AdventureMark

Mike grew up on the banks of the Umzimkulu River in South Africa where he began kayaking whitewater from a young age. Mike spent two seasons instructing and raft guiding on the Zambezi River and has worked on the rivers of Zambia, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Scotland, The USA and now New Zealand. Mike is qualified as an instructor with Rescue 3 International, teaching swiftwater rescue and safety courses to the outdoor industry as well as Civil Defence and Emergency Services here in New Zealand.

​Mike heads up the AdventureMark™ team and will be your main point of contact with AdventureMark™.

Stu is an auditor, consultant, and writer. He has audited or written over 200 safety plans. His background is in teaching, mountain guiding, outdoor instructing, and non-profit management.
​Recent gigs have been for WorkSafe (Principal Advisor, Adventure Activities) and Tourism Industry Aotearoa (Adventure and Outdoor Project Leader). Stu is possibly one of New Zealand's most experienced outdoor safety auditors.

Jamie spent 14 years running his own rafting, kayaking and mountaineering operations in Uganda. With a BA (hons) in Adventure Tourism Management he went on to work for many outdoor operations across Europe and Africa. A qualified lead auditor and technical expert for kayaking, he can usually be found on the rivers around his home in Taupo. In the past he has been a raft guide trainer/assessor. Swift water rescue assessor and BCU kayak coach in white water and sea kayaking. Jamie previously managed the AdventureMark™ team and when not running audits he travels the globe training companies in how to lead and run investigations into major disasters for Kelvin TOP_SET.

Tony is ex-military and has a background in extremely high risk activities such as mixed gas construction diving, explosive demolitions (on land and underwater), landmine clearance as well as horizontal and vertical construction/destruction and training. He has operated and managed projects in extremely hostile environments such as Former Yugoslavia, Former USSR, Somalia, Yemen and Liberia. Tony holds a Masters degree, and a post graduate diploma in arts. Tony’s interests include Aikido, skydiving, sport diving and hunting. He is an enthusiastic but unskilled, musician and whiskey taster.

Hugh is internationally qualified (IFMGA) mountain and ski guide. Hugh has worked in outdoor safety auditing and consulting for over 15 years and is a member of the New Zealand Register of Outdoor Safety Auditors. In addition to running his own mountain guiding business, Hugh owns own and operates the trekking business Wanaka Heli Hikes and is the manager of Harris Mountains Heliski. New Zealand’s largest heliski company. Hugh also provides safety, locations and production services to the television and film industries. When not at work you’ll generally find Hugh surfing.

www.hughbarnard.com

www.wanakahelihikes.co.nz

Todd has been working in the outdoor industry for 19 years across a variety of pursuits. Since 2007 he has focussed on High Ropes facilitation as a course manager and later as a Trainer and Technical expert. In 2014 he was an Adventure Activities Safety advisor for Worksafe NZ and following that began working for Adventuremark as an Auditor and TE.

David originally served in the New Zealand Army and now is Managing Director of Strategi Ltd and the Strategi Institute. David is an Authorised Financial Adviser (AFA), an Associate Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Management (AFNZIM) and a member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors. A qualified Lead Auditor David has a passion for motorbikes and looks after many of our happy operators in this sector.

Mark Woods (Budgie) has been developing and managing safety systems and emergency response in challenging environments since the early ’80s.

He has been at the forefront of the development of safety systems in the ski industry and managed the safety services operation for Whakapapa Ski Area, the largest ski area in New Zealand, for two decades. He has also been heavily involved in the alpine cliff rescue of the Tongariro National Park performing many technical rescues and delivering sound training to the rescue technicians.

As a director of Peak Safety, Budgie draws upon a wealth of knowledge, experience and skills developed over his extensive career working with a wide range of business operations using a practical approach and a sense of humour.
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He loves to ski and is obsessed with riding his mountain bike down hills (and has the associated inventory of broken bones). He also has a passion for the ocean and spent five years alternating between working summers as a deckhand on crayfish boats off the coast of West Australia and winters as a Ski Patroller in NZ.

