B. C: 32 years old, residing in the state of Maine in the US.

H2O: Can you briefly give us your personal history in the diving business?

B. C: I have worked in the diving industry for the last 14 years. I worked as the head diving instructor at the University of Rhode Island with John McAniff of the Underwater Data Collecting Center ( John started before there was a Divers Alert Network).
He developed and researched why people died underwater. Basically put, if you died underwater, the equipment and the report ended up on his desk to determine why the person died.
I did the checks on the equipment for him. I also worked for the American distributor of UWATEC dive computers for one year. Worked for SDI/TDI for 6 years, developed the SDI program and developed the Training Department for TDI. General Manager for 3 years.

H2O: As the new president and CEO of ITI with Bret Gilliam retiring, Tom Mount rumoured to be thinking of following suit, and John Cronin sadly passing away, would you say that the diving industry is undergoing a fundamental change? How do you see the shape and direction of the industry changing?

B. C: I do not want to comment about any rumours, but yes it is true the diving industry is going through a change right now. For a long time the industry was developed in a highly competitive way, ie through negative campaigning against ones’ competitors.

Everyone in the industry has stated that we need to stop competing with one another and compete against other industries, ie the skiing industry. With the move on many new leaders in the industry, we have an opportunity to let the past be the past and move forward.
In the future, I see training agencies working together to promote the sport of diving, I see manufacturers doing the same and then ultimately the centers also.

H2O: One of the inherent weaknesses of this industry is that the main players are too busy attacking each other rather than developing the sport, what are your views and as representative of the new regime, how do you plan to tackle this problem?

B. C: It is a weakness of our industry and it is a problem for all of us involved. At SDI/TDI we are taking the high road from this point on, we are only promoting our sport and our agency through positive promotion of ourselves.
We are asking all of our centers and instructors to stop talking negatively about other agencies and instructors with other agencies. This only makes the industry look bad to someone from the outside and in order to grow the market we have to promote the sport in a positive manner.

H2O: TDI has recorded unprecedented success and is now firmly established as the leading training agency in the world for technical diving, to what do you attribute this success and how do you plan to consolidate and sustain this position?

This will be done using the internet as a tool for promotion and for locating a qualified instructor in the student’s area along with developing more graphically appealing products. We have also been labeled the agency of innovation because of our ability to bring new programs to the market, ie the SCR Dolphin program, and the Solo program. This will continue in the future.

H2O: For many people, PADI’s entry to the Nitrox market a few years ago was seen as the final global seal of approval which effectively expanded the Nitrox diver base manifolds overnight, would you say that the same effect could be expected in view of their recent foray into Tech and Trimix?

B. C: I believe that Tech diving and Trimix were already established worldwide for many years prior to the announcement of PADI’s program. I will say this though, they have raised the bar with the quality of the product they produced and this is good for the industry as a whole. It will require us to make our products even better.

As I have said before, competition is good in our market if it is done positively and we appreciate the dedication that PADI puts into their product. Ultimately, the students learning from all of our programs will benefit, and this is good for the whole industry.

H2O: SDI is where your energies have been focused on in the few years since it was launched, could you outline the reasoning for TDI to venture into the recreational market, what is different about SDI and where do you stand today in the recreational market?

B. C: TDI launched SDI due to the numerous requests we received from instructors to develop certification programs in the recreational market similar to how we developed programs in the technical market. We give instructors programs that are well thought out and give academic freedom to teach courses in a safe manner by qualified instructors.

H2O: How can Scuba Diving increase its share against other recreational activities?

B. C: There is only one way to do this; we must as an industry work together. DEMA has taken the first of a few very good steps by asking a group of manufacturers, training agencies, a few magazines, and some centers to come together and discuss how we can work together to grow the industry. The meeting held in the beginning of March was one of the best I have been a part of.

The idea was to find out what centers are seeing is working with regards to promoting scuba and what is not. After the meeting, members of DEMA travelled around and shared this information to centers who did not attend. They plan on producing a DVD and I would recommend it to everyone involved in the diving industry.

H2O: You had occasion to make your first visit to Egypt and the Red Sea when you conducted a SDI/TDI Instructor trainer course in Hurghada in March this year; did you enjoy your time here?

B. C: Yes I did, and what a beautiful place it was, other than all the construction of course. I really enjoyed myself. The funny part was when I first went to the center and met Wessam (Divers Lodge) for the first time; he was shocked as to how old I was. I think he was expecting someone with much more grey hair.

---

Home  II  Articles  II  General info   II  Advertisement  II  Rates  II  Directory  II  Gallery  II  Fun page  II  Maps  II  Jobs  II  Site map  II  Contact us