Georgia Aquarium Dive Operations: About Us! Dive Operations

Meet the Dive Operations Team

Staff A-Z

Brittany Connor is currently the Senior Maintenance Diver in the Dive Operations Department at GAI. She was first certified as a NAUI Open Water Diver in 2000 at Catalina Island Marine Institute, California, along with Advanced Underwater Photography and Underwater Videography. After graduating college at the University of California Santa Barbara majoring in zoology, Brittany spent two years at the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium in Phoenix, Arizona. There, she had her first taste of aquarium diving. Brittany became part of the Georgia Aquarium Dive Operations’ Internship at the end of September of 2009. Soon after her eight month internship ended, she was invited to work in Dive Operations. Currently Brittany has a Master Diver certification, along with Rescue and drysuit. She also has her Dive Master certification and hopes to get into Tech Diving.

Windsor Gray:

Windsor Gray is the Assistant Dive Safety Officer and Volunteer Diving Program Coordinator at the Georgia Aquarium. Windsor is currently an instructor with the National Association of Underwater Instructors, the Divers Alert Network, and the Handicapped Scuba Association. She trains the Georgia Aquarium staff and volunteer divers in various diving practices including AAUS Scientific Diving, DAN Diving First Aid for Professional Divers, surface supplied diving, drysuit, NAUI Rescue, Nitrox, Advanced, Master, and more. She is a certified AAUS Scientific Diver, NAUI Cave I, Technical, and soon to be Deco Diver, a ScubaPro Regulator Technician, and an OTS Technician. Windsor graduated from Clemson University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in Graphic Communications. Following a year on Guam, Windsor completed a 6 month internship with the Georgia Aquarium Dive Operations department and was then hired as a Divemaster in the Dive Immersion Program. After 3 months she was hired back into the Dive Ops Department to help create and lead the Dolphin Dive Maintenance program following which she was promoted to her current position.

Jim McAlister:

Jim McAlister is the Dolphin Dive Program Coordinator at the GA Aquarium. He and his staff are responsible for maintaining just about anything under the water line in the new Dolphin Habitat. Jim also helps maintain dive equipment throughout the GA Aquarium and performs Confined Space Dives to make underwater repairs back in the Life Support Systems of the aquarium. Give Jim tools under water and he is happy! Jim has been Diving at the Aquarium since 2007, first as a volunteer, then a Divemaster with the Dive Immersion Program, and currently with Dive Operations. An Instructor with NAUI and The Handicapped SCUBA Association and Certified Scuba Pro and OTS Technician, Jim wishes to pursue Technical Diving and more equipment technician certifications. Jim is the “Old Man” on the team and started diving back in 1968 and was certified as an open water diver in 1969. He graduated from Taylor University in 1977 with a BA in Business Administration and spent many years in the business world as a Manufacturer’s Representative, Business Owner, even a Hospital Administrator in Liberia, West Africa. Now Jim’s life pretty much revolves around his family, diving, and riding his motorcycle. If he is not diving in the Florida Springs or off the Coast somewhere, you will probably find him out cruising the roads of America on his Harley Davidson.

Jessyca McElhannon:

Jessyca transferred to the Dive Operations team in 2012 as a Dolphin Maintenance Diver. She was a volunteer diver for two years prior to that and is a NAUI certified Rescue Diver. She grew up in Nashville, TN, but attended college in Georgia, graduating with a BFA in Theatre and Communication Leadership. She has been with GAI since 2007 working as an Assistant Manager in Guest Programs. She believes in turning passion into a paycheck and never plans to “work” a day in her life, because diving is fun and never a chore. She lives for the water and enjoys all things aquatic. She hopes to persue Scientific Dive training in the near future, and is an avid runner.

Jeff Reid:

Jeff Reid is the Dive Safety Officer at the Georgia Aquarium, the world’s largest aquarium. As the Diving Safety Officer/Manager of Dive Safety Programs, Jeff oversees the Dive Program, which includes over 200 divers. Jeff is in charge of dive training and safety, field diving, gear maintenance and oversees the Dive Immersion Program which allows the public to enjoy diving with and learning about the various species in the aquarium including whale sharks and manta rays. In 2001 Jeff graduated from Diver’s Institute of Technology in Seattle Washington and then moved to Dutch Harbor Alaska where he worked as a commercial diver for a marine salvage company before working at the aquarium. In 2005 Jeff began working at the Georgia Aquarium as a maintenance diver Since then he has become experienced in scientific and technical diving. In 2008 he was promoted to Assistant Manager and the later that year to Manager and overseeing all diving operations for the Georgia Aquarium.

Megan VanGroningen:

Megan VanGroningen is currently a Maintenance Diver in the Dive Operations Department at GAI. She first obtained her PADI Open Water and Advanced Open Water certifications in 2001 for a high school summer school class that traveled from her hometown in Indiana to Key Largo (FL). Subsequently, she achieved Rescue Diver in 2002.

Megan attended the University of Miami and earned a B.S. in Marine Science and Biology. Also during that time, she became a scientific diver (set by the guidelines established by AAUS) and participated in many research dives, specifically researching corals and coral reefs. After receiving her undergraduate degree, she obtained her M.S. in Marine Affairs and Policy at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences where she studied the effect of ocean acidification on corals and developed a coral resilience framework for Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Megan moved to Atlanta when she got married in 2010, and she first worked in the Guest Programs department for 5 months before transferring to Dive Operations in September 2011. She hopes to continue working towards her Master Diver and Dive Master certifications.

Former Staff:

Ron Barbieri