Mark has many years of experience as a training consultant, facilitator and business manager. He has worked for leading training organisations in New Zealand and overseas, and has extensive management experience in the snow sport, recreation and adventure industries.
​Recognised as a specialist in experiential learning methodology, Mark is interested in the design and delivery of training interventions that have a lasting effect and make an impact on individual and/or organisational performance.
Mark's recent work focus has been in the field of safety management in the adventure tourism and outdoor industry. 

Robin spent the last 8 years on, above and in the water. He has been active in the dive industry for many years. Prior coming to New Zealand he ran his own international business providing technical work at height (Rope Access) in a variety of energy industries (Oil & Gas, Wind, Hydro) combined with the maritime industry (Salvaging & Dredging). These demanding environments made Robin well aware of the risks involved with remote operations. As qualified lead auditor and technical expert for diving and high ropes, Robin has a variety of work in his portfolio. His practical approach will ensure a smooth auditing process. Robin is into all kinds of outdoor sports. When he is not auditing he likes to work as a guide around his home on the shore of Lake Taupo.     

​Since 1992 Koryn has worked as a rafting, canyoning and river boarding guide in 20 countries world-wide. He is a qualified bungy and pendulum swing jump master and a canyoning and rafting assessor here in NZ. He’s also a rafting assessor in Switzerland and for the International Rafting Federation since 2009. He owns and operates Big Rock Adventures in Canterbury offering canyoning tours and courses along with specialised river rescue training for the workplace. He has run the West Coast Polytechnics rafting programme for the past decade and is a member of the Christchurch Alpine Cliff Rescue, West Coast and Tasman districts river rescue teams with canyoning and river response. He has been a passionate member of the NZ Rivers Association since 2004 and enjoys contributing to the annual NZRA river rescue workshops, reputed to be the most advanced river rescue training anywhere in the world.

Paul grew up in the rafting industry in a family owned business on the Rangitikei River. Having stepped into the owner/operator role at a young age he has seen the rafting industry through every stage of its development, writing and implementing safety processes throughout and maintaining a keen interest in ensuring the industry develops to the world leader it is today.
Paul has a wide range of river adventures under his belt from paddling at international canoe rodeo events, multiple World rafting Championships and guiding numerous NZ and international rivers. Paul is an active grade 4/5 raft guide and guide assessor, as well as a qualified whitewater kayak instructor and assessor. Paul and his wife Tricia now run a campground, and kayaking/rafting business called Awastone on the Rangitikei River.

​​Stu has lived and worked around rivers for the past 18 years, starting out kayak instructing before attending Tai Poutini Polytech and switching his focus to rafts. He has worked on rivers throughout Australia as well as at home in New Zealand and Canada.
He has held roles as the Lead Whitewater Trainer for the Outdoor Education Group in Australia, and Operations Manager for Vector Wero Whitewater Park. Currently, Stu keeps busy as a Skills Active assessor, rafting rescue workshop facilitator, LandSAR volunteer and is studying Natural Hazard and Disaster Management through Massey University

​​Sam has always been involved in education, and adventure tourism. He is currently the programme coordinator at Adventure Tourism and Guiding, based at The Te Pukenga campus in Nelson (NMIT).

​Through all these roles, and now as an Auditor and TE, Sam has been involved on both sides of the audit process, bringing expertise and an understanding of the operator’s perspective to his work. Through his approach, Sam aims to share learnings and knowledge to operators he works with through open, and robust feedback to ensure safe standards. Sam holds multiple NZOIA awards, and is an assessor for NZOIA and Skills Active Aotearoa

Hemi is founder and director of Integra Limited and the Certifier for AdventureMark.
​After providing audit and assurance services to the humanitarian landmine clearance sector since 2004, a decision to focus on safety risk management here in New Zealand saw the company's focus shift closer to home in 2012. Hemi has a MSc in Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management from the University of Leicester, UK, and lives in Havelock North.