It was a picture-perfect Saturday in southern California, and Skydive Perris, located about 20 miles south of UC Riverside, was bustling with activity. Skydive Perris' signature Twin Otters (painted as sharks) were taking off and landing in a steady rhythm, transporting about 20 skydivers per load up to regular jump altitude at 13,500 feet. Skydive Perris General Manager Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld welcomed the group of A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management (AGSM) Graduate Ambassadors to his "playground" with a big smile on his face when they arrived on the drop zone.
Lunch, the quarterly ambassadors' business meeting, and professional development between the pool and the runway combined with an exhilarating team building activity in the drop zone's vertical wind tunnel were on the group's agenda. And a surprise.
Getting to know Dan
Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld, or Dan BC, does not only manage one of the largest drop zones in the world since 2003 — Dan is also one of the most accomplished and highly decorated skydivers in the world, having won numerous national and world skydiving championships, having coached and led teams to success and victory in skydiving's most competitive and athletic discipline FS 4-way, and being a large formation skydiving world record holder and organizer. He has logged more than 30,000 jumps over the course of his career that started out in 1982 on a small drop zone in Ohio.
"Turning something you love into a job is just the best thing in the world," said Dan to the AGSM graduate ambassadors. "And it's not easy," he goes on. "It's not every part of the job that I love. If I could just come out here and jump out of airplanes all day, that would be great. But as you all know, that's not how running a big business works."
And it's a pretty big business he is running: Skydive Perris owns approx. 150 acres of land and is made up of Perris Valley Aviation Services (airport, facilities, and airplanes), the Perris Valley Skydiving School, a Military Training Center, the SkyVenture vertical wind tunnel, and the DZ's restaurant. The planes alone account for around $12,000,000 and include a jet and multiple Skyvans and Twin Otters. The operation has around 150 employees, some contractors (a lot of them for training military teams), and seasonal professionals. Around 5,000 tandem jumpers and new skydiving students find their way to Skydive Perris each year. The wind tunnel has about 9,000 visitors annually, and the DZ welcomes around 1,500 to 2,000 experienced skydivers from all over the world during the year for training, events, and just for plain fun.
How would Dan describe his responsibilities? "In brief, my job is to build business, organize skydiving events, determine pricing, coordinate all operations so they operate to full potential, at maximum efficiency, without conflicting, and with the highest safety protocols. Have a great time doing it and be sure customers and employees do also!"
The surprise
Tamra Johnson, Associate Director for Graduate Admissions & Recruitment at the UCR School of Business, is the staff advisor responsible for the AGSM Graduate Ambassadors program. Dan BC, Tamra, and UCR Business staff had planned a fun surprise for the ambassadors to kick off the day's events. Two staff members in the Graduate Admissions & Recruitment office were "secretly" doing tandem jumps, Rami Zwick, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, and Dan BC all boarded the same plane to jump out of and land in front of the ambassadors on the grass. The ambassadors were prompted to look up on jump run (just before the jumpers exited one of the Twin Otters, Shark Air) and were given the colors of the canopies to look out for. After landing, a lot of the ambassadors were surprised to see familiar faces walking towards them, crossing the runway. Dan BC basically jumped into his own talk. But before, he held Abigail Wheeler's hand during free fall (see video). The assistant director of Graduate Admissions & Recruitment was absolutely thrilled. Maribel Segura, Graduate Admissions Specialist, also had a great tandem jump and definitely wants to skydive again. As for Rami Zwick, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs at the School of Business, he had a fun time and was be able to share the joy of skydiving with AGSM staff and the wind tunnel with graduate students and more staff from the Admissions & Recruitment office. Rami has more than 1,600 skydives and is very passionate about the sport. Asked about the day with the ambassadors at the drop zone, he stated: "The ambassadors had an opportunity to meet Dan BC, a skydiving legend, inspirational speaker, author and a very successful manager. I think that the students were inspired (I know that I was) by listening to Dan talking about his management style and answering their questions. Now that they have his signed book, I hope they will implement some of the lessons learned in their own professional lives." He went on to say "Our students are our secret weapon and the graduate ambassadors are spearheading our advances. Our motto is “No entitlement, work hard, you earn it”. No obstacle is too high even if it is 13,000 feet in the air."
