SPEAKERS PROFILE 2014

 
William’s involvement in the dive industry began in the recreational sector. For over ten years he worked as a PADI Course Director doing business as a PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Centre. Since 1995 he has been the manager of Pro Diving Services in Singapore an onshore commercial diving contracting company.
William’s other business is providing on-the-Job training modules, bespoke training and custom design programs for diving management and safety to organisations. He is the Singapore Underwater Federation (SUF) Technical Advisor and the founding member of the Commercial Diving Association (Singapore). He holds the National diploma in adult continuing education and a technical member of Institution of Occupational Safety and health (IOSH).
He is also the International Technical Diving Agency (ITDA) Regional Director since 2004, appointed into the working group for the revision of the Singapore Standard 511: 2005, Code of Practice for Diving at Work to SS 511: 2010, appointed as Chief Trainer for TSTC/IDA since 2004 to provide occupational diving programmes in accordance with the Malaysian Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB).
William holds Australian Diver Accreditation Scheme (ADAS) Parts 1 and 2 Diving supervisor certifications as well as attaining the Australian TAA 40104 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.
 
Website : www.diveitda.com 
  
William Ong
William Ong
ITDA Regional Director
 
larry cohen2
Larry Cohen
Professional Photographer
 
Larry Cohen at Liquid Images UW started diving in 1989. Because of his background as a commercial and editorial photographer, he started taking photographs underwater right from the beginning. His goal is to capture the mood and feeling of the underwater experience. Larry has photographed everything from warm water coral reefs to wrecks under the ice of a frozen lake. He has captured images of shipwrecks and caves working at depths from 20 to 250 feet.
 
In photography and diving Larry always works with the latest technology. He started using digital imaging systems in the studio and on location before it was common place. He started bringing digital cameras underwater while most UW photographers were still shooting film. In order to increase bottom time and shorten decompression time he dives with a closed-circuit rebreather whenever possible. An added benefit of using a rebreather for marine life photography is the absence of bubbles and noise, which allows him to get closer to his subjects.
 
His photos have appeared in such magazines as Sport Diver, Scuba Diving, Alert Diver, Diver, Immersed, Advanced Diver, Sub Aqua Journal, and Northeast Dive News. His photos have also been used in textbooks and field guides including those published by the National Audubon Society. Larry is also a technical writer for B&H Photo in New York City.
 
 

Steve White is a long-time resident of Hong Kong, where he enjoys the mix of big-city sophistication and surprisingly abundant and accessible countryside.

His day job – as Editor-in-chief of Action Asia magazine – offers regular opportunities to explore Asia’s adventure travel hotspots, while closer to home, he often spends his weekends running or hiking in the hills. As a non-diver, he promises to bring a fresh perspective to the MIDE dive show!

 

  
steve

STEVE WHITE   EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF ACTION ASIA MAGAZINE
 

CHRISTIAN LOADER
Christian Loader
Professional Photographer
 

Christian Loader is a professional underwater photographer for the renowned Scubazoo Images based in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. He developed a passion for marine life and diving back in 2001 working on a coral reef conservation project in the Philippines, and then graduated with a BSc in Ocean Science from the University of Plymouth, UK. 

After completing his PADI Divemaster and an HSE commercial diving course in the cold waters of the UK, in 2007 Christian left for a warmer, tropical lifestyle in south-east Asia. Working as a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer in Sabah, Malaysia he fell in love with the incredible marine life of Pulau Sipadan and Mabul and his focus then shifted to underwater photography, which led to him joining Scubazoo. Having spent a number of years shooting for Scubazoo in the wide-angle wonderland of the Maldives, and the macro-heaven of North Sulawesi, Indonesia, he is now based at the company headquarters in the city Kota Kinabalu in Sabah. 

Christian’s images have been published in a number of magazines and newspapers worldwide and have won several prestigious awards. As well as shooting on various projects around the world, Christian and his colleagues have also published stunning coffee table books such as “Maldives – The Underwater Kingdom”, and most recently in 2014 “Sensational Seas of Sabah”.
 
