Rob McCallum

Rob McCallum M.Sc. FRGS (born June 16, 1965) is a New Zealand Expedition Leader, Mission Designer and Design Consultant, and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a Fellow of the The Explorers Club.
Rob McCallum spent his formative years in Papua New Guinea (PNG) before emigrating to New Zealand in 1977. He completed his bachelors degree in Parks and Recreation Management (Lincoln) and M.Sc. in Conservation Management at the University of Wales (Aberystwyth). He went on to live and work in the most remote parts of PNG as a Technical Advisor for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). He worked with local communities to protect rainforests by identifying non-logging revenue alternatives, and is the author of Race for The Rainforest co-written with Nikhil Sekhran. The book was adopted by UNDP as a guide for natural resource managers in developing nations. He has spent 15 years living and working throughout Melanesia. 
McCallum spent 23 years working in the national parks and protected landscapes of New Zealand. After rising to the highest level of operational management (Conservator) he left his career in the Department of Conservation (New Zealand) to pursue his passion for expedition management. 
From 2005 through 2012, McCallum was the General Manager of Deep Ocean Expeditions, which utilized the twin Mir (submersible) to undertake commercial deep-diving operations globally including the German battleship Bismarck (twice), RMS Titanic (7 times), various hydrothermal vent sites and the Deepsea Challenger. 
He was the General Manager of Deep Ocean Quest (2006-2011), which designed and built the MV Alucia. The vessel's debut mission was the successful search for Air France Flight 447|AF447 and she has since had a long career with OceanX. 
McCallum was a partner and the Manger - Special Projects at Williamson and Associates from 2012 through 2018. This Seattle-based deep water search facility which operates the AMS60 and WA30 deep search side-scan sonar. Successful searches include the HMAS Sydney (D48), German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran, AHS Centaur, USS Grunion, INS Dakar and the 2013 expedition sponsored by Bezos Expeditions to recover the two Saturn V first-stage Rocketdyne F-1 engines used to launch Apollo 11. 
In 2008, McCallum and Tim Soper, co-founded EYOS Expeditions, which plans and manages expeditions for private clients, conservation organizations, film companies and government entities. 
Two expeditions planned by EYOS twice broke the Guinness World Records of reaching the furthest south of any vessel in history.
McCallum was the expedition leader and a mission designer for the Five Deeps Expedition. This expedition took Victor Vescovo to the bottom of the deepest point in each of the five oceans and was awarded the Citation of Merit by the The Explorers Club, and discovered over 40 new species and mapped close to 1 million square kilometers of ocean.
McCallum sits on the Executive Committee of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) and is on the Board of Trustees for Nekton Mission. 
McCallum is a design consultant for expedition capable vessels including private research vessels such as MV Alucia, and the Damen Yachting's SeaXplorer. The first two SeaXplorers- one of 62 meters length and the other 77 meters in length both launched in 2020, and a 55 meter is in build as of February 202. 
Category:1965 births
Category:New Zealand Expedition Leader
Category:New Zealand designers
Category:Design Consultants