Featured Speakers

 KEYNOTES

Michael Brandwein (michaelbrandwein.com) is one of the top internationally recognized trainers of persons in the fields of education, camp, and recreation. He has made presentations in all 50 of the U.S. states and on six of the seven continents. Michael is the number one best-selling author in the camp field with four consecutive best sellers on training and supervising staff and developing leadership and life skills in campers. He has presented three Emmy® award-winning television programs on communicating with children. Michael is a former national board member of the American Camp Association.

Jim Cain, Ph.D. is the owner of Teamwork & Teamplay and a former executive director for the Association for Challenge Course Technology (ACCT). He is the author of five adventure-based teambuilding texts: Teamwork & Teamplay, The Book on Raccoon Circles; A Teachable Moment; Teambuilding Puzzles; and The Value of Connection - In the Workplace. He holds four engineering degrees. He frequently serves as a visiting professor and staff development specialist on subjects ranging from teambuilding and experiential education using adventure-based and active learning strategies to corporate culture and leadership.

Gus Lee is a nationally-recognized ethicist, character-based leadership expert, speaker, author, character-executive coach and character thought leader, Gus has been a corporate executive vice president, chief operating officer, senior executive, senior deputy district attorney, acting deputy attorney general, Army JAG officer, ethics whistleblower, paratrooper, and legal counsel for U.S. Senate ethics investigations. He has written six best-selling books including, Courage: The Backbone of Leadership, a true-stories-based text on how to own and deploy the observable, measurable, learnable and teachable behaviors of moral courage and principled leadership in the successful solving of moral problems. Gus believes that if he, an original coward, could learn courageous leadership and character-centric living, so can you - with much greater ease.   

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Kennerly de Forest is the founder and manager of Challenge Works, a complete c hallenge course company specializing in the design, construction and inspection of challenge courses. Growing up and studying in Australia, he achieved his Bachelors and Masters in Outdoor Education while staying involved with camping and adventure on both continents. Ken has maintained his involvement with the camping, outdoor and adventure education industries for well over 15 years. Working at Kennolyn Camps for 7 years before starting Challenge Works, he helped begin the Challenge Course program and developed their leadership-training program.

Linda Ebner Erceg , R.N., M.S., PHN, is the associate director for health and risk management at Concordia Language Villages. Linda's education includes degrees in nursing, physical education, health education and psychology. She is a nationally recognized expert in camp health and safety, Linda is also executive director of the Association of Camp Nurses (ACN), served on the National Board and National Education Council of the American Camp Association (ACA), and has a long history of speaking and writing about camp health at regional, national, and international events. Linda's research includes a current collaboration with ACA and Ohio State University that is looking at injury-illness trends of U.S. children's camps. A revision of her book, The Basics of Camp Nursing, was released spring 2007.

Faith Evans, M.Ed . is owner of Playfully, Inc., nationally recognized staff trainer, author, speaker and player. She is highly acclaimed for her informative and interactive conference presentations and for making action-learning FUN and applicable to camp! Faith’s professional history in the world of camping spans 40 years. Faith is co-author of 99 of the Best Corporate Experiential Games We Know and a new book, soon to be published, The More the Merrier, Lead Playful Activities with Large Groups, Why, What and How.

Jodi L. Rudick MAS, is a 
marketing consultant, speaker, and trainer .She is President of the ADvisors Marketing Group; a promotional agency founded in 1959 and is the author of four books related to marketing and publicity. Jodi has presented more than 500 workshops and seminars to audiences in over 40 states, Canada and Mexico. She is known for endless enthusiasm, energy and creativity. 
She also is one of only 190 people in the country to hold the coveted MAS (Master Advertising Specialist) Designation, the promotions’ industry highest certification. As a publicist and writer, Jodi helps organizations attract positive publicity in local and national publications, radio, television, and Internet broadcasts.  In addition, Jodi consults with non-profit agencies wishing to generate revenue through corporate sponsorships.

Jennifer Selke, Ph.D. is a University of California, Berkeley camp director, professor, and school psychologist. She is in her 16th year running summer recreation and after school programs. Currently the director of a summer camp at U.C. Berkeley, Jennifer has also run youth programs for the U.S. Air Force and was the director of research and evaluation at the Positive Coaching Alliance at Stanford University. Jennifer is a speaker at national conferences on youth and training issues.

Peg Smith is the CEO of the American Camp Association. She has over twenty-six years experience working with children, youth, and families, and is widely recognized for her entrepreneurial work style and organizational capacity. Peg is a leader, visionary, educator, and child advocate. She has a passion for improving the lives of children and families through camp experiences.

Chris Thurber, Ph.D . is a board-certified clinical psychologist, author, father, and consultant. A graduate of Harvard University, Chris co-authored the critically acclaimed Summer Camp Handbook, and recently published a DVD/CD set for new camper families entitled The Secret Ingredients of Summer Camp Success. With over 30 years of camping experience Chris has written for Camping Magazine, and he has shared his youth development expertise on the Today Show, CBS Morning News, NPR, and PBS.

Zappos.com began as a website to sell shoes. Over the past 9 years, it has evolved into a company that stocks over 1000 brands of shoes, handbags, accessories, and clothing items and employs over 1300 people. The Zappos culture is dedicated to the utmost in customer service with creative approaches to staff management and fulfillment of its core values. They work hard and play hard to create a unique staff team – much like camp!