Divya is a soldier by designation and a doctor by profession. She currently practices out of Tunku Mizan Armed Forces Hospital, Kuala Lumpur which is a military facility. Her interest in the underwater world was cultivated via exposure to hyperbaric medicine and pressure chambers. A majority of her day to day work revolves around the use of hyperbaric chambers as treatment for both dive related illness and certain clinical conditions. 
 
In Malaysia, her centre is one of the few recompression chambers available with adequate hospital support. 
 
She is passionate about early recognition and intervention of medical issues in diving in order to make it safer and more accessible. The wonders of the underwater world are meant to be appreciated by many.
  
divya
Captain Dr Divya Panicker
Diving Medical Officer
       
olga
Olga Torrey
Sidemount Diver
 
Originally from Russia Olga Torrey has been living in New York City for the past 20 years. She has a college honor degree in physical education and worked as a gym teacher, athletic director, and gym owner back in the former USSR. She is also a fine artist and Life member of the Art Students League of New York. 
Olga spends as much time underwater as possible. Because of her background in physical education she dives sidemount. This allows her to carry the most gas, while putting the least amount of stress on her body. 
She has taken her talent as a fine artist and applied her skills to photography both above and below the water. Olga has taken underwater photographs from the warm waters of Bonaire to the green rich waters of Alaska. She has been published in InVetrum, X-Ray Magazine, Northeast Dive News and The Ultimate Depth.
 
       
Ben Reymenants’s passion for diving began in 1982 with inspiration from the classic James Bond movie, ‘For Your Eyes Only’ where divers salvage a computer hidden in a shipwreck. Disappointingly, diving remained a high-priced pipe dream until he had made enough cash at age 18 to enroll in a dive course with a local CMAS club. After 2 months of pool sessions, theory classes and lake dives he received the prestigious 1 star diver rating. 
Further inspired by watching the film “Le Grande Blue” multiple times, he became fascinated by the idea of becoming a deep mixed gas support diver. Soon after taking a holiday to the Canary islands, far away from the murky 12 degree waters of Belgium, Ben decided this was the place to get started. 
After settling in the capital of Tenerife, siestas turned into daily solo diving sessions, exploring slowly increasing depths – 60m and beyond. In that same year, Ben Reymenants’s training led him to become a Divemaster and soon after an Instructor. In his quest to access more distant sites, he attained his boat captain’s license.
In order to further the physics and physiology aspect of his technical diving career, Ben walked a slightly different path for some time: he took up a volunteer position at his local recompression chamber in Phuket, learning the intricacies of decompression theory. He was flown to Mexico and Belize as a consultant in the trade before settling once again in Thailand as regional manager of the network, treating 300 cases of decompression sickness over 10 years. All the while the technical diving training continued. 
Today, Ben and the Blue Label Diving team focus on teaching the best technical divers and instructors on the market. He has been diving in Fiji, Bonaire, Egypt, Tenerife, Thailand, France, Sri Lanka, Australia, Indonesia and Scotland. Ben can teach all tech courses in 5 different languages. 
He is a technical Diving instructor Trainer for PADI, SSI, TDI and IANTD for all levels and his highest level is IT for CCR Cave Level IV. Ben’s CCR expertise are the Megalodon, The Pathfinder and the Poseidon MKVI.
 

  
Ben-Othree-Reymenants
Ben Reymenants
Technical Diver
 

AB Profile Pic

AB Lee
Professional Photographer
 

A passionate underwater diver and photographer, AB Lee is no stranger to many Malaysian and International divers. Calling Redang his home, he has been diving there for the past 17 years. The owner of RedangKalong Resort, AB often conducts talks and seminars on underwater photography and inspires both professional and amateur underwater photographers alike.
Highly respected for his originality and innovativeness, AB constantly manages to produce some of the most impressive images of Malaysian waters and its stunning marine life. His illustrious works have earned him multiple awards and he continues to add to his vast collections of spectacular images.
AB Lee’s highly popular photography workshops and marine conservation programmes have been instrumental in making divers and non-divers more conscious of our local marine treasures and the need to help preserve their environment.
 
   
 
 
  
– Speaker list is subject to change.
– Please return to this page again as we will regularly update the speakers list and profile.