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Board Members
 
Board Members
Kelly O'Dea
Chien Lee
Lorna Wendt
Ian Slome
Jamie Anderson
Nigel Buchanan
Francois Burman
Harald Seeberg
Ian Wade
Karen Watson
William Phillips
Peter Kyle
Bill Grabe
Charitha Ratwatte
Djoko Kusumowidagdo
Dick Hubbard
Canon Michael Irving


G. Kelly O'Dea

G. Kelly O'Dea - Chairman OBI

Kelly is Chairman/CEO of AllianceHPL Worldwide, a strategic advice and solutions firm headquartered in New York City. A well known global marketing executive, he previously served as Vice Chairman of IPG Advanced Marketing Services, President of Foote Cone & Belding Worldwide and President of Worldwide Client Service for Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide.

He has worked with top-level clients in virtually every category and has led many of the world's largest accounts including Ford, Unilever, Shell, Boeing, Kraft, PepsiCo, Microsoft, AT&T, Fujitsu, Samsung, Compaq and IBM. He also lived 10 years of his career overseas.

Educated in the USA and Europe, he received an International MBA with Distinction from the Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management and a BA (Political Science and Economics) from the University of Portland. He is a board director and trustee of both schools and has also served on several corporate and industry boards.

Kelly has been actively involved with Outward Bound for nearly 25 years as a board director, marketing advisor and host of several Outward Bound expeditions. Aside from serving on the OBI Board for 7 years, Kelly has been a Board member of OB USA.

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Chien Lee

Chien Lee - Vice Chairman OBI

Chien Lee is a private investor from Hong Kong. He serves as a director of various companies including Hysan Development and Swire Pacific. Prior to returning to Hong Kong in 1983, Mr. Lee had worked for Morgan Stanley in New York as well as for Price Waterhouse in San Francisco.

Educated in Hong Kong, Switzerland and the U.S., Mr. Lee received B.S., M.S. and M.B.A. degrees from Stanford University where he has served on its Board of Trustees and the Board of Visitors of the Stanford Institute of International Studies. Currently Mr. Lee serves on the Advisory Council of the Graduate School of Business and the Board of the Stanford Alumni Association.

Mr. Lee is Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Outward Bound Trust of Hong Kong. He is a member of the Council of St. Paul's Co-educational College and a Trustee of The Council of St. Paul's Co-educational College Charitable Trust and is its Fundraising Chairman. He also serves on the University Council of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Andover Development Board, the Advisory Council of The Asia Society Hong Kong Center and the Hong Kong Leadership Council of The Asia Foundation.

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Lorna Wendt

Lorna Wendt - Vice Chairman OBI

Lorna Wendt is a personal believer in the power of Outward Bound and has been on 12 programs on 6 continents. She has been a Board member of OBI for 5-years and now serves as Vice Chairman with a special interest in Development.

Lorna Wendt founded The Institute for Equality in Marriage to try to answer these questions and, more important, to help set legal precedent that will lead to fairer divorce laws in the United States.

In addition to managing the Institute, Ms. Wendt supports the arts and education through her many philanthropic activities. She is a founding member and benefactor of the Board of the Women's Philanthropy Institute and is a founding member of the University of Wisconsin's Tri-State Women's Initiative. She is on the advisory board of both the University of Wisconsin's School of Music and the College of Letters and Sciences and the University of Wisconsin Foundation. In 1997, she was named as one of the University's distinguished alumni. Ms. Wendt has served on the Board of the Stamford Center for the Arts, is an honorary trustee of the Stamford Symphony and on the Advisory Board of Outward Bound USA.

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Ian Slome

Ian Slome - Treasurer OBI

Ian Slome is Chairman of the Slome Group of Companies, an international, industrial and financial investment group with operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa.

Mr. Slome, born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, has lived in New York since 1985. He received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Witswatersrand (Johannesburg) and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.

Mr. Slome's primary philanthropic activities include serving on the Board of Outward Bound USA, Outward Bound International, and supporting a variety of causes in the arts, education, health and Jewish social and religious institutions.

"Why am I involved in Outward Bound? Outward Bound has changed my life," Mr. Slome declares. "Its principles, ideals and the value it offers - is truly appreciated only through experience. You have to be involved. These ideals are not a mere abstraction. Personally I get excited by the variety of challenges available, from those presented on an expedition—the fears, adrenaline, risk, mental and physical exertions—to those surrounding the organization's growth and fulfillment of its mission."

