Meet the Altius Team

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Connor Turley
Founder and CEO

Not only is Connor the Founder and CEO he is also the heart & soul of Altius. His passion and commitment for the Industrial Rope Access industry and the people in it is unsurpassed. Connor sits at the very pinnacle of the rope access world as a member of the IRATA Executive Committee as well as currently the Chairman of the IRATA International Training Committee.

It is generally accepted that he is the preeminent authority on rope access training in North America, if not the world, and is consistently pushing for better and safer methods of carrying out our work. 

As both an Instructor and Assessor Connor truly loves his work. In fact when he isn’t flying around the world attending meetings on behalf of IRATA and its members you’ll find him in one of our training centers with a cup of tea in his hand playing bad music and telling worse jokes (that he thinks are funny) and loving imparting his wealth of knowledge to all of the Altius trainees.

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Izak Steyn
Technical Director

Izak is Altius’ Technical Director and oversees all of the technical aspects of our company including the training syllabus and techniques along with our IRATA compliance requirements. 

Izak discovered a passion for life off the ground at a very young age when he became a “Vertical Junkie” in school. He got serious about his rock-climbing endeavors back at the beginning of the 1990’s when spandex and long hair ruled the world, well South Africa at least. After he graduated university with a degree in Engineering, Izak took his love for heights and his education in to the industrial rope access world. Since then he has worked in many areas of our industry including geotechnical, civil engineering, oil and gas, construction, building & bridge maintenance, entertainment & stunt rigging all over the world.

He established himself as one of the most sought after IRATA instructors over a decade ago and since has added the roles of both an IRATA Assessor and IRATA Auditor, which he carries out with the same passion he had as a rock-climbing kid, along with the spandex and long hair too.

He lives by his personal mantra, “Happy Days!” and applies it to everything he does and this rubs off on everybody that meets him.

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Stewart Terry
CFO

Stewart controls the financial, administrative and strategic activities of the Altius Group worldwide. He obtained a Bachelors in Economics, majoring in Finance, from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. He is recognized internationally as an accomplished and innovative leader, and is a discerning business developer with 12 years of experience driving revenue generation, profitability, and performance through strategic planning and solid business and people management. 

When not working, Stewart is focused on living a clean and healthy life with his two young children. He spends the majority of his spare time entertaining his kids, playing sports and is also a passionate home cook with most of his dishes focused on an organic sustainable "Keto lifestyle", but being based in Texas he is obviously a huge fan of decent BBQ.

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Amanda Schatz
General Manager

Amanda has been with Altius since 2015, overseeing all the administrative functions in the company as our General Manager. With a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas State University, Amanda has a track record of strong performance in high-volume, high pressure environments.She ensures the smooth operation of all of the Altius group with her robust knowledge of office management and efficient handling of client inquiries, consultations, registrations and certifications.

She also has to listen to repeats of Connor and Stewart's bad jokes and pretend to find them amusing. 

When she is not being a Rock Star for Altius she likes to spend her free time with her two dogs Monty and Cole, traveling (near and far), and anything to do with the outdoors! She is also a massive Jane Austin fan and loves to travek to the UK to indulge this passion.

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Surita Truter
South Africa Administrative Manager

Surita’s passion for skills development and helping people reach their full potential started when she entered the rope access industry 12 years ago. Soon after this she realized how much she enjoyed everything about the industry and moved on to coordinate IRATA rope access courses and managing an IRATA rope access training venue. 

A hippy at heart, her passion shines through in her people skills, her willingness to move mountains to accommodate students and of course her belief that everyone gets treated equally.

When she’s not diarizing the students’ calendars and making sure Izak is happy, she believes there’s nothing more relaxing as chilling on vacation in Mozambique or taking in the intoxicating flavors the Cape Wine Route has to offer.

 

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