About Us

Brent Loken - Chief Executive Officer/Co-Founder
Brent has been been living and working overseas for the past 15 years. Since the beginning of his career, Brent has been advocating for and leading a progressive education movement. His numerous publications and conference workshops have inspired educators around the world. Most recently Brent helped create one of the most progressive international schools in Asia, one in which his progressive educational vision merged with his environmental ethic. He created Ethical Expeditions because of his unwavering belief in the potential of young people to do extraordinary things. Brent hopes that Ethical Expeditions will inspire others and initiate grassroots environmental action projects around the world.

Sheryl Gruber - Chief Operations Officer/Co-Founder
Sheryl started working overseas in 1994 in the refugee camps of Goma, DRC in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. She then worked for an international NGO in Bolivia, focusing community development. She discovered her passion for education and cross-cultural understanding and chose to combine the two through international teaching. She earned her master's degree in mathematics education from the University of Minnesota and was a teacher and program coordinator at international schools in Pakistan and Taiwan. She co-founded Ethical Expeditions because of her belief in experiential learning and the desire to immerse students in true environmental education. She is committed to helping protect the biodiversity of the planet through her work with Ethical Expeditions.

Barbara Parker - Board Member
Barbara Parker grew up with a father who was 'green' before it was fashionable. As she ages she continues to marvel at her father's wisdom and is grateful for what he gave her through his example. For most of her professional life, Barbara has worked as an educator in international schools. She has degrees in education from Northern Illinois University, Southern Illinois University and graduate work in Educational Administration from Lehigh University. She has worked with teachers to help develop and adapt curriculum through conferences, consulting work and professional assignments. Most recently she was an administrator at the International Community School of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. From living amidst less 'developed' cultures, she has discovered the beauty of our planet, the wisdom of tradition and the spiritual responsibility and role we each need to play during our lifetime.  

Chance Briggs - Board Member
Chance began teaching in Brazil as a sixteen year old and by age twenty-three had studied in Senegal, taught in the US and China, earned a masters degree in education, and was helping to build and run an international volunteering organization, WorldTeach. After completing research for the Citizens Schools apprenticeship model, Chance became fascinated and horrified by the war in Bosnia and moved there in 1997, hoping to make a small contribution to the fragile peace. Since then, he has worked to improve the lives and livelihoods of people in Bosnia, Albania, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Mozambique while managing relief and development projects and organizations in those countries. A lifetime environmentalist, Chance is now personally focused on leaving a positive environmental legacy for his son, Maxwell, and believes that urgently needed leadership may only come from people whose lives have been transformed through intense developing nation experience.