The 2025 RiverWatch Team
2025 Float Operations Team & Seasonal Staff
At the heart of RiverWatch are our Interpretative River Guides, who bring the science of the river, its watershed, and the city’s history, culture, and geology to life. We are incredibly fortunate to have a team of super smart and highly skilled guides who are passionate about nature, science, and the river and excel in communicating with our students and guests. To become a RiverWatch guide, individuals must complete an intense week of training covering a range of topics, including rafting, emergency response, health and safety, equipment maintenance, water quality monitoring, natural history interpretation, science curriculum, and wastewater tours. This comprehensive training program ensures that our professional river guides are fully prepared to work with students and clients on Alberta’s rivers.
For many, being a RiverWatch Interpretative River Guide is the perfect summer job, particularly for post-secondary students studying environmental sciences. Our team also includes nationally certified nature interpreters and skilled whitewater paddlers, creating a diverse culture that supports one another to provide the best possible experience on the river for our students and guests. Want to become a RiverWatch River Guide? It’s the best summer job EVER! Click here to learn more and apply now!
Expand Names Below to Meet Our 2025 Leadership Team!
Lucas has been a RiverWatch guide for 5 seasons and is now part of our Float Operations Team. His passion for water has led him to many adventures and experiences worldwide. Whether that is chasing waves to surf, snow to ride down, or rivers and lakes to swim in, his love for anything water-related has shaped him into the person and river guide he is today. He is also very passionate about sharing that love with people, helping them create their own adventures and experiences with water and the outdoors. He believes in creating meaningful and impactful moments and memories with those around him, always learning and exploring. According to Lucas… every day is an adventure.
Mark Taylor has been the cornerstone of safety and training at RiverWatch for over 15 years, serving as the organization’s lead Safety Officer responsible for certifying and recertifying all RiverWatch guides. With a career spanning more than two decades, Mark is nationally respected for his technical expertise, calm leadership, and unwavering commitment to excellence in river safety.
Mark’s paddling journey began at age 18, when he landed a job renting canoes at the Bow Waters Canoe Club. That early spark ignited a lifelong passion that evolved from canoeing into whitewater paddling and kayaking. Since then, he has taken part in countless expeditions — including multiple Grand Canyon trips — and has trained hundreds of paddlers and guides across Canada.
As co-owner of The Rocky Mountain Paddling Centre, Mark plays a pivotal role in shaping paddlesports instruction in Alberta. He has helped write national canoe and kayak instructor programs, and he continues to mentor the next generation of instructors and river professionals.
Mark began working with RiverWatch in 2010, where he was instrumental in implementing comprehensive safety and training protocols. His training sessions are widely regarded as some of the highest-quality programs available, consistently setting the gold standard for guide preparation. Mark remains a valued partner to the RiverWatch team and Executive Director, contributing to a culture of safety, professionalism, and learning.
As Executive Director of the RiverWatch Institute of Alberta since the summer of 2022, Jay Ball draws on more than 18 years of leadership in Alberta’s nonprofit education sector, shaping curriculum aligned programs that support teachers and connect students to meaningful, experiential learning.
Ball has led RiverWatch through a period of renewal and growth, strengthening its role as Alberta’s leader in river-based environmental education. Under his leadership, RiverWatch engages more than 10,000 students annually through curriculum-aligned water science programs and an additional 4,000 public participants through guided interpretive river tours. His focus on operational excellence, safety, and exceptional guest experiences has elevated RiverWatch’s reputation as an award-winning model for environmental education and sustainable tourism.
A native of Edmonton, Ball joined RiverWatch after serving as Executive Director of the Alberta Avenue Business Improvement Area (BIA), where he represented more than 200 local businesses through post-pandemic recovery, urban revitalization, and city advocacy initiatives.
From 2000 to 2014, Ball served as President & CEO of Junior Achievement of Northern Alberta (JA), where he helped redefine business education and financial literacy for over 250,000 students. During his tenure, he pioneered corporate volunteer programs that linked classrooms to real-world learning, impacting more than 30,000 students annually and building one of Alberta’s most recognized youth education organizations.
In 2014, Jay transitioned from education leadership to pursue a lifelong passion for professional sports. From 2015 to 2020, he held senior leadership roles in both international and domestic soccer, shaping major events and the growth of the game in Canada.
Working with FIFA and Canada Soccer, he served as Director of Corporate Sales for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, one of the largest sporting events ever hosted in Canada. He then joined FC Edmonton as General Manager, leading the club’s business operations through two seasons (2016/2017) in the North American Soccer League (NASL). From 2018 to 2020, Ball guided the team’s successful rebranding and relaunch into the new Canadian Premier League (CPL), helping establish a new era of professional soccer in Canada.
For nearly three decades, Ball has also been part of the Edmonton Oilers game operations team, supporting communications and media relations through more than 800 NHL games, 175 playoff games, two Heritage Classic events, and two Stanley Cup Finals.