• 30 years experience planning/leading treks, backpacking, hikes, ski trips, bicycling and sea kayaking outings (Europe and U.S.)
• Fluent German, very good French, beginning Spanish; starting to learn Italian
• Lived five years near the heart of the Alps (Southern Germany and Zurich)
• Outdoor leadership career stems from the melding of a career in corporate wellness with a personal passion for outdoor adventure and foreign travel
• Founded award-winning corporate fitness and health promotion program

• Masters in physical education/health education
• Student teaching experience at elementary and high school levels in physical education; teaching degree
• American College of Sports Medicine Exercise Test Technologist Certification
• Current wilderness first aid (SOLO) and CPR certification
• See cross cultural education and experience below

• Professional guide/outdoor leadership experience:  Bredeson Outdoor Adventures, REI Adventures (Deborah was recently nominated as one of REI's "Top Guides"), Country Inns Along the Trail, Country Walkers, Mountain Travel-Sobek, Bill Russell’s Mountain Tours, Wonder Walks; trips have included:  Engadine; Tour du Mont Blanc; Bernese Oberland; Family Hiking in Lenk; Vermont inn-to-inn hikes;  teen backpacking in White Mountains
• Cross country ski instructor:  Rikert Ski Touring Center, Middlebury College, Ripton, Vermont; Union Carbide Corporation
• Volunteer adventure leadership:  hiking, cross country skiing, sea kayaking, family hikes, and bicycling for Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) and Sound Cyclists Bicycling Club.  Day hikes for mentoring program for disadvantaged children.  Founder of women’s soccer league.
• Private trips organized for friends and family:  hiking in Alps (Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Italy) and the Spanish Pyrenees
• Corporate adventure/experiential teambuilding:  clients have included:  Doral Arrowwood Hotel; Outward Bound Professional; Adventure Associates; Norwalk YMCA; the Mountain Workshop
• Merritt Parkway Trail Alliance:  serve on advisory board
• Connecticut Forest & Parks Association:  trail construction volunteer

• Hut to hut glacier skiing in Norway
• Trekking and white water rafting in Peru
• Backpacking in the Pindos Mountains in Greece
• Hut to hut skiing on the Tenth Mountain Division Trail in Colorado
• Backpacking in Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks
• Bicycle touring in Maine

• Lived five years in Europe (Germany and Switzerland); avid, adept and frequent foreign traveler
• Undergraduate language major (German, French, and linguistics); fluent German, advanced French and beginning Spanish and italian
• Involved for twelve years as a volunteer in a cross-cultural children's mentoring program
• Conduct diversity training

• Corporate training design and delivery: stress management, team-building, motivating employees, work/life balance, health self-management, problem-solving and decision making, managing change, creating a positive and professional work environment, conflict resolution
• Developed and taught cardiac rehabilitation courses

• Appalachian Mountain Club (25 year membership pin just received -- yikes, where did the time go?)
• Vermont Outdoor Guide Association (VOGA)
• Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA)
• Green Mountain Club
• Sierra Club
• Catamount Trail Association
• Frost Mountain Nordic ski club

• Connecticut Parks &Trails Association
• Nature Conservancy
• Aspetuck Land Trust
• Rails to Trails Conservancy

For a Visit with Deborah

Deborah is featured in a recent interview in a local on-line newsletter that provides some insight into why a nice girl from the suburbs of New York ended up in this business.  Check it out by clicking here. For another visit with Deborah, have a look at this coverage of one of last winter's Vermont snowshoeing trips.  You can read an interview with Deborah in an article by Jaime Ferris of the New Milford Times featuring our Cinque Terre trip by clicking here.  Jaime also featured our Appalachian Mountain Club Romania slide show in a recent article.