A Native of Colusa, California, Doug White grew up in the rural farmlands of Northern California's Central Valley.  He graduated in 1975 from Colusa High School, and attended the University of California at Davis where he graduated in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry.  He joined the U.S. Navy in 1980 and served for 25 years in various assignments throughout the country and abroad.  While serving with the U.S. Navy, Doug attended graduate school at Oregon State University and earned a Master of Science degree in Chemistry.  His background in Chemistry and Science drew him to an assignment with the Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs.  Doug worked within the Navy strategic missile program for 18 of the 25 years of his military career.  He retired after serving for seven consecutive years in command of two shore facilities, including three years as Commanding Officer of the Navy’s Atlantic Fleet nuclear weapons facility, the Strategic Weapons Facility, Atlantic, in Kings Bay, Georgia.  During his two command tours, Doug was three times the winner of the Navy’s Raborn Award for top performance of a Strategic Systems Programs command.

   

Doug White
Following his retirement from the Navy, Doug was named Vice President, Test and Research Services for ATK Launch Systems.  He and his wife, Susan, now reside in Northern Utah.  
     
In his private life, Doug has been a lifelong enthusiast of outdoor adventure.  Born and raised on a farm in rural Northern California, Doug and his three brothers were usually to be found in the great outdoors backpacking, exploring, swimming, hunting, and fishing.  In his 20’s, Doug took up distance swimming as a competitive sort, and that eventually drew him into the sport of triathlon.  He competed in dozens of triathlons in the 1980s while the sport was in its fledgling stages.  As the winds of change swept into the sport, and triathlon became, in his opinion, overly bound up in rules, he took an extended leave from triathlon and focused his energies on rock climbing, canyoneering, and wilderness navigation.  This was good training, and it increased his backcountry options considerably.  Still, his desire to compete in endurance racing was strong, so he decided to train and compete in ultra marathons, a sport that he came to love.
     
In 1997 Doug formed his own running group and named it “DURT” for Doug’s Ultra Run Training (www.durt.org).  He had a following of over 100 ultra-runners who he helped train for long distance trail running.  Doug often tells people that, "Unlike me, many of my friends from DURT actually turned out to be great ultra runners!"  The group had its roots in the coastal mountains of Northern California, but they expanded from there with semi-organized adventure trips throughout the Mountain West and Southwestern Canyonlands.
     
A veteran of many ultra marathons, including the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, Doug still trains for and competes in long distance running, and he continues backcountry trekking with his wife and friends.  And, from time to time, he still heads out with others who share his interests and leads the stout of heart “into the wild.”