work with two extraordinary organizations, the Zambian Carnivore Programme and Conservation South Luangwa, coaching and training backcountry first aid skills to research biologists and anti-poaching scouts. I also am passionate about wildlife research on both land and sea and assist with an African wild dog conservation project in Zambia. Closer to home, I’ve been a licensed captain for thirty years, and I am very involved with hammerhead shark research here in Hawaii.