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meet the Rocky Mountain Adventure Medicine team

team leaders

Dave Watt

CEO, Director of Education

Dave’s lifetime of experience leads Rocky Mountain Adventure Medicine to heights of unparalleled professionalism. As an outdoor educator, Outward Bound staff trainer, leader of management workshops dealing with communication skills and leadership issues, and a nationally recognized rescue specialist, Dave has a wealth of knowledge and experience to impart.

Brenda Watt, B.Ed
Director of Operations
 
Brenda directs and manages the Rocky Mountain Adventure Medicine day to day operations. A teacher and counsellor with over twenty years of experience, she co-ordinates learning experiences for a wide milieu of clientele. She works hard to match instructor expertise and experience with the diverse needs of our clients. Brenda strives to uphold the RMAM commitment to providing programs and services of a consistently high quality, to our valued clients.

Our Team

Judith Dunlop
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Chris Lipp
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Doug Ritchie
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Alanna Thompson
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Matt Brosnan
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Steve McGrath
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James Clark
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Deanna Hintze
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Guy Kerr
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Fin MacNeill
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Sarah Brown
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Theresia Berry
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Sam French
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Mandi Parkin
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Kambal Bloxham
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Jenn Givens
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DeLea Mapstone
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Paul Rankin
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Annika Poffenroth
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Programs that Inspire,
Instructors Who Lead,
Skills that Last.

Be ready for your next adventure.

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Judith Dunlop

Operations Manager
 
Judith has been the RMAM Office Manager for the last 2 years. She keeps everyone and everything organized and will be happy to help you find the right course for your needs, whether you’re an individual looking to learn wilderness first aid or a company looking for a bespoke course for your employees.
Chris Lipp
Medical Director
 
Chris works as an emergency physician in Calgary. He also completed fellowship training in wilderness medicine (FAWM) and sports medicine. He loves all things wilderness, austere and adventure/sport medicine. His ambitions to explore (run, ski, hike, bike, paddle) are tempered by his family life and desire to make good food, precisely brew a good latte, and learn along the way of life.
Doug Ritchie
Instructor
 
Doug is a registered EMT and a Search and Rescue instructor with SAR Alberta. He has been involved with Search and Rescue in Rocky Mountain House Alberta as a Search Manager and with the Mountain Rescue team. He has led and organized groups in the outdoors in numerous activities for over 24 years as the Director of Frontier Lodge. His passions are Telemark skiing, Backpacking and alternative building methods.
Alanna Thompson, BKin (ODPU) IGA
Instructor
 
Alanna has been working in the outdoor industry for nearly 25 years. She has a Kinesiology degree (major Outdoor Pursuits) from the University of Calgary and a lifetime of living and traveling in remote places, and guiding and teaching in the Rockies. She is always dreaming of the next adventure! Alanna uses an interactive approach to teaching that brings both excitement and practical examples to her courses. She is committed to advancing her own knowledge and loves the questions and discussions that come up in courses. Alanna is also a massage therapist and her knowledge of the body and anatomy enhances her teaching.
Matt Brosnan
Instructor & Program Manager
 
Matt has worked as an adventure guide since the mid 2000’s and has taken his passion for guiding people in the outdoors around the world. His international experience ranges from leading self-contained expeditions through the Australian bush with youth; to white water raft guiding across Western Canada, Scotland, France and as far as the Indian Himalaya. Matt has spent time instructing skiing, rope work, whitewater and backcountry skills. He now spends his time teaching wilderness first aid and remote safety. His passions outside of work are to ski, hike, camp, paddle or anything that presents an adventure!
Steve McGrath
Instructor / Swift Water Rescue Specialist
 
Steve has had a 30+ year career as an outdoor professional and leader. He has traveled extensively, for work but mostly for the love of travel.
The key focus for Steve, no matter what role or business he is in, is developing people to be the best version of themselves. For Rocky Mountain Adventure Medicine Steve primarily delivers our Swift Water Rescue programs.
 
Through Steve’s career he has worked internationally and in Canada.


