Jeff’s Ph.D.
and academic research is in organizational behaviour and safety performance,
with work on peer influence upon safety, safety culture, and data driven safety
policy. He has a number of published peer reviewed papers and textbook
contributions. Jeff travels and speaks widely on risk and safety management
topics.
As a risk
consultant, Jeff has over twenty years experience working with adventure
operators and not-for-profit organizations, with particular expertise in trail
risk management. Recent work has been on provincial level recreation policy
with the Province of British Columbia’s mountain bike trail policy, New
Brunswick’s adventure tourism operators risk management assessment criteria,
and the Ontario Trails Council trail classification documents. He has developed
risk management policy with municipalities, provincial parks and industry
associations. He led government funded adventure tourism development projects
in India and China, and represented Canada on the International Standards Organization
(ISO) Adventure Travel Standards Committee. He has served as expert opinion on
legal proceedings in Canada, the United States, and England.
Jeff has
paddled rivers and ridden trails around the world. He was an elite level cross
country ski and mountain bike racer representing Canada at the Mountain Bike
Master’s World Championships. He has guided river trips and extended
expeditions since 1988, and continues to guide as the owner/operator of a
fly-fishing service, Algonquin Fly Fishing.
Jon
Heshka is a professor specializing in the legal liability and risk management
of extreme and adventure sport. He is a professor at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, Canada, teaching in both the law school and the adventure studies department. Jon was
Associate Dean of Law at TRU from 2013-2017. He has five degrees including a
Master of Laws and a Master of Education. He’s climbed and led expeditions from
Alaska to Argentina, the Tetons to Tajikistan and many points in-between. He
trained and coordinated search and rescue full-time from 1992-99 in British
Columbia, worked with Denali Mountain Rescue, and has done mountain rescues
above 15000 feet on three continents. He managed Petzl's
professional/industrial division in Utah for three years and has been at the
university since 2002.
Jon
has written five book chapters, and more than 70 articles, in addition to
presenting at almost 40 conferences worldwide. He consults with all levels of
government and the private sector, writing over 40 consultancy reports, and has
also worked as an expert witness in Canada, the United States, and Europe in
matters relating to adventure sports risk management. Jon continues to climb,
hike, bike and run, just not as much as he used to.