"Above All Else" and a Q & A
After a traumatic accident, and a long and hard road to recovery, Dan wrote an autobiographical book, "Above All Else: A World Champion Skydiver's Story of Survival and What It Taught Him About Fear, Adversity, and Success", published in 2011. Tamra Johnson had bought a copy of the book for each of the ambassadors well in advance and asked them to read it before meeting with Dan for a questions & answers session. They were charged with coming prepared and ask questions. And wow, were they prepared.
In 1992, Dan survived a plane crash from which sixteen of the twenty-two people on board were killed. He was left critically injured and woke up from a six-week-long coma with a broken neck, broken skull, severe head trauma, a collapsed lung, and other serious internal injuries. Against all odds, Dan recovered and went on to become one of the greatest competitive skydivers in the world. In the book he describes how, with the love and support of friends and family, he was able not only to resurrect his life but return to skydiving to achieve greater heights than he could have ever imagined. His techniques and methods for excelling that he shares in his book are applicable to all people, no matter their goals. Dan uses his experiences to teach the lessons he's learned — as a competitor, coach, business owner, father, and husband — to help others achieve their dreams, overcome obstacles, and reach their peak performance. He lived to write about it and to inspire others. In his TED Talk, he shared his extraordinary story of determination and resilience.
Dan said that writing the book was most likely the hardest thing he has ever done. And it took him many years to finish it. One student asked, very impressed by Dan's story, if Dan had ever considered making a movie out of it? Yes, he had. "But someone has to write a big check, otherwise it's not going to happen." And that has not happened yet.
The students had many questions, and Dan shared his knowledge with great pleasure and enthusiasm. Dan also pointed out upon arrival of the ambassadors how diverse the student group is. And that's something relatable, something that skydivers are very proud of and cherish: diversity, equity, and inclusion has been a long-held tradition in skydiving, from the very beginning. Dan asked the students if they had already had the opportunity to meet some of the fabulous folks on the drop zone? Skydivers are about the most heterogeneous group of people one can possibly imagine. They come from all over the world, from all walks of life, different backgrounds, ages, genders, different hair or skin color, different religions, or none, different beliefs, and oh boy, so many different opinions — "you name it, we have it." And all typically play well together and appreciate each other because in the air, it really does not matter whether you live in a trailer, are transgender, or a heart surgeon — you still have to fly your slot. Dan sets the DZ vibes to a welcoming, supportive, and friendly environment. Everyone is welcome, and everyone is family. If you need a hug, go to Dan — chances are that you get one. "We all need hugs, especially these days", he said to Tamra when he greeted her with a big hug. Dan leads by example, expecting great things and enabling success. His positive energy is contagious. It's an environment of respect, trust, learning, and excitement. He loves it, and wouldn't want to change a thing, even if he won the lottery. After leaving the wind tunnel at the end of the day, he states that he knows that he is a very lucky man, in so many respects.
The vertical wind tunnel experience
After lunch, the quarterly business meeting, and the Q&A, it was time for the ambassadors and some of the UCR Business staff to head over to the vertical wind tunnel on the DZ, conveniently situated in the parking lot. It was time to play dress up, and the most popular tunnel jumpsuits were definitely the superman and batman themed outfits. Everyone who had signed up got to fly two 1-minute rounds, and watch the other group flying. For some, it was a daring activity, pushing them a little bit out of their comfort zones. Overall, they had a fantastic team building event, and some will return for more, or even go skydiving at some point.
What did folks think about their experience at Skydive Perris?
