About
Why Cornerstone Safety Group?
Our team of experts have combined decades of career experience in risk management, medical, and mental health to create an all-inclusive membership service. We help our members develop and maintain world-class safety systems without the cost of hiring additional staff or multiple external specialists.
Member benefits include access to a proprietary resource library with templates and training materials that can be immediately implemented. Members receive individual time with each functional expert to customize solutions, develop teams, and ensure internal systems remain best-in-class. They also become part of an exclusive group of like-minded leaders to share, discuss, and problem-solve industry-wide challenges. This is a one-of-a-kind membership focused solely on solving your risk management needs and concerns.
Our unique approach to support is what allows us to have a 100% retention rate of our members.
Don’t go it alone. Join Cornerstone Safety Group today and become part of our community!
Our Story
Starting back in 2017, as head of global risk management for a leading travel company, Dave Dennis started facilitating monthly calls with a network of risk management specialists from multiple organizations to discuss and problem-solve common business challenges. As word spread, this group grew from a few industry leaders to more than 140 registered participants representing more than 80 companies that continues to meet to this day.
Over time, Dave brought in guest speakers and industry experts to contribute to these group discussions, and in doing so, realized the overlapping needs of all domestic and international travel organizations. Each organization needed specialized support from risk management experts, physicians, and mental health professionals, but for most organizations, the cost of obtaining these essential resources was too expensive and difficult to find. That is…until Cornerstone came along.
Cornerstone Safety Group was formed to address these challenges with a common perspective: travel and experiential education organizations need comprehensive resources to manage evolving risks at an accessible price point. With this mission in mind, Dave partnered with some of the greatest experts in the field, formed an Advisory Board, and created Cornerstone Safety Group to provide world-class service and value to its members.
Cornerstone Safety Group, the first of its kind in the industry, provides peace of mind to industry leaders and helps protect you, your staff, your participants, and your business.
Our Team
Dave is founder and Executive Director of Cornerstone Safety Group.
He has a risk management master’s degree from Norwich University, has spent the past 29 years in domestic and international travel operations, and has advised over 80 organizations in risk management practices and training. Dave is also the Co-Chair of the Gap Year Association’s Standards and Accreditation Committee and actively participates as a board and safety committee member with adult and youth travel organizations.
Before starting Cornerstone, Dave was the Vice President of Health, Safety and Risk Management at some of the largest travel organizations, helped manage thousands of incidents of all severity types, and even started an independently owned consulting firm. Dave is often relied upon as an industry expert and mentor speaking at several conferences annually.
Dave Dennis
Executive Director
Dr. Dubansky is co-founder and Medical Director of Cornerstone Safety Group. He is a Board Certified Emergency Medicine Physician with special expertise in Wilderness Medicine. Dr. Dubansky is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Nevada School of Medicine and serves as Medical Director for the Northstar California ski clinic, three national forests and several outdoor adventure companies.
Dr. Dubansky received his medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 2010, then trained in Emergency Medicine at UCSF-Fresno where he created and completed an area of concentration in Wilderness Medicine Education in 2014. Dr. Dubansky’s experience includes designing and implementing EMS field scenarios and mass casualty drills, lecturing extensively to medical students, EMTs, nurses, physicians, and National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service Rangers. He has also developed National Park Service EMS protocols as part of UCSF-Fresno’s ParkMedic and Wilderness Medicine Programs.
Dr. Dubansky is also a co-founder of Tahoe Wilderness Medicine, where he still leads outdoor adventure trips. He has taught for or helped run numerous outdoor programs, including NOLS, Cal Adventures at U.C. Berkeley, Cornell University Outdoor Education, California Canoe and Kayak, ARTA River Trips and Healing Waters San Francisco. Dr. Dubansky volunteers as a National Ski Patrol physician and is a diplomate of the Wilderness Medical Society’s Diploma in Mountain Medicine program.
Dr. Joshua Dubansky
Medical Director
Maureen MacConnell, PMHNP-BC, PSY-M, MA OLL is a board-certified Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner providing mental health consultation and training in over 60 countries globally. She has advanced degrees in Clinical Psychology, Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing, and Organizational Leadership and Learning. Maureen joins Cornerstone with sixteen years experience as a mental health clinician both domestically and internationally. She currently serves as Chair of the Psychological Health of Traveler's committee within the International Society of Travel Medicine, and believes in providing continuous, adaptive support for travelers in domestic and international settings.
Maureen MacConnell, PMHNP-BC, PSY-M
Mental Health Director
A specialty operations, marketing and communications leader for the travel and experiential education industry, Madeline works to bring the Cornerstone community to life through impactful programming and an optimized member experience. With perspective from several facets of the industry (tour directing, international student advising, experiential education marketing and community management), she aims to help business owners and leaders eliminate “fluff” and connect through meaningful resources and relationships to drive success.
Madeline relocated to Oklahoma in 2021 as a member of the Tulsa Remote program and, in her free time, can be found exploring the local haunts.
