R. Skip Stoffel was the CEO and founder of the Emergency Response Institute, and now of Emergency Response International, Inc. Skip was a former USAF Rescue/Survival Technician during Vietnam and also spent years as a professional guide. He spent five years in the Washington State SAR Coordination Agency and he also has over twenty five years training experience in search management, survival and emergency management. He has written and/or co-authored 32 books on multiple aspects of emergency response and survival. Skip has been trained as an EMT, a SCUBA diver, a glider pilot and has been a published author for over twenty eight years. His experience base includes working in search and emergency response related functions at local, state and federal levels throughout all regions of the United States. Skip continues to build on years of training course and supportive material development by spearheading specifically tailored books and training programs on SAR and Survival throughout the world.

Clive Swombow is a retired Chief Inspector from the North Wales Police with 30 years service in the UK. During that service, Clive served as the responsible officer in that Force for special operations, (canine, and tactical weapons teams) search and rescue, emergency planning and disaster response. Through his interest in SAR, he was appointed as the police liaison officer for the civilian and RAF Mountain Rescue Teams in the North Wales area, as well as the “C” Flight, 22 Squadron helicopter rescue unit at RAF Valley in Anglesey. Clive held this position for 23 years. Since his retirement, he has joined the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organization that covers the mountainous areas of North Wales and Snowdonia National Park. For the past 12 years, Clive has specialized in managing searches for missing people in mountainous, rural and urban areas. He has extensive experience on searches for the elderly, young
children and despondents, and frequently still trains with 22 Squadron at RAF Valley. He also has extensive experience in dive rescue operations. Clive has been an active instructor with ERI in Search Management training courses, field skills, man tracking and disaster management/emergency planning programs since 1990. He has instructed police, military and civilian personnel throughout the UK, and also in the U.S., Croatia, Iceland, Ireland and Sweden

Mike has  been involved in missing and lost person  searching for many years. He is a qualified and very experienced search manager and has been involved in many high profile searches. He is a qualified trainer and instructor and has taught widely in this area of work.

In November 2008 Mike was invited to attend and open an International Search and Rescue Conference in New Zealand owing to his involvement with SAR within the UK.

Mike works closely with SAR groups in the Southwest. He was Chairman of South West England Rescue Association (SWERA) for 5 years, which was the voluntary ‘umbrella’ body for Mountain Rescue teams in the South West of England. He is now closely involved with the Peninsula Mountain & Cave Rescue Association (PenMaCRA).

He worked with a small group of dedicated volunteers to help bring about the formation of a new SAR group - Cornwall Search and Rescue Team (CSRT) which has proved extremely effective since its formation in 2003.