About

It would be an understatement to say I love to travel. Going to new places or returning to familiar favorites is a great joy.  Distance really does make the heart grow fonder and time away from home makes spending time with family and friends even more precious.
My son, Dave and his wife Jess live in Zephyr Cove, NV a stone's throw from Lake Tahoe. Dave works as a sales manager for a software company, Cornerstone. Jess is a partner in Epic Tahoe Adventures - they put on a 1/2 Marathon every year in June at Lake Tahoe. They have two little boys, Jack and Nate, who are the best looking, smartest, strongest, most fabulous grandsons on the planet!
My daughter, Lisa, has a M Ed from Harvard, 2013. She works from home for for Miller Heiman, a sales training and consulting firm. Lisa is married to Jeff Ellis who is a wild lands firefighter. They live in Reno.
I retired 4 years ago after 10 years of tremendously fun work at the California Academy of Sciences as a supervisor for the docent program. A move to the mountains and the tragic loss of my sweetheart, Michael (married 32 years) didn't seem like a gift at the time it all happened, but provided me with an opportunity to reinvent myself and my life.
I am a contract tour manager for Criterion Travel, and am looking forward to helping my passengers experience new cultures and gain an expanded understanding of people are all over this wonderful world of ours.

• Manage the program so that it runs smoothly and safely.
• Provide a travel experience that exceeds passenger expectations.
• Manage the trip budget so that suppliers are paid and money is saved where possible.
• Assure that the client's representatives have an outstanding experience and report it back to client.
• Double confirm logistics of all activities
• Anticipate questions
• Smile!

I have the following certifications:

International and Domestic Tour Director

International Tour Management Institute

February, 2014 - Present

PADI/NAUI Advanced SCUBA diver 1974 - Present

CPR/AED Adult and Pediatric First Aide

Past Experience of interest...

2010 - 2014   Education Project Manager for the Gulf of Guinea Project at the California Academy of Sciences

In 2010, I became the project manager for the Gulf of Guinea Educational Outreach program. Academy scientists have been conducting research on the islands of Sao Tome and Principe (300 miles west of Gabon, on the equator). The native species on the islands have been isolated from their continental counterparts for millions of years. As a result, they have evolved into unique species that are found nowhere else in the world. In addition to conducting research, the Academy mission to explain, explore and protect the natural world led to an expansion of the research mission to include outreach to the local population. I volunteered to lead the education mission. 

Working with Academy scientists, education staff, volunteer artists, and designers, we identified endemic species that would be interesting to feature in our educational materials. With a very limited budget, we designed and produced a series of durable posters featuring photos and descriptive information about these endemic species, along with school curriculum materials suitable for classroom use. I was responsible for coordinating the entire project, including design, scientific review, production, transportation, and classroom delivery. Working with school officials from the national ministries of education and ecotourism businesses, Academy scientists and I delivered 200 posters, along with in class presentations, to over 50 primary and secondary schools, libraries, parks, health and community centers across both islands. The poster themes, ‘Only in Sao Tome’ and “Only in Principe’, are intended to reinforce national pride and promote the preservation of the ecosystem. We followed up in 2012 with a similar themed coloring book, delivering 2,000 coloring books to 120 classrooms over a 3-week period in April/May, 2012. In support of the ongoing education mission, I met with the President of Principe, ministers of education for Sao Tome & Principe, and interviewed with local TV and radio. 

Our project for 2013 was a deck of cards on which we printed pictures of the endemic species for both islands on: Red cards were all from Principe and Black were all from Sao Tome. These were given to the same cohort of students we saw the previous year (4th graders now) and were received with great enthusiasm!

Our project for 2014 was a booklet that explains more about the endemic species on the islands and how they came to be here. We visited the same cohort of students (5th graders now) and gave out over 2350 booklets.  

The project has continued and each year a new educational aide has been delivered to the students in Sao Tome and Principe. I am very proud to have been part of this marvelous endeavor to enhance the biodiversity education of the citizens of STP.

For more information see the Gulf of Guinea Blog at http://www.calacademy.org/medialibrary/blogs/gulfofguinea/