Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming

Simon Priest, PhD, is president and chief executive officer of virtualTEAMWORKS.com, which specializes in experiential learning on the Internet. He is also a retired full professor from Brock University in Canada and the executive director of the Corporate Adventure Training Institute, a research center of excellence. He was an interim director of Canadian Tire's corporate university. A member of the Association for Experiential Education (AEE) since 1983, he chaired their research task force, safety practices task force, and student research grants committee while also contributing on the journal editorial board, scholarship committee, conference steering groups, and journal editorships.

Dr. Priest's contributions to the field of adventure programming have had an international impact. He has been a scholar in residence and has been awarded visiting fellowships in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, England, and several other European nations. He has studied and taught about outdoor leadership in more than 40 countries around the world.

Dr. Priest has researched and written extensively on the topic of adventure programming. He has authored or edited several books and book chapters, and his articles have appeared in publications such as the Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Leadership, the Journal of Experiential Education, Journal of Leisure Research, Leisure Sciences, Leisure Studies, and the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Dr. Priest received his doctorate in outdoor recreation from the University of Oregon in 1986.

Michael Gass, PhD, is a full professor and chair of the department of kinesiology and member of the award-winning outdoor education program at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). This accredited program is recognized as one of the best undergraduate and graduate training programs in the world, and its students are some of the finest emerging professionals in the field of adventure programming. Dr. Gass has helped to produce numerous pivotal books for the field, including Book of Metaphors: Volume II, Adventure Therapy: Therapeutic Applications of Adventure Programming, and Program Accreditation Standards for Adventure Programs with Jed Williamson. He has conducted numerous international workshops and trainings, and his writing has appeared in professional journals around the world. He currently directs several evidence-based research projects for the American Youth Foundation and Project Adventure to validate and promote best practices in the field of adventure programming.

Dr. Gass served as president of the Association for Experiential Education (AEE) in 1990 and was the chair of AEE's Therapeutic Adventure Professional Group in 1992-93 and 1995-96. He also was the chair of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance's Council for Outdoor Education in 1994. Currently he is the editor of the Journal for Therapeutic Schools and Programs and serves on the review board for the Journal of Experiential Education. He also served for 10 years on AEE's Program Accreditation Council.

Dr. Gass received his PhD in experiential education from the University of Colorado at Boulder and completed postdoctoral studies in marriage and family therapy. When not with his family, he can be found climbing or wilderness running.