Speakers
Jean Twenge
Jean M. Twenge, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University, is the author of more than 140 scientific publications and the books iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy–and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood, Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled — and More Miserable Than Ever Before and The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement (co-authored with W. Keith Campbell). Dr. Twenge frequently gives talks and seminars on teaching and working with today’s young generation based on a dataset of 11 million young people. Her audiences have included college faculty and staff, high school teachers, military personnel, camp directors, and corporate executives. Her research has been covered in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, USA Today, U.S. News and World Report, and The Washington Post, and she has been featured on Today, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Fox and Friends, NBC Nightly News, Dateline NBC, and National Public Radio. She holds a BA and MA from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
Bob Ditter
Bob Ditter is a well-respected child, adolescent and family therapist from Boston who works nationally and internationally with people who work with children. Bob is a noted camp consultant and trainer who has been quoted in The New York Times, The Ladies Home Journal, Parent Magazine, USA Today and The Boston Globe, to name a few. Sports Illustrated called him “camping’s most articulate spokesperson.”
He has appeared on Good Morning America, the Evening News with Peter Jennings and twice on the NBC Today Show. He served as consultant to America’s Camp, the camp for the children whose parents were killed in the airplanes and Twin Towers in 2001; and is currently Board President of Boston Explorers, an urban day camp for children; and is on the Board of Harbor Camps, which operates a camp for transgender, non-binary and gender-neutral children. His latest book, Managing Challenging Camper Behavior, will be released February 2020.
Bob continues to bring fresh perspectives and cutting-edge information on brain science, child development and staff development to the best traditions of children’s summer camps.
Audrey Monke
Audrey Monke, with her husband, Steve, has owned and directed Gold Arrow Camp (Lakeshore, California) for 34 years. On her website, Sunshine Parenting (sunshine-parenting.com), Audrey shares resources for parents and youth development professionals about summer camp, social skills, and parenting. Her podcast features interviews with parenting authors and experts, including camp directors. Audrey’s book, Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults (Hachette-Center Street, 2019) shares strategies for bringing the “magic” of camp home.
Anitah Gombos
Anitah has been a senior executive and led human resources and talent development on both the East and West Coasts. She stepped away from the corporate world to offer personal coaching and organizational consulting before becoming a full-time contractor with several of the world’s A-list companies, including General Motors, Google, and Microsoft. A published author and poet, she continues to coach, consult, and write through her company, ALG Business Ventures, https://www.algbusinessventures.com.
Anitah lives happily and gratefully in Southwestern Oregon.
Chris Cameron
Chris Cameron is a naturalist at heart. A master falconer, Chris has trained and flown a wide variety of raptors. He teaches the UC California Naturalist class. For the CA Dept of Ed, Chris helped start the statewide California Regional Environmental Education Community (CREEC) Network to help teachers increase environmental literacy.
As a recently retired executive in the Camp industry, Chris occasionally consults for the Outdoor Science and Summer Camp communities, and speaks to audiences about human/nature interactions.
A versatile leader, Chris has been a pastor, a naturalist, a builder, beekeeper, bus driver, bow maker, and burger flipper! But his biggest love has always been teaching people and mentoring staff. Chris holds a Master’s degree in organizational leadership from Biola University.
Janet Keene
Janet Keene, Human Resources Consultant, is a Certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR) with 20 years’ experience in the HR field. Ms. Keene earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from California State University, Fresno and worked for 12 years as an HR Manager for a retail business. She specializes in HR audits, policy development, job descriptions, and executive performance evaluations. She is a frequent conference presenter and workshop facilitator, focusing on effective hiring, setting performance expectations, taking corrective action, leaves of absence, and harassment prevention.
Lee Biear
Lee Albrecht Biear is a proud and passionate advocate of the camp experience – 365 days of the year. As a former camp counselor and program director, she’s seen first-hand how camp helps kids develop self-confidence, lifelong friendships, and exceptional success as adults. Her children Maddie (8), Morgan (6), Miles (5) spend every summer living and loving the camp experience.
Lee Biear currently directs marketing for a family-owned Northern Wisconsin summer camp and advises a larger, diverse set of camps in her role at 829 Studios. She helps camps develop effective value propositions for their unique program and promote these effectively in marketing, website presence, social media, and alumni reach-outs. Lee brings successful marketing/ technology best practices that drive personalized connection, early enrollment, and camp awareness with current families and future prospects. She delivers creative and fun methods to engage camping families quickly – without extensive time, staff, budget, or technology expertise requirements.
Rohan Shahani
Rohan is a consultant and trainer dedicated to increasing the physical and emotional well-being of students and clients. He is passionate about communication, risk management, and music.
