top of page

The KISS Team

Owner, KISS Rebreathers

Mike Young

Owner, KISS Rebreathers

Growing up in the mountains of Colorado, Mike Young’s childhood was nothing short of unique. In September 1974, Erwin and Lynne Young moved from Texas to Colorado with their four children, Mark, Mike, Sherri, and Jay. Erwin learned the warm (87° F) geothermal water available on his 80-acre farm was ideal for raising tilapia. Soon after that Erwin added alligators to the farm as a means of disposing the remains of the harvested filleted fish. Once news got out about the gators, the Young family was soon thrust into the spotlight of many media programs and articles. Growing up with the saurian beasts, Mike and his brother Jay, were the only ones old enough to work with them and the eager public who wanted to see them. This marked the beginning of the Colorado Gators Reptile Park in 1990. Read more.

Technician

Tony Bryant

Technician

Tony is one of those people that every business needs; his constant upbeat spirit makes coming to work fun! He is a retired Colonel from the US Army, and helps with product assembly.

General Manager

Kim Mikush

General Manager

Kim started diving in 1990, and with an interest in technical diving moved to rebreathers in the late 90’s. In 1999 she started working for KISS, one of the oldest continuously operating rebreather manufacturers in the North American and international market. Her business background includes being a former dive shop owner, working in the finance and securities industry, and also owned and operated both Jetsam Technologies Ltd. (KISS Rebreathers) and KISS Manufacturing Ltd. from January 2006 to October 2012. Read more.

CAD Designer

Tony Land

CAD Designer

A certified Solidworks Expert in Mechanical Design, Tony is able to help turn Mike’s visions into real products. He works with KISS as a CAD designer to create 3D computer models for simulation and  manufacturing. Tony is a KISS Trimix instructor, Commercial Pilot and Advanced Ground/Instrument Instructor in Central Florida. 

Office Manager

Lynnette Qualls

Office Manager

Lynnette is the lady that keeps KISS headquarters running. She is the smiling lady that coordinates with Mike and the on-site technicians, finalizes and ships all orders, as well as running the office. Without her constant support, the KISS team couldn’t do their job.

KISS VIP's

KISS VIP's are explorers and industry professionals who use KISS products, top dealers and instructors, and social influencers. 

Edd Sorenson

Industry Professional

Edd Sorenson (born October 17, 1959) is a technical cave diver known for numerous rescues of lost or trapped divers in the underwater caves of Florida particularly in Vortex Springs and Blue Springs Recreational Park. He is the owner of Cave Adventures in Marianna, Florida.

Woody Alpern

Social Media Influencer

Woody is passionate about many things, his family, the environment, and also his KISS rebreathers! He is passionate and outspoken, and you will see his presence on social media, as well as at many dive sites. As he always tells people, he loves KISS due to how the owner & management, the staff, the instructors and divers really care about what they do, how they dive, and what they dive. They care about the quality of everything built and assembled. They care about the quality of the instruction. It’s a community that truly cares about one another. It is the reliability of the mechanical design that Woody feels makes it one of the best in the industry. They are very intuitive to assemble and check, the design is logical, and therefore the reliability and safety is compounded.

Jason Richards

Explorer

As an avid cave cartographer and explorer, Jason relies on his KISS Sidewinder to get the job done. His travels take him all over the Western Hemisphere, so not only does his rebreather of choice need to work in extreme conditions, it needs to be light weight, and easy to travel with. His most popular maps include, Blue Spring Cave, White county, Tennessee (40 miles long); Hole in the Wall, Marianna, Florida; Wet Dream, Vancouver Island, Canada; and The Cenote Crustacea cave system in Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Brian Kakuk

Explorer

Brian is a former U.S. Navy Diver with over 30 years of professional diving experience. His work has taken him beneath nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers, to jumping from helicopters into 10- foot seas to recover million-dollar weapon systems, to record penetrations of underwater cave systems around the world. As an explorer, researcher, photographer and instructor for cave diving and rebreather diving, Brian has spent a fair amount of time developing his skills and equipment to meet his needs. Sidemount CCR cave configuration is his life support tool of choice. In 2016 he met the KISS owner and was convinced to try the KISS Sidekick. The KISS team worked hard with Brian to develop the perfect side mount CCR unit to suit his needs. Because of the amazing support from KISS, he has logged well over 1000 hours on his rig, in the Bahamas cave’s and around the world. The Sidekick is the perfect tool for multiple jobs!

