Dan Buettner (born June 18, 1960) is an American National Geographic Fellow and New York Times-bestselling author. He is an explorer, educator, author, producer, storyteller and public speaker. He co-produced an Emmy Award-winning documentary, and holds three Guinness records for endurance cycling. Buettner is the founder of Blue Zones, LLC. Biography Early life Dan Buettner was born on June 18, 1960 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. After graduating from the College of St. Thomas in 1984, Buettner took a year to explore Spain before taking a job with National Public Radio in Washington, D.C. to recruit celebrity participation in a fund-raising croquet tournament with journalist George Plimpton. Education Buettner graduated from the University of St. Thomas in 1982. Soon thereafter he went to work for The Washington Post columnist Remar Sutton and Paris Review Editor George Plimpton to organize the National Public Radio’s Celebrity Croquet Tournament. Early expeditions In 1986, Buettner and his brother launched the first of several Guinness World Records for transcontinental cycling . "Americastrek" traversed 15,536 miles from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina; the 1990 "Sovietrek" followed the 45th parallel around the world, covered 12,888 miles, as Buettner recounted the trip in his book Sovietrek. In 1992, the Buettner brothers team-cycled from Bizerte, Tunisia, to Cape Agulhas, South Africa, "Africatrek" with cyclist Dr. Chip Thomas; the team covered 11,885 miles over eight months. Buettner’s book, Africatrek: A Journey by Bicycle through Africa, won the Young Reader Award from Scientific American. MayaQuest In February 1995, Buettner developed a genre of exploration that enabled online audiences to direct teams of experts to solve mysteries. His MayaQuest [USA Today CITATION] expedition sought to help solve the mystery of the 9th century Maya Collapse. Carrying laptop computers and a newly demilitarized satellite dish the expedition interacted with classrooms that helped determine exploration route and findings. Hamline University’s Center for Global Environmental Education created a framework for schools to use the expedition as a multi-disciplinary teaching themes. Both Africatrek and MayaQuest were adapted into educational computer games by MECC in the late 1990s. Businesses In 1995, Buettner founded Earthtreks, Inc. to manage his expeditions. He sold the company to Classroom Connect in 1997 but continued to lead expeditions until 2002. His team retraced Darwin’s route in the Galapagos and followed Marco Polo’s trail on the Silk Road, explored the collapse of the Anasazi Civilization and traced the origins of Western