Richard Bangs has oft been called the father of modern adventure travel and the pioneer in travel that makes a difference, travel with a purpose. He has spent 30 years as an explorer and communicator, and along the way led first descents of 35 rivers around the globe, including the Yangtze in China and the Zambezi in Southern Africa.

Richard has published more than 1000 magazine articles, 19 books, a score of documentaries and several CD-ROMs; and has lectured at the Smithsonian, the National Geographic Society, the Explorers Club and many other notable venues. He writes a semi-regular feature with the NY Times. He was founder and editor-in-chief of Mungo Park, a pioneering Microsoft travel publishing effort. He also founded www.terra-quest.com. He was part of the founding executive team of Expedia.com, and served as its Editor-at-Large. He was creator and publisher of Expedia Travels Magazine (published in partnership with Ziff-Davis), executive producer of Expedia Radio, and founder and executive director of Expedia Cafes. He also served as president of Outward Bound; Founded Well-Traveled.com for Slate, and was founding editor and executive producer of Great Escapes, another Microsoft Travel initiative (www.greatescapes.msnbc.com). He ran and founded First and Best for MSN, and founded Sobek Expeditions, which in the early 1990s merged with Mountain Travel to become Mountain Travel Sobek (www.mtsobek.com). He recently co-directed the IMAX Film, Mystery of the Nile, and co-authored the Putnam book of the same name. His book, "The Lost River: A Memoir of Life, Death and the Transformation of Wild Water," won the National Outdoor Book Award in the literature category. For the past 18 months Richard has served as executive producer of Richard Bangs Adventures on Yahoo (www.adventures.yahoo.com).

He is currently producing and hosting the new American Public Television series, Richard Bangs’ Adventures with Purpose, of which his Morocco special "Quest for the Kasbah" will premiere in February 2009 –– which will coincide with the release of the book by the same name published by Open Road Publishing.