As I mentioned on Tuesday, this past weekend the Explorers Club elected a new president. Yesterday I received a press release officially announcing the club's new leader, Alan Nichols, who takes over the helm from Lorie Karnath, who served in that role for the past three years.82-year old Nichols is an explorer who specializes in China and Tibet. He built his reputation in the Himalaya where his expeditions took him to the sacred mountains of those countries as well as Bhutan, Nepal, Kashmir, Ladakh and Sikkim. He is the first westerner to cycle the Silk Road in its entiriety from Xian, China to the Mediterranean and was also the first to circumambulate Mt. Kailas, one of the sacred mountains of Tibet.
Nichols says that he plans to expand the Club's ability to support expeditions in the field and hopes to grow the organization's membership by encouraging a new generation of explorers to become a part of the EC. He recognizes that exploration is as active as ever and that new technologies allow for explorers to share their experiences with larger audiences across the globe.
Alan has been a member of the Club for a number of years and has played a leadership role at a number of different levels. He is lauded for being not only a great motivational speaker but also working as a moderator between parties with conflicting ideas. Those skills will serve him well as the EC looks to move forward and heal wounds left from the recent controversies that have surrounded the institution.
Nichols wasn't the only new addition to the Explorer's Club board as four others were elected to join the leadership team as well. But when I wrote about the elections earlier in the week I erroneously reported that Josh Bernstein was one of those voted out of office. That wasn't exactly true as Josh's three-year term was coming to an end and Karnath didn't allow him to stand for re-election. You may recall that a conflict between Karnath and Bernstein was brought to light in a New York Post article back in December, helping to reveal the internal conflict that was going on within the organization at the time.
Members of the EC board serve three year terms, so at any given time there are three classes of directors serving in director positions. Josh was a member of the Class of 2012, but because he was prohibited from running for re-election, he knew that he would be cycling off the board this past Sunday no matter what the results.
With new leadership in place the Explorers Club is ready to move forward and put all of the infighting and controversy behind them. It sounds like the new president and new board members are committed to doing just that.
