D4DR Media Leadership Team

The D4DR Media leadership team brings to the table a passion for adventure sports and years of experience in technology development and internet communities.

Willem Grobler

Willem is an entrepreneur and avid skydiver who founded Dropzone.com in 1994 and built the site as an after-hours hobby. He spent 7 years working in the technology consulting industry, most recently as Director of Program Management at Sapient Corporation. While at Sapient he lead numerous large scale online development initiatives for Fortune 500 clients.

In late 2004 he turned his 14 year passion for skydiving and building web sites into his job and started tending to Dropzone.com full time. Willem still oversees the day-to-day running of Dropzone.com, answers support email, load content and can be found chatting in the forums. He also enjoys rock climbing, mountain biking, kayaking and is a certified scuba diver.

Willem is a graduate of the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, with degrees in Business and Law.

Daniel du Toit (PhD)

Daniel, an experienced rock climber and outdoor enthusiast, joined D4DR Media on a part-time basis in 2005 to help facilitate the acquisition and day-to-day management of Rockclimbing.com. He is also an entrepreneur and business professional with more than 10 years of experience in the IT consulting, technology and internet industries.

From 2001 to 2004 Daniel was the CEO of SunSpace and Information Systems, a private South African company focused on the design and development of high-tech earth imaging satellites. During his tenure, SunSpace successfully delivered its first satellite, completely designed and constructed in-house, while growing from a startup to a business with more than 50 employees and multiple international contracts. SunSpace remains a successful and growing business today.

Daniel is a graduate of the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, with a PhD degree in Electronic Engineering.

Advisors and Community Leaders

Tom Aiello

Tom, a highly experienced and respected BASE jumper, will be managing BASEjumper.com for D4DR Media. Tom is a full time BASE instructor who lives in Twin Falls, Idaho, USA. He made his 1000th BASE jump in August 2002, and has not counted his jumps since that time. He has jumped from more than 200 different objects. Tom is the founder of the Snake River BASE Academy, which is dedicated to teaching and advancing the sport of fixed object parachuting.