Jeff Reagan graduated with Reggie Bennett Class 90-02 as a U.S. Air Force SERE Instructor in July 1990. The job title reflects what they both were trained and certified to teach, global Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) training. After 20 years of teaching survival to military and other government agencies he retired from active duty and continues to teach survival at Mountain Shepherd. Jeff is dedicated to providing global travelers with specialized survival skills.

Team Building and Women’s Courses

Dina Bennett dedicated more than 20 years to the corporate world training, motivating and coaching sales people and business owners in the health and fitness, printing and newspaper industries. She helped individuals and teams maximize their potential and reach their personal best and in turn, enhance corporate bottom line results. In 2003, Dina attended her first outdoor survival event and made a wild decent on a 1000 foot zip line suspended over 50 feet in the air. This tested her metal as a woman, a leader, and all of the axioms about playing outside your comfort zone to enhance growth and leadership…She has never been the same! During the past 4 years Dina immersed herself in the world of Wilderness Survival Training and discovered the role of leadership became much easier after this training. Sharing the self-reliance and leadership skills that became second nature during survival training have proven essential to her personal growth and professional development.

Favorite Quote:
It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement, there is life, and in change, there is power. – Alan Cohen

Kate Steinbacher, President of The Coaching Advantage, and Partner in Interface Advantage Systems, Inc. is a successful executive coach, business owner, public speaker and trainer. She holds a BA from Stonehill College, MA and is a graduate of Coach U. Kate has been awarded the Professional Certified Coach designation (PCC) from The International Coach Federation. She has experience as a fortune 100 corporate HR manager, trainer and communications specialist. As Cruise Director on board luxury yachts, Kate traveled the world and gained international experience as a public speaker as well as manager of diverse teams to provide extraordinary customer service and bottom line results.

Kate advocates partnership, collaboration, taking action and building on ones strengths and experiences to create a life, a leadership style and work that is fun, flexible, energizing, and contributory and of course, financially rewarding.

Kate is an expert Business survivor and thriver and a novice wilderness survivalist. She has discovered that the two are more similar than she ever believed possible AND that teaching them in tandem creates a brilliant learning atmosphere which exponentially increase ones knowledge and ingrains that knowledge indelibly in both arenas.

Gail Funke is an Executive Coach, an Organization Consultant, and a specialist in the development and implementation of Leadership Development Programs. Her career focus has been to help individuals and organizations realize their fullest potential. She conducts teambuilding, and delivery of short programs on preferences, decision-making, conflict management and other activities designed for employee education and effectiveness. She consults to individuals and organizations and has extensive experience in teambuilding, leadership and the design, development and delivery of programs for women, and believes in and practices experiential learning for her clients.

Now a former federal executive, Gail was Senior Faculty and Dean for Program and Faculty Development at the Federal Executive Institute, where she oversaw, designed, and delivered Leadership Development Programs both across-and within-agency. She also has experience in public policy analysis and criminal justice system economic and policy research. She is a published author and national speaker and has worked with diverse groups in over 40 states as well as internationally.

Gail earned the PhD in Economics with a concentration in Public Finance and Public Policy from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She is a graduate of the Newfield Ontological Coaching Program and is certified in many leadership instruments and programs, including the MBTI, the DISC, Kirton Adaptive-Innovation Instrument, the Organization Workshop, and the Emotional Intelligence Inventory. She holds a top secret security clearance.

Gail’s interest in the outdoor life is illustrated by such activities as co-operating a Grade-A Dairy farm, a commercial sheep operation and a beef cattle herd. She is a marathon runner, loves jigsaw puzzles, MLB and old rock and roll music.

Medical Staff

James DeGuzman is a current career medic-firefighter with a large metropolitan fire department with more than 15 years experience in emergency medicine. James has a vast knowledge of technical rescue and is currently assigned to a technical rescue company. James is a former student of Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School and assists in the Hidden Pursuit course. James is also an avid backpacker with more than 20 years experience and has hiked in remote areas including Badlands National Park, Yellowstone, and parts of the Appalachian Trail.