Directors Bio

Member of a non-denominational church,…has a heart for helping the poor. Co-owner of a Managing General Agency selling truck insurance through agents nationwide. He has 25 years of diving experience.

Jim is zealous both in international and national scuba diving arenas.

In the brochure “Jesus Is The Regulator Of My Life” Jim writes about the voice he heard from God to write an analogy of God and His Son Jesus and compare it to a scuba regulator and an air tank. Jim is the founder and first servant in the Worldwide Christian Scuba Divers Organization.

Jim has great joy in spreading the message of hope through mission work and diving, throughout the scuba diving community.

Susan Copelas, a PADI Master Diver Trainer Instructor, with over 7500 dives has been a pioneer in women’s diving, youth outreach and environmental protection throughout her 38 years of diving. By founding her own independent scuba instruction business, Dive the World Adventures, she has introduced and educated over 1,200 of tomorrow’s leaders in the sport of scuba diving.

She has pushed the boundaries of diving, becoming the first female scuba diver in previously-uncharted waters as part the expedition retracing Shackleton’s 1914 trip to the Antarctic in 2005. Not content with merely observing, she’s partnered with numerous global organizations to lead underwater fish surveys, reef reconstruction, and environmental advocacy efforts. Her passion is giving back and serving those in need and what better way than to help those coastal communities who have suffered? Susan serves as the missions trip coordinator.

Ron spent the first 26 years of his life thinking he knew who Jesus was because he grew up in a religious home, went to a Catholic school for eight years, and was a pretty good person. He truly believed He was a Christian. As the Lord was drawing Ron to Him, Ron became obsessed with the thought that he might die, and if he did, would he go to heaven. He asked a young minister to have a bible study with him. “I had only one condition, he could use only the Bible in our study. Somewhere in my teaching I had enough sense to believe that God cannot change and the Bible was His word.” said Ron. Ron realized that he was a sinner and worthy of the penalty of sin and he needed a savior. “I also realized that I had never personally accepted Jesus Christ into my life, and did so that night at age 26 in 1977.”—Ron.

At the Long Beach, Ca. Dive Show in 2011, Ron became a member of the Worldwide Christian Scuba Divers Organization. “The thought of maximizing our vacation dollars and diving in places we had never heard of before really appealed to my wife and I. Soon, we signed up for the first WCSDO missions trip to Roatan, Honduras in February of 2012. Now our local chapter, SoCal WCSDO, meets regularly in Orange County, Ca., usually in Laguna Beach. I am truly blessed to be part of this organization.”— Ron.

Retired from SunTrust Bank, Atlanta, Ga., after 37 years, as Senior Financial Officer of Southern Region of Georgia, in Savannah.

Master Scuba Diver having over 750 dives. He and his wife Michelle also enjoy Sailing Hobie Cat 16 as well as Scuba diving.

He became a Christian at age 65 and minister to the people around him that it is never to late to give your life to Christ and live for His glory.

Wayne is truly passionate about sharing the Gospel with others and WCSDO Scuba Missions

Captain Gary Mace is a U.S. Coast Guard certified Captain with over 42 years of diving experience. His diving certifications include Instructor with PADI, SSI, SDI/TDI, and NASE. He is a Staff Instructor with SSI, A Course Director with NASE and an Evolution CCR Tri-Mix Diver. Capt. Gary received the prestigious SSI Platinum Pro 5000 award in 2008. He has appeared on several TV shows including co-hosting Treasure Divers, and interviewed on ship Sinkers, which have both aired world-wide on the Discovery and History channels.

He currently owns Conch Republic Divers in the Florida Keys. He also designed Scubaocity, a DiveShop Management System, also partnered with EncomPos Software, a point of sale program. Together they have integrated Scubaocity scheduling system with the POS and gone on to create automated web-store integration to the POS, allowing real time QOH (quantity on hand) in both programs. Capt Gary writes, “Being a part of W.C.S.D.O. has been a blessing and one that I feel God has directed me to be a part of. For many years I knew God had a plan for me but wasn’t aware of what that was. When W.C.S.D.O. asked me to be on the board, I knew right away that this was the direction God wanted me to take. The underwater world is where God shows off and through this great creation we’ll help other experience His masterpiece and bring His word to those in our own backyard and around the world.

He is semi-retired and has 35 plus years in law enforcement, attends Shalom Baptist Church, a graduate of Bethel University and holds BA degrees in Sociology and Biblical Studies.

He has a heart for missions and he has led many short term mission trips. Bill has started a ministry called Missions Possible, where he helps prepare and train churches for short term mission trips.

With 50 plus years of scuba diving experience and has a master scuba diving certification he incorporate scuba diving in his mission trips.

Bill enjoys doing fish surveys for the Reef Environmental Education Fund (REEF), and being from Minnesota, Bill also goes ice diving below the frozen Minnesota lakes.

Jim is a Managing Associate with one of the largest Retail Architecture firms in the US. He holds licenses to practice Architecture in 11 Western States. He and his wife Lori attend the California Avenue Christian Fellowship, a Free Methodist Church in Riverside, CA.

Jim has a passion missions. In particular, the concerns of children and the under privileged. He assists his wife Lori who is the Director of Children’s Ministries at their church. They continue to do outreach and support mission work around the world.

Jim’s other passion is for SCUBA Diving and has been diving for many years. He has traveled to many locations around the world to Dive and now includes mission work on those dive trips. He holds a Rescue Diver certification. He volunteers, weekly, as an Exhibit and Presentation Diver at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA. There he teaches young and old about the wonders of God’s oceans.

Heather is a nuclear engineer & health physicist who works for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Region IV office in Arlington, TX. She has a doctorate in Radiological Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Heather and her husband Denny have been married for over 25 years.

Heather and Denny are members of the Arlington Seventh-day Adventist Church. Over the years, she has been active with a number of church ministries including serving as personal ministries director, Vacation Bible School director, teaching youth and adult classes, and church pianist. She enjoys teaching and has developed a course to equip Christians to defend Biblical Creationism against the tenants of evolution.
Heather has been diving since early 2008, and quickly discovered that she feels closest to God when underwater and that each dive is an opportunity to worship her Creator and Redeemer. Heather completed her SSI Open Water Instructor certification in 2013 and teaches at Dive West in Dallas. She loves being able to share her love of diving with students and introducing them to God’s amazing underwater creation.

Discovering WCSDO was an answer to prayer. Heather “found” WCSDO through the internet and knew that God had led her to an organization that shared her love of diving and her love of God. Joining the group on several scuba missions has only reinforced God’s leading in this direction. In addition to serving on the Board, she started the North Texas Chapter of WCSDO and serves as President.