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.
Executive Team | Board of Directors | Directors | Regional Advisory Counsil
Executive Team
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.
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
Camper Manager
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.
Board of Directors
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.
Todd Arky – Sharebite (Board Chair)
Danny Sarch – Leitner Sarch Consultants (Vice Chair)
Evan Bloomberg – UBS Wealth Management (Treasurer)
Vishal Amin – Blackstone Growth
Bill Anderson – First Beverage Group
Brian Beach – Beachside Strategy, LLC
Wiley Cerilli – Good Uncle
Emily Krueger – Action Against Hunger
Liz Eddy – Lantern
David Garlick – Pineapple Co.
Heather Garson – Paloma Partners
Serra Goldman – Attorney
Gery Grove – Life Operations Strategist
Kristina Jones – Guardian Lane
Raleigh Leahy – Senior Executive in Hospitality & Events
Justine Lelchuk – Deloitte Consulting
Ben Luntz – Indicator Ventures
Ashley Pelzel – Bridgewater Associates
Aimee Skier – AMSkier Insurance
Eric Solomon – Novio
Aron Weingard – Weingard Wealth Management of Raymond James
Legal Advisors to the Board
Darren Berger – Kane Kessler
Arthur Rosenberg – Kane Kessler (Secretary)
If you want to know more about joining our board, please contact us at info@experiencecamps.org.
Directors
Clinical Directors
Dan Wolfson, PsyD – Pennsylvania Boys Clinical Director
Jenna Wolfson, LCSW – Maine and Pennsylvania Girls Clinical Director
Allison Crooks, LMFT – California Girls Clinical Director
Stephanie Rohrig – Georgia Girls Clinical Director
Alicia Firman – Georgia Boys Clinical Director
Molly Giorgio, PsyD – Maine Boys Clinical Director
Megan Kelly – Michigan Boys Clinical Director
Marissa Kusy-Leavitt – Michigan Girls Clinical Director
Program Directors
Liza Buck – California Girls Program Director
Richard Glass – California Boys Program Director
Ben Pickman – Pennsylvania Boys Program Director
Kate Luther – Pennsylvania Girls Program Director
Lucas Johnston – Maine Boys Program Director
Ashley Laughlin – Maine and Georgia Girls Program Director
Michael Goldman – Georgia Boys Program Director
Ilana Lerman – Michigan Girls Program Director
Michael Paretzky – Michigan Boys Program Director