Founding Partners
Jake King, COO
Jake has spent thousands of hours in the wilderness, in group and solitary settings, learning and growing. He has led hundreds of youth and adult day and overnight trips, teaching wilderness survival and leadership skills, and is passionate about passing this knowledge on. A father of four, Jake has made it a point to be prepared and to know his family will have every opportunity to Thrive in any emergency situation.
A former Army Ranger, police officer, and manager of homeless shelters, Jake has spent the last 20 years working with at-risk youth, recovering addicts, the homeless, and inner-city adults & youth. He created Thrive Outdoors as a way to increase knowledge of the natural world, help instill confidence and positive self-worth in all its students, teach survival in extreme circumstances, and help guide people to a better understanding of stress reduction & real leadership.
Melanie Haney, CEO
Melanie has always loved travel and adventure, gleaning insight and inspiration from communities of people around the world. She specifically grew to love and respect nature as a child, camping across the country with her family. She believes in learning through every experience, the ordinary and the extraordinary, in classrooms and in the wilderness.
Always approaching life via a creative lens, Melanie is passionate about seeing small moments, as well as the big scenic vistas. She loves being alongside the groups as a guide and then sharing words and images that capture the inspirational transformations she witnesses.
Melanie holds her MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University and also owns and operates Simply Mella Photography.