Ontario Underwater Council
Board of Directors

Heison Chak
President
Heison Chak has been diving since 2002, exploring wrecks in The Great Lakes and navigating the time capsules concealed within Florida caves. Dedicated to mentoring newcomers in technical and cave diving, he offers foundational training to individuals aspiring to venture into technical and cave diving.
He contributes to the growth of the diving community by channeling his efforts into shaping the next generation of leaders through his involvement with NAUI and DAN instructor training programs to nurture the skills and leadership quality of aspiring divers.
Recognized for his contributions, he was honored with the NAUI Outstanding Service Award in 2023. Heison is currently serving GUE as the Standards Trustee, further solidifying his commitment to advancing diving standards and practices.
Contact: president@underwatercouncil.com

Elaine Li
Director, Safety
Elaine Li has been diving since 2007, co-founder of a NAUI training facility in Hong Kong, featuring a 35 person dive boat serving recreational as well as technical divers. As a seasoned NAUI Instructor Trainer, she excels in working with divers from diverse backgrounds. Elaine has explored wrecks of the Great Lakes with OUC clubs. She has been supporting OUC since 2018 and is dedicated to promoting safety of the sport in all aspects.
Contact: safety@underwatercouncil.com

Kathryn Cullen
Director, Membership
Kathryn’s scuba journey began in 1964, leading her to become a NAUI Instructor after joining the Hart House Underwater Club in 1975. She co-founded the Blue North Scuba Club for open water diving in Ontario and continues to serve on its board. Kathryn volunteers with OUC, assisting with membership submissions and the sanctioning process. Retired from a career in project management, she now spends time with family, dives in the Caribbean and South Pacific annually, and volunteers with youth summer programs.
Contact: membership@underwatercouncil.com

Peter Kalanderopoulos
Director, Finance
Peter Kalanderopoulos, a retired School Principal boasting a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Toronto, brings a wealth of expertise to the table. With a diving journey dating back to 1974, Peter holds the prestigious titles of PADI Course Director and EFR Instructor Trainer. Renowned for his initiative and leadership, he has consistently taken on roles of higher accountability. Peter’s teaching prowess spans diverse age groups within the diving community, accumulating an impressive tally of over 1650 dives throughout his career.
Contact: finance@underwatercouncil.com

Cliff Adolf
Director, Communications
Cliff Adolf holds the prestigious ACUC Master SCUBA Instructor Trainer Evaluator Certification, esteemed as the highest professional level within ACUC. With over three decades of teaching experience, Cliff has played a pivotal role in instructing Snorkel and SCUBA diving, successfully certifying more than 60 SCUBA instructors and thousands of divers throughout the Province of Saskatchewan.
Cliff served as the Kelsey SCUBA Club advisor at Saskatoon Polytechnic Campus in Saskatchewan, where he concluded a distinguished 37-year career teaching Engineering. The club’s instructional initiatives extended over 30 years, offering tailored programs for both campus environments and the wider community, accommodating individuals ranging from 5 to 67 years old. Having explored underwater realms for over 30 years across various global destinations, Cliff stands as a recipient of the Canada West Achievement Award presented at Underwater Canada by OUC. Cliff is the current President at Saskatchewan’s longest-standing SCUBA Club since the mid 60’s, a club with over 100 active diving members. His notable contributions include past service on the board of the Association Canadian Underwater Council (now ACUC International), along with active involvement with the Saskatchewan Underwater Council.
Contact: communications@underwatercouncil.com
Portfolio Holders
Peter White – OUC Liaison, Fathom Five / OUC Advisory Board
Peter served the Ontario Underwater Council as President for 2 terms from 1986 through 1989.He has for the last number of years served as the OUC’s liaison to Fathom Five. The OUC is the only outside organization to hold a full position on the Fathom Five board. In 1991 Peter was awarded the prestigious LCDR Ken Grant Memorial Trophy for Exceptional Service to the Ontario Underwater Council.
Contact: fathom5@underwatercouncil.com
Raimund Krob – Past President, Advisor
Raimund has been a certified diver for almost 30 years and is currently a teaching status PADI Instructor. Raimund held the position of OUC President from 2005 thru 2011 where he implemented a 5 year plan to refresh and strengthen the OUC. Prior to that, he held the position of OUC Director of Sport Safety, and prior to that, OUC Regional Coordinator Ontario Central. In 2011 Raimund was awarded the prestigious LCDR Ken Grant Memorial Trophy for Exceptional Service to the Ontario Underwater Council. A former President (2001-2005) of Scarborough Underwater Club Inc. (S.U.C.I.), Raimund is currently learning the ups and downs of underwater videography.
Contact: advisor@underwatercouncil.com
Stephen Weir – Coordinator, Incident Reports
Stephen has been writing for Diver Magazine for 30 years. He also writes for the Toronto Sun and the Toronto Star and handles PR tasks for Caribana and other cultural events. Stephen has assisted the OUC many times over the years. He used to handle the publicity for Underwater Canada. Stephen has been collecting fatality reports for over a decade and, for his own personal study, has been working on a Google map, placing all of the dive deaths of 2010 on a map with information on the age, level of training, type of diving, etc for each victim. Stephen feels strongly that it helps divers to know why people die diving and that it is important to separate diving deaths from deaths while diving. As well it is vital, that agencies such as the OUC can use this data when making health and safety recommendations to the government, training agencies and clubs.
Contact: reports@underwatercouncil.com

Ayisha Hassanali – Incident Reports
Ayisha has been diving since 2002 and is a PADI Master SCUBA Diver and a Global Underwater Explorers Fundamentals Diver. She enjoys exploring shipwrecks, walls and drift dives around Ontario, as well as travelling to exotic places. Some of her favourite dives have been around Turneffe atoll in Belize; Jardines de la Reina, Cuba; Bora Bora, French Polynesia; and Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Ayisha has always had a keen interest in examining diving incidents to learn from them in hopes of preventing similar incidents in the future. She is a firm believer in skills development and personal growth as a diver in order to get the most out of diving and to keep oneself as safe as possible.
Marianne Collins – Coordinator, Insurance
Marianne has been diving since 1981 and has been a member of the Etobicoke Underwater Club since 1983, serving on the Club Executive in various portfolios over the years.A biological illustrator by trade, some of her favourite subjects are those of the undersea world.Marianne uses her scuba skills in the service of the science, making fish models for museum exhibits, illustrating undersea murals and Fish Field Guides for the ROM.For OUC, Marianne has volunteered thousands of hours for the Council over 25 years. She served on the Underwater Canada planning committee and was the last recipient of the Rolex Volunteer of the Year Award.Marianne was also awarded OUC’s Distinguished Service Award.Marianne has held various portfolios including: Coordinator – Insurance, General Editor – Ontario Diver newsletter, Coordinator – Scuba Community Directory, graphics designer.In 2011 Marianne was awarded the prestigious LCDR Ken Grant Memorial Trophy for Exceptional Service to the Ontario Underwater Council.She has lent her artistic skills to the design of many OUC brochures, t-shirts, Treasure Hunt and Ice Floe Race crests and is the creator of the current OUC logo.
Contact: insurance@underwatercouncil.com