Why did I create the Carolina Blue Fellows Program?

 

The Fellowship reflects things in my life that I’m passionate about—the business of sports, entrepreneurship, international travel, and Carolina. Recipients do meaningful work that helps shape their careers and provides great cultural experiences that simply can’t be replicated. It affords UNC students an opportunity to travel anywhere in the world for 8-10 weeks each summer to work for an international sports business or organization. We’ve had 23 Fellows so far go to Wellington, NZ, Australia (Melbourne, Sydney & Gold Coast), South Africa (Cape Town, Johannesburg, Stellenbosch) Singapore, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Colombia (Bogota & Cartagena), London, Greece, Hiroshima and Buenos Aires.

 

What have I been up to since I stopped working?

 

I’ve been exploring the world, especially the road less traveled. I’ve been to Antarctica on a small ship, watched (Carolina) blue footed boobies feed their chick in the Galapagos, helicoptered to the face of the Ilulissat glacier in Greenland and to Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal, snorkeled the Silfra fissure in Iceland, Sipadan Island in Malaysia, Sharm El Sheikh on the Red Sea and with whale sharks and manta rays off the Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia and off La Paz in Mexico, rafted Okere Falls and kayaked Doubtful Sound in New Zealand, hiked in Patagonia and to Iguazu Falls in Argentina, volunteered on a game reserve in South Africa, slept in tents in the Moroccan Sahara desert, rafted the Grand Canyon with some friends, lived on a boat in the Peruvian jungle monitoring animal populations, trekked in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda to see gorillas, hiked into the back side of Petra in Jordan, snorkeled in Belize and Oman, photographed tigers and a black leopard in India, jaguars in Brazil, polar bears in Manitoba, orang utans in Borneo, one horn Asian rhinos in Chitwan Natl Park and leopards in Sri Lanka, viewed Dubai from the top of the Burj Khalifa, ferried the islands off Chile’s coast and across the Strait of Gibraltar to Cueta, hiked to Erta Ale volcano in Ethiopia, mini submarined to 1013 ft below the surface in Curacao, cruised the Irrawaddy in Myanmar, made it to the Pyramids in Egypt and Machu Picchu in Peru, flew Buddha Air around Mt Everest, photographed sunrise on Halong Bay Vietnam and at El Tatio geysers(14500 ft elevation) in the Atacama desert, driven the Great Ocean Road in Australia and have made it to all 7 continents. If “soft adventure” travel interests you, let me know if I can help.