My Work History

I started working at Scout Camp at the age of 19. This cemented my love of Scouting and I knew that I wanted to have this as a career. My family tried to dissuade me saying, "People don't get paid for that. It's a volunteer thing." I knew differently and it was my calling.

 

I always understood my drive and what the movement did for me. I started working for the Boy Scouts in a support role. I knew I wanted to do more, but needed the schooling to do so. I left the Boy Scouts and spent 8 years at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, while simultaneously earning my online degree. I knew someday I would return.

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That opportunity came when they were retooling the Camping Division in the Greater New York Councils and I became a Camping Director. My years at Mount Sinai helped me develop a work ethic of customer service and how important that was. That work ethic follows me until this day. After 3 years I went to work in field service as a District Executive, but soon found myself back in Camping. I was told I probably could be in the Camping Department for the rest of my career; but I knew I had to prove that I was much more. 

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An opportunity to be the Program Director at the Baden-Powell Council in Binghamton, NY allowed me to grow by being involved in grant writing. In my time there, I helped to increase income and reduce expenses allowing the program budget to go from 33% to 42% of the Council's overall revenue. ​

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After 3 years, I was ready for my next area of growth...Development/Fundraising. I was hired as a Development Officer where I had six special events in my portfolio that was dedicated to raising approximately $800,000, including a Labor Luncheon that came within $3K of setting a new record (raising $117K) and an Aviation Luncheon that exceeded the old record by $2K (raising $312K).​

 

My next opportunity came with the consolidation of the Chicago Area Council, Northwest Suburban Council, Des Plaines Valley Council, and the Calumet Council to create the Pathway to Adventure Council (PTAC). When I arrived, my responsibility was to grow Exploring and take on the new STEM Scouts pilot. Previous to my arrival, Exploring had lost 33% of its membership in 2014. By the end of 2015, my team made up the loss plus a 0.9% increase. STEM Scouts found a market as well. In the next two years, both programs had double digit growth.

 

In 2017, I was asked to take the role of Director of Development where I lead the team in a Journey to Excellence Gold Rating and 14 months later asked to take on a role that included running the first PTAC Council Camporee that saw over 5,000 attendees.​

 

After the camporee ended, I was asked to take on the role of one of two Assistant Director of Field Service (ADFS), where we achieved membership growth in 2019 for the first time since 2016. In 2020, during the pandemic and a reduction in force, I took on the role of lone ADFS, where we managed to maintain minimal loss of membership (33%) over two years combined, keeping under the national average of 40%. During that time, we also created virtual programming to keep youth interested while they had to step back from the traditional outdoor program.

 

​In the Fall of 2021, I was promoted to Director of Field Service and in 2022, I stepped into the role of Deputy Scout Executive/COO handling all Youth Protection Issues for the Council and giving guidance to the Support and Field Operations, while also continuing to give direction to Foundations and Grants.

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In July of 2023, I took on the responsibility of Director of Field Services for the Mid-America Council in Omaha, Nebraska giving leadership to 14 field staff involved in District Operations and STEM Education. Currently, working with units to have their charters renewals in on time achieving 94% completed.

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In my 25 plus years of service to the Boy Scouts of America, I have proudly served at the pleasure of 7 different Scout Executives and the movement has made me become a confident, strong leader who is always available to motivate and be a resource for the staff and volunteers.

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My involvement in Scouting has spanned two regions and three councils, including two of our nation’s largest urban centers (New York City and Chicago). My experience served me well in smaller communities including Binghamton, NY and Northwest, IN. I have been a motivator and decision maker in major budget planning, recruiting of key volunteers, and support, planning and implementation of major fundraising campaigns and events. I have interfaced with Fortune 500 corporations and all levels of community organizations/businesses.

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I have a significant background in developing and executing highly successful and profitable outdoor adventures and programs. Most recently, I helped lead my teams through difficult situations as well as significant success in implementation of pilot programs.

 

My knowledge of outdoor programs is quite extensive as both a former Camp and Reservation Director, which resulted in increased attendance at all properties. I attended National Camping School (NCS) and have held certifications in Shooting Sports, Program and Camp Management and served on NCS Staff seven times for Program and Day Camp Administration instructing the next group of camp leadership. I have served as Staff Advisor to many committees, including Advancement, Training, Camping, Conservation, Fundraising, Properties, Order of the Arrow, task force on Strategic Planning and have run two large Council wide activities while guiding volunteers on best practices.

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I have learned a good leader inspires the trust others have in you to bring you their problems; not to solve those problems for them, but to help them find their own solutions. While you may not always enjoy people bringing problems to you, it's far better for them to bring them to you while there is still time and opportunity to resolve the situation.

 

 I believe that if you always give 100% of your best effort, you'll never have to wonder if you could have done more.

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