Randall Purdy

Industry Professional

Randall is a highly experienced instructor trainer, working with multiple agencies and specializing in teaching on various KISS units. Since discovering cave diving in 2013, he has been captivated by the sport and its unique challenges. His passion has led him to join several exploration teams, where he has contributed as a support diver, videographer, photographer, and exploration diver.

With a deep love for the technical demands of cave exploration and diving, Randall enjoys pushing boundaries and solving complex underwater problems. In addition to exploration, he finds great fulfillment in introducing new people to the underwater world, and particularly enjoys helping technical diving students expand their capabilities and reach new levels of expertise.

Doug Ebersole

Industry Professional

Douglas Ebersole, M.D. is an interventional cardiologist at the Watson Clinic in Lakeland, Florida and cardiology consultant to Divers Alert Network. He was scuba certified in 1974, diving KISS Rebreathers since 2003, and teaching KISS since 2005. He is a CCR full trimix instructor for both IANTD and TDI. Doug enjoys traveling the world and is an avid diving educator and underwater photographer. What first appealed to Doug with KISS was their simplicity. “The constant mass flow design makes them very reliable with no electronics to fail. As long as I have spare oxygen sensors and AA batteries for my Shearwater Petrel, there is very little that can cause my KISS rebreather to make me miss a dive.” This is especially important with international travel. While this simplicity and reliability was what first appealed to him, with over 15 years of diving KISS rebreathers, he truly appreciates the constant emphasis on innovation and the awesome customer service. “When you purchase a KISS rebreather, you truly become part of the “KISS Family”.”

Adrian Gonzalez

Social Media Influencer

Adrián González is a retired Spanish police officer (GREIM) and caver who started diving in 2006 with the goal of diving in caves. Cave diving has become his hobby and passion, and he now enjoys diving and collaborating with great Spanish and English cave divers. He became an instructor in 2015. When he discovered the KISS rebreathers several years ago, it was from that moment a clear choice that this would be his unit due to its simplicity, reliability, and ease of cave transport. When he trained on the KISS Sidekick, he did a try-dive on the KISS Sidewinder, and as a result decided that the Sidewinder was the unit for him due to its comfort, and ease of diving.

Cristina Zenato

Explorer

A professional diver since 1994, Cristina is an ocean and cave explorer, shark behaviorist, photographer, speaker, writer and conservationist. She is an Advanced cave diving instructor, mixed gas instructor, and course director. At her home in The Bahamas she has conducted exploration and surveys of numerous new cave systems. Her work can be summarized in three words: Exploration, Education, Conservation. In 2019 she founded the non-profit, People of the Water, organized to widen the conduction and distribution of training, education, research and studies related to water, ocean and environmental issues. Cristina is very outspoken about her love of KISS Rebreathers. She has told us that they are user-friendly, intuitive, and most of all rugged, able to withstand tough work. And, with the KISS team utilizing the experience of their divers, and paying attention to their needs, they have created rebreathers that feel custom-made. The Sidewinder is her unit of choice (lovingly named Lucile). “Its design has opened my cave exploration at a rebreather capability, with the same sleek access of a sidemount system, and pushed my results to a different level. Its minimalistic design fits the demands of a rebreather without taking space and sits perfectly around my body like a second skin. I can feel and hear everything that is happening while using it, and with a reach of my arm, I can touch any component.”

