CAMPGROUP - Key Persons
Annie Copp grew up in East Coast, Canada, started as a camper at eight years old and began working at camps at 15. In 2007, her love for working with children and camp brought her to a premier camp in Maine where she would spend nine years working her way from an Activity Specialist in both Ropes and Waterfront to a Head Counselor. Annie has a Bachelor of Science from St. Francis Xavier University and a Bachelor of Education from Crandall University. Before moving into full-time camping, Annie spent five years teaching Middle School and High School Math and Science. In 2016, Annie took an exciting opportunity as Associate Director and helped establish a new sleepaway camp in The Poconos. She was involved in all aspects of camp life, operations, recruitment, and development. Annie is an Associate Accreditation Visitor for the American Camping Association.
Job Titles:
- Camp Advisor
- Director Emeritus of Camp Watitoh
After 17 years as a Camp Director and a lifetime at camp, Billy nows enjoys the role of Camp Advisor to all of our CampGroup Camps. Billy is also President of the Western Massachusetts Camp Directors Association, Board member of the ACA-NY/NY and the Massachusetts Camping Association.
As Director Emeritus of Camp Watitoh, Billy enjoys watching the traditions continue to flourish under Drew and Britton's direction.
A graduate of Franklin & Marshall College and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Billy served as an Assistant District Attorney in Bronx, NY before returning to camp as a full-time career.
Britton spent 11 years at camp as a camper, counselor, and Division Head. After graduating from Duke University, she taught elementary school for five years in a suburb of Washington DC and earned a Master's Degree in Educational Administration from The George Washington University.
Experienced in child development and school leadership, Britton went in pursuit of her lifelong dream - becoming a camp director at Camp Watitoh.
Since 2006, she has been full-time in camping. Britton served on the ACA-EPIC Committee and co-chairs the Joe Kruger Youth Development Conference.
Carly joined Wicosuta full-time in 2012, initially as the Staffing Director and her role has continued to evolve. Before Wico, Carly held several leadership positions at a co-ed sleepaway camp, which she also attended as a camper. Her claim to fame as a camper was holding the divisional tennis tournament title for four years running. She loves getting out on the Wico courts with campers trying to relive her glory days!
Job Titles:
- Camp Walt Whitman Director
Carolyn joined husband, Jed as Director of Camp Walt Whitman in 2006. Previously, Carolyn worked as the Executive Director of the National Law Enforcement and Firefighters Children's Foundation in New York City.
Carolyn graduated with a masters degree in Sports Management from the University of Tennessee and then worked as Assistant Athletic Director for the Women's Athletic Department. Carolyn played four years of collegiate basketball at Dalhousie University where she graduated with a bachelors degree in Recreational Management.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder of SCOPE Midwest
Dana is the co-founder of SCOPE Midwest (Summer Camp Opportunities Promote Education), a charity that provides camperships to underserved children throughout the Midwest at not-for-profit camps. Dana has been on the program planning team for the ACA's national conference and is a speaker at conferences throughout the year.
Job Titles:
- Director Emeritus
- Member of the CampGroup Leadership Team
- President
- Vice President
- Director / Owner of Lake
Dayna is the President of CampGroup and became Director Emeritus of Lake of the Woods and Greenwoods in 2020. Dayna arrived as a camper at Lake of the Woods Camp for Girls in 1979. She worked her way up from counselor to assistant director before becoming Owner/Director of Lake of the Woods and Greenwoods Camp for Boys in 1997.
In addition, Dayna is past Vice President of the American Camp Association's (ACA) national board. She is the co-founder and President of SCOPE Midwest, an organization that sends underserved children to camp. She is also Past President of the Midwest Association of Independent Camps.
She is a speaker at camp conferences across the country on topics ranging from leadership, homesickness, youth development, difficult conversations, trends in camping and more. She is also the past conference chair for the ACA's national conference (2007-2010). She has received a number of awards for her dedication to youth development and leadership within the camp industry.
Debbie Sasson has been spending her summers at camp for over 25 years. She has a BA in Psychology and a Masters in School Counseling from the University of Rochester. After 3 wonderful years as a middle school counselor in Belmont, MA, she returned to school and earned her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Yeshiva University.
Since opening Camp Akeela in 2008, she works as a full-time director with Eric, a position to which she brings extensive knowledge of the fields of child, adolescent and Family-Systems psychology.