“I am invigorated with fresh air and challenge and love it most when living with cultures that live in and around wild places.”

James Clark
Instructor
 
James’ love for the outdoors blossomed with his first multi-day backpack trip at the age of 11, as a Boy Scout. Adventuring in the outdoors since then has always been a predominant focus for James be it at the end of a rope, the cockpit of a kayak, saddle on a horse, clipped into skis or whatever else fits into the season. James has worked as a Park Ranger in Kananaskis Country and a Park Warden in Jasper National Park where he was heavily involved in the mountain and swiftwater rescue teams. He was also the Ski Patrol Director at Marmot Basin training new ski patrollers, overseeing risk management for the hill, aiding a lot of broken skiers/snowboarders and a member of the avalanche control team. Somewhere in there he fit in a few years as a volunteer firefighter in Kananaskis.

 

James has been instructing wilderness first aid, remote safety, swift water rescue, ice rescue and a few other courses for RMAM since 2013. His past experiences enable him to provide a very practical oriented style of instruction for these courses, and maybe a few stories. In addition, as well as being a member of the Foothills Search and Rescue team he works as an environmental consultant where he manages teams conducting various environmental assessments throughout Western Canada.

Deanna Hintze
Instructor
 
Deanna has been instructing for RMAM since 2007 and is passionate about ensuring that first aid training is practical, relevant and easy to understand.

She has over 30 years of instructional experience with her early years focused on outdoor skills. While spending time backpacking and hiking, her passion was the paddling industry holding Executive Director roles in the Alberta Recreational Canoe Association and the Bow Waters Canoe Club.

Her main focus for the last 20 years has been with EMS and Fire where she served as a PCP and Fire Chief. Teaching first responders and helping them to build solid medical skills, whether that be First Aid or EMR/PCP, has been an important part of her career.

Recently retired from the fire service she is filling her time with her favourite things while she contemplates her next career…gardening, bees, grandkids and roaming around Utah with her husband.

Guy Kerr, MBA BSc EMT
Instructor
 
Guy has been officially involved in Search and Rescue (SAR) since 1993 when he partook in a SAR Manager course as a member of Calgary Police Service (CPS). He then went on to educate members of the CPS on how they and SAR volunteers might assist with missing person and evidence searches.
 
Since 1993, Guy has been instructing Basic SAR Skills, Team Leader and Managing Search and Rescue Operations courses in Alberta, B.C., Yukon, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Newfoundland. These have been to volunteers, police, as well as federal and provincial parks staff. He has assisted with the instruction of Conservation Officer Recruits on SAR skills and SAR Initial Response.
 
He also has experience in writing policy and procedure, standard operating procedures and plans as well as instructing: rope rescue; water rescue; tracking; Incident Command System (ICS) and Remote/Wilderness First Aid.
Fin MacNeill
Instructor
 
Finlay MacNeill ( Fin ) has been working in sport and recreation in Southern Alberta for over 20 years. Currently living in Calgary, he spends his winters in the mountains coaching cross country skiing and his summers on the rivers teaching new instructors how to keep their clients safe in moving water. Fin’s outdoor certifications include a degree in Ecotourism and Outdoor Leadership from Mount Royal University. His years of field experience and high level of training help him run quality Swift Water Rescue and Wilderness First Aid programming. When he is not in the woods or on the river you can find him in the garden.
Sarah Brown
Instructor
 
Sarah joined the RMAM family in the spring of 2010. She had taken several wilderness first aid courses from Dave, so when we were looking for another swiftwater rescue instructor, we recognized her name on a list of instructors from the Lifesaving Society. Sarah has a PhD in education from the University of Calgary, an MBA from the University of Victoria, and an Adventure Travel Guide Diploma from Thompson River University where she started her guiding career. Sarah is an assistant professor at Mount Royal University and a contract instructor at the University of Calgary Haskayne School of Business, but her favorite place to teach is on the river.
Theresia Berry
Instructor
 
