Tom Elson
Tom has spent nearly two decades working across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to advance impactful solutions toward broad environmental and economic challenges. He has worked at the White House, U.S. Commerce Department, and started a nonprofit to increase funding for more people to experience the health benefits of spending time in nature. He currently supports Google’s economic and community development efforts across their global infrastructure portfolio. Tom’s family has been connected to Camp from the start; his grandfather, Joe Tucker, was a camper and staff member in the 1930’s and he later became a close friend and confidant of Muggs Lorber. Tom was a camper in the 1990’s and cabin counselor and trip staff for many years in the 2000’s. Considering the tremendously impactful role Camp played in his life, he is proud to be part of this effort to secure its future. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his husband and their infant son.
Adam Braude
Adam has spent the last sixteen years serving as the Director of Financial Services at Webb School of Knoxville (TN), where he has also coached track and cross country and led backcountry hiking trips. In July 2023 he will transition to a new position when he becomes Durham (NC) Academy’s Chief Financial & Operations Officer. Adam first came to Camp Nebagamon in the summer of 1984, and he subsequently spent a total of eighteen summers as a camper, Cabin Counselor, Assistant Waterfront Director, Program Director, and Associate Director. Summers at Nebagamon were a critical part of his formative experience; not only did Camp influence his worldview in countless ways, but it was there where he met many of the people who to this day he considers his best friends in the world. Adam and his wife, Julie, met on a blind date in Chicago, and they were married on Madeline Island, where the northern lights made an appearance at their reception. Given their ineligibility for the CN 2nd generation board, daughters Evie (17) and Millie (14) have both enjoyed meaningful camping careers of their own at Camp Thunderbird.
John Wasserman
John practiced law in Denver for 35 years and is now happily retired. When not traveling he spends his time volunteering as a board member/fundraiser for organizations focused on the education and welfare of young people. He spent many years as a Nebagamon camper, Cabin Counselor, Trip Staff, and Family Camper. For eight years he had the honor and pleasure of renewing his Camp connection as a member of the Camperships for Nebagamon board. Each member of his family—including his spouse, Esther, and children Danny (camper, Cabin Counselor, and Trip Staff) and Emily (camper and Staff at a wonderful girl’s camp)—has been the beneficiary of the lifelong friendships and skills that Nebagamon continues to foster.
Ted Stein
Ted is a lawyer and a shareholder in Anderson Kill P.C. in New York and Stamford, CT, whose practice currently is focused on legal ethics and risk management after decades of representing policyholders in insurance coverage claims and litigation relating to environmental and asbestos liabilities, D&O and E&O disputes, and crime losses. Outside of the office, he has worked as an adjunct law professor at local law schools and as a volunteer ski patroller. He was raised at Camp Nebagamon by his parents Nardie and Sally Stein, was a camper in the 1970s, worked on Cabin Staff and Trip Staff into the 1980s, attended Family Camp in the 1990s, and vicariously enjoyed his kids’ time at Camp in the 2000s.
Patricia Russell
It was largely the amazing summers living and working at Camp Nebagamon that led Patricia to a nearly three-decade stint working at Phillips Academy, a residential school in Andover, MA. Patricia subsequently joined the newly formed Mastery Transcript Consortium, a national nonprofit membership organization founded to help make student-centered competency-based education available to all learners. In many ways, Patricia’s days are currently spent helping to expand meaningful enduring learning experiences—much like those that Camp provides—to more young people as part of their schooling.
Roger Wallenstein
Roger’s association with Camp Nebagamon began in 1955 in Swamper-3. In the ensuing decades, he led bicycle trips (1975), directed CNOC (1986-87), and with his wife Judy Wallenstein co-directed and owned Camp Nebagamon (1988-2003). Prior to his tenure as a camp director, Roger was a sportswriter, teacher, and coach. After departing Camp Nebagamon, he coached baseball in the Chicago Public Schools and Park District for seven years as well as wrote about the Chicago White Sox on a weekly basis for the website, The Beachwood Reporter, for 11 seasons, ending in 2021. Roger’s two sons, Chet and Bill, were legacy campers at Camp as is his grandson Jacob Wallenstein, whose first summer was in 2019. Judy and Roger now split their time between Chicago and Indio, California.
Tony Rose
Tony is a (nearly retired) IP lawyer who has practiced entertainment and technology law in Indianapolis for 30 years. For over a decade, Tony was an Adjunct Professor of Internet Law at Indiana University School of Law. He followed his brother and cousins to Camp Nebagamon in the 1970s, where he spent several summers avoiding strenuous trips and hamming it up in GTCs. Tony now splits his time between Indianapolis and Boulder, Colorado, where he continues to discover new Camp connections. He enjoys hiking, biking, international travel, and attending as many Phish concerts as possible. He is married to Marya, who has dutifully attended Family Camp, Reunions, and overly-long keylog ceremonies, and has discovered the meditative joy of weaving friendship bracelets at the Craft Shop.