Drew, a Camp Watitoh alum, attended camp for thirteen consecutive summers from 1986-1998. Drew was a camper, waiter, counselor, and group leader.
After graduating Muhlenberg College and majoring in Business, Drew worked with an event marketing company, only to realize that creating the moments that make up a great summer camp experience was his true passion.
Since 2002, he has been full-time in camping. Drew is actively involved in the ACA, Project Morry, and was the co-chair of the Joe Kruger Youth Development Conference.
Eric is a life-long camper who is passionate about the transformative power of the camp experience. Before he and Debbie started Camp Akeela in 2008, Eric worked for 10 years as a year-round, full time camp professional.
He holds a BA in Math from Haverford College and a Masters in Education from Harvard University. Outside of the camp world, he has extensive experience working with children and young adults in a variety of educational and mentoring settings.
Job Titles:
- Camp Director
- Camp Kippewa Director
Ginger has been Director, with husband Steve, at Camp Kippewa since 2008. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from University of Washington and a master's degree in Occupational Therapy from Boston University.
Before getting into camping full time, she worked as a children's O.T. for a Seattle-area school district. Her summers were spent working at an all-girls camp in numerous different roles, and entered the camping profession full-time as an Assistant Director in 2004. Ginger has been a presenter and program committee member for the ACA national conference and the Head Counselor at America's Camp, a week-long camp for children of 9/11 victims that ran for 10 years. She was also one of the original members of ACA's EPIC (Emerging Professionals In Camping) committee.
Job Titles:
- Director of Shibley Day Camp
- Shibley Day Camp Director
Heath, the Director of Shibley Day Camp, is a lifelong camper and experienced educator. He has been working at day camps on Long Island since 1995. Heath has a Masters in Elementary Education from Long Island University and a degree in Chemistry from Union College.
His passion is for creating a camp program and culture where all children (and staff) take risks, explore interests, make friends and discover who they want to be. Heath is a standards visitor in the American Camp Association's accreditation process and regularly participates in industry conferences in order to improve the camp experience for all children.
Jamie has grown up in the residential camp world as a lifelong camper, counselor, athletic director and program director. He is active in various ACA conferences including presenting sessions focused on staff development and athletic instruction.
After receiving his degree in Health and Physical Education from the University of Delaware, Jamie spent the next 15 years as a college and high school basketball coach while teaching elementary Health and Physical Education. Jamie co-directs Camp Mah-Kee-Nac with his Wife Rachel. They are proud parents of three daughters.
Jared has worked at Camp Ramaquois since 1986 - he started as a group counselor and has gradually moved up to his current responsibilities. During the off-season, Jared is a co-director at the camp with specific responsibilities as the personnel director. During the summer months, Jared also serves as the director of Boys' Side.
Jared spent 20 years as a high school Social Studies teacher before joining Ramaquois full time. He earned his undergraduate degree from Binghamton University, and he holds a master's degree in teaching from Boston University and a master's degree in educational leadership from the College of New Rochelle. Jared and his wife, Staci, are the proud parents of three children.
Job Titles:
- Camp Danbee Director Emeritus
Jay, along with brother, Mark, has been at Camp Danbee since 1991. Jay has many years of experience working with children and young adults, having worked as a college educator prior to becoming a camp director. In addition, Jay was a 15 year key staff member at Camp Mah-Kee-Nac before joining Danbee as an owner/director. Jay received a B.A. from Bentley College in 1978 and earned a Masters in Education from Springfield College in 1981. He completed doctoral coursework at Vanderbilt University in the field of Educational Leadership in 1993.
Job Titles:
- Camp Walt Whitman Director
Jed has grown up at Camp Walt Whitman since the age of 8 and became Director in 2005. Jed represents the third generation in his family to own and direct CWW.
Prior to becoming Director, Jed worked at CWW for 10 summers, including 5 as the Assistant Director. Jed earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University and his MBA from the Peter Drucker School of Management at Claremont. Jed is a former middle school and high school teacher.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Member of the CampGroup Leadership Team
- Camp Winadu Director
- CEO and Director of Camp Winadu
Mark "Bennie" Benerofe joined the leadership team of Camp Winadu in 2009, however his first introduction to Winadu was in 1999 as a basketball coach for a post-season camp. Bennie was then a high school teacher, basketball coach, and athletic director in New York City.
