Scuba Venture - Our Staff

Scuba Venture Instructors and Staff

Do you have scuba equipment, training, or travel questions? Ask one of our experienced Scuba Venture staff members or certified instructors. Scuba Venture Instructors:

	Dan’s first ocean experience was snorkeling in Barbados. Years later Dan took a resort course in the Bahamas and got hooked on scuba. In July 2005 he was certified with Scuba Venture and has taken almost all the courses they offer. Dan works as a Physician Assistant in Family Medicine and is also an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine for Drexel/Hahnemann Physician Assistant Program. Besides enjoying scuba diving with his wife, Dan has a significant interest in scuba safety. After completing the SSI Dive Con Program, Dan became a certified instructor in nine different DAN specialties. Dan is also a member of the DAN Referral Physician Program, is a Red Cross certified lifeguard, and is currently certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Life Support, and Advanced Airway Management. Dan’s favorite dive sites include local quarries, North Carolina ocean diving, The Bahamas, St. Lucia, and Curacao. “Dr. Dan” says, "diving is a fun sport, but being safe is just as important!”
	Brett is a Middle School teacher from the local district of Owen J. Roberts. He has been a certified diver since 1989, where he completed his open water skills at Kutztown University. His interest in diving came from watching divers retrieve fishing lures from Indian River Inlet, Delaware as a seven year old. After completing his open water class at eighteen, he bought his own equipment and began diving in local quarries and off the coast of New Jersey. In 1995 he completed his divemaster rating and immediately went to work on local dive boats in New Jersey, with an interest in spearfishing and lobstering. He has extensive experience as a boat diver and says that shore diving is a way to experience the ocean without the high expense of chartering a boat. Along with Mark Stitzer, Brett is the only other instructor certified at Scuba Venture to teach Waves, Tides, and Currents (Shore Diver). In 2004, he completed his instructor rating, and anticipates working with many new students as well as continuing his innovative intervention diving program that he uses to teach scuba adventure education and other activities to his Middle School students.
	Charlie started diving in 1974. He went to Northern Michigan University in 1980 to get his PADI Instructor Certification. He worked his way up to an Instructor Trainer, Developmental Staff Instructor and Master Instructor. In 1991 he joined Scuba Venture, and switched over to SSI, DCSI instructor. Since then, he has over 10,000 dives under his weight belt and has certified over 2200 students. In 2001 he received his Platinum Pro 5000 instructor rating. Two more years and Mark will have to give him the Gold dive watch for continuous service. He teaches Boat, Deep, Night, and Drysuit diving specialties. Cozumel, Mexico and the Cayman Islands are a few of his favorite warm water spots, and New Jersey wrecks and buggin' are high on his fun to do list. Usually he can be seen (fins at least) during the Florida mini season looking for those tasty treats.
	Jim is a Technology Education teacher with more than 25 years in the profession. While still in high school, he was certified as a YMCA scuba diver and spent his early years diving in Canadian lakes. He was certified as a PADI divemaster in 1991 and has worked for Scuba Venture ever since. In 2001, Jim earned his SSI Open Water Instructor rating and currently holds an SSI Dive Control Specialist Instructor rating being certified to teach nine different specialty courses. Jim is a Scuba Ranger Instructor and together with Mark & Don, run the Scuba Ranger program at the Dive Center. As a certified equipment technician, he can also be found in the Tech Room servicing equipment, or inspecting and filling tanks.

	While in Boy Scouts, the television show Sea Hunt, with its strange and unusual sea creatures, prompted Gary to take a YMCA scuba course His first time breathing from a regulator happened in 1966 in Oneida Lake, NY. After a long hiatus, Gary started diving again in 1988. A short time later he met a dive buddy by the name of Eyal. Starting with Advanced Open Water, Divemaster, Underwater Criminal Investigator, Search & Recovery, and Equipment Tech, Gary & Eyal challenged each other, finally achieving instructor ratings in 2000. Gary has a great deal of experience in both warm and cold water conditions, with numerous dives under his belt in each. Gary teaches in the Lebanon area for Scuba Venture, and can also be found in the Tech Room, assisting with equipment repairs and servicing. Gary's motto is, "Find a good dive buddy and enjoy the bubbles!"
	Mark's diving career began way back in 1977. Since then he has traveled all over the world and has over 6,200 dives under his belt. He progressed through the training ranks to SSI Instructor Certifier, and also teaches PADI, and TDI certifications. From snorkeling through scuba instructor, Mark teaches all levels of scuba students, and is certified to teach 42 different specialty courses. He teaches Enriched Air courses through SSI, PADI, and TDI. He is an instructor certifier for the National Safety Council's First Aid, CPR, and AED Programs as well as an Instructor Ceritfier for all DAN courses. He also holds TDI certifications in Gas Blending, Enriched Air Nitrox, and Oxygen Equipment Service Technician. One course Mark really enjoys teaching is Scuba Rangers, which is for children ages 8-12. In 2001 he achieved a Platinum Pro 5000 instructor rating. When Mark is not running the store, or teaching students, he can be found in the Tech Room helping Scuba Venture's main repair technicians. Mark loves both wreck diving and running trips to the Pacific and the Caribbean.
	Don began diving in 1961, but was never certified. While raising a family and pursuing a career, he put his diving activities on hold. In 1993 he began diving again and was officially certified. In 1998 Don became a scuba instructor, teaching courses for SSI, SDI, TDI, DAN, and the American Red Cross. In the 1990's he worked as a sales representative for several scuba equipment manufacturers and began working as lake staff for the Dutch Springs dive training facility in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In 2004, Don co-curated an exhibition on the History of Diving at the Reading Public Museum. Don is also a life member of the Telford Volunteer Diving and Rescue Unit in Harleysville, Pennsylvania.
	Terry is a Project Engineer with a local Engineering firm in Maryland. He started scuba diving in 2005 and in 2006 received his Dive Control Specialist certification. In 2010 Terry became a SSI Open Water instructor. His diving experience includes local quarries, Liveaboards in the Bahamas, St. Lawrence River and the Caribbean Sea from Bahamas to Aruba. Terry is also certified as a DSAT TEC Deep Diver which encompasses decompression dives, 100% O2, and dives up to 165 feet max depth.

