About us
PDA was founded in 1995 in Leimen near Heidelberg (Germany). In 2005 the company moved to Calpe (Spain) with a simultaneous change of ownership. Subsequently, the international sphere of activity was expanded. Countries such as Greece, Croatia, Ukraine, Russia, Poland and Hungary were added. Further PDA became member with the RSTC Europe and could itself over the EUF (European Underwater Federation) with the ISO standard recognized world-wide be certified.
The European Underwater Federation is an umbrella organization which represents the interests of the commercial diving education associations.
In 2015 there was another change of ownership of PDA. This change also meant the return to Germany. The current owner Marc Baum moved the company headquarters to Ketsch am Rhein.
Marc Baum was already in 1996 PDA Instructor Trainer and active as Course Director / Examiner of other well-known associations. By the owner change he took over the business of PDA holistically. Through his many years of experience and diverse contacts in the diving industry, he has built an expert team around himself that with a lot of dedication and enthusiasm PDA continues to grow. Since the takeover, countries such as South Korea, Philippines, Argentina, Brazil and Serbia have been added, each with their own service centers.
The Team
Marc Baum
PDA CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER “CEO”
In 1988 he learnt to dive in Spain and continued his education. Due to his large number of dives and trainings he became PDA Instructor Trainer as well as Course Director and Examiner of well-known organizations at a young age.
Bernd Kirchdörfer
CORPORATE DESIGN MANAGEMENT, PDA INSTRUCTOR TRAINER
Bernd is responsible for design, brevet’s, stamps, flags, logo etc. He is also active in training. He trains everything from OWD students to PDA instructors and also crosst new instructors to PDA.
Armin Süss
PDA Marketing Director, RSTC – Consultant
For over 20 years he has been deeply involved in the German diving sport, also known as managing director of Taucher.net. Already working as a PDA Instructor in 1997, he now represents the interests of PDA at all RSTC-Europe Meetings.
Markus Rudolph
PDA Freediving Course Director
Markus is the expert for Freediving in our team. For many years he has been working in the area of Freediving and from 2016 he will be responsible for the training as PDA Course Director.
Matthias Bender
PDA Sidemount, Tec, MFA Instructor Trainer
Matthias is active in the areas of recreational and technical diving, as well as first aid training.
Dirk Leuschner
PDA Software Developers, PDA Instructor Trainer
Dirk is responsible for administration, further development and maintenance of existing software. Since 2014 he is responsible for the training of PDA Instructors as PDA Instructor Trainer.
Peter Hauptmann
PDA Instructor
Peter is our PDA Service Center Asia Manager, he organizes many of the PDA Service Centers abroad. He is also responsible for the administrative area of ISO certifications, training records and teaching materials.
Claudia Baum
PDA Accounting
Claudia is responsible for the accounting and administration of the PDA members.