 GAIL GREEN is co-founder and director of Living Adventure, Inc (LAI); a company specializing in adventure and art based developmental programming for work groups and individuals. For over 20 years, Gail's work has involved leading international expeditions, teaching outdoor adventure skills and guiding groups. This profession in outdoor recreation and leadership follows an early career in the arts and they merge in her present passion for international cultural experience. Major projects for Gail have been the development of travel experiences to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and the formation of the Apostle Islands business. Initiated 16 years ago, they have grown into a viable and comprehensive series of innovative art and adventure programs whose core intent is to honor the natural and cultural environments visited by LAI groups.
Gail was logistics coordinator and team member of the Superior/Baikal Connect Expedition, an internationally recognized project designed to increase global awareness of the importance of fresh water resources. The seventeen-member team of Canadians, Americans and Russians circumnavigated the world's two largest freshwater lakes in 1991-92. Gail led one additional eco-adventure trip to Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia during the summer of 1996 with LAI customers.
In an article on adventure travel and guide selection in the June 1998 issue of Shape Magazine, Gail was rated one of the two "best guides in the US" for sea kayaking. The September/October 2000 issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine features Gail and LAI co-founder Grant Herman in an article on the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Many articles have followed over the years with Canoe and Kayak Magazine centering their …. Article on Gail and her entrepreneurial and innovative leadership at LAI.
Gail is an instructor trainer-educator (ITE) for coastal sea kayaking in the American Canoe Association (ACA) and has certification in the British Canoe Union (BCU). She travels nationwide training instructor candidates as outdoor educators and often couples these trips with commissions for speaking and presenting at related seminars, travel shows, sea kayak symposia, women's conferences and special events. Gail has instructed and directed a ski school at a major ski area in the Midwest. Gail has also been an active long distance racer in sea kayaking. She holds the course record at the Two Harbors Kayak Festival in the 18 mile marathon!
Managing the LAI staff, innovating program designs, marketing and long range planning are Gail’s primary roles at LAI. She is also passionate about specialty programming for women. Her work on a series of retreats with the Breast Cancer Recovery Foundation (BCRF) centers on the relationships between women's nature connections and body image.
She enjoys a long-time association with the Melpomene Institute, an organization centering on health and sports issues for women and girls. For their 'Woman of the Year' event, Gail has been commissioned to create and present glass art awards to prominent women role models such as Billie Jean King and Jackie Joyner Kersee.
Gail has long been the primary source of energy and ideas behind the Inland Sea Symposium which is sponsored by the Inland sea society. Funds generated through this effort go to area environmental organizations working on Lake Superior Conservation issues.
 GRANT HERMAN from 1976 through 2002 served as Professor of Outdoor Education and either the Coordinator of the Outdoor Education Environmental Studies Programs at Northland College. His extensive teaching background includes 25 years of presenting courses in four season technical adventure skills, recreational leadership, experiential education, environmental education, interpretive program design, development and multiple environmental issue-specific seminars with a strong outreach focus in the communities around the Chequamegon Bay. In 2002 Grant left Northland and joined Gail in “Adventures in Perspective” (now Living Adventure) and together they launched the Apostle Island's-based sea kayak outfitting business to complement the Yucatan adventure travel business that Gail started in 1996.
From 2002 until 2007 Grant worked hand-in-hand with Gail getting Living Adventure (LAI) up and running focusing on systems, sustainability, staff training, landscape and facility oversight and liaison with LAI business partners.
In 2007, Grant returned to Northland College to direct the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute where he worked until July of 2011. There he focused on ecological restoration, sustainable community development, grant writing while continuing to teach, coordinate and advise in the Environmental Studies Department. He oversaw a staff of 6 professionals who administered (among others) the Lake Superior Binational Forum, the Land and Water Stewardship Program, LoonWatch, the Bro Professorship in Regional Sustainable Development, Chequamegon Bay Area Partnership and the Sigurd Olson Legacy Project. He coordinated the SOEI Advisory Board and worked with the Advancement Office at Northland College for fundraising.
Now in 2011 Grant is often commissioned by various organizations and groups to facilitate workshops with corporate and interpretive groups. Typically this work focuses on organizational development. His present interests include integrating outdoor experience with intentional professional growth seminars. His lifetime connection with a variety of paddling disciplines and the music that surrounds them is often infused into these experiences. One of Grant's most initiatives has been to restore a replica “North Canoe” (a 26' Voyageur style canoe) that he and the staff at LAI use to complement the professional develop seminars and to run truly unique day trips to historic Madeline Island for families and groups.
A strong passion for Grant is performing with an a capella men's troupe called 'Les Fils du Voyageur' (The Sons of the Voyageur). Bedecked in colorful period costumes, the group performs across Canada and the Great Lakes area singing paddling songs from the French voyageur fur trade epoch. Their recent CD's, Bien Travailler & Canot d'Ecorce include favorite songs performed at festivals, rendezvous, and various regional events. Grant also sings with a second group known in lumberjack circles as “The Pinery Boys.” Performing music of the logging camps, rivers and lumbering towns in the early 1900's, this troupe performs at events all over the upper Midwest and for the “Great Outdoor Games” through ESPN. Their recent CD, Big Men, Big Trees, like those of Les Fils du Voyageur, are available at http://www.heartistrymusic.com/. In addition to these vocal groups, Grant also performs with The Northwinds Recorder Consort, specializing in instrumental music of the renaissance and baroque periods.
Finally, Grant is involved as a volunteer for three organizations; The Alliance for Sustainability, the Midwest Collaborative for Sustainability Education and The Inland Sea Society.
Together, Grant and Gail manage the business, a staff of 35 people during the summer months and a Yucatan staff of 4-6 during the winter.
Northland College
Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute
The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
British Canoe Union
American Canoe Association
National Geographic Traveler
Breast Cancer Recovery
Melpomene Institute
Heartistry Music
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