Sergio Smith
CEO/Instructor
          Sergio Smith is the CEO of the International Diving Institute (founded as East Coast Dive Connection in 1996). Smith has been diving over 35 years and has been the East Coast Regional Director for NASE Worldwide since 2000. Smith is also an Instructor Trainer with NASE Italy.
          Smith has lived all over the world and is fluent in English, Italian, French and Haitian. He has been a diving instructor in numerous places including the Gulf of Aquaba, Jordan, Souda Bay in Crete, Greece, and all over the Mediterranean. Smith has also worked an archaeological diver with the University of Sassari in Sardinia, Italy.
          Smith served with the Navy Special Warfare Group and was assigned to EOD Mobile Unit 12 in Charleston, South Carolina, where he was responsible for all air/mixed gas systems. The Navy certified him as a Master Repair Technician and Instructor in 1983. He opened East Coast Dive Connection in 1996 before retiring from the Navy after 20 years.

Dr. E. Lee Spence
Vice President / Instructor
          Dr. E. Lee Spence is an internationally known expert on shipwrecks and sunken treasures. Spence found his first shipwrecks in 1960. The late Peter Throckmorton (who is frequently described as the "father of marine archaeology") once compared Spence to Heinrich Schlieman. Schlieman is considered the founder of historic archaeology. Spence graduated Cum Laude from the University of South Carolina in 1976, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with an academic concentration in marine archaeology.
          Spence's past work has been funded by such institutions as the Savannah Ships of the Sea Museum, the College of Charleston, the South Carolina Committee for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 1991 and '92, Spence served as Chief of Underwater Archaeology for Providencia, a 40,000 square-mile archipelago in the Western Caribbean. He has worked on the wrecks of Spanish galleons, pirate ships, Great Lakes freighters, modern luxury liners, Civil War blockade-runners and submarines. He has authored more than two dozen books, and has served as editor for a number of nationally distributed magazines.         
          Spence was the discoverer of the Civil War submarine Hunley, and in 1995, at the official request of the State of South Carolina Hunley Commission, he donated all of his rights to the wreck to the State. The Hunley has been described as the most important underwater archaeological discovery of the 20th century. The tiny sub and its contents have been valued at over $40,000,000.
          Although he has discovered numerous historically significant shipwrecks, including the Confederate cruiser Georgiana, and has salvaged millions of valuable artifacts, Spence considers his identification of George Trenholm, who was the owner of the Georgiana, as the "Real Rhett Butler" to have been his most important literary discovery.
          His work has been written up in hundreds of periodicals including the New York Times; USA Today; Heutzu (Germany); Vi Menn (Norway); MacLeans (Canada); Tresors de l'histoire (France); Life; and People. He has also been a guest on numerous radio and televisions shows including NBC's Today Show where he was interviewed by Jane Pawley.
          His book, Treasures of the Confederate Coast: The "Real Rhett Butler" & Other Revelations, prompted major features in such international publications as the London Sunday Express and Italy's Oggi magazine.
          Spence is also an award-winning cartographer and has published a number of maps and charts dealing with shipwrecks and treasure. He is married to the former Sherry Shealy Martschink. Sherry has served in both the South Carolina House and Senate.