About Our Executive

VESPA was conceived and launched by its Founding Director, Gary “Curtis” Steiger, who served 30 years in the British and Australian Navies and is an ADF Biathlete himself. He recognised, after discussion with renowned Australian traumatic stress researcher and Associate Professor Dr Miranda Van Hooff, how the challenge of biathlon would present the perfect pleasureful toil for those of a certain mindset; particularly ADF Veterans forced to discharge medically. In 2019 Curtis took the ADF’s first-ever competitive Parabiathlete, Mark Daniels, to the ADF Championships as a proof of concept. Since then we have, directly or indirectly, started 3 parabiathletes on track to success by competing at the 2026 winter Paralympics. Thanks to the ‘big boys’ of the sport finally having a working elite pathway that could take on these amazing parabiathletes, along with attracting an absolute gun from our summer Paralympic team, this wonderful happening saw the completion of two of our three original strategic goals. Now VESPA can turn our sights back to our roots and the veteran wellbeing biathlon scene.

Jordan Box is basically a genius and a bon oeuf circulaire, as the British military of the 80s/90s might have described him. Not only did he work with Defence from 2007 and served between 2013 and 2017, spending most of his time in the Vice Chief of Defence Force Group, he can also be found on YouTube’s TED Talks. In February 2020 he attended the ADF Adaptive Sports Program at the Allied Winter Sports Camp in Whistler, Canada. Jordan joined VESPA in October 2020 and is our finance approver.