This year marks the PADI organization’s 50th anniversary, along with president and CEO Dr. Drew Richardson’s 40th year in water safety and diver education. With both milestones in mind, PADI was named the 2016 Legend of the Sea during the Beneath the Sea expo in early April, and Richardson received the 2016 Diver of the Year award. We had the chance to speak with Richardson about PADI’s past and future direction.

Q: What does it mean for you and PADI to be honored this year at the Beneath the Sea expo?

DREW RICHARDSON: Some of diving’s most passionate and influential pros and leaders run the Beneath the Sea show, and it’s been with us for 40 years. So, for PADI to receive the Legends of the Sea recognition from this group is truly an honor. But this recognition isn’t just for PADI the company, but PADI the organization and every PADI Member around the world. That’s who makes up the heart and soul of PADI. I applaud PADI Pros for their accomplishments over the past 50 years. They’re the ones who have made PADI the way the world learns to dive. When I think of receiving the Diver of the Year award, I’m honored and humbled because there are so many other more-worthy recipients out in the world. I’m passionate about diving, and I’ve dedicated most of my life to it — to improving dive training to help make divers confident, competent and comfortable underwater. I never get tired of seeing the PADI family change lives with diving, and it happens every day.

Q: As you look back on PADI’s accomplishments over the past 50 years, what stands out as the most significant?

DR: Back in the ’60s, PADI introduced the first certification card with the diver’s photo on it. This might not sound like a big deal, but to this day it helps dive shops verify that the holder has the necessary training for air fills, to rent gear and to dive. In the ’70s, PADI brought modern instruction to diving with the modular scuba course, which has become the foundation of diver training worldwide. During the ’80s, PADI’s research affiliate, DSAT, funded no-stop decompression-diving research. This resulted in the recreational dive industry’s shift away from using U.S. Navy tables to the now-standard Recreational Dive Planner to calculate dives, and bridged the gap between the Navy tables and dive computers. PADI was the first to offer computer-based training for scuba — and that’s evolved into a digital suite of products and services such as the PADI Touch products and apps for mobile devices, ScubaEarth and even an electronic certification card. Which, by the way, still has the diver’s picture on it.

Q: What are some projects involving diving or ocean conservation that are personally significant?

DR: I found it rewarding to help found and create Project AWARE Foundation and its role in ocean protection and conservation. It’s gratifying and humbling to see how PADI Members and Divers have embraced this movement and joined together to make lasting changes for future generations. To a diver, it’s my ocean, not the ocean, and the changes that will bring are, I hope, an important contribution that I helped make.

Q: What is your vision for PADI’s future?

DR: I see technology and innovation improving diving and how we teach it. But what won’t change is that I see the PADI family continuing to transform lives. And through these transformations, I see a rising army of advocates joining together to protect our ocean and push back against the destructive practices that threaten it.

For more information on Beneath the Sea, held April 1-3, visit beneaththesea.org.