Jon Helminiak is the author of nine published books, all of which are commended for their clear, crisp writing and page-turning readability.
He is a dynamic and engaging public speaker whose subjects range from pioneering global travel, to historic aviation events that honored significant episodes in global history.
Jon has also written, co-produced and hosted several award-winning videos and documentaries.
Education
Jon earned a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he was a member of the Division I NCAA Champion rowing (crew) team. He also completed course work in London, and spent three-months in the former Soviet Union performing musically (piano) and competing in basketball tournaments against the Soviet Army. He is also a graduate of the National Outdoor Leadership School's Baja Sea Kayaking program.
Careers
Jon spent six years as the assistant executive director of the Manito-wish YMCA, an organization that teaches leadership skills to youth via wilderness expeditions ranging 3 to 60 days in length.
He then held a director position at the University of Wisconsin Foundation, and served as Assistant Chancellor for Development and Alumni Relations at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In both positions he worked with the university's most successful alumni and had overseas assignments in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Hong Kong.
Jon is also the former Executive Director of the Aviation Heritage Center of Wisconsin, where he founded and led two commemorative exhibits of national recognition: a tribute to the Hmong pilots of the U.S. Secret War in Laos and the recognition of North Central Airlines. Both projects included the acquisition of historic aircraft, a North American T-28 and Douglas DC-3.
From 2017-2020, Jon was the Executive Director of the Tunison Foundation, a nonprofit organization which owns and operates a WWII C-47 aircraft named Placid Lassie, that flew on D-day, June 6, 1944. In summer, 2019, Jon helped orchestrate Placid Lassie’s return to Normandy as the lead aircraft of the “D-day Squadron”, a fleet of fifteen, WWII aircraft that flew across the north Atlantic Ocean from the United States to France to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. In Normandy, on June 5, 2019, Placid Lassie dropped paratroopers over the original Normandy drop zones, and led the flyover of the American and French presidential wreath laying ceremony at Omaha Beach.
After Normandy, Placid Lassie and her crew flew to Germany to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. At Jon’s personal invitation, Col. Gail Halvorsen, age 99 (the Berlin “Candy Bomber”), and the hero of the Berlin Airlift (1948-1949), was an honorary flight crew member.
Aviation
Jon is an instrument rated, single and multi-engine pilot with more than 2700 hours of logged pilot in command time. He owns and operates a Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft. His Wisconsin based aircraft hangar also houses an aviation museum pilots in both combat and peacetime.
Adventure Travel
Jon has independently explored 64 different nations including self-planned wilderness trips in Alaska, Myanmar, Chile, Central America, Indonesia, Scandinavia, Columbia and Nepal. Jon was the first American to complete a solo kayaking expedition through the Raja Ampat Archipelago near West Papua, New Guinea. He was also the first American to complete a solo kayaking expedition along the coast of Oman, on the northeastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula.
Some of Jon's adventures are chronicled in his popular book, Nothing Routine - A Quest for Adventure in Remote and Strange Places. The book is required reading at several high schools and universities for both its writing quality and the way it exposes the reader to the value of travel and wilderness adventures.
Jon is a certified open water scuba diver and has dived more than 20 of the world's premier dive sites including the Truk Lagoon in Micronesia, the Gulf of Oman, Cuba, Belize, and Myanmar's (Burma's) Mergui Archipelago.
He divides his time between Land O’ Lakes, WI, and Oro Valley, AZ.
