Presenter: Joel Despain, Managing Editor, NSS News "America's Caving Magazine", Adjunct Professor, Western Kentucky University and California State Northridge University

Joel is the former Cave Management Lead for the Forest Service in California, and the former Cave Specialist for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. He has worked on cave survey, management, and inventory projects across the US and has been on more than 40 international caving expeditions to Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Chile, Bolivia, Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Belize, Panama, Australia and New Zealand. Joel obtained his BS in Magazine Journalism at the University of Missouri, Columbia in 1985 and his MS in Geosciences at Western Kentucky University in 2006. In 2024, he received the Lew Bicking Award, the highest award in US caving.