JANIE LEASK: I ask them.

RICHARD C. WIESE: Oh, you ask me these questions. This is sort of news show style. Okay. Make them hard hitting where you sort of point and say isn't it true?

MS. LEASK: First of all, give him a big round of applause. They don't look like they're very hard hitting. First of all, as a comment many Explorer Club members have spoken to Commonwealth North. It's great to have you here today. How do you get -- first of all, you're a membership organization. How do you get members involved in the Explorers Club?

MR. WIESE: Well, that's a good question. You know, we -- our membership was really declining and the metaphor that I always use with the Explorers Club, we're this great, beautiful dinosaur that was dying that no one knew existed. And so people say well, maybe your dues are too high. And I always said that you could make your dues $2 a year, but if someone doesn't find any value within that membership it's just not worth it. People always want to come someplace where everyone else wants to be. So you know, it was two pronged.

We'd throw at least in New York events that were fun, they were young. You know, we had a better stratification of age. And people started lining up to come to our events. Our public lectures, these are, you know, something we do to the public. We now have people calling me up to say can you do me a favor and get me in? I mean this is a Monday night public lecture. It'd be somewhat like calling up here and saying, you know, can you get me in. So I think that because we have done visible projects, that Central Park Bioblitz was something that people looked at and they go wow, this is really neat work, you know, a volunteer organization.

And the other thing is -- and I would like to say this to my fellow members here in the Alaskan chapter, you know, get somebody, the slate is clean. There are no major parameters or what you can do or not do as an organization. Make it a club that you want to come to. You know, I think sometimes you have to sort of step away from, you know, bureaucratic traps and say, you know, what kind of people do I want to hang out with, what kind of information do I want to hear, what is it that I would like to do as a member. And often that will sort of lead you to your answers.

MS. LEASK: As a follow up to that how do you appeal to different generations?

MR. WIESE: Well, the average age of the Explorers Club two and a half years ago was 67. And I think part of the initial problem I had is I think people fear change. They've used a certain set of parameters and, you know, say well, we're used to starting meetings at 7:00, well, good, let's start it at 7:30 this time. Let's do something crazy.

I think that the comments that I got, you know, I'll give you an example. We throw a lot of events. And I do something called layering. I want something for everyone at an event. I just for no other reason wanted to have a Hawaiian luau at the Explorers Club. And I thought, you know, I wanted to wear a Hawaiian shirt and a lei. So I said okay, how can I make a justifiable event? I had John Loret who sailed with Thor Heyerdahl who could lecture on how people got back and forth from Polynesia, so there was a scientific element of it. I had my archivist, Claire Flemming, bring out a lot of documents and sacred objects from Polynesia to put on the side. These are for the people that don't want to actually talk to anybody while at the party, but it gives them a little focus.

Then I knew that there would be -- I have a cousin I call a trophy cousin. She's really good looking. I said do me a favor and find some of your good looking girlfriends. Well, that element worked.

And I just started layering. Hey, listen, we're a science organization but, you know, we're also alpha males and alpha females. And so I thought -- and I had an older member come up to me and he had -- you know, his shirt looked a little disheveled and he goes, this is the most fun I've had in years. He goes I want to tell people I belong to a club where there are young people running around, so you know, I think that there's this mistake that people think that people only of similar ages will interact. A good party is a good party.

And if you've ever had a teacher who was a good lecturer it didn't feel like a lecture. It felt like this was a really neat thing. So science doesn't have to be dull and boring and graphs. You can get somebody's passion going in so many ways albeit a little rum punch and a luau outfit doesn't hurt, but there's just so many ways you can do that.

I don't know if I answered the question.

MS. LEASK: You talk about having fun. How do you avoid conflicts of interest in your partnering?

MR. WIESE: Well, conflict of interest, I've run into that problem personally myself. Recently I had a problem, we did a deal with Redwood Creek Wines and what Redwood Creek was, and this is a perfect example of how you can partner an organization. We do a Monday night lecture series. Redwood Creek Wines, if you've ever seen their advertising it's a guy and a gal with a backpack out in the woods, it's the perfect image of the Explorers Club. So we had a mutual approach. And they said they'd like to sponsor our lecture series, so they were giving us a six figure number to sponsor the lecture series.

