Meet Our Team

Heart, Expertise, and Wildness

Our team works behind the scenes and all over the world to give you the best experience possible. Click below to read their stories.

Aaron Divine
(Instructor)

Aaron began working in-town for NOLS in 1998 and started field instructing for the school in 2000. He primarily serves as a glacier mountaineering in…

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Abby Endres
(Admissions Officer)

Abby (she/her) grew up on the North Shore of Minnesota, fostering an early love of the outdoors. She now seeks out backpacking, canoeing, nordic skii…

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Abby Warner
(Instructor)

Abby believes the power of a NOLS course is connecting to wild places and education in ways that open possibilities for people to change the world fo…

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Abigail Hunter
(Instructor)

A California native, Abigail grew up playing in the Sierras and in cold Pacific waters, falling in love with the scale of the West. Upon graduating w…

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Abraham "Abe" Lara
(FP-C / TP-C / W-EMT)

After 12 years of service between two branches of the military (USAF / USN), I have embraced the “dirtbag” lifestyle with open arms. When I’m not wor…

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Adam Baxter
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

After graduating from an Atlanta, Ga. High School in 2002, Adam picked up an extraordinarily heavy backpack for the first time and marched through th…

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Adam Crenshaw
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Originally hailing from the Peach State, Adam began his westward migration towards larger mountains during college when he pursued work in outdoor ed…

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Ahmad Thomas
(Board Member)

Ahmad Thomas is the CEO of the Silicon Leadership Valley Group, California's most dynamic business association. As a change agent and next generation…

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Aiyana Green
(Wilderness First Responder)

Aiyana began climbing when she was 14 years old in the Pacific Northwest, and spent her 20s guiding rafts, instructing Outward Bound courses, and lea…

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Alan Neilson
(Instructor)

Born in Australia, where he grew up sailing off the beaches of Adelaide, Alan is an '85 NOLS Alaska Semester grad who started as an instructor in '86…

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Alex DeGolia
(Instructor)

Alex's dad was on an early NOLS course led by Paul Petzoldt in 1970, so he knew growing up that NOLS was in his future. He took a student course out…

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Alice Hill
(Wilderness First Responder)

Alice gets her fill of wilderness medical field experience as a mountaineering and whitewater instructor who has taught extensively at NOLS’ high lat…

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Allen B. Macomber
(Advisory Council Emeriti)

Allen joined the Advisory Council in 2001 after serving for six years on the NOLS Board of Trustees including the last eighteen months as Chair. H…

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Allen O'Bannon
(Instructor)

Allen started working for NOLS in 1987. Since that time he has worked at almost every location and area of instruction. He has administered NOLS prog…

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Allie Maloney
(Instructor)

Allie started her career as an outdoor educator at age sixteen, as a summer camp counselor in beautiful western Washington. After graduating from the…

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Allie Sargent
(NOLS Alaska Operations Manager)

Allie is originally from the mountains of Western North Carolina but fell in love with Alaska in 2018. Since moving to Alaska, Allie has completed he…

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Alyssa Rainbolt
(Instructor)

Alyssa first came to NOLS in 2013 on an Outdoor Educator Course out of Lander, Wyoming. It wasn't long before she decided to leave a big-city life in…

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Amanda Cameron
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Formerly a commercial fisher-lady in Alaska, a fisheries technician in Yellowstone, and ski patroller in Colorado, Amanda began teaching mountaineeri…

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Amber Guzzardo
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Amber graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Movement Science and has since explored her own movement across the country and to d…

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Amy Dominguez-Arms
(Board Vice Chair)

Amy is a philanthropic consultant who works with foundations on strategic planning, program design, field and nonprofit capacity assessment, and g…

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Amy McCann
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Amy discovered her passion for the outdoors while leading backpacking trips at a summer camp in New Hampshire during college. After college she live…

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Amy Shambarger
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Amy has been teaching community and workplace CPR and first aid classes for over 12 years along the Front Range of Colorado. She got the teaching bug…

