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.

Edmilson Fonseca
(Instructor)

Edmilson (Ed) has worked in the outdoors since 1996 as a rock climbing and hiking guide. He entered the outdoor education industry as a rock climbing…

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Elaine Walsh Carney
(Board Member)

Founding Principal of Pathfinder Philanthropy Advisors, Elaine Walsh Carney has 35 years of service to the nonprofit, social venture startup, and …

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Elias Sjöberg
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Elias Sjöberg is a nursing assistant and has been working full time in the outdoors since 2013. His first big expedition was crossing Madagascar from…

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Elliott Reed
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Elliott was born and raised in the mid-west. At age 18, without ever previously visiting “the Treasure State” he enrolled in classes at the Universit…

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Elliot Wright
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Elliott grew up in Northern New Mexico and Colorado. In Maine for college, Elliott pursued Conservation Biology and History while guiding trips with …

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Emily Greene
(Wilderness First Aid Instructor )

Emily’s first love of rivers came from a family vacation rafting down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. She continued to pursue this love …

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Emily Isaacs, MA, MEd, LPC
(Mental Health Advisor)

Emily has been working at the junction of mental health and wilderness for over 15 years. With expertise drawn from extensive time in the field with …

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Em Ledingham
(Instructor)

Em Ledingham has worked as an instructor and administrator at NOLS. They have accumulated over 160 weeks of experience instructing hiking, mountainee…

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Era Aranow
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Originally from the wilds of urban NY, Era now calls Lander, WY home. After taking her WEMT course in 2008, she rode for the Tarrytown Volunteer Ambu…

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Eric Barnard
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Originally from the vertically challenged state of Wisconsin, Eric has been working in the outdoor education field since 2000. He took his first NOL…

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Eric Boggs
(Wilderness First Responder)

Eric Boggs began working for NOLS in 2001, He works in executive development for custom education clients, teaches Master Educator courses, wildernes…

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Eric Jonsson
(Advisory Council Member)

Eric and his wife, Jody, live in Manhattan Beach, California and Rollins, Montana.

I grew up sailing and bodysurfing in Hawaii. After…

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Eric M. Swanson
(Advisory Council Member)

Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Eric Swanson is a two-time, 30-day NOLS graduate having completed wilderness and mountaineering courses in the Wi…

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Eric Page
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician, EMT-I )

Eric first took an urban-based EMT course in 2000, in his home state of Colorado. He then headed north to make a new home in Jackson, WY in 2003. Aft…

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Eric Strickler
(WFA instructor)

Eric is a lover of the worlds watery places from lakes to sounds to creeks and rivers. Eric's childhood was spent in the great mitten state on the s…

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Eric Wakild
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician, MA)

Tarheel born and tarheel bred, Eric started in education by teaching high school science in rural south Texas with Teach For America. During his summ…

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Erin Lotz
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Erin has enjoyed decades of teaching in the field of experiential education. From adjudicated youth to Montessori preschoolers, from Outward Bound ex…

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Erin Zwier
(Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician)

Erin grew up in a variety of Southeastern states but did not manage to pick up a Southern drawl. After graduating from college, she headed west towa…

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Ethan O. Meers
(Former Board Secretary)

Ethan Meers has been a part of the NOLS community for more than 20 years. He is a former instructor who worked courses out of the Rocky Mountain a…

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Ethan Schmertzler
(Advisory Council Member)

Ethan Schmertzler is the CEO and a co-founder of Dispel, a U.S. cybersecurity firm providing industrial zero trust access for manufacturers, utili…

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