Founding leadership
Founder & Chairman
James started documenting solo trips into the Everglades and Big Cypress with one vehicle and a camera, sharing what he learned about routes, equipment and safety. Those videos found people who had always wanted to explore Florida and did not know where to begin. The community that gathered around them became the Foundation, and the belief behind it is his: outdoor adventure can be a vehicle for community, stewardship, education and conservation.
Vice Chairman & Co-Founder
Co-founder of the Foundation and a long standing member of the South Florida outdoor community. Shares responsibility for organizational direction and for holding programs to the mission they were created to serve.
Founding Member
Founding board member, contributing to program development and to the community and event operations that keep Foundation outings safe, welcoming and well run.
Founding Member
Founding board member, supporting Foundation programs, community partnerships and the organizational groundwork behind a volunteer led nonprofit.
Founding Member
Founding board member, supporting Foundation programs, volunteer coordination and the operational side of stewardship and community events.
Officer and committee responsibilities are still being defined, and these biographies will be expanded as they are. If you want to help lead a program area, we would rather hear from you early than late.
Governance philosophy
The Foundation operates on accountability, transparency, responsible financial management and mission focused leadership. The board provides strategic oversight and financial responsibility. Volunteers and, in time, chapter leaders execute the programs.
That split matters more than it sounds. A board that runs the events stops being able to review them. Keeping oversight and delivery in different hands is how a small volunteer organization avoids becoming a group of friends approving their own work.
Everything the Foundation asks a funder or an agency to trust is meant to be checkable. Program documentation, budgets and references are available on request.
Board responsibility. Strategic direction, governance, accountability, financial oversight, and protection of the mission and values.
Volunteer responsibility. Program delivery, event leadership, education, stewardship work, and the community relationships all of it depends on.
Future chapters. Local leaders will run local operations while remaining accountable to the standards, policies, mission and governance of the parent organization.