And we do something now, I think some of the members will recognize this, we do something call our Taste of Adventure series where we go to six cities around the country. We have a very prominent explorer speak, but beforehand we do our exotics. We do the scorpions and the tarantulas and, you know, the whole thing. It brings the press out, it really does. And we have a winemaker who does a pairing with tarantulas and snakes and all that other -- I mean it's fun. And it's like anything else. You've got to get people in the door before they're going to hear the message.

But where the conflict came up is that Redwood Creek wanted to hire me to be a spokesman for them. Now my job, I've been working for two years gratis. So, when someone offers me 50,000 dollars to be their spokesperson, it's a very tempting thing.

I had no conflict with, but other people did.

But, you know, maybe my values are in the gutter, but I think that it's like anything else. When there's disclosure, you know, when people's motives are known because I know it's so tempting to say oh, yeah, my liquor store will supply the wine for the event when you're actually making a profit or this or that. It's the same situation with every organization. And I just really think that, you know, disclosure is the best way. I mean let it be known. You'd be surprised, if anybody has a problem you'll know very shortly.

MS. LEASK: Speaking about conflicts, do you have conflicts with different chapters on different issues?

MR. WIESE: I have conflicts with members in general. And I'm not kidding, you know, it's a very adversarial, very political organization. I've been raked over the coals. I have been -- I feel like Rasputin some days, you know, people are sort of like spitting on you and kicking on you. Yes, we have conflict. And personalities play a role in it. We're a very passionate organization. We're passionate people, you know, I wasn't kidding when I said alpha males before, a lot of alpha males and females. You know, I think I'm a little disappointed that I haven't been able to do conflict resolution as best as I could do.

It's -- you know, one of the first things I did when I was president I had all our ex-presidents have dinner together. There were about eight of them. They all fought. I thought oh, my God, this is crazy. These people -- I mean should like each other. They all were, you know, fighting. I said I'll never be like one of these people. And unfortunately, I find myself being like one of those people. So I'm real disappointed in myself, but the only advice I'd give to that is don't ever do conflict resolution via e-mail, the intonation never comes out correctly. And my grandfather was from Corleone, Sicily and he gave me some good advice before they even had the internet. He said never put anything in writing you wouldn't want the rest of the world to see. So.....

MS. LEASK: Could you give us a couple of other examples of your partnering with the industry, either oil industry or big industry?

MR. WIESE: Yeah, sure. I'm right now in the midst of working with General Electric, GE. And during that Central Park Bioblitz Sylvia Earle and I, the oceanographer, we went diving in the Central Park Rowing Pond. If you've ever seen it it's pretty green. I mean the visibility is about this far. And so I asked the people from GE, I really -- I get excited about when a company tells me about their goals because I suddenly put on the GE hat or the Shell Oil hat. And so they said the biggest concern in the future was going to be potable drinking water that they were -- their industrial application was water purification. And I thought okay, you know what, I've got a project for you. The Central Park Rowing Pond is hideous. It's like -- it's scum, it's scummy, green, thick, ugly. I said let's make it drinkable. And I said you know what a statement that will make by General Electric that you've taken one of the most visible bodies of water and made it really drinkable. Now, from their end it's going to be terrific PR, it really is. From my end, I live in New York City, it will make my quality of life better.

I'm doing the same thing, I'm attempting to put the first wind generator in Manhattan on the Explorers Club. I'm going to put a geothermal tube in and the ambient temperature of the earth below the Explorers Club is in the 50s, somewhere, and so it will be used for cooling in the summer and partial heating in the winter. We're going to put state of the art solar panels. What will the company get out of it? Well, I've already spoken to the New York Times. They said they will do a story in their science section. USA Today will do a science section. So the third party PR -- and I think that really is a very important thing is if you're an oil company you can say we're wonderful, we're doing things for the environment, but when you have somebody from a not for profit saying these guys are doing the right thing it's advertising you can't even pay for.

MS. LEASK: First of all, do you have a board of directors?

MR. WIESE: Yes, I do.

MS. LEASK: And how do you get your board members involved?