Mark joined his brother, Jay, at Camp Danbee in 1991. Mark was a middle school teacher, soccer coach, and camp professional before joining Danbee full-time. He received his bachelor's degree in Environmental Science in 1983 from SUNY-Syracuse. He later received his Masters in School Administration in 1990. Mark is the treasurer for the Massachusetts Camping Association.
As a Certified Instructor with Certified Horsemanship Association (CHA), Mary Paige's first and foremost concern is teaching equestrian skills in the safest environment possible. Majoring in Equine Business at Clemson University, Mary Paige took classes in breaking and training, nutrition, anatomy and physiology, as well as some elementary and agricultural education classes to help her focus on skills for teaching children. Growing up in Cameron, South Carolina, Mary Paige spent every summer going to camp, starting in 2nd grade up through her senior year of high school. She had her first pony ride at a zoo in Canada when she was five and was hooked! She rode on the PSJ show circuit growing up doing the hunters and the equitation. She also rode at Clemson University on their Equestrian team, where she served as team President. She loves to increase her equine knowledge with clinics in all different styles of riding and training such as western dressage, calf roping, pole bending/barrel racing and even a polo class. She is a Facility Certifier and is the Regional Director for CHA's Region 6 (including 6 New England states and 3 Canadian provinces). As a facility accreditor she keeps up with current safety standards and options for riding facilities that are in the forefront of the industry by attending the Equine Affaire in West Springfield, MA, the CHA International Conference each year, and recently worked the World Equestrian Games in Tryon, NC
Phil began his journey at Camp Ramaquois in 1996 as a counselor and has filled several administrative roles on his way to his current position. In addition to his responsibilities at camp he volunteers as a Standards Visitor for the American Camp Association.
His undergraduate degree is in Recreation and Leisure from St. Thomas Aquinas College and he also holds a Master's of Science Degree in Health and Physical Education from Hofstra University. Phil and his wife, Melissa, are proud parents of two daughters, who both attend Ramaquois.
Job Titles:
- Director of Camp Mah - Kee - Nac
Rachel, Director of Camp Mah-Kee-Nac, has spent her entire professional career in the camping world. In addition to being a camper and a counselor for many years, she has served as an Assistant Director, as well as Director of various residential programs in the north east.
Rachel earned her degree in Psychology and Physical Education from Denison University. Rachel is active in ACA conferences as well as other camping, education, and recreation professional development groups. Rachel's hobbies are golf, tennis, biking, the occasional game of basketball, and of course spending time with her husband and three daughters.
Job Titles:
- Shibley Day Camp Director
Job Titles:
- Camp Director
- Camp Kippewa Director
Steve joins his wife, Ginger, as Director at Camp Kippewa. Steve, a barefoot waterski national junior champion and national record holder in his native New Zealand, earned his bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering before traveling to the states to work at camp and finding a whole new career path in the world of camping.
Steve previously ran the international visa program and alumni relations for CampGroup. Steve is an ACA Standards Visitor and has presented at ACA national conferences. He, too, was Head Counselor at America's Camp, a week-long camp for children of 9/11 victims that ran for 10 years. Steve and Ginger have three children who enjoy camp as much as their parents do!
Zach Aronson grew up in South Florida, and spent his summers at a sleepaway camp in Maine. It was here he established a love and passion for camping. Zach graduated from the University of Alabama with a B.A. in Human Geography. He returned to camp as a staff member and quickly moved into Leadership roles which included Ropes Director and Head Counselor. Zach was a Middle School History teacher and coached soccer throughout the school year, while spending his summers working alongside Annie. In 2016, he was a part of launching a new sleepaway camp in The Poconos. Zach was the Head Counselor and had many other responsibilities, which included managing the leadership team, camper programming, and day-to-day cabin life. He has experience in child and staff development, camp operations and facilities management.
It is no surprise that Annie and Zach's shared love for camp brought them together at a premier camp in Maine, where they fell in love and which led to them getting married. Annie and Zach believe in the impact the camp experience can have on the lives of campers and staff. They are dedicated to providing a safe environment for their campers, where they can have new experiences, step outside of their comfort zone, and be accepted for exactly who they are.