Our People

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.

Kim Pucci

Chief Development Officer 

Kim Pucci is the Chief Development Officer at Experience Camps. With more than 20 years in the nonprofit and for-profit space, Kim hopes to lead Experience Camps through an ambitious period of financial growth that will help change the lives of grieving children. Kim has previously held roles at Action Against Hunger, UNICEF USA, Best Friends Animal Society, Special Olympics, United Way, American Red Cross and the United Nations Foundation. Kim is excited to bring her own brand of camper enthusiasm to the new role. She and her husband have three daughters who have a love of the outdoors including hiking and skiing.

Lexie Radwan

Chief Operating Officer 

Lexie Radwan, MPA, is the Chief Operating Officer of Experience Camps. With 10+ years of experience in nonprofit management, Lexie helps lead the growth of the organization by supporting the operations of our internal teams and working to identify new opportunities to expand our programs and impact.  Before joining ExCamps, Lexie helped direct corporate social responsibility programs for multinational companies including Danone and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Prior to working in the corporate citizenship space, she fell in love with social good programs while working for the American Red Cross and serving in the Peace Corps, based in Peru. 

Brie Overton

Chief Clinical Officer

Brianne L. Overton, is a doctoral candidate at the University of Missouri – St. Louis in the Department of Counseling and Family Therapy, where she educates and supervises master and doctoral level students on grief-specific issues in counseling. Brianne is a Licensed Professional Counselor that works with individuals, couples, and families. She specializes in anticipatory loss, grief and bereavement, life transitions, and working with underserved populations. She is an active member of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, serving on the Credentialing Council and the National Alliance for Grieving Children. She has worked as a clinician and Clinical Director for Experience Camps since 2016. Brie is also a self-proclaimed, “Rita’s chaser.” Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard :). Her goal is to visit every single one in the US.

Lena Abbasi

Major Gifts Officer

With over 13 years of non-profit experience, Lena is a mission-driven, innovative philanthropic strategist delivering high impact funding opportunities to non-profit and social impact organizations. Before joining Experience Camps, Lena solidified her expertise in major gifts by working for such leading philanthropic institutions as the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and CCS Fundraising. Lena received her MBA in Strategic Leadership and Marketing from Penn State University and her BA in Advertising from Xavier University.

Michelle Cove

Senior Communications Manager

Michelle Cove is the Senior Communications Manager at Experience Camps. From 2014 to 2020, Michelle was Executive Director of MEDIAGIRLS, a nonprofit she founded that empowers girls and young women to know their self-worth and harness the power of media to uplift one another. Prior to that, Michelle spent over 25 years as a professional media maker. She is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, journalist, and national bestselling author whose projects have been featured on numerous national platforms including “The Today Show,” The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times. Michelle spent several summers as a sleep-away camper and then a camp counselor; she can make a perfect s’more as a result.

Jesse Moss

Community Engagement Manager

Jesse Moss is the Community Engagement Manager of Experience Camps. Jesse’s superpower is connecting with people and connecting people to our mission. Jesse 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! 

Thomas DiGuglielmo

Development Manager

Thomas is the Development Manager for Experience Camps. In his role, Thomas applies his analytical skills and eye for the detail to help our Development team be as efficient as possible. He has worked as a Database Consultant for The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and most recently at The Carver Foundation of Norwalk as the Resource Development Manager. He graduated from Drew University in 2014 with a B.A. in Economics. Thomas has also completed a Nonprofit Management and Entrepreneurship course as well as Harvard’s Online Business Certificate program, HBX.

Margo Karp

Events Manager

As Events Manager of Experience Camps, Margo manages the special events that engage Experience Camps supporters outside of camp, including the signature NYC and Miami fundraising events. She comes to ExCamps after nearly a decade in advertising sales. She previously worked at Hearst at magazines such as Seventeen and Redbook, and most recently at Gallery Media Group. Margo graduated from Dickinson College with a degree in History and Education. She and her pup, Snoop, volunteered at SomEx in Maine before joining the team full-time.

Gayle Smotherman

Program Associate

Gayle is an MSW and Certified Child Life Specialist. She has 8 years of professional experience in the non-profit camp sector with children and young adults with developmental disabilities and serious illnesses. She also volunteered with a grief camp in Ireland for the last 4 years. When she’s not working, you can find her reading outside in sunny San Diego or cheering on the Georgia Bulldogs! After 2 years on the clinical team at CalEx, Gayle is thrilled to join Experience Camps year round. FTK!

Joan Reilly

Development Coordinator

As the Development Coordinator, Joan works with the Development team to coordinate year-round planning and execution of Experience Camps’ fundraising logistics in addition to providing database support. Prior to joining Experience Camps, Joan held positions at the Westchester Land Trust, The Bedford Historical Society as well as The Advertising Club and The International ANDY Awards. She’s looking forward to bringing her experience in the non profit sector to Experience Camps. When Joan is not working you can usually find her outdoors or on the beach with her husband, sons and two yellow labs.