MR. WIESE: I feel like all I'm doing is talking about failures today. It's difficult because people have different motives for being on a board of directors. I think some people just like to be on a board of directors. And to me that's very frustrating because I think it's a responsibility. When you sit on a board, any board, especially not for profit, you know, you'd really better be doing something otherwise you shouldn't be on that board.

Now given that, how do you engage people, that's the next question, because human nature is going to be what it is. And you're going to have about 50 percent of your board not involved. And so what I have done is I've found that any project that I'm trying to champion really works better when I have a board member who's sort of feels vested in it as well. So even though I feel like I've done some of the leg work I've taken the board member and made them integral to that project to where now when we go to the board of directors and not just me banging my head on the thing and saying let's do it, let's do it, let's do it, it's another person saying yeah, this is a really, you know, great deal. And again, it's almost like that third party endorsement. It's not just the president of the organization saying, but it's a board member that feels very passionate.

MS. LEASK: I think all nonprofits run into that kind of issue. Okay. The last question. What other great exploring opportunities do you foresee in the next decade?

MR. WIESE: I think, you know, people often ask what's left to explore, haven't we been everywhere? And I get really excited because I think we're entering into a golden era in so many ways. Just the information. I remember two years ago I was in a studio in London and I was interviewing people in a space shuttle. They were somewhere over Australia. My God, this is fantastic. I'm talking to someone in outer space. I'm in London. They're over Australia some place. The transmission of data is so remarkably fast. When Darwin did his voyage of discovery he spent three weeks in the Galapagos. Spent 10 years writing it. And another 10, 20 years before people started responding.

The rate at which dinosaurs are discovered and really by now by satellite imagery or even -- I don't even know the term of the machines that sort of x-ray the ground. Anthropologists because of the advent of DNA are discovering things so much more rapidly. The largest mountain chain in the world is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. We've seen like this much of it. You know, years ago the common thought was that the bottom of the ocean was this lifeless place.

Now, you know, we're looking at these volcanic vents and we're finding new life forms, not only for industry. And in fact, just real quickly on that industry thing. I'm going up Kilimanjaro in January with a group and we're doing microbial sampling. There's a company out in California called Versa (ph). And what they do is they look at microbes and they look at the principles of how they apply it to industry. Kilimanjaro high ultraviolet light environments. They're looking at the principles of these microbes and how it can help your carpeting not fade.

So the possibilities not only for science but for the sake of learning are there, but really a true partnership where it's a win/win situation where industry and business is coming out ahead and the environment because we have a better understanding or a better use of resources. So I think we're headed into a real exciting place.

And I'd really like to thank everyone for coming here so early in the morning. And it's really an honor for me. And I hope the next part of my trip I get to experience the Alaska that I always dreamed about, the big white wave. It's an exciting place. Thank you very much.

MS. LEASK: Thank you. Thank you, Richard. And as just a very small token of our appreciation we do have a little wall hanger for you to take back as a memento from your morning.

MR. WIESE: And I'll take it to my board of directors and go (makes noises). Thank you very much. Again, it's a real honor. And I'm pleased to see so many members of the Explorers Club. And I'd like to thank the Governor for taking his time out of his busy morning to come here. You have a beautiful hotel. Thank you very much.

MS. LEASK: Thank you. And as Richard and I were talking just very, very briefly this morning about his fantasy of riding bicycles during the winter. I told him as I was coming here this morning I almost ran into a bicyclist who was on a road with absolutely no reflective gear on. And he said he is well lit like a Christmas tree, so hopefully you will get your wish of riding in a snow storm in Alaska. And thank you again for coming. We really appreciate it.

I would like to thank you all for joining us this early in the morning and especially the members of the Explorers Club.

A reminder if you already haven't RSVP'd for the Governor's budget unveiling tomorrow here at noon at the Captain Cook, please mention that to Christine on your way out and she'll be sure to sign you up. It promises to be an exciting preview of what's to come during this next legislative session.

So in closing we hope that you will spend a few minutes to talk with your fellow Commonwealth North leaders, and if you are a guest here joining us today we hope that you will look into becoming a member of Commonwealth North. Information about the organization is at the door. We thank you all for coming. And if we don't see you here at lunch tomorrow we wish you a very safe and happy holiday. And we stand adjourned. Thank you.

(END OF PROCEEDINGS)