Madeline Willett
Community Director
Michael Habicht, MD, DiMM, FAWM is an emergency physician in South Lake Tahoe, California. He began his outdoor and travel career as a backpacking and rock climbing guide before going to medical school and emergency residency at the University of California, Irvine. Today, he serves as the Medical Director for Heavenly and Kirkwood Professional Ski Patrol, an instructor for the Diploma in Mountain Medicine course for the Wilderness Medical Society and served in El Dorado County Search and Rescue for 10 years. He continues to travel and climb around the world with ascents including Alaska’s Denali, Ama Dablam in the Himalaya, Kilimanjaro, and countless climbs and backpacking trips all across California with his family. He has trained extensively in travel medicine, high altitude medicine, and has a special affinity for traveling with children and teens as a father of two adventurous boys who have hike and climbed across the world with him.
Dr. Michael Habicht
Medical Advisor
Teresa Jennings, LCSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who is located in Durango, CO. She has spent the last ten years working in public education as a social worker, Dean of Students and, currently, as the Substance Abuse Program Manager for the Durango School District. Prior to her clinical career Teresa worked in multiple roles in the world of outdoor recreation. She started out teaching rock climbing at the University of Colorado which quickly led her to become a white water rafting guide. This was followed by leading expeditions for teens in both Montana and the southwest and a stint leading sea kayaking trips in Alaska. Her transition to the world of education was initiated through teaching abroad in South Korea and falling in love with the complexities of learning and growing.
Outside of work Teresa is an avid traveler who has spent the last three summer cycling through Europe. She loves to snowboard, mountain bike, run and spend time with her friends and husband in the beautiful mountains of Colorado.
Teresa Jennings, LCSW
Mental Health Advisor
Mike has worked for experiential learning and adventure companies around the world for the last 30 years. He started his career as an outdoor educator instructing in Oregon, Idaho, and California in the mid-nineties at the Pacific Crest Outward Bound School. Mike served Outward Bound in many senior leadership and director roles until 2017. Mike also worked at Outward Bound Australia in 1995-96 and as the Head of Operations for Outward Bound Hong Kong from 2018-2022.
While in Hong Kong Mike led the team that developed the first Outward Bound School in China, Outward Bound Hubei. He currently works for the National Audubon Society as the Director of Safety.
Mike travels the world to consult on risk management in outdoor adventure businesses and regularly presents at conferences on cultural risk tolerance, safety and risk management. Mike serves or has served on the Board Risk Management Committees in the USA, Hong Kong, and China. His expertise resides in safety, risk management, operations, logistics, training and team-building.
Mike has also worked as a mountaineering and rock climbing guide, sea kayak guide and white-water rafting guide. He has climbed and paddled all over the world and has over 50 first ascents of rock climbs in the US as well as first ski descents in the Fairweather Range of Alaska.
Mike moved from Hong Kong to Asheville, North Carolina in 2022. In his spare time he loves spending time with his family, exploring the crags and wild areas of North Carolina, traveling, bird watching, skiing, maps and reading books.
Mike Armstrong
Risk Management Advisor
Margaret, along with her role with Cornerstone Safety Group, is the Executive Director of Talisman Programs, a camp in Western North Carolina serving adolescents and young adults with ADHD and on the Autism spectrum. She also currently serves on the Association of Experiential Education Accreditation Council. She formerly held the positions of Director of Operations and Director of Risk Management and Compliance at Blue Ridge Therapeutic Wilderness (2021-2024), Health Director at Open Sky Wilderness Therapy (2017-2021, and Program Director, Case Manager, Staff Mentor, and Head Guide at Alaska Crossings (2010-2016) and has worked with commercial rafting, canoeing, and kayaking companies. She is formerly the Best Practices Committee Chair on the Outdoor Behavioral Health Council Board.
Margaret has enjoyed traveling and exploring the world and has also had incredible opportunities to live in Minnesota, Alaska, Colorado, and now is based in Asheville, North Carolina with her husband, two beautiful children, and dogs.
Margaret Kelso
Risk Management Advisor
Stuart is an international outdoor educator with expertise in risk and safety management. He holds a master’s in adventure education from Prescott College, focusing on systems-based risk assessment for international programs. Based in Taipei, Taiwan, and Seattle, Washington, Stuart has authored many publications and regularly speaks about program design and risk management at conferences and research events around the world.
In previous roles, Stuart led a national risk and safety management program as Senior Director with the Student Conservation Association. He also spent nine years in South Korea developing an outdoor education program across a K-12 international school. Stuart’s background includes field instructing and guiding throughout the West, and avalanche forecasting and educating in the Lake Tahoe region and the Andes mountains in Chile.
Stuart is a founding member of the Climate Action Lab, a group of industry experts who research and share learnings about climate change and resiliency for the outdoor program sector. He serves as Chair of the annual Wilderness Risk Management Conference from 2023-2025 and holds a professional educator’s certificate.
Stuart Slay
Risk Management Advisor
Advisory Board
Harry was born in New York City, and at six months old, relocated to his family's native home in the Dominican Republic. Ever since, he has lived in the cultural and physical space between the Dominican Republic and the United States, working in the sustainable travel industry in the Caribbean and Central America for more than a decade. He has led and managed travel programs across Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Cuba. Harry built and launched student travel operations in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Cuba, and oversaw operations in the United States.