Scuba Venture Staff:

	Chris always admired Jacques Cousteau and often thought about learning to dive. He became a NAUI certified diver in 2002 and recently achieved a SSI DiveCon certification. His first Caribbean diving experience was to St. Eustatius (Statia), where he assisted Mark Stitzer, shooting underwater video for a promotional video for the island. Chris owns a video and multimedia production company, and designed the Scuba Venture website.
	Tom is a high school mathematics teacher and the head football coach at Owen J. Roberts school district. He graduated from Penn State University in 1983, and he started scuba diving in 1993, certified by Scuba Venture. In 2006 Tom received his Dive Control Specialist certification. His diving experience has been in local quarries, inlets, New Jersey, Ocean City Maryland, North Carolina and Key Largo.
	Tony is the CIO at Landis Express in Reading PA. He started diving 21 years ago and until recently, was primarily a warm water diver. In 2008 Tony and his son re-discovered cold water diving and they both obtained their open water certification through Scuba Venture. To date, Tony has over 350 logged dives and is certified in over a dozen SSI specialties, including Dive Control Specialist. Tony regularly helps with Scuba Venture classes and can usually be seen diving at Willow Springs Park every Thursday night. He has dove many of the warm water “James Bond” sites and enjoys diving with the sharks at the Camden Aquarium, feeding the fish at Dutch Springs, and diving in Greece.

	Dave is now an excavating contractor, in 1997 he retired with honor as a Sgt. with the Port Carbon Police Dept.. He obtained his open water certification in 1993, his inspiration for diving came from watching Sea Hunt as a child and was fascinated by the under water world. He completed his dive master training in 1997. In 2000 his son Nicholas became Scuba Venture's first 10 year old certified diver and since has obtained his master diver rating. Dave enjoys assisting with the training of students, and especially the students who think they can't make it through the training. If you happen to meet Dave while you are in training, it's a good bet that you will see his son next to him working on his Dive Control Specialist training.
	Rich and his wife Tracy had their first Snorkeling excursion in June of 2002 while on their honeymoon. Two years later they went to Cancun Mexico with their two youngest boys and took them on their first snorkeling trip. In 2007 they signed up for ScubaVenture’s Open Water course and were soon on their way to learning how to dive. They were certified together by Brett Galambos with assistance from Rich Rupp. They continue to dive together whenever they have time and have taken additional classes together to help improve their skills. In 2009 Rich became a Dive Control Specialist with a goal of helping others enjoy the sport. Rich says, "Listening to the excitement of new students after their first open water dive is quite rewarding, and I find every dive to be a new learning experience and a chance to see things I missed on the last dive".
	Jen started diving in 1989 and began assisting with classes a year later. She joined the staff of Scuba Venture in 1991 and became a PADI Divemaster in 1992. She has since achieved the rank of SSI Dive Control Specialist and is a certified Nitrox diver. Jen has experience in both warm and cold water diving having logged many dives in Willow Springs and Dutch Springs as well as wreck dives in New Jersey, North Carolina and Truk Lagoon. She has also logged many dives throughout the Caribbean in locations such as the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos, and Honduras to name a few. Her favorite dive locations are Roatan, Honduras and Ambergris Cay, Belize. Her favorite part of assisting with classes is teaching new divers to enjoy the sport as much as she does.

	Kai is a Senior Systems Engineer and Technical Project Manager for Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. A computer geek by day, his passion for diving started as a kid and was fueled by yearly vacations with his wife in Bermuda. He and his wife Kathryn would watch the wreck divers while snorkeling each year and promised to some day try scuba. In 2007 they took plunge and learned to dive with Robin "Woody" Woods of ScubaVenture. Kai was bitten hard by the dive bug and earned his Dive Control Specialist certification on April 20th, 2010. The wrecks and reefs of the Caribbean are his favorite places to dive, dive, dive! :)

	Scuba diving was something Richard always wanted to do. In 1999, on his first cruise to Bermuda, he watched some scuba divers checking out the bottom of his cruise ship. That same day he checked out some local dive shops and decided to take lessons as soon as he got home. He loved it from the get-go and couldn't get enough of diving. To gain more experience, he frequently assisted with open water classes at the quarry, and took many specialty courses. Richard started diving off of New Jersey, and went on yearly dive trips to exotic places. With a goal of helping other divers enjoy the sport, he became a Dive Control Specialist. Richard can usually be found at the local scuba park, helping other divers during Thursday night dives. Richard has over 1300 logged dives to date, with many more to come. He works with all the instructors at Scuba Venture and is known as, "Father Rich"!
	Dave is a SSI Dive Control Specialist, and has been diving for 21 years- 20 of them with the Luzerne County Sheriff Department Dive Team, where he currently holds the position as Team Training Coordinator. With 2000 dives and a specialization in search and recovery, he is the person you want to talk to if you want to find it and bring it back. Dave is always willing to share his knowledge or show the many artifacts such as, shark’s teeth, indian artifacts, antique bottles, china, and shipwreck brass that he has recovered.