The TravelWild Expeditions staff is a team of professionals with more than 100 years of combined experience in the adventure travel business. Our primary goal is to serve you—our client—by helping you select from the many expedition cruise options available. When you call us, you will speak with someone who is knowledgeable, helpful and an expert on the area you wish to visit. We are lucky to have such an experienced, capable staff and we hope you will have a chance to work with some of them when choosing and planning your Arctic or Antarctic expedition cruise!

Anne Blair Anne prizes time spent in the great outdoors!  Helping our travelers plan trips to extraordinary wilderness destinations is the best part of her work. She is the Senior Trip Planner and Operations Manager at TravelWild Expeditions. After fifteen years in the business, Anne can answer most of our travelers’ questions. Her personal cruise experience includes voyages in the Galápagos, New Zealand, Antarctica, South Georgia, the Falklands, as well as the islands of the United Kingdom. Other wildlife trips have taken her to Kenya, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Lyn Cannon Before joining the TravelWild team, Lyn and her husband owned and operated a charter boat company in the Pacific Northwest for 13 years. This experience has been of great benefit to our clients who recognize her outstanding customer service skills and have come to rely on her to help them choose and prepare for their cruises. During her 7 years with TravelWild, Lyn has helped hundreds of travelers realize their “dream” trip and she has developed a close working relationship with many of our clients. Her travels have taken her around the world and she counts Spitsbergen in the Norwegian Arctic among her favorite destinations.

Phyllis Clark Phyllis joined the TravelWild team in 2007, returning to the work force after some time off to pursue personal interests, including oil painting. She handles many of the day-to-day administrative functions, market mailings and special projects. When you call TravelWild, Phyllis is likely the first person you will speak with. Her background in administration and customer service—as well as her attention to details—make her a valuable addition to the TravelWild Expeditions staff.

Christine Gebel When you’ve selected a trip and are ready to enroll, you will likely next work with Christine, our Registrar. She has been with TravelWild since 2003 and handles client enrollment, billing and insurance. Christine has traveled in Europe, Asia and throughout North America and enjoys the opportunity to help clients dream, plan, and execute their travel plans. She has a background is in the natural sciences and a love of wildlife and plants.

Dennis Mense For most of the past two decades, Dennis has worked as an expedition leader and naturalist on a variety of ships in the polar regions. We are very fortunate to have Dennis now working at TravelWild as its Sales Director. While his numbers are impressive—leading more than 100 cruises in Antarctica and 50 in the Arctic—what really makes Dennis special is his willingness to listen to clients' travel interests and then thoughtfully recommend trips based on both their input and his personal knowledge of ships, destinations, wildlife and on-board programs. When it comes to Arctic and Antarctic cruises, few people are as experienced and knowledgeable as Dennis, and he truly enjoys sharing his passion for expedition cruising with clients. CLICK HERE to read a brief Q&A with Dennis.

Deborah Richmond Deborah is our resident expert on information you’ll need to know before your cruise begins—as well as important information about your trip itself. For most of her 13 years at TravelWild, she has researched destinations and worked closely with our suppliers and trip leaders to assemble and present valuable, up-to-date practical information to aid our clients in preparing for trips. She also manages many of our company's trips and has traveled throughout the world.

Hedy Slack Hedy has been a part of the TravelWild Expeditions team since 1996. In addition to developing worldwide tours and cruises, Hedy's responsibilities include assisting clients who are looking for a cruise to Arctic Canada & Greenland, bringing her experience in the industry and knowledge of travel to our clients. An avid traveler, she counts circumnavigating spectacular Baffin Island on the Kapitan Khlebnikov as a particularly memorable recent highlight.

Joe Van Os Joe is perhaps best-known as the Director of Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris—an international nature and wildlife photography tour company. While that company bears his name, he is, in fact, equally involved with the development and management of TravelWild Expeditions. In fact, TravelWild was originally called Joseph Van Os Nature Tours and later change to TravelWild to avoid confusion. Joe is a consummate naturalist who has traveled extensively for that past few decades to view and photograph wildlife in remote areas throughout the world. His polar travels have taken him to Antarctica, South Georgia, the Falkland Islands, Greenland, Iceland and Spitsbergen.  Other adventures have taken him to every continent to search for wildlife and photo opportunities.

Rick Vanselow Rick has been with TravelWild Expeditions since 1994 and is the General Manager. He manages the company’s business affairs and helps give shape to TravelWild’s overall direction. While most of his time is spent working “behind the scenes,” he has traveled extensively, including voyages aboard several ships in Spitsbergen, Greenland, Arctic Canada, Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands. He has been known to occasionally drive Zodiacs on expeditions and always enjoys the opportunity to travel with clients and learn firsthand about their travel experiences.

Lori Weed Lori joined the TravelWild staff in late 2005 with more than 30 years of experience in accounting. She is responsible for the company's finances and her attention to detail ensures our continued smooth operation. While her role at TravelWild does not often put her in direct communication with our clients, her work is nonetheless integral to all that we do to maintain a high level of customer service.

Shelly Whitlock As the newest member of the team, Shelly enjoys learning about the beauty and diversity of our world. Having travelled extensivley as a child, she lived in the Carribean, South America and Australia, and has also been to Europe and many other places that she has no recollection of as a very young child. Her parents were midwesterners with adventure in mind as they moved around the globe. Later, she studied anthropology and international relations in college and now hopes that our connections to our one world will create a more peaceful future. She also enjoys working with clients and and loves to put on her running shoes during her lunch break.