Multinational Diving Educators Association (MDEA) was organized in 1984 by a group of dive professionals. Head-quartered in Marathon, Florida, MDEA grew rapidly through leadership training programs and from interested members of other agencies who participated in crossover seminars. High standards were not compromised and new ideas were developed as MDEA became recognized worldwide. MDEA partnered with NAUI, PADI, NASDS, SSI, L.A. County, PDIC, IDEA and the YMCA certification agencies to develop new standards of scuba training that were filed with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in 1986. In 1987, MDEA felt that an organization with exceptionally high standards was needed for introducing new ideas in dive training. With this in mind, the Council of Underwater Educators (CUE) was founded by MDEA, NAUI, YMCA and L.A. County. In 1997, Dennis Salisbury, a MDEA Instructor Evaluator and longtime dive professional, bought MDEA and moved the offices to Nashville, Tennessee. During this inception, MDEA was completely reorganized. Many new product and teaching materials were developed, new programs were created and service to its members was improved. MDEA is truly committed to servicing the needs of its members.