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Jamie Anderson

Jamie Anderson

Jamie Anderson is Deputy Chairman of RBC Capital Markets in Toronto. He previously worked with Morgan Stanley & Co in New York and Montreal after receiving an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School.

Jamie Anderson has served as Chairman of Outward Bound Canada and led the merger of the two schools into a national organization. He is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and a Continuing Senior Fellow of Massey College.

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Nigel Buchanan

Nigel Buchanan

Nigel Buchanan retired as a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, London in 2001 having joined Price Waterhouse in 1968 and became a Partner in 1978. He led Price Waterhouse's financial services practice across Europe for ten years. He is currently a Non-Executive Director of Leopold Joseph Holdings plc. He became a Trustee of Outward Bound (UK) in July 2001.

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Francois Burman

Francois Burman

Francois Burman is from Cape Town, South Africa and received a B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cape Town. He served for two years as an officer in the South African Navy. The next 8 years were spent with the Atomic Energy Corporation of South Africa as an engineer and later a senior manager. He is a registered Professional Engineer and holds tertiary qualifications in welding engineering, pressure vessel design, engineering materials, project management, business management and astronomy.

A career change in 1994 took him into the realms of hyperbaric technology, where he was able to further his interests in diving and hyperbaric medical technology. Through International Divers Alert Network, has developed a system for evaluating recompression chambers, appropriate for the treatment of decompression illness of scuba divers around the globe.

He currently manages a group of 12 active companies, associated under the Hydra Group and spanning a diverse range of industries. Apart from publishing technical books and papers, he lectures on hyperbaric safety issues, is involved in medical research programs, consults to the nuclear, diving and hyperbaric medicine industries and serves on several industry committees.

Francois is the vice chairman of Outward Bound South Africa, and chairman of their safety and finance committees.

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Harald Seeberg

Harald Seeberg

Harald Seeberg was born in Berlin. His business career includes executive positions with Hoechst AG, in Frankfurt West and East Pakistan, Taiwan and Japan.

Harald has been Chairman of OB Germany and provided remarkable leadership in managing the organization through a difficult financial situation, while maintaining consistent levels of program service.

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Ian Wade

Ian Wade

Ian has a varied background in Outward Bound as an instructor for Colorado OBS, program manager for Pacific Crest OBS and Vice President of Outward Bound USA responsible for risk management and program development. He was a founder and President of the American Mountain Guides Association, establishing accreditation and certification programs. Ian spent a year at Columbia University Business School in New York getting a graduate qualification in Not For Profit Management.

A passion for mountaineering and the profound impact it can have on people is what initially attracted Ian to Outward Bound. His mountaineering activities include numerous "big wall" climbs in Yosemite, the North Face of the Eiger, a first ascent in the Karakorum and being climbing leader of the Mt. Everest Peace Climb. He reached the summit, by the north ridge, along with 20 climbers from America, the Soviet Union and China- a world record number to reach the summit from one expedition.

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Karen Watson

Karen Watson

Karen is the President of Acorn Hill Design, an interior decorating and design consulting company based in Westwood, MA. She has served on the Board of the First Presbyterian Nursery School in New Canaan, CT., and the New Canaan YMCA. She is a member of the Yale University Parents Development Committee, and the Co-Chair of the Cheshire Academy Parents Annual Fund. Karen and her husband Stuart have five children ranging from age ten to twenty two. Karen is an extensive traveler and has participated in Outward Bound expeditions to Kilimanjaro and Bhutan. She is active in the Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center in Boston, MA.

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William E. Phillips

William E. Phillips - Chairman Emeritus

Bill Phillips is a native of Chicago. He graduated from Cornell in 1951 and then served as a naval officer at sea during the Korean Conflict. After an M.B.A. at Northwestern, he worked for Procter & Gamble as a brand manager. In 1959, he joined Ogilvy & Mather, which grew from one office to the fourth largest agency in the world, and served as chief executive officer from 1981 to 1988.

Mr. Phillips became involved with Outward Bound in 1975 on a rafting trip on Cataract Canyon with Bill Coors, Josh Miner, Joe Nold, and Steve Truitt, among others. He has since been on 16 Outward Bound adventures from the streets of New York City to high altitudes on six continents.