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Amy Waeschle
(Wilderness First Responder)

Amy Waeschle spent 5 years working as a field instructor for NOLS and other outdoor programs before going back to school for a Master's Degree in Tea…

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Andrea (Auny) Abegglen
(Board Member)

Auny is a seasoned business strategist and marketing executive with over 25 years of experience and a proven track record of helping to start and …

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Andrew Megas-Russell
(Instructor)

Andrew learned the value of living simply, in a small community, on his NOLS Southwest student semester. He believes in the power that outdoor experi…

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Andy Blair
(NOLS Rocky Mountain Assistant Director)

Andy has been working for NOLS since 1992 as a field instructor and since 2001 as a wilderness medicine instructor. He is known to state repetitively…

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Andy Paul
(Instructor and Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Andy started his NOLS journey as a student on an Outdoor Educator sea kayaking and hiking course in Alaska in 2010. He later completed an Alaska Inst…

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Anna Haegel
(Instructor)

Anna Haegel has supported NOLS in the field and in-town for many years. She got started with NOLS when she did a student semester in the Rockies in 2…

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Anna Horn
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Anna ran away from the circus (where she practiced flying trapeze and contortion) for a less sedentary lifestyle as a NOLS Wilderness Medicine and NO…

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Anna Talucci
(Instructor)

Anna started NOLS work as a horse packer at Three Peaks Ranch. In 2007 she completed her Instructor Course concentrating mostly on wilderness, canyon…

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Anne Cannon
(Advisory Council Emeriti)

Anne was a field instructor for NOLS from 1969 - 1976 in addition to doing a number of different administrative jobs including being co-director i…

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Anne Harmann
(Wilderness First Responder)

Anne grew up playing in and on many of MN’s 10,000 lakes. During college, her career plans pivoted from neuroscience to marine ecology following a 30…

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Anne McGowan
(Advancement Communications Coordinator)

Anne hails from southcentral Pennsylvania, and spent weeks every summer of her childhood camping and hiking with her family. Always with her were a …

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Anne Peick
(Instructor)

Anne grew up in Minnesota and began her career in outdoor education in 2004 as an intern for the Voyageur Outward Bound School. In 2009 she began …

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Anne Slaughter Perrote
(Wilderness First Responder)

Anne has enjoyed exploring the outdoors since before her first backpacking trip in a WV wilderness when she was 13. For the past 30 years she has wor…

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Annie Graeter
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Native to the seven hills of Cincinnati, Annie made her way Westward and has never looked back. When asked “mountains or water?” Annie always chose m…

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Annie Morita
(Former Board Member)

Annie is an executive with Apple, Inc., and was most recently the lead for Internet Software & Services in Greater China, focusing on the App Stor…

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Arianne Zwartjes
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Ari came to NOLS from a background in search & rescue, as well as outdoor education and guiding, and a little experience as a medical interpreter in …

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Asa Pape
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Åsa has a teaching degree from Uppsala University in Sweden and taught WFR Physical Education and Swedish at Junior High School in Sweden for eight y…

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Ashley Drake
(NOLS Wilderness Medicine Instructor & Custom Education Operations Manager)

Ashley Drake is a proud Oregonian who moved to the town of Lander, Wyoming to work for NOLS in 2015. Ashley is the Operations Manager for NOLS Custom…

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Ashley Wise
(Alaska Campus Director)

Ashley started with NOLS in 1998 after completing the River Instructor Course in Vernal, UT. As a field instructor, he works sea kayaking, hiking, pa…

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Atila Rego - Monteiro
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Atila has held various administrator jobs at NOLS from Program Manager at the southern NOLS Patagonia base in Magallanes and in NOLS Brazil from 2005…

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Audrey Kruse
(Wilderness Medicine Instructor)

Audrey currently lives in Albuquerque, NM but loves to travel and explore new places whenever she can. She became hooked on outdoor adventure and exp…

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