TOM TEPER

Originally from Atlanta Georgia, I moved to Florida in 1983 after attending the University of Miami (Go Canes!). I was originally a Marine Science major, and then changed over to Business. I am a CPA and my past and present positions were Chief Financial Officer at several middle market publicly and privately held businesses in a broad range of industries. My business experiences have included taking a Company public, the successful sale of four businesses-totaling over $750 million and building twelve customer service centers employing 7,000 as well as building a factory in Vietnam. My currently position is the Chief Financial Officer for Evolution Lighting, LLC, a $100 million privately-held designer, importer, and wholesaler of consumer lighting products.

Although my career is in Business, Marine Science and the Ocean are still my passion. I originally got certified to scuba dive in 1977 and only took up underwater photography a couple of years ago (in 2011), when I bought an Olympus E-PL1, a strobe light and housing. My knowledge of underwater photography really started when I took a workshop with Cathy Church in Cayman and with Reef Photo in Palm Beach. Then, I invested in better strobes, macro lens, wide-angel lens, modeling light, etc. (you know the drill!).

Then, my diving and photography experience grew diving locally (between Jupiter and the Keys), the Blue Heron Bridge in Palm Beach (my first experience with Macros and small creatures) and with Jim Abernathy-Scuba Adventures in the Bahamas (my first Shark Encounter and experience with Wide Angle). I have now become a Shark Conservationist and try to go Shark diving at least one a month up in Jupiter with Randy Jordan and Emerald Dive Charters. I enjoy sharing my amazing experiences with others and promote awareness, and Shark and Reef Conservation.

Whenever possible I take dive vacations aboard, including, Caribbean (Bahamas, Bonaire, Honduras, and Cayman) and Southeast Asia (Philippines and Indonesia). With these experiences, I am hooked and have now built a wish list of world-wide dive destinations. I look forward to building my underwater photography skills through SFUPS and meeting/diving with the SFUPS members.

I am always up for a good dive; feel free to contact me!
Email: tcteper@mindspring.com, www.linkedin.com/in/tteper / www.facebook.com/tteper1