Our staff

Oceanwide staff

The polar regions are what we do. From our expert expedition guides to our impeccable crew to our diversely skilled office staff, the OEX team is all about giving you the utmost experience of the Arctic, Antarctica, and the sub-Antarctic. Seasoned passengers of our own epic voyages, we bring to the table not only a love of the exotic polar world but also a combined wealth of expertise unrivaled by any other polar tour operator. Join us on one of our adventurous voyages, and let us share with you all there is to see, do, and explore in Earth’s most remote frontiers.

Expedition staff

  • Martin Berg
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: Swedish

Martin is a marine biologist based in Stockholm, Sweden.

After finishing the compulsory Swedish military service in the Navy Marines, he found himself working in field camps deep in the Amazon rainforest to carry out conservation assessments and bird surveys for BirdLife International.

This led him to return to Sweden to earn an Honours Degree in Biology at Lund University, followed by an MSc Degree in Marine Biology, divided between Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre in Canada and Lund University in Sweden.

Martin is a keen birder and botanist and has been involved in several research projects with a focus on seabird ecology and conservation.

These projects have taken place on islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and around New Zealand.

He arrived in Antarctica for the first time in 2015 as a researcher, and since then, he has made more than 30 voyages to the frozen continent.

Martin is skilled in bird and mammal identification, and while he is almost constantly focused on finding seabirds and whales, he always welcomes a good chat about Antarctica and its other fascinating wildlife.

Read an interview here >
  • Pippa Low
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: British

Pippa has worked as a marine guide and skipper for 10 years, primarily in Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, and the polar regions.

  • Adam Turner
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: British

Since Adam was young, he dreamed of working in the Antarctic like his uncle, who had worked there in the late 1980s.

Read an interview here >
  • Ali Liddle
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: British
Read more >
  • Beau Pruneau
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: Canadian
  • Rinie van Meurs
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Florence Kuyper
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Jan Belgers
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Sara Jenner
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: British
  • Christian Engelke
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: German
  • Philipp Schaudy
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: Austrian
Read more >
  • Katja Riedel
  • Function: Expedition leader
  • Nationality: German
Read more >

Activity staff

  • Henrik Enckell
  • Function: Dive Team Leader & Advisor
  • Nationality: Swedish

Henrik is an experienced dive leader, rebreather instructor trainer, and one of the first dive masters to bring tourists diving in Antarctica.

Henrik has been diving for over 25 years and teaches all levels of recreational and technical diving up to Advanced Trimix CCR.

He runs the IART (International Association of Rebreather Trainers) Regional Office for Northern Europe and is a member of the IART Board of Advisors.

Henrik is a keen wreck diver and has been involved in deep-wreck expeditions all over the world. Some of the interesting wrecks he has visited are the WW2 disasters General von Steuben and Wilhelm Gustloff in the Baltic as well as the HMS Victoria ("the vertical wreck") at 145 meters (475 feet) off the Lebanese coast.

His interest in both the ocean and space has engaged him in projects with the European Space Agency (Mars500 Project) and SeaSpace Exploration and Research Society (Project Poseidon), among others.

He has a military background, having served in peace keeping and enforcing missions in the Middle East and former Yugoslavia.

He has been leading dive expeditions in Antarctica and the Arctic for almost 20 years in remote and challenging waters, many of which have never been dived before.

Henrik holds an M.Sc. Degree in Electrical Engineering and works in the automotive industry when not traveling the polar regions.

He has lived and worked in Tokyo for two years but currently lives in India with his wife, three teenage daughters, and five-year-old son.

  • Michael Green
  • Function: Dive Team Leader and Advisor
  • Nationality: British

Michael began diving in 1980, training with the Royal Navy in Portsmouth Harbour.

Captains

  • Arthur Yakovlev
  • Function: Captain
  • Nationality: Russian

Arthur Yakovlev was born in Petrozavodsk, the capital and largest city of the Republic of Karelia, in northwestern Russia.

At the age of 15, he started training at the Maritime College in Petrozavodsk, where he graduated in 1999. At 18 he began his career as a seaman on a dry cargo vessel.

One year later, he was promoted as third officer on the same type of vessel, and later as second officer, working on various cargo vessels until 2007.

That same year, Arthur began work as a second officer on the passenger vessel Marina Cvetaeva, now Ortelius. As of 2008 he has worked for Oceanwide Expeditions, and in 2019 became a captain on Plancius.

Arthur never dreamed that most of his career would be spent in the polar waters, but he considers this his destiny and would not have it any other way.

He is married and has a son, and during vacation he enjoys spending most of his time with his family, while also traveling and enjoying nature.

  • Remmert Koster
  • Function: Captain
  • Nationality: Dutch

Remmert Koster was born in the Netherlands, and from a young age he was convinced he would become a captain.

  • Evgeny Levakov
  • Function: Captain
  • Nationality: Russian

Evgeny Levakov was born in a small village not far from Nerekhta, an ancient Russian town in the Kostroma region. The closest water to his village was a 15,000 square-meter pond.

Read an interview here >
  • Ernesto Barria
  • Function: Captain
  • Nationality: Chilean
Read more >
  • Toni Salo
  • Function: Captain
  • Nationality: Finnish

Office

Head Office:
Fax: +31 (0)118 410 417
USA & Canada reservations:
Fax: +1 (0)281 749 8220
  • Toto Vermue
  • Function: Sales Accountmanager
  • Nationality: Dutch
Read more >
  • Alexandra den Dikken
  • Function: Senior Graphic Designer
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Piet Vink
  • Function: Managing Director
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Grace Vidal
  • Function: Reservations, North-America
  • Nationality: American
  • Andreas Diesing
  • Function: Key Account Manager for the German speaking countries
  • Nationality: German
  • Adam Turner
  • Function: CXO - Head of Expedition Operations
  • Nationality: British
Read more >
  • Dorine van Boekhout
  • Function: Reservations
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Iris van Zalinge
  • Function: Sales Accountmanager
  • Nationality: Dutch
Read more >
  • Elza Back
  • Function: Account Assistant
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Stefan Pruimboom
  • Function: Staffing and Operations Advisor
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Ko de Korte
  • Function: Consultant
  • Nationality: Dutch
Read more >
  • Teun van ‘t Verlaat
  • Function: Technical Superintendent
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Marina Joglar
  • Function: Reservations, North-America
  • Nationality: American
  • Michel van Gessel
  • Function: Director
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Majanda Fens
  • Function: Reservations Manager
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Danique van Burken
  • Function: Senior Marketing Manager
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Maria del Pilar Fernandez
  • Function: International Sales Manager
  • Nationality: Chilean
Read more >
  • Nyrée Siereveld-Verstraete
  • Function: Account Assistant
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Sebastiaan Schijf
  • Function: Financial Controller
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Gabi Merten
  • Function: Reservations for the German speaking market
  • Nationality: German
  • Loraine van Huizen
  • Function: Online Marketeer
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Karin Toornstra
  • Function: Reservations
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Jeroen Blanken
  • Function: Hotel Operations Manager
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Marie Rose Porreca
  • Function: Reservations, North-America
  • Nationality: American
  • Franklin Braeckman
  • Function: Antarctic Program Manager
  • Nationality: Belgian
  • Erik Hageman
  • Function: CFO
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Matt Cutts
  • Function: Content Writer
  • Nationality: American
  • Femke Wolfert
  • Function: Staffing Manager
  • Nationality: Dutch
  • Florian J. Piper
  • Function: Director Sales | Arctic program
  • Nationality: German
Loading