Randy Sykes
Founder / ISV International Director
Randy is the founder and International Director of International Student Volunteers. For over 35 years Randy has been successfully operating cultural exchange, education, volunteer and travel programs for tens of thousands of university students on six continents. Randy is originally from Southern California and has a background in outdoor recreation and the performing arts. Randy's vision of making a global difference by volunteering has been the inspiration for the growth of ISV, escalating ISV to one of the largest volunteer programs of its kind internationally. Randy is a motivator who has spent a great deal of his time speaking and/or training thousands of students and educators globally. Randy was recently elected to serve on the Board of WYSE Work Abroad (an association of the World Youth and Student Education Travel Confederation).
Narelle Webber
ISV International Program Director
Narelle attained a Master’s degree in Sustainable Development at Sydney’s Macquarie University in January, 2012. While Bondi (Sydney) is currently home, Narelle is originally from Tasmania, where she completed a B.Sc. with Honors in Zoology. Her studies, along with many outdoor pursuits and adventures developed into a passion for environmental conservation. This in turn led to her role in originating the ISV volunteer and travel program with ISV’s founder, Randy Sykes, in 2001. Since then, tens of thousands of volunteers have participated on conservation and community development programs worldwide with ISV and Narelle is proud to oversee these programs while working with an incredible international team. Narelle counts herself fortunate to have travelled to nearly 40 countries while working for ISV, and was a guest speaker at the World Youth and Student Travel Conference in Beijing in 2010. Given the choice, her next travel destinations would be Nepal for trekking in the Himalayas, the Maldives for surfing and diving, Italy for bicycle touring and feasting, Japan for snowboarding and Thailand for world-class rock climbing.
Simon Costain
ISV International Marketing Director, University of Sydney
Simon started with ISV in 2004 promoting the ISV program across the USA and Europe. He is the International Marketing Director and spends his time traveling between Sydney, Australia and Southern California. Simon is originally from Sydney where he earned a B.Comm. (Liberal Studies) from the University of Sydney in 2004. Prior to his involvement with ISV, Simon worked at the the Australian Institute of Management, and he managed and promoted a local Sydney band. Simon has traveled throughout Europe, the USA, Latin America and Australia and he enjoys music and dance.
Deanna Mathewson
ISV International Education Director
Deanna began with ISV in 2002 as a Project and Tour Leader in Costa Rica and was overseeing all operations there by 2003. Deanna has been involved in many aspects of the organization, though her primary role is developing the educational components of the programs, including liaising with academic institutions internationally and hiring and training Project Leaders. Deanna earned a B.Sc. in Zoology at McGill University in her hometown of Montreal, and an M.Sc. in Ecology at the University of Victoria, where she taught biology and ecology labs for four years. Deanna lives in Victoria, British Columbia and is up for anything from cycling and rappelling to snowboarding and SCUBA diving, but spends a lot of time gardening. She loves animals of all shapes and sizes but despite many close encounters with bears, is most frightened of spiders.ISV's ONLINE COMMUNITY
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Skilled Trips for Vet, Medical and Biology Students
ISV is excited to launch 3 amazing trips designed for students and professionals with specific skills and interests. These projects will be running on selected dates throughout both Nov-Feb programs in 2012-2013 and May-Sept in 2013. Vet project with elephants in Thailand Medical and nursing projects in South Africa Sea Turtle Research in Costa [...]
Visit Botswana and Zambia as part of the ISV Wild Africa Excursion!
