Ep. 46: #CampKindnessDay with Tom Rosenberg

In Episode 46, I chat with Tom Rosenberg, CEO of the American Camp Association about summer camp, accreditation, and #CampKindnessDay.

Big Ideas

#CampKindnessDay
Partnering with Kindness Evolution to promote #CampKindnessDay.
Empathy and kindness need to be taught
Practicing Kindness at Home
The Importance of Story Telling

Tom: “Camp is a place where we put those phones aside, we leave them home, literally – 91% of ACA camps do not allow technology to enter their campers’ life while they are at camp. So at camp we have an opportunity to learn to live and work and play and communicate with other kids and young adults from different perspectives from our own.”

Tom: “I hope that on #CampKindnessDay … campers will share stories of how they’ve learned to be kind.”

Tom: “Showing appreciation for other people, and helping them feel valued and part of the community – that’s kindness. But that’s also the way we lead.”

Tom: “When kids are in an environment where they feel appreciated and included, then they’re willing to take positive risks and try new things that they’ve never tried before.”

Tom’s Bio

Tom Rosenberg, CEO of the American Camp Association (ACA)

Tom Rosenberg has a distinguished career in the camp profession and a long resume of service to ACA. He most recently served as the executive director of Camp Judaea in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Prior to Camp Judaea, Tom spent more than two decades with Blue Star Camps in North Carolina, most of those years as a director. Tom is a past national treasurer and board member of the ACA as well as a past board president and treasurer of ACA Southeastern. A founding board member of the North Carolina Youth Camp Association, Tom was awarded the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural Camp Industry Leadership Award as well as the American Camp Association’s National Honor Award and ACA Southeastern’s Distinguished Service Award.

With an educational focus in business, Tom graduated with distinction from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California with an MBA and from the AB Freeman School of Business at Tulane University with a BS in Management. He is also a graduate of ACA’s Camp Director Institute.

Tom melds his experience in the camp profession with business expertise, inspirational vision, successful fundraising experience, professional agility, organizational skills, and strategic focus — attributes that are essential to achieving success as ACA’s President/CEO. We are indeed fortunate to have such a thoughtful, dedicated, and experienced leader who is willing to take his commitment to camp, youth development, and ACA to a greater level. Tom, his wife Pam Sugarman, and their son Daniel live in Atlanta, Georgia.