​Creating and delivering cutting edge, factual and relevant survival concepts and strategies
in an informational and interesting manner since 1965.
Survival Educators
Copyright 2004-2017. Survival Educators. All rights reserved. 2750 Artesia Blvd, Unit 351. Redondo Beach, CA 90278
Email: TimKneeland@SurvivalEducators.com Phone: 1 (818) 445-4060 Fax: 1 (818) 441-5007
Survival, disaster & safety presentations, workshops & gear
Tim Kneeland, Founder & President
In 2008, Tim began teaching courses for Corporate Air Parts (www.corpairparts.com) in Van Nuys (Los Angeles), CA. The most popular is the FAA's annually required 135.331 Crewmember Emergency Training for charter aircraft pilots and aircrews. He also teaches aviation oriented American Heart Association CPR, AED & First Aid courses to pilots and flight attendants.
After leaving the Air Force, Tim founded the Institute for Survival education (ISE) in 1971, with the goal to continue teaching survival to all types of audiences. He taught dozens of course though educational institutions, park departments, non-profit organizations and corporations, including Boeing until deciding to attend graduate school at the University of Minnesota in 1976.
From 1977 to 1980, Tim worked for Medtronic in Minneapolis, the world's largest medical technology company. First as a technical trainer, then as the manager of Management Development. While at Medtronic, he became a Loaned Executive to the Greater Twin Cities United Way and, in 1980, was selected to be the Training Chairman on the 1980 United Way Campaign Cabinet, responsible for the training of all the new Loaned Executives.
From 1981 to 2003, Tim increasingly devoted time to creating and producing bicycling events lasting from one day to one year in length. All together, 17,338 participants pedaled 12,165,126 miles on 89 events. Together, several of these rides raised over $8,000,000 for various charities in North America. From 1981 to 1989, Tim also served as the American Lung Association’s National Trek Consultant, creating and delivering several trek coordinator workshops a year throughout the United States. These courses taught ALA staff and volunteers how to design, promote, deliver and evaluate adventure (bicycling, winter camping, cross-country skiing,hiking, backpacking, canoeing, etc.) fundraising programs.
Tim has also traveled extensively, visiting at least 60 countries on six continents, most multiple times. He also lived in the Philippines for 15 months in the late sixties, courtesy of the United States Air Force.
He also developed a line of survival kits for Safety Developmental Industries/Safety Survival Rescue Equipment from 1972 to 1976, including one designed to accommodate the need of the crews building the Alyeska Pipeline. More recently, he continues to consult with Emergency Response International on their line of aviation, marine, and personal survival kits.
Tim graduated with a BA from Eastern Washington University in 1976 and has completed most of the work required for a Master of Arts Degree in Recreation and Forestry from the University of Minnesota. During graduate school, Tim served as a teaching assistant and course instructor.
Tim has lectured thousands of times and taught hundreds of courses to all types of audiences. His message encourages people to become more self-sufficient (to have what you need) and self-reliant (to depend on yourself) to better handle unexpected emergencies regardless of how or where they occur.
And they do occur. Every day, thousands of people are faced with natural disasters, extreme weather events, man-made calamities, aircraft or boating accidents, working or recreating in cold and hot environments, or are faced with surviving the challenges of the arctic, temperate, jungles or coastal areas of the world. Survival Educators hopes to play an increasingly active role in helping people keep themselves and their families alive, regardless of the challenge.
Tim has been teaching survival since his days as a USAF SERE (Survival Evasion Resistance Escape) Instructor during the Vietnam War from 1965 to 1969. Today, after starting out his career teaching people how to survive being captured by the enemy during wartime, Tim now teaches people how to survive in all types of emergency situations, in any environment, anywhere in the world.
Since 2004, Tim joined a small team of survival instructors contracting with Emergency Response International, Inc. (www.eri-online.com) to teach Customs and Border Protection aircrews and marine officers their Primary Aviation Survival Schools. ERI also instructs USCG Rescue Swimmers (Aviation Survival Technicians) their cold weather, desert and tropical survival training.
Work history, program development, event production & teaching experience
Tim was selected to serve the role as the National Trek Consultant for the American Lung Association, headquartered in New York City, from 1981 to 1989. From 1983 to 2003, bicycle touring became the primary focus for TK&A, specializing in week-long, cross-country and around-the-world tours. In 2004, Survival Educators became a reality, focussing more time and resources to teaching survival and self-reliance skills to government, military and the general public. Also in 2004, Tim joined Emergency Response International, Inc. (ERI's) small team of instructors and consultants as a contractor to deliver survival programs to Customs and Border Protection's Office of Air and Marine - pilots, aircrews and marine officers - and USCG's Aviation Survival Technicians (Rescue Swimmers). In 2008, he joined the team at Corporate Air Parts in Van Nuys, CA teaching FAR 135.331 Crewmember Safety Training and the America Heart Association's Heartsaver First Aid, CPR and AED courses for aviators. More recently, Tim has become very active teaching first responders and CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) volunteers outdoor survival skills, many of which apply directly to surviving unexpected disasters and emergencies.
Brief History: USAF; ISE; SSRE; SDI; TK&A; Odyssey 2000; to Survival Educators (including ERI & CAPs)
In 1970, after leaving the US Air Force as a Survival Instructor, Tim Kneeland founded and directed the Institute for Survival Education (ISE) in Seattle, WA and later in Minneapolis, MN. In 1972, Tim also co-founded Safety Survival Rescue Equipment Company (SSRE) to design and sell survival and medical kits. SSRE became Safety Developmental Industries, and eventually both were closed in 1976. In 1980, ISE was rebranded as Tim Kneeland & Associates, Inc. (TK&A) to better reflect changing business opportunities. In addition to survival and outdoor education, TK&A also produced several adventure events (cross-country skiing, canoeing, hiking and bicycling), often benefiting various charities.