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Drew
Richardson
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Drew
Richardson
is
President
and
Chief
Operating
Officer
for
PADI.
He
has
been
with
PADI
since
1985
and
in
that
period
has
been
instrumental
in
the
development
and
expansion
of
PADI’s
popular
diver
courses
worldwide.
He
provides
leadership
to
the
company
as
part
of
the
PADI
Worldwide
executive
group
in
a
broad
base
of
areas
involving
executive
management,
corporate
management,
technical
program
and
product
development,
sales
and
marketing,
training
and
education,
international
and
membership
issues.
He
supports
the
four
corporate
primary
objectives:
safe
and
responsible
diver
acquisition
and
retention;
member
acquisition
and
retention;
financial
prosperity;
worldwide
alignment
in
message,
products,
systems
and
procedures.
He
has
been
involved
in
water
safety,
scuba
diving
and
diving
education
for
35
years.
He
has
extensive
experience
in
international
diver
training
and
education
and
also
has
taught
competitive
swimming,
water
polo,
children's
swimming
(infants
through
teens),
lifesaving
and
life
guarding,
water
safety
and
water
rescue,
first
aid,
CPR
and
other
aquatic-related
programs.
He
has
extensive
boating
and
boat
handling
experience,
including
marine
rescue
and
marine
patrol
and
enforcement.
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He
is
one
of
three
top
executives
that
oversee
the
business
affairs
of
the
PADI
organization
and
all
of
its
international
affiliates,
and
a
board
member
of
the
organization.
He
sits
on
the
board
of
several
companies
within
the
global
organization,
and
has
extensive
experience
in
international
business
administration,
cross-cultural
training,
and
planning
and
development.
He
facilitated
the
generation
of
the
organization’s
mission
and
vision
statements,
initiated
a
strategic
planning
process,
and
is
part
of
the
organization’s
budget
review
and
development
process.
He
has
traveled
extensively
and
represents
PADI
Worldwide
as
a
senior
management
consultant,
public
speaker,
negotiator
and
problem-solver
in
a
wide
variety
of
tasks
and
settings
internationally
--
both
within
the
organization
and
in
other
areas
of
business
and
the
diving
industry.
Areas
of
expertise
include
product
development,
budget
administration,
market
penetration,
corporate
and
international
relations,
strategic
planning,
mergers
and
acquisitions,
team
and
consensus
building,
human
and
cross-cultural
relations. |
As
a
trainer
and
educator,
he
has
directly
trained
and
certified
over
3,000
divers
from
entry-level
divers
up
through
the
instructor
trainer
level.
He
has
teaching
and
field
experience
in
recompression
chamber
operations
and
treatment,
diving
physiology
and
medicine,
first
aid,
CPR,
emergency
care,
medic
first
aid,
diving
accident
management,
diving
search
and
recovery,
navigation,
altitude,
multi
level
diving,
computer
diving,
dry
suit
diving,
drift
diving,
boat
diving,
wreck
diving,
underwater
archeology,
deep
diving,
cave
diving,
cavern
diving,
coral
reef
ecology,
night
diving,
public
safety
diving,
rescue
diving,
underwater
videography,
compressor
operations
and
gas
systems,
underwater
photography,
equipment
repair
and
maintenance,
divemaster,
assistant
instructor,
underwater
environment,
international
diver,
instructor
training
courses,
instructor
development
courses,
course
director
training
courses,
and
numerous
instructor
development
seminars
conducted
domestically
and
internationally. |
His
diverse
diving
experience
includes
over
4,500
dives
in
a
wide
variety
of
environmental
conditions
and
in
many
parts
of
the
world.
He
has
trained
divers
in
universities,
dive
stores,
live-aboard
boats
(as
crew
and
instructor/divemaster),
public
service,
dive
resorts,
in
addition
to
private
educational
capacities. |
In
his
position
as
President
and
Chief
Operating
Officer
for
PADI
Worldwide,
his
responsibilities
include
the
implementation
and
monitoring
of
PADI's
training
related
programs
both
internationally
and
domestically.
PADI
is
the
world's
largest
recreational
diver
training
and
educational
organization.
Under
his
direction,
PADI's
educational
system
is
used
in
183
countries
and
territories
and
has
been
translated
into
27
official
languages.
He
oversees
a
program
for
which
130,000
PADI
professional
members
and
5,500
stores
and
resorts
teach
diving
education
and
safety
to
over
924,000
scuba
divers
annually.
He
is
involved
in
the
development
and
consultation
of
PADI's
educational
products
and
programs
including
the
development
and
testing
of
the
Recreational
Dive
Planner
and
the
TecRec
program.
