2018 Divers of the Year

Jeff is the President of Next Generation Services, where he provides consulting and training services in the diving market. Clients include rebreather manufacturers, training agencies, and legal agencies. Jeff has participated or lead over 70 diving expeditions during the past 30 years, to places like Palau, Canary Islands, and Antarctica. Jeff was certified as a NAUI Instructor in 1978, and is active in teaching cave diving, rebreather, nitrox, decompression, and trimix diving courses. He has published extensively on diving education topics, with heavy emphasis on diving safety. Jeff has edited/reviewed many diving textbooks, and is the author of Mastering Rebreathers. He has served on several Boards of Directors in the diving community, including as Chairman of the NSS-CDS and as Vice Chairman of NAUI, and as Treasurer on the AAUS Board. He has received the NAUI Outstanding and Continuing Service Awards; the Silver Wakulla, Abe Davis, Henry Nicholson, and International Cave Diving Awards for safe cave diving; the SSI Platinum Pro 5000 Award, and is a NAUI Hall of Honor inductee. In 2007 he was honored as the DAN/Rolex Diver of the Year.

David Burroughs is presently the North America Sales Manager for Huish Outdoors and a business partner of Caribbean Dive Tours. David started scuba diving in 1985 while serving in the US Navy stationed on the USS Grant SSBN 631 in Portsmouth, NH. David loved his new sport and was an open water instructor by 1988. In time he earned his Master Instructor and Instructor Trainer. He became one of the first IAND Nitrox Instructors teaching in the Caribbean. In 1997 David was offered the Northeast sales position for Oceanic. There he significantly grew the territory. TDI was born in 1994 and David became one of its first instructors. Brian Carney purchased TDI in 2004 and asked David to join to build and manage TDI’s first professional sales team; David jumped at the opportunity. During his time at SDI/TDI, David built that first-class sales organization and also spent time teaching divers from Florida to Canada everything from Open Water Diver to Advanced Trimix. In 2007, Bob Hollis, CEO, and Founder of Oceanic offered David the opportunity to help launch his new technical dive line: Hollis Dive Gear. With his love of technical diving and his expertise in the equipment, David proved a valuable asset and quickly rose to VP of Sales. In 2010, David and his wife Shawn bought Caribbean Dive Tours. David continued at AUP while Shawn ran Caribbean Dive Tours. Today, Caribbean Dive Tours continue the original model of bringing dive travel and travel education to dive stores across the US, while David has over 5000 dives and has certified more than 500 divers from the Bahamas to the St Lawrence Sea Way. David was committed to the diving industry since his first breath on scuba at Cape Neddick Nubble Lighthouse in the chilly waters off York, Maine in 1985.

Jill Heinerth, Explorer in Residence for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society is a veteran of over twenty-five years of scientific diving, filming/photography and exploration on projects with National Geographic, NOAA, various educational institutions and television networks worldwide. Recognized as one of the planet’s great underwater explorers, her expeditions include the first dives inside Antarctic icebergs and record-breaking scientific missions in deep underwater caves around the world. Heinerth is the recipient of Canada’s Polar Medal and the Sports and Education NOGI Award from the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences. Jill conducts workshops, facilitates film festivals, and gives presentations at industry trade shows, universities and corporate events around the world. Jill has been a presenter on dozens of radio and TV broadcasts, including the BBC, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, CBC, and television networks from Japan to Australia. Over 1.5 million people have learned about climate change, water, adventure, and exploration by viewing Jill’s passionate TED Talk. More than anything else, Jill considers herself an exploration educator. Sharing her unique experience and knowledge, she speaks about leadership, risk assessment, fear, and failure.