Rick Stanton

Explorer

Rick, one of the first-generation KISS rebreather divers & explorers, has a unique set of skills. In cave diving there are two different styles; technical divers who dive in flooded caves but rarely leave the water, and cavers who dive but treat the flooded section as a barrier to finding further dry cave. Rick is a rarity in that he is at the top of both disciplines, and has a knack for pushing beyond the limits where others believed the cave to have ended. Rick is frequently called upon to utilize his skills in rescue work, both in the UK and aboard, and was a key part of the team for the 2018 rescue of the Thailand boys football team. When asked why he loves the KISS systems so much, he told us, “I identified the simplicity & ruggedness of the Classic KISS as being comparable to my own diving ethos way back in 2001; that's when I bought #24. It's taken me to many special places & I still cannot think of a better unit to suit my purposes. KISS has since gone a step further & added to their inventory with the unique Sidewinder. An incredibly functional & innovative unit that I either wish had been around 20 years ago, or that I had possessed the vision to invent myself.

Josh Hotaling

Social Media Influencer

Josh is a combat-wounded US Marine, who found diving as a new hobby after his military service. He is the inspiration for the development of the Sidewinder rebreather. For Josh, the simplicity of the Sidewinder design is important. Not only can he dive longer, and safer, the unit is reliable and robust which means less missed dives. As is important for an expedition grade rebreather, the Sidewinder can easily be field repaired or serviced. Josh currently works with the non-profit group, Ranger Road.

Gayle Orner

Social Media Influencer

Gayle is an enthusiastic diver who rarely misses an opportunity to get out for a dive. She took up cave diving after moving to Wisconsin so that she could continue to dive locally year-round. She purchased her KISS Sidekick, "The Beast" in 2014, so that she wouldn’t have to keep getting out of the water to change tanks in the sub-zero Wisconsin temperatures. The lack of bubbles, extended bottom time, and warmer air were bonuses! Gayle and "The Beast” became an inseparable team and can often be found cleaning up trash at community cleanup dives, volunteering on shipwreck surveys for the Wisconsin Historical Society, stalking anchors in the local lakes, dressing up and diving in seasonal costumes, hanging out with fish, showing off their KISS KARGO swag, and of course, cave diving. Recently, Gayle and "The Beast” welcomed a new baby Sidewinder, "The Brat" into the dive family. Gayle and her dive buddies are looking forward to many more KISS rebreather dive adventures with “The Beast” and “The Brat”.

Álvaro Mendaro

Industry Professional

Álvaro has a background in aeronautical engineering and CFD/CAD modelling, which he used in CCR diving and choosing the brand that he trusts. With over 20 years of diving experience, a big passion for rebreathers and the KISS concept in particular, he enjoys bringing his students closer to the silent underwater world. "The KISS simplicity and reliability makes teaching courses on these units very enjoyable for me and my students and I'm proud to be part of this great community. Servicing KISS rebreathers shows how robust and failsafe the design throughout all KISS models is, and gives me great confidence and trust in the brand and the people behind it. I love my KISS Spirit and am always thrilled to see the joy in peoples' eyes when trying closed circuit diving for the first time. This enables us to do what we love without worrying about dive times and brings us closer to the underwater life that we enjoy so much."

Based in Málaga, southern Spain, he cooperates with the NGO "Equilibrio Marino" (https://www.equilibriomarino.com/doc/) showing the importance of environmental protection to younger generations, enabling them to appreciate the relevance of our eco systems and everything that our oceans have to offer.

Jason Mallinson

Explorer

Jason Mallinson learned his tradecraft in the cold murky sumps of North Yorkshire, England in the early 90’s, where side-mount solo cave diving was the norm. From these sound foundations he quickly progressed to mixed gas diving, and subsequently rebreathers. From the record-breaking long sumps of Spain to the deep cave systems of Mexico, Jason has pushed the limits of his equipment and the boundaries of cave diving. His skills are invaluable for his rescue work, in the UK and abroad, including the extraction of the Wild Boar Football team from the flooded cave in Thailand in 2018, where he transported 4 boys back to safety through nearly 1000m of flooded passages.  Jason has been a user of the KISS rebreathers for almost 20 years, and they have taken him to some of the most remote underwater caves on the planet.  “The support I receive from the people at KISS is invaluable, and has greatly assisted me in those explorations, be that with the KISS Classic or the KISS Sidewinder.”

bottom of page