Jeff Jackson, Ph.D.


Jeff  Jackson, Ph.D., brings a business management perspective that spans safety, adventure tourism, action sports, and education. Specializing in systems planning and safety management, Jeff is an award winning educator whose strength lies in implementation and the practical application of theory.

Jeff is a professor and coordinator of Algonquin College's Outdoor Adventure Program, a professional adventure guide training diploma, where he manages 9,000 student field days per year. He teaches courses in Leadership, Risk Management, Industry Analysis and Business Planning. He is also involved in delivering the industry leading Action Sports Parks Development program, training for terrain park, skatepark, bike park and trail management. He has worked as a guide, educator and manager since 1988, crossing a variety of disciplines, activities and corporate cultures.

His Ph.D. work is in safety motivation and safety behaviour, with specific interest in work based safety culture and coworker influence. He speaks extensively on risk-related topics, and has contributions in several textbooks and published academic and practitioner's articles. 

Jeff is the co-author of Managing Risk, Systems Planning for Outdoor Adventure Programs, a widely adopted textbook that structures risk planning (2nd edition published through Kobo).

His consulting work has taken him around the world for tourism development, staff training and risk management projects. He has contributed expert opinion in legal cases in Canada, United States and England. He works with industry insurance providers in both training and assessment criteria, and is regularly sought for comment from media outlets. Recent work has focused on helping New Brunswick tourism operators develop risk management criteria, the Province of British Columbia revise their mountain bike trail policies, and a comprehensive safety culture survey across several different outdoor organizations to improve their internal systems. 

Work experience includes leadership and management positions with Outward Bound, the National Outdoor Leadership School, and numerous commercial river outfitters. He operated a cross country ski resort and is a summer and winter trail manager. He is heavily involved in industry certification, trail development, and sits on a variety of boards, including chairing Outward Bound Canada's safety committee and representing Canada in the development of the ISO's adventure standards.

In his free time, Jeff is active in local trail tourism initiatives and is a fly fishing guide, whitewater paddler and competitive cyclist and cross country skier.

Direct email: jeffjacksonprofservices [at] gmail [dot] com