Commonly known as one of the best professional kayakers in the world, Brad Ludden has traveled to over 40 countries as Nike's first sponsored kayak athlete and can be seen gracing the cover of magazines such as Outside, Men's Health and Men's Journal. Brad was born, raised and still lives and plays in the northern Rocky Mountains. He spent his childhood hiking, camping, hunting, fishing, kayaking, biking, climbing and living outside.
After graduating a year early from high school, Brad set out for a 6-month around the world epic. It was at the end of that trip that he realized the need to pursue kayaking as a full-time occupation as well as his desire to give the gift of kayaking to others. In 1999, at the age 18, Brad Ludden founded the non-profit foundation, First Descents in order to provide those affected by cancer the chance to utilize whitewater kayaking and other outdoor adventures in order to play a key role in their overall recovery process. After two years of planning and hard work and with the help of friends, fellow athletes and family, he hosted the first ever First Descents' program. Since that first season, First Descents has become a nationally recognized outlet for young adults with cancer and Brad couldn't be happier about it! When not performing life-threatening tricks on the big water or collecting kayaking accolades, Brad enjoys piloting his c-182 plane fondly known at the "Bug Smasher", hunting, hiking, camping and fly fishing.
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Before coming to First Descents in 2000, Corey trained and raced whitewater slalom
kayaks at the national and international level. Having earned two national championship medals in wildwater
and slalom, he dedicated his life to pursuing his passion of excellence in whitewater kayaking. A major highlight
in his athletic career came in 1996, when he served as the head coach for the Republic of Panama in the Summer
Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. After retiring from paddling, Corey targeted the multi-sport discipline of
adventure racing as a medium to continue to push himself in his life. He raced for one of the top teams in
the United States in such races as the Eco-Challenge, Four Square Challenge, and the Adventure Extreme Series.
As a result of his life experiences in both whitewater and adventure racing, Corey founded the Nielsen Training
Group (NTG), a leadership and sales training-based company specializing in professional skills training.
Recently, Corey has utilized his community influence and passion and has begun work with a grassroots
environmental organization striving to designate numerous rivers near his hometown of Durango, Colorado
as Wild and Scenic River status. Corey not only brings his unbridled enthusiasm and energy to First Descents,
but also a vision to touch as many lives as possible in an attempt to maximize the quality of life for
fellow humans surviving cancer. Corey's first job; "Helping my dad clean up a housing project (that he
"invested in") and using a fire hose to clean out sewers. It was a humbling experience at age 13 and
every job from then on was a walk in the park!" His inspiration, he says, "without a doubt is the
participants of First Descents' programs over the years who have taught me the true "meaning of life"
- to laugh and to love. For this, I am eternally grateful."
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Co-Founder and CEO, Bear Naked / Partner, evol. burritos
with a passion for entrepreneurship and a love of the outdoors, Brendan Synnott has been merging his
talents for almost 10 years, guiding food brands to their growth potential, while having fun. He co-founded Bear Naked granola in 2002,
leading it to number one in market share in its category. Eight years later it stands as his first and wildly successful foundation for
a future of incubating food babies.
With a degree in economics from Vanderbilt University, he has levied his strengths to not
only follow his passions, but tap into his incredibly competitive and energetic nature, including a stint with the talent department at
Saturday Night Live, a cast member on Survivor, and now partnering on his second brand, evol. burritos. When he's not building brands,
he's outside doing any solar-powered activity, or traveling. He's proud to be on the board of First Descents, an organization that
promotes healing through outdoor adventures, for young adults with cancer.
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Brent Goldstein is a principal and co-founder of Avanti Capital LLC, a Rockville, Maryland-based company that structures, organizes and raises private equity and debt for real estate acquisitions and venture capital investments. Since its formation in early 2003, Avanti Capital LLC has organized or been affiliated with real estate acquisitions and/or developments with fair market values aggregating in excess of $600 million. Brent is a 1989 graduate of Colgate University and a 1993 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center. From 1993 through 1999, Brent worked in a private law practice in Bethesda, Maryland where he specialized in corporate, general business and real estate law. From 1999 through 2001, Brent was a Vice President-Senior Counsel for the healthcare finance division of Heller Financial. Following GE Capital’s 2001 acquisition of Heller Financial, Brent spent two years with GE Capital’s healthcare lending division in a business/underwriting/risk management function before leaving in 2003 to form Avanti Capital. Brent lives in Rockville, Maryland with his wife Lisa, three daughters, Daryn (14), Arlyn (10) and Bailey (8), a black lab named Everest and a Lhasa-Poo named Simba. He is an avid biker (road and mountain), golfer, hockey player, hiker and skier and has served on Boards or otherwise been affiliated with several philanthropic organizations over the past 17 years including Maccabi USA, American ORT and Capital Camps of Washington DC. In September, 2006, Brent was challenged by the late First Descents Executive Director, Allan Goldberg, to compete in the Leadville Trail 100 mountain-bike race (recently won by Lance Armstrong). The Leadville 100 is a one-day, 104 mile endurance mountain-bike race starting in Leadville, Colorado at 10,200 feet of altitude with aggregate ascents of nearly 14,000 feet. As Allan was about to compete in his own version of the Leadville 100 in the form of chemo and radiation treatments for cancer, Brent accepted the challenge, enlisted some fellow bikers and turned the event into a fundraiser for First Descents. In August, 2007, Brent battled exhaustion and severe cramping to complete his first Leadville 100 in just over 11 hours. More importantly, he and his “Team First Descents” buddies succeeded in using the race to raise over $80,000 for First Descents. Since then, he has completed the Leadville 100 in 2008 and 2009 in times of 10:35 and 9:56 and has used the race to raise an additional $195,000 for First Descents. Brent is thrilled that the Leadville team fundraising effort has become the blueprint for the current Team First Descents concept.
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