Ghana

Brad Zaporski

Program Leader / Professor

Brads interest in being an educator started while working as a contracted guide to Medical Aid workers in Papua New Guinea. Brad filled his time there working with the International Education Agency teaching in tribes outside of the capitol city of Port Moresby. Subsequent to this, Brad spent a decade guiding on some of the world’s most powerful and remote rivers before settling in Telluride, Colorado. Those years as a professional river guide took Brad around the globe and ignited a desire to work with the existing forces of nature to develop clean renewable energy in his own community. It was this desire that set Brad on course to work with San Miguel Power Association, where he became the Chief Executive Officer in 2016. Brad is known for helping develop hydro-generation using existing dams and legacy infrastructure from the mining boom in the San Juan Mountains in the late 1800s. He was also the winner of the 2013 Best Solar Collaboration Project from Solar Power Generation USA for, at the time it was built, the development of the nation’s largest community solar project. Yet his attachment to water never waned and Brad sought a new goal and life lessons through the joy of surfing.  Now combining his love for the ocean, decades of professional trip leading experience across 5 continents, and the spark he found as a tribal educator, Brad has found a perfect application for these passions with Sea State. His primary motivation comes from the opportunity to work with the amazing students that SeaState attracts. Brad finds the ocean and the communities that surround it to be a powerful classroom and is committed to applying his passion to the benefit of the students.