Tom Mendelsohn
Tom has spent most of the past 40 years managing and supporting not-for-profits. Since 2018, he has focused primarily on connecting donors to grassroots groups organizing in communities that bear the brunt of injustice in this country—groups that are the very best way to engage, register, and turn out historically disenfranchised voters in swing states. Tom has spent time at Camp across seven decades, including as a camper, Cabin Counselor, Trip Staff, CNOC Director, and Wilderness Trip Staff Director. His children, Daniel (and spouse, Steph), Rose, and Nate have all spent years at Camp; in Summer 2023, Rose and Nate will be on staff and Daniel and Steph’s 3-year-old son, Mo, will swim in Lake Nebagamon for the first time. Tom enjoys fishing, hiking, and gardening.
Jason Hirschhorn
Jason is an educator who has worked at the middle school, high school, and collegiate levels on both coasts. Currently, he is a Math and Computer Science Teacher and the Math Department Chair at Hanover High School, a public school in New Hampshire. Jason followed in his grandfather’s, father’s, uncle’s, and aunt’s footsteps at Camp Nebagamon, where Jason has worked as a Cabin Counselor, Trip Staff, and Village Director. Jason has a particular fondness for the Canoeing program and teaching canoe-over-canoe rescues! For the better part of a decade, Jason has been living with his partner, who’s completing a Ph.D. in Psychology at Dartmouth College.
Ken Kanter
Ken Kanter is the Rabbinic Director of Roots of Reform Judaism, a non-profit religious and educational organization. Before that, he was a congregational rabbi in Nashville and Chattanooga, TN, and more recently, served as Associate Dean and Director of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. Ken followed his uncles to Camp, coming as a Swamper in 1962. He was a camper and Cabin Counselor for 16 summers, where he spent much of his time directing camp shows, GTCs, and the Camp Choir (for many years, he has also gone to Family Camp—almost never on time!). Ken was married to the late Wendy Kanter and now to Dr. Toni Kanter, both of whom loved Family Camp as well! Now they are hoping for some grandchildren at Camp, too!
Katy Neusteter
Katy is a communications strategist and the Director of Marketing at American Rivers, a national conservation nonprofit that protects and restores rivers and streams. Her commitment to environmental protection was deeply influenced by the summers she spent at Camp Nebagamon. Both of her parents worked at Camp in the 1980s, and Katy was the Director of Riflery in 2000. She joined the Camperships for Nebagamon Board of Directors in 2016 and is excited to continue the mission of providing opportunities for kids to attend Camp Nebagamon. Katy enjoys fly-fishing, biking, traveling, and sculling with her son and husband. She and her family live in Denver and have a cabin on Lake Nebagamon.
ERIC KESSLER
Eric is a serial impact entrepreneur who founded the philanthropy consulting firm Arabella Advisors and stands at the forefront of innovation and impact in the philanthropic sector. Named one of Inside Philanthropy’s 100 Most Powerful Players in Philanthropy, Eric co-founded the New Venture Fund, the 1630 Fund, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, and the James Beard Foundation’s policy advocacy programs. He worked on the front lines of democracy domestically and abroad for over a decade and sits on the Boards of several national and international businesses and nonprofit organizations. Eric began as a Family Camper at the age of 3 and spent every summer at Camp through Throck. His son Simon is entering his last year as a Lumberjack, while his daughter Ellie hits the trail with NOLS for a 30-day backcountry trip and her Wilderness First Responder certificate. Eric’s wife, Sharapat, is a working artist and while she’s “not a camper,” she might be convinced to work in the Craft Shop someday.
Dan Feldman
Dan has had a career focused on national security and foreign policy issues, moving back and forth between government and the private sector. He served as Ambassador and the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Obama Administration, and he played leadership roles spearheading international climate change efforts in the Biden Administration and on international human rights strategy in the Clinton Administration. He is now a partner and co-chair of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practice group at the law firm Covington & Burling in Washington, DC. His connection with Camp began through strong relationships that his parents developed there in the 1960s, and he was a camper, Cabin Counselor, and Big Trip leader in the 1980s, a Family Camper and Trails Forward speaker decades later, and a frequent convenor of annual Camp alumni events in DC. He and his wife, Gayle Weiswasser, have twin daughters in college, and their 11-year-old son Nate is counting down the days until his return to Camp as a Logger in Summer 2023.