Speakers

Deep Sea Divers CPO Justin Scarborough & ND1 Glen Milisci
Listen to the story from the men who did the work.

Valerie and Jack van Heest
Energetic and passionate presenters, Valerie and Jack van Heest have explored and documented shipwrecks for over 20 years. Together they serve as Directors of Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates. Valerie is a member of the Women Divers Hall of Fame, and a 2007 recipient of the Historical Society of Michigan award for excellence of achievement in the preservation and promotion of state and local history. She has written extensively for a variety of magazines and periodicals and has been a contributor to many books, newspaper articles, and museum exhibits. She has also written and directed more than a dozen documentary films. She and Jack, who captains the search vessel and directs technical operations, are regular presenter at museums, libraries, and film festivals sharing the dramatic stories of ships gone missing on the Great Lakes. Valerie new book: "Icebound!" is a beautifully written and illustrated adventure story for young readers about the sinking and discovery of the SS Michigan, a must for kids of all shipwreck divers.

David Trotter
David Trotter is a renowned shipwreck discoverer, deep diver, author, lecturer and photographer.  In over 20 years of diving, he has been the first to locate, identify, and document 80+ Great Lakes shipwrecks.  His shipwreck discoveries and programs have been featured on television and in newspapers throughout the U.S. and Canada.  David is the subject of a new book Shipwreck Hunter.  He has written several articles on Great Lakes shipwrecks that have been published in historical journals and national scuba diving publications.
Through his organization, Undersea Research Associates, founded to present the Great Lakes community with an electronically sophisticated means of underwater search and survey for archeological and commercial purposes, he presents visual underwater time capsules of marine history.  Utilizing state-of-the-art side scan sonar with outstanding skilled operators, the organization offers high resolution bottom profiling at depths to 1,000 feet, underwater site survey and underwater photographic documentation.

Rick Mixter
Millions of television viewers recognize Ric Mixter as a shipwreck researcher, diving over 100 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, including the Edmund Fitzgerald. He has not only produced over 30 programs for PBS and the Outdoor Channel, but has also appeared on the History and Discovery Channels as well.   He leads the pack when it comes to sharing our unique underwater resources with the general public, and thousands of dive show patrons and countless school kids know him as the energetic story teller who uses video like no other presenter can.

 Mixter also served as SCUBA cameraman on expeditions to the Great Lakes largest shipwrecks, the Edmund Fitzgerald and Carl D. Bradley.  He has interviewed dozens of shipwreck survivors over the past 15 years, including two from the 1913 Storm,  two from the 1940 Armistice Day Storm and survivors from the largest shipwrecks in lakes Michigan, Huron and Erie.  Today he runs his own production company, Airworthy Productions.   He’s been Emmy nominated and has taken several awards including the Aurora, Michigan Association of Broadcasters Best Use of Medium, AP, UPI and was the 2007 Vescio award winner for a video on mental health advocacy.  All three of his children are divers and he says his greatest compliment is when people tell him they started diving because of his documentaries.

Bill Matthies
Bill Matthies owns Minnesota School of Diving in Brainerd, MN and has been a diving instructor since 1959.   He is a founding member of both PADI and now defunct NASDS.   Bill is more than great stories.  He is a certified instructor for PADI.  As owner of the Inland Commercial Diver Training Center and Underwater Commercial Divers Inc., Bill has extensive experience in the commercial dive industry. Bill has a Masters degree in Math Education and taught Mathematics for 34 years in the Brainerd School District. Bill is a instrument rated pilot,  ham radio operator, DOT/ hydrostatic cylinder tester and he has is sea caption's license.  Bill's favorite spot to dive has to be Truk  Lagoon and he is fascinated by shipwrecks.

Steve Daniel
Steve Daniel is president of the GLSPS.  He has been diving for 41 years and has helped the GLSPS on numerous dive projects during the past nine years.  He played a major roll in the underwater documentation project of the SS America shipwreck at Isle Royale.  Steve published the results, which includes a history of the ship by Thom Holden, in the GLSPS book, SS America, A Diver’s Vision of the Past.  He recently completed a new book for the GLSPS that will serve as a resource for history and diving along Minnesota’s North Shore.  The book is being published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press and is titled:  Shipwrecks along Lake Superior’s North Shore.  It will be available in early May 2008 at your local dive shop.  Steve will introduce the program and share what is happening with the GLSPS.