Trip Leaders

Team Lightning Volunteer Trip Leaders are a group of long-time participants who are passionate about Team Lightning and have taken on a leadership role. They volunteer to plan and lead trips to give a wider variety of activities for our participants to choose from. They are CPR and First Air or Wilderness First Aid Certified, and do their best to ensure the safety, comfort and enjoyment of each participant on their events. Our Volunteer Trip Leaders have passed a criminal background check. Lightning 100 is grateful for all the time and effort our volunteers contribute to the success of Team Lightning!

Do you have a passion for Team Lightning’s mission to promote active living? Are you experienced in the types of activities that Team Lightning offers? Do you wish that Team Lightning offered more of a specific type of event that you have experience doing? Consider becoming a Volunteer Trip Leader. Check out our Trip Leader Guidelines and fill out our application at the bottom of the page.


Carl Hoagey

Carl’s first Team Lightning trip was around 1999. These days, you’ll see him hiking the local trails, kayaking, scuba diving, camping, white water rafting, backpacking, motorcycling and building houses with Habitat for Humanity. Carl has been to all 50 states, all the Canadian provinces, and another 50 some countries.

Carl is a retired Major in the Tennessee Air National Guard, C-130 Navigator, and still works full time doing IT work at a financial company. Feel free to contact Carl at [email protected].


Jerud Colbert

Jerud Colbert is a working professional, with a love of outdoor adventures, and a knack for packing in a lot of fun into a weekend. He attended Concordia University, in Minneapolis, graduating with a degree that has absolutely nothing to do with the outdoors. He works as a Project Manager for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, empowering state regulators with new tools and technologies to better serve the citizens and animals of Tennessee.

He has hiked the Appalachians, Rockies, Sierras and Sawtooth mountains. Not the Montana Sawtooths, but the Minnesota sawtooths that you didn’t know existed. He has swam with whales in Hudson Bay, wrestled bears in California, and once was attacked by a Raccoon. Admittedly, it was one bear. And it was more of a mid range photo opportunity than a wrestle.

Jerud joined Lightning 100 in 2015, and has been leading both backpacking and paddle adventures ever since. His favorite trips in Tennessee include Big South Fork, Cumberland Trail, and Whitewater Rafting on the Ocoee. If you need to get in touch with Jerud, contact [email protected] and we’ll pass your message along!


Jim Hawkins

Jim Hawkins has been a Team Lightning participant since 2003, starting out as a regular weekly Sand Volleyball player in 2002. You’ll still see Jim out at Sand Volleyball,Socials, or helping out at the Team Lightning booth during festivals like Nashville Earth Day and Live On The Green Music.
If you need to reach Jim, contact [email protected] and we’ll pass along your message to him!


Joseph Broome

Joseph has been a Team Lightning participant since 2010 and primarily leads beginner and intermediate backpacking trips. He moved to Nashville in 2007 and graduated from Tennessee State University with a degree in Human Performance and Sports Sciences. Joseph is certified in Personal Training through the American College of Sports Medicine, and operates his own personal fitness training program.
Feel free to email Joseph at [email protected].


Kate Jackson

Kate has been an active Team Lightning participant since 2012 and a Volunteer Trip Leader since 2014. Kate is a true Nashvillian; born, raised, and still living just north of Nashville. Kate enjoys donating her time to food sorting and distribution events with Second Harvest Food Bank. She also leads flat water kayaking trips and co-leads events like local day hikes and canopy ropes courses. Aside from trip leading, Kate’s favorite Team Lightning events are the Dragon Boat Races, monthly socials, and camping trips.

Kate works full-time as a Sales Administrator for ADP, her hobbies include cooking, live music, obstacle races, and spending time with her friends and family.
Feel free to contact Kate at [email protected]


Michelle Guess

Michelle has been an active Team Lightning participant since early 2014, and enjoys leading beginner backpacking trips and day hikes. She is a prime example of how Lightning 100’s departments work together to attract amazing fans and leaders! Michelle lives in Franklin, KY and is a huge Michael Franti fan. She attended Lightning 100’s Live On The Green 2013 when Michael Franti was performing. While there she heard all about Lightning 100, and started streaming the station online at work. That’s when she heard about Team Lightning backpacking trips, and attended her first backpacking trip in 2014.
Now Michelle is a trip leader and continues to spread the good word about Lightning 100 throughout Kentucky! Michelle works for the school board in her hometown. Feel free to contact Michelle at [email protected]


Nerissa Aquino

Nerissa has been a Team Lightning participant since 2005. She was born and raised in Nashville; that makes her a Unicorn! She enjoys a blend of moderate-to-strenuous outdoor adventures like rock climbing and easy-going competitions like Sand Volleyball. Nerissa especially loves when live music melds with outdoor recreation, or when she can learn a new skill while giving back to the community.
Her favorite part about embracing outdoor play and exploration is sharing all those experiences with her son and the great friends she has made through Team Lightning along the way. Contact her at [email protected].


