Mark has been involved in the world of expeditions and adventure travel in one way or another for over 24 years and has worked professionally on all of the world ‘s continents enjoying (and at times suffering) all climatic extremes. These experiences led to a profound love of the outdoors, a passion for communicating that to others and a desire to enable others’ enjoyment of it.Following a degree in Geography, time spent working on Operation Raleigh and time served with the Special Forces Reserve, Mark co-founded Across the Divide with Karen Hannaford, with the aim of providing innovative experiences that are challenging and safe. The challenges are also delivered with a keen dose of humour, which is always a great motivator! Mark’s experience, both on expeditions and in business, mean that ATD has the capability to develop bespoke programmes for employee development, as well as customer development events – which will stretch and cement capabilities and relationships.

Creating Across the Divide’s Corporate Social Responsibility arm in 2007 earned Mark the prestige of being awarded BT’s Essence of the Entrepreneur Award in 2008. He was also made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts to join his election as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in the early 1990s. Mark’s keen eye for the eclectic and unusual has also allowed him to become a widely published travel photographer in publications such as The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail, Conde Nast and National Geographic and he is represented by the prestigious John Warburton Lee photographic agency as well as Alamy and Corbis.

He is the founding director of Expedition and Wilderness Medicine which provides the highest level of medical training to medical professionals through courses established in the Lake District, northern Norway, Namibia, Costa Rica and the Indian Ocean.

A founding Director of the company, Karen has over 17 years experience of organising expeditions, large scale event management and charity event work.Karen obtained a BSc in agriculture at Wye College in Kent, now part of Imperial College, London. However, her career took on a less agricultural theme as she headed off into the event and charity world, becoming the Special Event Manager for ICAN, one of Britain’s oldest charities which helps children across the UK with speech and learning difficulties.In 1996 Karen tired of London life, and her passion for running expeditions both large and small around the world led her to co-found Across the Divide Expeditions in Somerset with Mark Hannaford. By leading the majority of the expeditions in the first few years of the business, she managed to continue to enjoy her love of travelling.

Karen was one of the first people to volunteer and become a First Responders in the UK, a local unit that operate in remote areas, responding to 999 medical calls and dealing with emergencies until paramedics arrive. Karen is also a founding director and instructor on the Expedition Medicine Courses.

Karen’s ability to juggle family and work commitments naturally led to her heading up the Operational side of the business whilst also bringing up their children.  Karen’s keen operational skills have been key to the company’s current success.

As Operations Manager, Claire looks after the overseas department which covers flights, individual Just Event participants, to dealing with charities about their exclusive trips.  Claire studied History at the University of Sussex and the Universitaet Freiburg in the Black Forest. After graduating, she lived in Vancouver, Sydney and London, before heading west to Exeter.

Claire has worked in travel since 1999, starting out at Trailfinders, then working as International Reservations Manager for Oz Experience in Australia. On her return to the UK, Claire worked with Steve Clark at WEXAS before joining Across the Divide in 2005.

Claire’s travels have taken her on a road trip from Canada to Guatemala to the jungles of Borneo the peaks of Peru and - most recently - to deepest darkest Thorncombe.

David is a Hong Kong based entrepreneur who was raised in the former British colony. His activities are as diverse in their field as they are wide spread around the world; ranging from retailing in the Philippines, manufacturing in China and the UK, warehouse distribution in Europe and he also has interests in a drag racing team in Holland.   David's retail business operating in the Philippines has shown tremendous growth since inception and has won numerous sales and marketing awards for its winning performance competing against similar retail companies throughout Asia and the Pacific - a successful business working proudly with the highly respected Philippine Tourism Authority.

Read more about David in Hong Kong.

Eight years ago, David invested in Douglas, a flagging 60 year old British equipment manufacturer which employs 130 people in Cheltenham and produces specialised aviation equipment. The company was turned around and featured on Top Gear in 2010 as well as in the James Bond film, 'Casino Royale'. Recently it was announced that Douglas has been awarded two prestigious Queen's Awards for Enterprise - one for Innovation and the other for Sales Growth.

David travels extensively for business and pleasure.  He takes time out to visit remote locations in Tibet, Bhutan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, (he was there at the time of the tsunami and stayed to give assistance). He spends about a quarter of his time in Somerset looking for ways to promote Hong Kong and British industry, something which he looks at as a particular challenge.

David and Mark have been friends for nearly 30 years and their mutual respect for one another allows them to share and bounce ideas off each other- thanks to their diverse backgrounds and interests they're able to look at these ideas from opposing angles and explore as well as develop programs for the greater good.

David is married to his childhood friend Cara, has two teenage children from his first marriage and they have two dogs and two cats.

Emma and her husband Andrew settled in Somerset 12 years ago, and enjoy the country life with their two young boys who assist with the many animal-based tasks on their aspiring smallholding.  Emma joined the ATD Board in 2008 as a non-executive Director and brings a wealth of experience in business growth and processes, change management, financial controls and a long-term strategic view.

Gemma joined ATD in 2007 to work in our UK Events team. Through the years she has been part of the planning and managing of many UK events from multi activity team challenges through to UK and Europe bike rides, endurance walks and triathlons. One of her favourites is being part of the development of our flagship UK Event Just Walk.

She graduated from Oxford Brookes University in 2005 after studying a Modern History degree since this she has always worked in the events industry.

Gemma has been part of the ATD staff team with groups to China and Costa Rica and independently has travelled to Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, India and many more places! As well as heading off to explore the world in her spare time Gemma likes nothing more than enjoying living in Devon, walking the dog and exploring the best areas the UK has to offer rain or shine, working for ATD or in her own time.

Ian has significant experience of delivering community based projects. He has been involved with Across the Divide from the very beginning of its journey and is currently responsible for leading a number of events in the UK and overseas. Recent projects include Tamar constructing a classroom in Capetown, Simplyhealth constructing a medical centre in Brazil and working with Skandia to deliver a series of projects around the UK.

Jo started her career as a Cordon Bleu Chef. However, she found that there was a larger call for bookkeepers since leaving London in 1992, getting married and moving to Somerset.A number of years later, having had two children and finishing her exams, Jo started working for Across the Divide. Jo’s husband and two children are passionate about sailing and try to spend as much time as possible afloat. They have explored most of the South West of England coastline and done passages to the Channel Islands. They are planning a longer trip in a few years time when the children will hopefully be a more handy crew and Jo can climb the mast! She is also a keen skier and having spent six months in the Alps now returns every year.

Julie joined ATD in April 2004 and looks after all advertising, marketing and PR. Julie studied economics at University in London, before setting off round-the-world, travelling to India, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, New Zealand and Central America.

On her return she worked at STA Travel for 6 years as Senior Marketing Executive at their busy HQ just off Kensington High Street, before moving down to Somerset, not quite Kensington High Street but just as busy!

After studying Tourism at uni, Luci spent a year travelling before returning to Somerset. After working for 3 years with a local tour operator Luci moved to ATD in 2005. Luci organises the kit which goes out on all our events, plus all our insurance, as well as helping out with general office admin!

Mark graduated with a Degree in Architecture in 1998 but soon decided that this was not his calling! After spending time working in Europe, Mark then spent a year in New Zealand. Travelling back to the UK, over land and without a guide book, took him through Indonesia, South East Asia, China, Tibet, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and finally across Europe. Mark has also worked as a soccer coach in the US, interrailed around Europe, spent 8 months backpacking around South America and has had a couple of relaxing holidays in North Africa!

Mark now works as our flights manager, having over 5 years experience within the travel industry including Dragoman overland adventures and a Branch Manager for Flight Centre, and spends his lunch times running across muddy fields.