Alison Levine

Alison Levine is a history-making adventurer who has survived sub-zero temperatures, hurricane-force winds, sudden avalanches...and a career on Wall Street. She not only served as team captain of the first American Women's Everest Expedition, but she also climbed the highest peak on each continent and skied to both the North and South Poles--a feat known as the Adventure Grand Slam, which fewer than forty people on the world have achieved. In January 2008, she made history as the first American to complete a 600-mile traverse from west Antarctica to the South Pole following the route of legendary explorer Reinhold Messner. Levine completed this arduous journey on skis while hauling 150 pounds of her gear and supplies in a sled harnessed to her waist. Her success in extreme environments is noteworthy given she has had three heart surgeries and suffers from Raynaud's disease, which causes the arteries that feed her fingers and toes to collapse in cold weather--leaving her at extreme risk for frostbite. In addition to having tackled some of the most challenging environments in the outdoors, Levine has also spent more than two decades climbing the corporate ladder. She worked in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry, earned an MBA from Duke University, and spent three years working for Goldman Sachs. She left Goldman in 2003 to serve as deputy finance director for Arnold Schwarzenegger in his successful bid to become Governor of California.