Bob Birkby , Board of Advisors

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Bob brings to Aerie over 25 years as an instructor and backcountry crew leader with the Student Conservation Association. He is author of Lightly on the Land , SCA's trail building and maintenance manual. Other writings include an upcoming release of Mountain Madness , a book about Scott Fischer, current editions of the Boy Scout Handbook and Fieldbook , and much of the leadership and outdoor skills literature of the Boy Scouts of America. Mountain adventures have found Bob in the Rocky Mountains, Cascades, Alaska, Russia, Nepal, and East Africa, and on a solo-hike the length of the Appalachian Trail. He has engaged in the dangerous pursuit of teaching grammar and writing to college freshmen, and occasionally appears on stage to startle his friends as a concert pianist.

Richard Ingebretsen, Board of Advisors

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Emergency Room MD, PhD.
On Aerie's Board, Dr. Ingebretsen advises on medical issues and helps insure that we are teaching the most up-to-date, relevent medical information. Dr. Ingebretsen co-founded and oversees the Advanced Wilderness Life Support program. He is a professor of biophysics and an instructor of medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He founded the Glen Canyon Institute , Wilderness Medicine of Utah , and River Bound Adventures and is director of the wilderness medicine program at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He is the winner of the 2005 University Distinguished Teaching Award, the 2002 Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award as well as the Students' Choice for Outstanding Teacher in 2002. He has a passion for river running, mountain biking and the outdoors.

Kurt Merrill, Board of Advisors

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Kurt A. Merrill is the National Director of Risk Management for SCA, headquartered in Charlestown, NH. On Aerie's Board, Kurt keeps Aerie abreast of the most recent changes in risk management policies in the outdoor industry. He has been an outdoor educator and administrator for over eighteen years and holds a B.S. in Recreation and Parks Management and a M.S. in Leisure Studies from Penn State University. Kurt has written numerous articles on risk management topics and is the co-editor of the most recent volume of the Adventure Program Risk Management Report. Kurt has spoken at professional conferences on field and organizational risk management topics, has led numerous internal reviews, and served as an external risk management and program quality reviewer and consultant. Kurt has been a member of the Wilderness Risk Managers Committee for ten years and recently completed a three-year term as the committee's chair.

Jay Satz , Board of Advisors

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Jay is Vice President of Western Initiatives for the Student Conservation Association. He is responsible for building partnerships with agencies in SCA's northwest region, which includes Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. He led SCA's Mount Rainier Recovery initiative in response to massive flood damage in western Washington national parks and forests in 2006. Jay is a senior consultant for SCA's risk management program. As a standing member of the National Wilderness Risk Managers Committee since 1995, he is an often-published expert in this field, and presents annually at the Wilderness Risk Managers Symposium. He directed SCA's development of the written training curriculum, which was published by The Mountaineers as the premier trails and conservation restoration manual, Lightly on the Land .