Harry is an influential advocate for introducing justice, diversity, equity and inclusion principles within the travel and experiential education industries. These important principles drive Harry's commitment to blending local cultures with intentional deliverables within the travel programs he oversees. Harry advises organizations on DEI principles, curates meaningful experiences within local communities and has served as a member of the Education Abroad Task Force with Diversity Abroad. Harry believes in the importance of assuring a diverse set of local voices is represented in the travel industry, and in the value of reaching markets that have for a long time felt ostracized by the typical branding and selling tactics of travel companies.
Harry splits his time between Santo Domingo, Havana, New Orleans and Providence, Rhode Island. When not personally participating in clients' experiences you can find him cooking or gardening with his two sons.
Harry Alvarez
Member Advisor
Founder, OffBeat Travel
Hailing from Queens, New York, Biama Charles is the Director of the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at Hartwick College. For more than a decade, she has worked as a Higher Education Administrator at colleges and universities in North Carolina and New York. She was recently acknowledged for her years of service in her field as a recipient of the "Stellar 50" Award for impacting the professional and philanthropy endeavors of higher education. Biama's key areas of expertise are college housing management, talent recruiting & onboarding, DEI event planning, and conflict management. As a Caribbean American woman, Biama leverages her love of celebrating diversity in all its forms with her passion for relationship building and advocacy to intentionally improve the lives of those who have been historically marginalized and underrepresented.
Biama earned a Master's in Higher Education Administration from Stony Brook University, a Hospitality and Tourism Management certification from Florida Atlantic University, and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace certificate from the University of South Florida. She is also certified as a New York State Rape Crisis Counselor. When Biama is not working, volunteering, or operating in DEI advisory capacity, she enjoys spending quality time with loved ones, listening to music, practicing self-care, and traveling.
As Cornerstone’s People Operations & Human Resources Advisor, Megan Hightower Martins, SHRM-SCP, GPHR, brings in-depth knowledge about hiring, developing, and retaining talent to support members who seek to provide excellence in leadership.
An HR Consultant with extensive experience designing people-centric strategies for start-ups and SMBs with operations in over 40 countries, she leverages these experiences to develop meaningful, tailored policies and programs to address an organization’s biggest challenges, while prioritizing the wellbeing and safety of all employees and stakeholders. In addition to being a member of Cornerstone’s Advisory Board, Megan is a member of SHRM’s Executive Network and has served as a Global SME and Exam Developer for the HR Certification Institute since 2019.
Today, Megan is the Founder & CEO of Nova HR, helping to create scalable HR solutions for globally dispersed workforces. She is skilled in navigating complex corporate structures, finding productive outcomes to conflicts, and has led highly sensitive, confidential investigations overseas. She enjoys helping companies cultivate inclusive workplaces and designing automated solutions so that teams can focus their efforts on high impact, transformational work.
Biama Charles
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisor
Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, Hartwick College
Megan Hightower Martins
People Operations & Human Resources Advisor
Founder & CEO, Nova HR
Doug Stevens is a Boulder, Colorado, attorney who has provided legal services to outdoor recreation, public and private schools, and adventure travel organizations for many years. Doug frequently assists clients with all facets of their legal and risk management needs, including emergency response, litigation and liability waivers and other contractual needs. He has defended serious and high-profile personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits.
Doug speaks and writes on these issues for outdoor professional groups throughout the country. He has presented to outdoor recreation groups and experiential educators on risk-management, contractual and employment issues, including at the Wilderness Risk Management Conference, Gap Year Association Annual Conference and the Association for Experiential Education International Conference.
Doug Stevens
Legal Advisor
Member, Caplan & Earnest
Mark Vermeal is the Senior Safety and Risk Management Executive for Fred C. Church, Inc. As one of the leaders of the Outdoor + Adventure practice, Mark is located in Golden, Colorado, and works with a team dedicated to serving the unique safety, risk management and insurance needs of the Outdoor and Adventure industry. A nationally recognized expert in the field of risk management and safety with 20 years of experience as a senior-level administrator, Mark has implemented strategies that have enhanced a culture and climate of safety at two of the nation’s largest outdoor organizations: Outward Bound USA and the Student Conservation Association.
He is a certified American Mountain Guides Association Rock Instructor and Single Pitch Instructor Provider with rock, ice and alpine guiding experience. Currently, he serves on the risk management committee for Outward Bound Canada and the Colorado Outward Bound School. Mark has also served on the Steering Committee for the Wilderness Risk Management Conference from 2007 to 2017 and has been a presenter at the conference since 2007.
Mark Vermeal
Insurance Advisor
Senior Safety & Risk Management Executive, Fred C. Church
“In order to foment change at a greater scale we need to join forces with collaborators who share our values. For me Cornerstone embodies that perfectly.This is especially the case when it comes to Safety and Risk Management.”
Harry Alvarez, Offbeat Travel
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