Alex Rodriguez, MBA 2023
On Dan's book: I found Dan's book, "Above All Else," outright moving. Throughout the whole time reading it, I was at the edge of my seat. His narration of his trials of tribulations as well as his journey to his success were written with so much detail that were also very much awe inspiring. I finished reading his book feeling very motivated and energized. Dan conveyed that it is possible at any point of anyone's life that dreams can be pursued if there is enough determination and enough planning involved. I also learned that tribulation should be very much expected and that it should be planned for so that one may never stop chasing their goals.
On getting to know Dan: Meeting Dan was quite an honor. It felt like meeting a real life superhero knowing what he had been through in his past while chasing his dreams of being a World Champion Skydiver. He was very welcoming while I tried to keep my cool as best as I could've. It was really unique to have the entire UCR AGSM Ambassadors and myself meet Dan by the pool. The scenery was great and to witness the planes used for the skydivers go out and back from the sky was quite exhilarating. It prompted me to want to try the real thing sometime in the future at Dan's facility. Just seeing Dan in the flesh was quite a privilege. Having absorbed some prior knowledge of his life experiences from reading his book enabled me to build up quite a respect for him. The most interesting aspect from the Q&A with Dan was noticing how welcoming and humble he was. He was very much enthusiastic about questions from UCR grad students and gave thoughtful answers.
On flying in a vertical wind tunnel for the first time: Flying in the wind tunnel where skydivers have fun in and train in was liberating. The thought of a big fan blowing flyers into the air was not an easy one to process. The anticipation was the worst, however once I got in the wind tunnel, the weight of fear lifted off my shoulders. It felt like flying and very much freeing, as what Dan alludes to a lot in his book. I wish more people could experience it for themselves — the wind tunnel experience was unlike any other! It was nice to step out of my comfort zone and see everyone else do the same. Definitely a memorable time!
Victoria Guidry, Professional MBA 2023 — The book has one of my favorite quotes: “Every dreamer is not successful. But every successful person is a dreamer.”
Chia Hui (Ruby) Ko, Master of Finance 2022 — It was my pleasure to meet the author of the book and listen to him sharing his precious life experiences which motivate me a lot. Actions always speak louder than words. Dan inspires me to take the initiative to pursue what I want and to find out what I am passionate about. As for the wind tunnel activity, it was really fun. It makes me feel great when flying that high, which sweeps all of the stress away and I feel like I am rejuvenated. Thank you so much for arranging this amazing event!!
Chenlu (Lucy) Yan, Master of Professional Accountancy 2023 — Thank you for hosting the event. It is so meaningful for me. Before that, I had little knowledge about the skydiving sport, and I was especially impressed by the author's human spirit and strength when reading the book. This event reminded me that I attended a book club years ago. We assigned a book to read and finish it in one or two month, and met once a week to discuss the chapters we had read. So I think we could read more books together.
Tamra Johnson, AGSM Associate Director for Graduate Admissions & Recruitment
The event co-organizer's perspective: The ambassadors are part of a unique program designed to use some of our best graduate students to help promote the School of Business graduate programs through speaking with prospective students and engaging with outside constituents. As part of their experience with us, we offer professional and team development for the group to help them not only get the jobs and internships they are seeking, but to expand their network. I had the opportunity to read Dan’s book “Above All Else” a few years ago, I was incredibly impressed with his drive and persistence and hoped to one day meet him and have our students be able to meet him. The day was conceptualized to provide many outcomes — hearing directly from and interacting with Dan, networking and team building with each other and enjoying a Saturday outside together. Dan’s enthusiasm, encouragement and engagement with all the participants went beyond our wildest dreams and the day turned out perfect. Ambassadors across the board walked away having gained some valuable career and life advice and some were able to experience the thrill of being weightless and flying. As the staff advisor for our ambassadors, I couldn’t have been happier with the day!
Watch a video recap of the AGSM Graduate Ambassadors' day at Skydive Perris: