Victor Vescovo
Biography
Victor is the first person to ever explore the deepest points in all five of the world's oceans. This is truly groundbreaking--more people have walked on the surface of the moon than have been to the bottom of even a single ocean. Victor's incredible talks reveal the challenges of designing and building the most advanced deep-diving submersible in history and share never-before-seen images from the ocean floor. He shares the complications and victories of diving to the deepest parts of the world, and what we can all learn from the 95% of our oceans that have yet to be explored.
Victor Vescovo leads a fascinating life. Currently the co-founder of Insight Equity, Victor has held many high-profile positions in the finance industry and holds degrees from Harvard, MIT, and Stanford--but he also served 20 years in the U.S. Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer, retiring in 2013 as a Commander (O-5). His principal duties involved operational targeting (Iraq, Kosovo, and Afghanistan theatres) and after 9/11 he was deployed to support counter-terrorism efforts overseas.
In 2017, Victor became the 12th American to complete the "Explorer's Grand Slam" which requires climbing the highest peak on all seven of the world's continents including Mt. Everest and skiing at least 100 kilometers to both the North and South Poles. In 2019, he made the deepest submarine dive in history in the Pacific's Mariana Trench, was the first person to do it multiple times, and in August became the first person to visit "The Five Deeps"-- the deepest points in all five of the world's oceans. Victor was also the first person to dive the second- and third-deepest points on the ocean's floor, the Sirena and Horizon Deeps, and also made the first solo dive to the Titanic. He is also rated as a multi-engine jet, helicopter, and submersible test pilot.
Victor Vescovo
Featured Video
Current: TED: What's at the Bottom of the Ocean
Time 07:52
Victor Vescovo
Featured Keynote Program
Exploring the Unexplored
Diving Deep with Victor Vescovo
Our oceans make up 70% of our planet—yet 95% of them remain unexplored. Victor Vescovo made up his mind to change that by building a system that could map and explore the deepest point in each of the world’s five oceans—a titanium-based submarine, the Limiting Factor. In virtually every deep dive, he and his team have discovered new species and taken samples of places that have been isolated for millions of years. He recently became the first person to visit “The Five Deeps”—the deepest points in all five of the world’s oceans—but there’s no sign he’s stopping there.
In this thrilling talk, Victor shares the invention of incredible technology that enables his dives, the things he has seen that no other person has ever laid eyes on, and the possibilities the oceans hold for our future. Most importantly, he reveals his motivation behind this continued exploration—what keeps him diving and discovering, again and again. “I come from a philosophy that says we’re put here not just to survive, or even just to be comfortable—but to contribute in some way,” he says. “And the path I chose was to have some adventure whilst also doing something that could move us forward as a species.” This is an extraordinary talk from an extraordinary man; an opportunity for your audience to connect with someone who has pushed the limits of technology, accepted the risks of self-piloting his own creation, and accelerated a journey to more deeply understand our planet in a profound and meaningful way.