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Legends of Diving Articles |
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John Englander
CEO
of ISS and prior owner of UNEXSO
In June 1968 John Englander first visited UNEXSO for the NAUI
ICC (Instructor Certification Course as it was then called.) The
course was his
high school graduation present. Upon completing the program and
becoming a NAUI Instructor (actually a "Teaching Assistant"
since he was not the required age of 21) he spent another week,
taking the fabled 250" Decompression Diving Course taught by
UNEXSO President Al
Tillman. This
began a special relationship with the "Club." During the next
four years of college, John would work summer vacations and some
winter school holidays as a dive guide?a pretty good deal for
someone at college in Pennsylvania. He also was asked to be on
the staff of several NAUI ICC's at UNEXSO over those few years,
which further cemented the link.
Upon graduating in 1972 he went to the Bahamas to work full time
as an Instructor?assuring his parents it would only be for a
year, at which time he would come back to the US for "a career
with
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John Englander |
a
future." During his first year, he opened the UNEXSO satellite dive
facility at the Xanadu hotel. Then things in Freeport became rather
bleak as the Bahamas went through Independence in 1973 and the US
proceeded into recession in 1974. UNEXSO continued to loose money
for Volunteer Enterprises, its second ownership group based in
Tennessee, headed by Frank Reed. As things rapidly declined in
Freeport the senior staff left. Somehow Englander found himself to
be the senior person with a total staff of 6 or 8. Eventually the
owners refused to inject more money and told John to "shut it down."
John went to Nashville and did a deal with them to acquire the
business for "almost nothing." Since it was essentially bankrupt
with no real hope, they agreed. One blessing had been that Frank
Reed had encouraged John to take flying lessons and pushed him to
buy a new Cessna 172. Fully equipped the price in 1974 was
$17,750?it seemed like a lot of money, but Cessna financed it. This
gave John tremendous mobility, allowing him to go the States to buy
supplies, and was a key factor in keeping things going.
One of his first decisions was to clarify the name or the
?branding." Everyone called it "the club" from the name of the
facility being the Grand Bahama Underwater Explorers Club. The
original plan was for other such facilities as part of a global
UNEXSO " The International Underwater Explorers Society, but that
never happened due to the continued losses. John felt that he needed
all tourists to the island to feel welcome, whereas the "Club"
sounded exclusive and private, turning away potential retail
customers, and even possible dive lessons and snorkeling business.
He created a new logo featuring UNEXSO, coupled with the 3 words
Underwater Explorers Society. The new identity worked with the
serious dive market as well as the island tourist.
Nonetheless, the next four or five years were a struggle to keep the
doors open. Freeport was really suffering; difficulty getting work
permits for the dive instructors was just one of the problems. The
Hydro Lab shut down; John Perry was going to remove the
recompression chamber. Englander went to West Palm Beach and
persuaded him to leave it in the Bahamas in the interest of public
safety. He agreed but only if John could get the government to waive
the customs duty, which they did. The Lucayan Beach Casino closed
and the hotel followed suit shortly thereafter. The adjacent Oceanus
Hotel (site of current Pelican Bay) went bankrupt a year or two
later, shutting off the utilities?making matters much worse, as this
was the feed for UNEXSO's water and power. Yet UNEXSO never closed.
Englander strung it along, without any capital, and did various
deals with the Port Authority; with different hotels owners; and
even tried to do a private stock offering. Barry Taylor, and Glen
and Suzie Turnquest, brought some new resources as investor-partners
during this period.
Eventually the marketing worked; a fleet of larger, purpose-built
Diesel dive boats proved more reliable; Freeport got back on its
feet; by 1979 UNEXSO was profitable?for the first time since
opening. The retail business became a considerable profit center
with one of the finest arrays of dive gear in the islands, as well
as a good line of apparel that appealed to the general tourist
population. By 1980 NAUI was in decline partly due to PADI's market
domination. John was elected President of NAUI worldwide, partly
based on his turnaround reputation at UNEXSO. In less than a year of
commuting to California he managed to turn a big loss at NAUI into a
surplus. Englander recalls one pivotal mailing to the NAUI
membership contrasting them with PADI. John Cronin, the Chairman of
PADI, was at first upset, but then actually sent a secret donation
of $10,000 to NAUI. Another memorable response came from the White
House?Peter Emerson had been on John's original ICC at UNEXSO and
was then working in the Carter administration. Although Al Tillman
had been at the start of NAUI and UNEXSO, and had left both, he
contacted John during the NAUI years and was very supportive.
The 1980's were the halcyon years at UNEXSO. UNEXSO's product and
marketing reached new heights. John and the staff created the three
signature dives: sinking the 228" Theo's wreck (the former Island
Cement); developing up-close shark feeding; and the dive with the
dolphins. The Dolphin Experience was developed in 1986 as a separate
but related business, with the specific goal of creating something
that had wider tourism appeal, but also enhanced the unique diving
at UNEXSO. When the first group of dolphins arrived in 1985 they
were acclimated in a remote canal in Lucaya. Soon a pen was built
right alongside the UNEXSO boat dock, but this presented problems,
including concern for the animals" health. The Dolphin Experience
rapidly became a major visitor attraction, as well as front-page
feature in the dive magazines. A better location had to be found.
The unfinished marina in Fortune Bay was eventually deemed to be
best; John renamed it Sanctuary Bay. But there were challenging
issues both with Tamarind Developments and with the owner of the
property, who lived in Trinidad. For a few years it was leased, but
eventually UNEXSO was forced to buy the property at considerable
cost. At that point the Dolphin Experience was the real profit
center for UNEXSO and there was no alternative.