As an OBUSA trustee, Mr. Phillips initiated a PSA recruitment advertising campaign. He then became the founding chairman of the New York City Outward Bound Center. In 1988, he led the establishment of an international board, which he chaired for nine years. In 1997, Mr. Phillips stepped down to become chairman emeritus. He remains active in fund raising for Outward Bound everywhere.

Mr. Phillips also serves on four for-profit Boards and four non-profit Boards. Mr. Phillips is married to Barbara Smith, who is a professional fundraiser. He says he has always been luckier than he deserves to be, except on the golf course.

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Peter Kyle

Peter Kyle - Chairman Emeritus

Peter is a lawyer and hails from New Zealand. He was educated at Victoria University of Wellington gaining a BA (Economics) and a Bachelor of Laws (Honors). He worked as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand he worked as a Clerk to the Chief Justice of New Zealand. He was then awarded a Rotary International Graduate Fellowship to complete a Master of Laws degree at the University of Virginia in 1974. Upon returning to New Zealand he was made a partner in the leading New Zealand commercial law firm of Watts and Patherson. In 1979, he took leave from his firm to serve as a Senior Counsel with the Asian Development Bank in Manila, Philippines. In 1992 Peter accepted an offer of a senior position within the Legal Department of the World Bank based in Washington, D.C.

Peter completed his first Outward Bound course at Anakiwa, New Zealand, in February 1966. He became an active leader in the Alumni Association of and the Council. He served on all major Board committees and chaired most of them. He became actively involved in the international activities of Outward Bound and in 1988 was instrumental in drafting all the legal documentation which led to the establishment of the International Advisory Board. In 1993 he was appointed to that Board and in 1997 he was made Chairman. He stepped down in 2003 but remains active in legal and licensing matters as Chairman Emeritus.

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Bill Grabe

Mr. Bill Grabe (Americas)

Bill has been a Partner at General Atlantic Partners, LLC, a worldwide private equity firm with over $5 billion in capital under management. Prior to joining General Atlantic Partners, Bill held numerous leadership positions at IBM. Bill holds an Engineering degree (NYU) and MBA (UCLA)

Bill is an enthusiast for Outward Bound expeditions and heads the OBUSA Expedition committee. He recently climbed Kilimanjaro, with his family, and trekked in Tibet to Everest. He also serves on the Boards of the Cancer Research Institute and the Nature Conservancy.

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Dick Hubbard

Mr. Dick Hubbard (Asia-Pacific)

Dick is Chairman of Hubbard Foods in New Zealand. He has a degree in Food Technology. From an early experience building a tropical fruit processing Company from scratch, a project had social as well as financial aims, he continues to be an advocate for Social Responsibility in Business.

He is heavily involved in community and professional organizations. Hubbard Foods has setup a cause marketing program for Outward Bound and supported many other charities.

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Charitha Ratwatte

Mr. Charitha Ratwatte (Asia-Pacific)

Charitha is Managing Director, Sri Lanka Business Development Centre an NGO concerned with enterprise development. He was previously Secretary to the Treasury, and Secretary Ministry of Finance in Sri Lanka.

He was an Attorney with the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and taught at University of Colombo. He has extensive experience with international organizations such as Red Cross and Red Crescent, World Bank, UNDP, UNHCR, Commonwealth Youth Affairs Council, etc. He has been a driving force behind development of Outward Bound in Sri Lanka

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Canon Michael Irving

Canon Michael Irving (Europe)

Michael has been involved in outdoor pursuits since school days, served with VSO and as an instructor for OB UK in 1970's. He is a Member of Management Committee of Outward Bound Trust UK.

Since being ordained in 1981 he has held various ministries and is currently Rector of Minchinhampton with Box in Gloucestershire. He is married with 3 children.

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Djoko Kusumowidagdo

Djoko Kusumowidagdo (Asia-Pacific)

Djoko has a B.Sc. in Chemistry and MBA from Portland State University. He is Chairman of PT. Retno Muda group of companies, oil and gas distribution companies for Pertamina, the Indonesia oil company.

In 1990 Djoko founded OB Indonesia and has managed it s growth and welfare ever since. He also serves on other non-profit boards, encouraging small-scale entrepreneurship and helping disadvantaged youth in Indonesia.

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