Steering Committee
NWNA Steering Committee - The NWNA Steering Committee was born from our
Ask The Experts section of our First Nordic Walking Expo in Santa Monica California.  
We were able to collect many of the top Nordic Walking Educators and have them
come and teach at this one event.  After the expo we all met the next day to see what
we could do to help steer the direction of Nordic Walking in North America and to
foster a sense of cooperation among the different educational organizations and to
create a sense of unity for Nordic Walking.  To that end we developed some simple
definitions for Nordic Walking and for a Nordic Walking Pole, though these definitions
were simple they were much more descriptive than what we had before (walking with
poles)  The steering committee continues to meet several times per year with the
goal of furthering our original premise to help steer the direction of Nordic Walking in
North America and to foster a sense of cooperation among the different educational
organizations and to create a sense of unity for Nordic Walking.

Both
Malin Svensson and Gary Johnson of NWNA serve on the Steering Committee
along with these industry experts.

                    
Suzanne Nottingham

                   Nordic Walk Now founder Suzanne Nottingham is a fitness industry          
                    pioneer, well known for original award winning program                            
                   development, with specific leadership expertise for outdoor sports and     
                    fitness. Her extensive marketing and exceptional educational                   
                    leadership spans 25 years, hundreds of articles, television                       
                   appearances, books and conferences.  Since 1990, Suzanne is a             
                   spokesperson and continuing education provider for the American           
                   Council on Exercise and is on the California Governor's Council on
Physical Fitness and Sports. In 2000, she received the fitness industry's highest
honor for teaching excellence as IDEA's Instructor of the Year, and is well-known as
one of the early pioneering marketers who was instrumental in the launch and
success of inline skating in the US.  After completing a multi-year contract as LEKI's
Director of Nordic walking education, she remains focused on continuing to help lead
the launch of Nordic Walking in North America with innovative programs and
products. Her new book, Nordic Walking for Total Fitness, Human Kinetics, was
released in December 2009 and is sure to change the complexion of how people
utillize poles to train for health and fitness.

www.nordicwalknow.com


                    Tom Rutlin

                   Tom is considered by many to be "the father of Nordic walking".  He         
                     has been fitness walking with specially designed poles regularly for        
                     more than a quarter century. His introduction of the first specially            
                     designed, rubber- tipped fitness walking poles through his new               
                      company Exerstrider Products in 1988 marked the beginning of his        
                      role as a pioneering promoter of fitness walking with poles, as well         
                      as his role as an innovator in both walking pole design and technique.  
From the earliest days of Nordic walking Tom's has been among the leading voices
in effort s to unite the Nordic walking community in promotion of the critically needed
public health benefits of this great physical activity for people of all ages and abilities.
 
 www.walkingpoles.com


                    Claire Walter

                   Claire Walter is an award-winning veteran freelance writer and                 
                    author. She specializes in quality-of-life topics such as travel, skiing         
                    and food, always with an eye on budget-stretching tactics to get the        
                    most from the dollar. Her articles have appeared in national and              
                    regional magazines, newspapers and on websites. She is the author       
                    or co-author of nearly 20 books, including Snowshoeing Colorado,          
                    Skiing on a Budget, Culinary Colorado and Nordic Walking: The
Complete Guide to Health, Fitness and Fun. Claire is a partner in
www.milehighonthecheap.com, the Denver-Boulder area's leading website for values,
bargains and deals. She also maintains blogs about travel, food and Nordic Walking,
the subject of her most recent book. It is worth noting that snowshoeing and Nordic
Walking (fitness walking with specially designed poles) are economical ways to stay
active in Colorado's splendid outdoors. She lives in Boulder.

www.claire-walter.com   
blogs
www.travel-babel.com     http://nordic-walking-usa.blogspot.com       
twitter
http://twitter.com/ClaireWalter    
 

                    
Mike Gates

                   Mike Gates was one of the original Master Trainers to train under            
                    Marko Kantaneva at INWA, at the turn of the millennium. He is famed       
                    for his Ultra-Distance Nordic Walking exploits. His achievements have      
                    included "World Bests" for both 24 hours and 36 hours of non-stop         
                    Nordic Walking plus Nordic Walking over 2000klms in just 22 days for      
                    charities . He is affectionately known as the "Walking Wizard". Mike is a
strong advocate of endorsing inclusiveness for everybody in the Nordic Walking
world (be that of type,technique or ability). He is a director of The PoleAbout
International Education Institute and his Life's Dharma "Is all about helping
communities to get back up their feet."   

www.polewalkabout.com