As
Editor
in
Chief
of
PADI's
consumer
diving
textbooks
and
educational
materials
and
Editor
in
Chief
of
the
Undersea
Journal,
PADI's
professional
membership
publication,
he
oversees
the
development
of
PADI's
diver
and
leadership
education
programs. |
As
a
member
of
the
Undersea
and
Hyperbaric
Medical
Society
(UHMS)
and
South
Pacific
Underwater
Medicine
Society
(SPUMS),
Drew
represents
PADI’s
extensive
experience
base
before
the
dive
medical
community
by
contributing
papers
and
research,
including
the
DAN
Nitrox
Workshop
and
the
American
Academy
of
Underwater
Sciences
(AAUS)
Reverse
Profile
Workshop.
He
is
Chair
of
the
Recreational
Scuba
Training
Council’s
(RSTC)
Standards
Committee,
and
co-author
and
co-chair
of
numerous
SPUMS
workshops.
He
received
the
1992
DAN/Rolex
Diver
of
the
Year
award
for
contributions
to
diving
safety,
and
was
the
2000
recipient
of
the
Undersea
and
Hyperbaric
Medical
Society’s
Craig
Hoffman
Memorial
Award
for
his
long-standing
and
high-quality
contributions
to
diving
safety
to
both
the
diving
and
diving
medical
community.
In
addition,
he
was
most
recently
inducted
by
the
Board
of
the
Cayman
Islands
Ministry
of
Tourism
into
the
International
Scuba
Diving
Hall
of
Fame
in
2007. |
As
a
faculty
member
in
the
Post-Graduate
Degree
Program
in
Medical
Science
and
Diving
and
Hyperbaric
Science
for
the
University
of
Auckland,
Drew
taught
courses
involved
in
the
Master
of
Medical
Science
(MMSci)
or
Post-Graduate
Diploma
in
Medical
Science
(PGDipMedSci)
for
medically-qualified
practitioners.
Graduates
practice
clinical
diving
medicine
in
a
primary
care
setting
or
clinical
practice
in
a
hyperbaric
medical
facility.
As
a
faculty
member
from
2004
to
2008,
courses
taught
include:
Diving
Equipment
&
Techniques,
Decompression
Practice
-
Tables
&
Computers,
First
Aid
Management
of
Diving
Accidents,
and
Health
Surveillance
for
Recreational
Diving
–
conforming
international
standards. |
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Under
his
direction
in
1988,
PADI
launched
the
S.A.F.E.
diver
campaign
(i.e.
Slowly
Ascend
From
Every
dive).
Since
1988,
millions
of
divers
have
been
trained
to
adopt
a
"S.A.F.E.
Diver"
philosophy.
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Under
his
direction
in
1989,
PADI
developed
an
educational
brochure,
in
cooperation
with
the
Anheuser
Busch
company,
to
discourage
divers
from
mixing
alcohol
and
diving
(i.e.
"Deep
Thoughts"
-
on
alcohol
consumption
and
scuba
diving).
Thousands
of
these
brochures
have
been
distributed
to
divers
around
the
world.
Drew
was
the
key
driver
in
PADI’s
“essential
change”
program
which
has
helped
redefine
and
position
scuba
diver
training
for
participants
of
all
ages.
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He
has
been
very
active
in
aquatic
ecology
and
environmental
issues,
beginning
with
Earth
Day
in
the
late
1960s,
and
continuing
through
his
formal
education.
From
1979
-
1985
he
was
active
in
the
construction
of
the
Martin
County,
Florida
Artificial
Reef
Project.
He
has
taught
coral
reef
ecology
and
was
co-director
of
a
major
mangrove
rejuvenation
project
at
Sailfish
Point
in
Florida
in
the
early
80's.
At
PADI,
he
was
the
co-developer
of
the
Project
A.W.A.R.E.
program
(i.e.,
aquatic
world
awareness,
responsibility
and
education),
and
currently
sits
on
the
Board
of
Directors
for
the
Project
A.W.A.R.E.
Foundation. |
He
has
been
involved
in
many
special
diver
and
scuba
instructor
training
projects
around
the
world,
including
training
U.S.
Army
Corp
of
Engineers
divers,
the
NASA
space
shuttle
recovery
team,
The
Plymouth
Poly
Technic
Institute
of
England,
The
U.S.
Lifesaving
Association
and
numerous
other
groups.
He
is
dedicated
to
the
advancement
of
diving
safety
and
education
and
environmental
preservation
so
that
human
kind
can
enjoy
the
adventure
and
the
beauty
of
the
undersea
world.
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Over
the
years
he
has
actively
supported
the
Divers
Alert
Network
(DAN),
an
international
nonprofit
diving
safety
and
medical
organization
evolved
from
Duke
University.
He
has
assisted
with
DAN
membership
recruitment
on
many
occasions
in
his
capacity
at
PADI
Worldwide
domestically
and
abroad. |
Since
coming
to
PADI
in
1985,
over
14,291,000
divers
have
been
trained
using
standards,
procedures
and
educational
materials
created
under
his
supervision,
leadership
and
direction
throughout
the
world. |
He
holds
undergraduate
degrees
in
Oceanographic
Technology
and
Environmental
Science,
with
an
emphasis
in
the
Marine
sciences,
a
graduate
degree
in
Business
Administration
and
a
doctorate
in
Adult
Education.
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