Piper VanOrd is Owner and Creative Director at Allegheny Outfitters (AO), a paddling, hiking, and backpacking outfitter and outdoor gear store located in Warren, PA. AO operates in the Allegheny National Forest and along the National Wild & Scenic Allegheny River in the Pennsylvania Wilds region. 

In 2006, after serving eight years as an air traffic controller in the US Navy, Piper moved home to Warren, PA with her three children, to buy what was then a small sideline outfitting business. Over the last twenty years, Piper and her team have grown the business from 1,200 paddlers a season to more than 10,000 and have done it in a way that has won them many fans and supporters in the process.

Piper is Leave No Trace Master Educator certified from the National Outdoor Leadership School, Wilderness First Aid, and ACA Level II Kayak Instructor certified.

As a small business owner, Piper has helped tens of thousands of people of all skill levels and abilities make a meaningful connection with the natural world over the last twenty years.  She has also spearheaded many related community events, from helping underserved communities, veterans, and women get into nature, to a website to promote her community’s downtown, to an annual river clean-up that’s now in its 17th year.

As Creative Director, Piper has brought new nature-inspired products to market, including a “Find Your Outside Voice” and “Love Your River” lines of soft goods, river calendars, commemorative posters of trails, co-author of the Allegheny River Paddling Guide, and published On the river and down the trail..., a collection of 100 photos adventuring in the Pennsylvania Wilds.

Piper’s hired consulting/ educational workshops/ implementation project focus includes:

Consulting on

●  Plans, studies and research looking to incorporate a small business/outfitting perspective

●  Communities or organizations interested in investing in a paddling guide for their waterway

Educational Workshops

●   How to Become a Paid Nature Content Creator on Facebook

Piper is a great choice for these select Implementation Projects

●   Research, development, layout and design, printing coordination of waterproof paddling guides

●   Research, development, layout and design, and launch for promotional websites for rural downtowns