Theresia is an Advanced Care Paramedic, in the province of Alberta. She has worked EMS for > 25 years. Theresia has a passion for providing emergency medical education at all levels – from First Aid, CPR and AED to Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support. She is kept busy teaching in both Calgary and the surrounding area. Theresia and her husband have been residents of Black Diamond AB for many years. They raised their 3 children there and now enjoy spending time with their two beautiful granddaughters. Theresia looks forward to providing for any of your emergency training needs.
Sam French
Instructor
 
Sam lives in Canmore. She finds life more fulfilling by embracing the day-to-day movement with good people, getting outside doing whichever activity, at whichever try-hard level she feels like going at! She will never say no to a bonfire or sitting down by a river. She has taught Wilderness first aid for several years now for pure enjoyment, helping others to have food for thought before they play outside.
Mandi Parkin
Instructor
 
Mandi started with the RMAM family in spring 2023. She holds a bachelor degree of Applied Ecotourism and Outdoor Leadership from Mount Royal University and has nearly 15 years of experience training diverse groups in remote environments. She wears a variety of hats professionally; with inclusion and belonging being common threads throughout. Mandi appreciates the experience brought by all participants and creates space in each course to ensure the group benefits from its members’ shared expertise. She has a passion for nature and first aid and loves to connect with others, and it shows in each of the courses she teaches.
Kambal Bloxham
Instructor
 
Kambal is a Registered Nurse currently practicing in pediatrics at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. He has additional training and experience in adult critical care and trauma. In addition to his healthcare training, he also has eight years of experience guiding backcountry expeditions in Alberta and British Columbia. Kambal has served as the Health and Wellness Director for YMCA Calgary’s Camp Chief Hector overseeing backcountry medical training and coordinating the on-site and backcountry response to medical emergencies.
Jenn Givens
Instructor
 
Jenn found her love of the outdoors through the Ecotourism and Outdoor Leadership Program at Mount Royal University. She began teaching canoeing, kayaking, stand up paddleboarding while working at Undercurrents from 2008-2018 and in 2012 she began teaching first aid. She finds joy in sharing the knowledge she’s learned through the years of working at Rocky Mountain Adventure Medicine and the teachings at Mount Royal and Undercurrents. She enjoys travelling, paddling, taking her dog on adventures and a good brewery.
DeLea Mapstone
Instructor
 
DeLea has been involved in Search and Rescue (SAR) for twenty years.

Early in her SAR career, DeLea developed a passion for tracking. After committing thousands of hours to practice and learning, she is one of the most recognized trackers in Alberta. Her services have been requested by law enforcement to assist with difficult cases. DeLea has provided training to “Man -Tracker”, a well-known reality television star. Additionally, DeLea has collaborated and contributed significantly to developing and advancing best practices in the field of tracking.
 
DeLea has instructed Basic SAR skills, Search Management, First Aid, and Tracking throughout Canada.
Paul Rankin
Instructor
 
After serving as an officer in the Royal Navy, Paul became a police officer where he gained direct experience in dealing with major incidents and large-scale public disorder events across the UK. Paul worked in various specialist units before joining the Tactical Firearms Unit. As the lead firearms medic instructor, he was able to develop his medical knowledge and skills on the busy streets of London. He has had the opportunity to work alongside and instruct for the fire service, EMS and various UK policing and military units.

 

Paul came to Canada in 2016. His love of the wilderness drew him to the Rocky Mountains and Alberta where he gained experience as a member of Search and Rescue. He has been successfully delivering and developing training courses for outdoor professionals, emergency responders, military, and government organisations with a particular focus on trauma in remote settings and emergency response. Paul has had the privilege of delivering training across Canada and the US from the high arctic to the prairies. Whether teaching in the classroom or in the wilderness, he prides himself on being able to deliver technical subject matter and advanced concepts to both lay persons and advanced practitioners.

Annika Poffenroth

Annika joined the RMAM family in 2024. She is a registered Primary Care Paramedic in Alberta and has worked in the Film Industry and with Alberta Wildfire as a Paramedic. When she’s not working, you can find Annika training and trialing her dog “Fitz”, or out exploring in the backcountry, hiking and camping.