FOUNDERS BIO

Jason Bitzer is the Lead Instructor and Instructor Trainer at Never Off Duty (NOD), certified under the American Red Cross for over a decade. With more than 20 years of professional lifeguarding experience and aquatic facility management, he brings deep expertise and leadership to the field of water safety.

In 2017, he founded Never Off Duty (NOD)—a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a clear and urgent purpose:

Preparing our youth to survive challenges on land and in water.

His mission is personal. Lifeguarding didn’t just give him a job—it gave him a way out. It kept him off the streets, gave him discipline, and set him on a path to success. Now, he’s driven to share that path with the next generation.

Through NOD, he is aiding at-risk youth in finding careers in First Response through lifeguarding, by first creating an environment where every child can learn to swim.

His vision is bold but clear:

Empowering every child to swim—and avoid accidental drownings.

In recognition of his lifelong commitment to lifesaving, he was honored with the Red Cross National Lifesaving Award of Merit, the highest award in lifeguarding, for his heroic rescue of professional surfer Jamie O’Brien at Pipeline in Hawaii.