Richard Wiese is the host of Born to Explore with Richard Wiese, an award-winning travel & adventure television series on PBS, dedicated to wildlife preservation and giving a voice to little-known peoples around the world. Since Born To Explore premiered in 2011, it has won two Daytime Emmy Awards and has earned 14 Emmy nominations, as well as 35 Telly Awards, 4 Parents Choice Awards and a CINE Golden Eagle.

Co-host of the public television series “Weekends with Yankee”—produced by two prominent New England media outlets, WGBH- TV and Yankee magazine. The series, now in its third season, provides a national audience with an insider’s look at the landscapes, attractions and hidden gems of the wondrous six-state New England region.

In addition to his work in Television, Richard is also the Author of best-selling book, Born to Explore: How to Be a Backyard Adventurer. In his introduction to the book, Richard writes: “I hope ‘Born to Explore’ inspires both the nature enthusiast and the nature-impaired and provides information on the tools needed to discover and love the outdoors.” 

When Richard was 11, he climbed Africa’s Mt. Kilimanjaro with his father. Since then, he has traveled to all seven continents (and scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro 15 more times). He has also tagged jaguars in the Yucatan jungles, led expeditions to the Northern Territory of Australia, discovered 29 new life forms on Mt. Kilimanjaro, went cross-country skiing at the North Pole, been on two expeditions to Antarctica, and participated in the largest medical expedition ever on Mt. Everest. 

In 2002, Richard, then 43, was the youngest person to be elected president of The Explorers Club, a prestigious society founded in 1904 that promotes the scientific exploration of land, sea, air and space. He was elected to another four-year term as the club’s president in 2018.