Executive Team | Board of Directors | Advisory Board

Directors | Regional Advisory Counsel

Experience Camps are lead by a dedicated team of professionals in camping, social work, finance, technology, and beyond. The key ingredient that is woven through our team is the passion each one has for summer camp and the life-altering experience it can provide.

SARA DEREN, Chief Experience Officer

Sara Deren is the founder and Chief Experience Officer of Experience Camps. Sara received her MBA from Columbia University and spent 12 years in the financial services industry before turning her full attention to camp. Experience Camps was founded on Sara’s, and her husband, Jon’s, desire to provide the camp experience to children who would not otherwise have that opportunity. She now uses her business background and love of camp to develop and operate Experience Camps, and to ensure that our campers enjoy the best that summer camp has to offer.

CARA ALLEN, Chief CLINICAL Officer

Cara Allen is Clinical Director for Experience Camps and has a private psychotherapy practice in San Diego, CA.  She holds both an MSW and a Master of Management degree, is a licensed clinical social worker, and has worked extensively in bereavement for the past 14 years at Sharp Healthcare where she was awarded both Social Worker of the Year and the prestigious Sally Bruener Haugh Spirit of Caring awards.  Cara provides clinical supervision to aspiring therapists and has served as Experience Camps Director of Camper Services in California since 2014. 

Jeff Kimball, Chief Possibilities Officer

Jeff, our new Director of Development, is an innovative, entrepreneurial and seasoned non-profit executive skilled in fundraising, communications and scaling brands.  Jeff seeks to inspire people to think, act, invest in and connect to our mission and program. A former aide to Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, Jeff worked in  crisis communications on Wall Street, re-created the development program of a prestigious private school, scaled a childhood cancer non-profit and has served as a consultant to a number of social venture start-ups. Ask him about his experiences, and he will dismiss all of the results he has earned, because he has the perspective gained through life experience that tells us the integrity of the process is most important. Jeff, who lost his wife to cancer at age 38 and his niece in a tragic accident at age 9, is the father of two teenage girls and lives in Westport, Conn.

Sam Green, Chief Program Officer

Sam has been involved with Experience Camps as a volunteer since 2012 and has served as the Program Director at KenEx for the last 3 summers. He most recently worked at PwC, as a consultant in the financial services industry. Sam received his BBA degree from Emory University and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, where he volunteers as a mentor for high school students from low-income families preparing them for college success. Sam spent his formative years as a Camp Manitou camper and director, which, combined with his Excel spreadsheet mastery and passion for camp, makes him the perfect person to drive Experience Camps through the next phase of our journey.  

jesse moss, National program manager

Jesse Moss is the National Program Manager of Experience Camps. She got her BA from the University of Florida and has previously worked for Warner Bros. Television and President Obama. Jesse fell in love with camp while attending Camp Lokanda for 10 years, and after her brother Jordan died in 2012, embarked on a journey to find a community of support. Her loss, coupled with her love of camp, inspired her to become an Experience Camps CalEx volunteer, and ultimately, to become a part of the ExCamps central team! 

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You'd be hard-pressed to find a group of people as passionate and dedicated to a cause as this one. They represent industries from technology to metals, interests from surfing to art, and all have experienced the magic of camp first-hand. Many of our board members have also experienced their own losses, either as children or parents, and can truly understand the importance of the time spent at camp.

Bill Anderson - First Beverage Group (Board Chair)

Todd Arky - Serial entrepreneur 

Sunil Arora - Arora Coaching

Evan Bloomberg - UBS Wealth Management

Wiley Cerilli - Good Uncle

Liz Eddy - Crisis Text Line

David Garlick - Pineapple Co.

Heather Garson - Paloma Partners (Treasurer)

Justine Lelchuk - Deloitte Consulting

Ben Luntz - Indicator Ventures

Danny Sarch - Leitner Sarch Consultants

Aimee Skier - AMSkier Insurance

Aron Weingard - Weingard Wealth Management of Raymond James

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Our Advisory Board is the icing on the cake of our board structure. These members represent leaders, experts and great minds in areas that add value and guide us through the key areas of our strategic plan.

Darren Berger - Kane Kessler

Raleigh Leahy - Senior Executive in Hospitality & Events

Arthur Rosenberg - Kane Kessler

Michael Thompson - Lantern Camps

Kellie Wagner - 214

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Clinical Directors

Cathy Spear, LICSW - California Girls Clinical Director

Dan Wolfson, PsyD - Pennsylvania Boys Clinical Director

Jenna Wolfson, LCSW - Maine and Pennsylvania Girls Clinical Director

Brie Overton, PhD Candidate, Georgia and Michigan Girls Clinical Director

David Webber, MA, Georgia and Michigan Boys Clinical Director

Jay Clayton, LCSW, California Boys Clinical Director

Program Directors

Martha Straus - California Girls Program Director

Eli Asch - California Boys Program Director

Jordan Rosenberg - Pennsylvania Boys Program Director

Katie Luther - Pennsylvania Girls Program Director

Josh Hahn - Maine Boys Program Director

Ashley Laughlin - Maine and Georgia Girls Program Director

Brian Klein - Georgia Boys Program Director

Ilana Lerman - Michigan Girls Program Director

Lee Zucker - Michigan Boys Program Director

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Our regional RACs are made up of the dedicated volunteers who live in the areas we primarily serve.  They demonstrate commitment through their actions and deep involvement with Experience Camps on a regional and national level. They are innovative, inspirational, and pretty darn smart. To learn more, visit our RAC Info page.

South Florida

Michael Goldman

Jon Hooshmand

Kristina Lucia

Emily Plajer

Jesse Soffer

Boston

Emily Herman

Lucas Johnston*

Jonathan Zackman

California

Kat Besse

Dave Burg

Lila Dupree

Stacey Greenberg

Zoe Katz

Rahul Lakhwani*

Benjamin Richman

Jackson Ross

Rachel Schindler

Kristin Sun

Libbie Thacker

Andy Vadapalli

Bobby Weinberger

Fairfield County, CT

Gery Grove*

RAC LEAD *

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