It goes without saying that the principals of Adventure Out are all avid outdoor enthusiasts and intrepid businesspeople. Combined, they have surfed, climbed, scuba dived, biked and hiked their way across the globe. Their common love for empowering people and being active in the great outdoors, together with an entrepreneurial spirit, brought them to the creation of Adventure Out.

Owner & CEO, Cliff Hodges, is the founder of Adventure Out. After spending 5 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) earning dual Bachelors and Masters degrees, Hodges chose to focus his energies on a cause he truly believed in by working in the outdoors. As a founding board member and chapter director of the nonprofit organization Elemental Awareness, he worked with underpriveledged youth to awaken thier spirits in the wilderness. Hodges feels strongly that developing a connection with the outdoors and nature is one of the most important things we can achieve as people. He is excited to now be at the helm of Adventure Out and sharing this philosophy with our customers. At the heart of teaching style is the desire to foster environmental stewardship in all his students - creating more responsible and respectful surfers, climbers, backpackers, and wilderness enthusiasts.
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Program Director, Tom McElroy, brings decades of wilderness experience to Adventure Out. As the former head instructor at The Tracker School, Tom has taught thousands of people primitive skills and wilderness survival across North America. A graduate of Rutgers University, Tom studied Geography and Anthropology and has spent time volunteering for outreach work with various indigenous peoples throughout the world in the arena of native land rights. As program director of Adventure Out, Tom manages and teaches the Surfing and Wilderness Survival classes and handles program scheduling and customer outreach.
See related media: Tom McElroy discusses Survival on Fox News