Paul Handley

Paul Handley has been a Team Lightning Participant since 2002, and has been leading mountain biking trips since 2011. Paul is not a Nashville native, but he has lived here for over 20 years, which we believe makes him an honorary native. He enjoys white water kayaking, hiking, backpacking, trail running, scuba diving, and above all… mountain biking. He believes that enjoying these activities with a group brings new light to the activity each time, which is why he is such a loyal Team Lightning Leader!
If you need to get in touch with Paul, contact [email protected] and we’ll pass along your message!


Sheryl Handley

Sheryl joined Team Lightning in 2004. She has discovered many new adventures in Tennessee, such as trail running, white water kayaking, caving and mountain biking. She also spent several years in Arizona where she developed a flair for backpacking and continued that activity with Team Lightning. Sheryl has always had a deep love for wild places and a fondness for adventure. She primarily leads long day hikes and beginner mountain bike rides.
Sheryl is a lab manager for Belmont University College of Pharmacy. Feel free to contact Sheryl at [email protected].


Zach Gilliam

Zach is our cycling guru that has been a participant since early 2015. You may also find him at one of our climbing, backpacking, or social events with a guitar in his hands. Zach is a middle school math teacher by day and an adventure cyclist by night and weekends. He even cycled from Canada to Mexico in the summer of 2016.You can contact him at [email protected].


Delaney Willson (Staff – Team Lightning Coordinator)

Delaney hails from Vero Beach, Florida “where the tropics begin.” Since moving to Nashville, he’s learned what hockey was, he’s traded oceans for lakes, and he’s realized that hiking in most states involves hills. You can probably find Delaney at whichever smallest venue is holding a concert that night, but if not he’s probably taking in a ballgame or conducting further research on Nashville’s best burgers. Delaney is a recent graduate of Vanderbilt University, and is very excited to take on his new role as the Team Lightning Coordinator. Got an idea for a new trip? Have a service partner in mind? Just want to show off your dog pics? As a bonafide extrovert, Delaney is just an e-mail, call, or high-five away. You can email him directly at Delaney(at)wrlt(dot)com


Kaleigh Imbriale (Staff – Community Engagement Director)

Kaleigh joined Lightning 100 as Community Engagement Director in August 2016. She is a Florida native and as such, loves everything about the ocean and the water, so it’s likely you will catch her at one of our Whitewater rafting trips or a River Float/Clean-up. She is passionate about working with non-profits, so she leads many of our community service/volunteer events, such as food sorting, tree planting, weed wrangling, etc., and hosts all of the monthly Team Lightning Socials. She recently traveled to Australia for a two week solocation and went skydiving and scuba diving for the first time on that trip.
Favorite Team Lightning events include Big South Fork Fall Horseback Riding, Ocoee Whitewater Rafting, and Perfect North Slopes Ski/Snowboard Trip.
Have a great idea for a trip we should be planning? Feel free to contact Kaleigh at Kaleigh (at) wrlt (dot) com.

Getting Involved With Team Lightning

Interested in volunteering with Team Lightning? We have tons of opportunities for you! We’re always looking for extra hands for all of our service projects and our non-profit partners appreciate it too! We’re always adding new events, so scan the Team Lighting calendar for any community service projects that catch your eye.

Trip Leaders

Additionally, we’re constantly on the lookout for potential new Trip Leaders! Our volunteer Trip Leaders plan and execute Team Lightning excursions under any of our five pillars (social, adventure, health and wellness, sustainability, and community service). As a Trip Leader, you’ll have all expenses covered for any of the events you lead, a discount for other Team Lightning activities you want to attend, and we’ll always try to throw extra concert tickets and goodies your way when we have the chance! Check out our current roster of rock star Trip Leaders here.

Whether you’re wanting to plan backpacking trips and whitewater rafting adventures, or want to lead a cooking class or meditation session, no idea is too big or small. What are you waiting for? Apply today!