Explorer and entrepreneur, Jeff MacInnis, achieved a four hundred year old impossible challenge, when he led the first team to sail the Northwest Passage. This epic journey covered 4,000 kilometres over 100 days in an 18-foot boat named PERCEPTION - using only the wind and a dream as the sources of power. The expedition survived one of the harshest environments on the face of this planet, through an ice-choked passage that has claimed more lives than Mount Everest. A one hour television special was produced in association with CBC, PBS and Channel 4 in the UK.
In athletics, Jeff competed on the Canadian National Ski Team, racing in World Cup events and winning the Belgium National Downhill Championships in 1984.
In business, MacInnis runs a communications company in Toronto focused in corporate, broadcast and interactive communications. The company has worked in twelve countries. He was educated at the University of Western Ontario, were he received an Honours Business Degree.
As an explorer, Jeff was also a member of the first team to drive overland from London to New York. The Overland Challenge was a gruelling 25,000 km journey around the world. This expedition was a $7.5 million eight part prime time, "live action" British television series.
Currently, MacInnis is developing Race to the Sun, which is focused on ideas and technology for creating a healthy world. The first stage of the project, Sun21, successfully completed two journeys in the Great Lakes in 1994 and 1995. The Sun21 was a feature of the United Nations 50th Anniversary Exhibit, International boat shows, and profiled on numerous television programs.
Jeff is the author of a National Geographic Magazine story and a
best-selling book called "Polar Passage", released by Random House in
Canada and the United States. A world-wide Rolex magazine advertisement
features his Northwest Passage Expedition has appeared in Time, Fortune,
the Economist and many other publications. He has presented 300 lectures in
nine countries to Fortune 500 companies, associations and educational
institutions.
