Mike was born & educated in Australia. His career began on MacQuarie Island as a geophysicist with an Australian expedition in 1971. He would go on to found Quark Expeditions and pioneer tourism transit to the polar regions with Russian icebreakers. In the late 1990s, he sold Quark in order to focus on new ventures in space travel and deep ocean exploration. He currently serves on the board of Space Adventures which offers space travel to the general public and operates Deep Ocean Expeditions which has coordinated dive expeditions to the Titanic, the Bismarck, and the Mariana Trench.

David visited Antarctica for the first time in 1976 with the British Antarctic Survey. After serving as Station Manager for BAS until 1984, he went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Polar Studies at Cambridge. Now he manages all of the environmental logistics and permitting for our operation as well as overseeing the Salt Lake City office, sales, and marketing. In addition to ALE, he runs Poles Apart Ltd where he and Nick Lewis worked together for several years, and which offers environmental and logistical support to many polar film projects including several Shackleton productions. David has been married for over 30 years and has two children; he resides outside of Cambridge and is an excellent photographer & bird enthusiast.   

Nick is originally from Wales and another British Antarctic Survey alum. He has an extensive climbing background and oversees our mountain and guiding operations on Vinson and in the Ellsworth Mountains as well as coordinating seasonal staffing. His favorite ALE experiences include Climb and Ski Antarctica which offer guests an authentic exploration that is totally unique. An environmental scientist by background, he worked on numerous polar and desert projects while a partner at Poles Apart. He met his wife while working on the Emmy Award-Winning NOVA Shackleton documentary. They now live in New England with their young daughter where they enjoy living close to the beach and the mountains.