In 1985 John did a High Arctic dive safari with Paul Mockler that
got major publicity including a featured show on Canadian
television. A major diving setback in this era was that the unique
dives in "Ben's Cave" were stopped due to their acquisition by the
Bahamas National Trust. Eventually an arrangement was agreed for
limited dives. Also at about this time, they opened the West End
Diving Center at the Jack Tar resort. This was another way to
broaden the diving product, enabling a base to access the diving on
the Gulfstream all the way up to the sugar sand banks, with resident
dolphin pods and several shipwrecks.
In the early 80's Englander was fully engaged with the general
tourism promotion of the Bahamas. 1n 1982 the Bahamas Diving
Association was created; Englander was elected President and was
reelected for 15 years by the dive operators throughout the
archipelago. The greatest benefit of this collaboration was that the
dive operators were able to work with the Ministry of Tourism on a
par with the hotels, golf courses, and casinos for international
marketing. John frequently joined the road trips promoting the
Bahamas across the US and internationally.
Englander and Barry Taylor partnered with Ron Kipp of Bob Soto's
diving in Grand Cayman and created Dive Provo in Turks and Caicos in
1990, which became the largest dive operator there; it was sold off
in 1996. There was also a diving exchange program with the Russians,
focused on UNEXSO and Lake Baikal in Siberia. Albert "Ali" Bscher of
Munich, had been a frequent UNEXSO visitor; participated on the
Russian trip, and became a good friend of John?s. Over a few years,
he became a significant partner, buying out the other minor partners
over time. There were various deals in the early 90?s, including
with the developer of the Pelican Bay, although that quickly fell
apart. The original UNEXSO building and deep tank were slowly
deteriorating. A reconstruction project struggled but eventually
replaced all of the original structure.
John was asked by DEMA, then the Diving Equipment Manufacturers
Association in the early 1990's to become part of their Board as the
industry broadened to accept the other sectors of retailing,
training and travel. DEMA was renamed the Diving Equipment and
Marketing Association. Englander was on their Board for five years.
Aside from being Treasurer, he was asked to oversee Ocean Futures
Foundation " the diving industry's attempt to have an environmental
organization. His work with Ocean Futures included annual black tie
fundraisers, first with actor Ted Danson and then in 1997 with
Jacques Cousteau.
This caused he and the Captain to spend three days together in
Orlando with some long conversations. On the second day, Cousteau
unexpectedly asked him if he would be willing to take over the
Cousteau Society. John describes the stunned feeling--something he
never saw coming; says he recalls trying to quickly evaluate it, but
a second later just agreeing, figuring "how could you say no."
Within weeks, he did a deal with Bscher agreeing to sell his
businesses interests which was deemed necessary as head of the
Cousteau nonprofit. At the time of his departure UNEXSO was probably
at its all time peak, with 11 substantial boats and 85 employees
across diving, retail, photo-video, and the Brass Helmet restaurant.
A few weeks later he was CEO of The Cousteau Society, traveling
between offices in Virginia, New York, and Paris. There was urgency
to stop the organization's slide while the Captain was still alive.
The fractious family structure made this particularly challenging.
Yet he did put together a promising turnaround plan within the
allotted three months. Unfortunately it all effectively ended with
Cousteau's untimely hospitalization and eventual death in the same
period, due to a difference of direction with Francine Cousteau, the
widow. Following the extraordinary funeral in Notre Dame Cathedral,
John decided to take some time off in Virginia?essentially an
unplanned sabbatical.
In the summer of 1998 he came back to the island as Executive Vice
President of a marine real estate development at West End, Old
Bahama Bay, on the site of the former Jack Tar Resort. Due to some
protracted corporate and financial problems among the owners he left
after a year. For the next few years he kept busy with a consulting
business. One client turned into a new opportunity. An inexpensive
diver propulsion vehicle was looking for help. John was intrigued
enough that he assembled a group of investors, bought the company
and re-launched the product as SeaScooter. It had good success
selling hundreds of units via the Internet as well as through dive
stores. Eventually the group sold out to a publicly traded company
that had a wider range of electric vehicles?but shortly thereafter
the "dot com bubble" burst killing the value of the shares that they
had been given.
Since 2004 John has been CEO of The International SeaKeepers
Society. Founded by owners of very large private yachts, SeaKeepers
created an innovative system for automated ocean monitoring using
private yachts and other "vessels of opportunity" to gather
scientific data about the oceans and climate. Englander took their
concept, strengthened the scientific basis, and revamped the
communications. Under his leadership the organization has reached
new heights, working with scientists, government, and high-end
donors. In recent years he has become a passionate and expert
lecturer about climate change, utilizing a vast scientific network
and his personal experience in the Arctic, Antarctic and Greenland
to communicate complex science to the general public in an easily
understood message.
In addition to being NAUI Instructor #1148, John is a PADI Master
Scuba Instructor, and SSI Platinum Pro Instructor, recognizing an
estimated 5,000 dives. Although not actively involved in diving
today, he continues as a Director on the PADI Foundation, a
scientific grant maker, which is independent of PADI. He is an
instrument rated pilot with over 3,000 hours experience, although is
no longer current. He has been a member of the prestigious Explorers
Club for more than two decades. John lives in Boca Raton, Florida
with his wife Linda and young daughter Rachel. |
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