Meet Our Staff
We take great pride in the quality of our superb staff, which consists of college students and education professionals from all over the U.S. and the world. We often have friends from the UK and Europe on staff, while every grade level enjoys the company of counselors from Israel.
Each staff member is carefully selected based on skills, prior experience and motivation for working with children. Every individual is interviewed personally, submits references which are carefully verified and is given a thorough background check in accordance with American Camp Association and Maryland Youth Camp Safety Act regulations.
We are happy that our supervision ratio exceeds that set by the American Camp Association. We enjoy an unusually high rate of returning staff, including “homegrowns” (staff members who are formers campers at Camps Airy & Louise), thanks to our warm atmosphere, excellent staff facilities and experienced senior staff members.
Alicia Block Berlin
Co-Executive Director
Director, Camp Louise
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Alicia has spent her entire life at Camp Louise. She began in 1980 as a camper, going from CIT to Counselor to Unit Leader to Assistant Director, Director (since 2008), and Co-Executive Director (since 2022).
Her background and experiences (in and out of camp) translate into everything she does at camp, helping to create lifelong memories and friendships for campers and staff alike.
When she’s not at camp in the summer, she’s constantly working and learning, striving to continue to grow a strong camp community. Camp Louise is built on a 100+ year legacy, and she’s proud to add 3rd, 4th and even 5th generation campers, while also excited to bring in brand new campers with no previous connection.
Her family is also a camp family – she met her husband Neil at Camp Airy, and their three daughters have basically been at camp since they were born. They are now on staff, and you can find Hannah, Marissa, and Ellie with their campers and teaching at the pool. When Alicia is not working, she loves spending time with her family and friends – and beating them in games like Bananagrams, Rummikub, Phase Ten, and more.
Quotable Quote: “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”
Lauren Perlin
Co-Executive Director
Director of Development
Since 2016, Lauren has worked for Camps Airy & Louise leading fundraising and development efforts. In 2022, she became Co-Executive Director, continuing to focus on both annual and capital giving. She splits her time across two key areas: raising support for camperships through The Awesome Fund and cultivating major gifts for capital projects and long-term sustainability.
Lauren is proud that The Awesome Fund continues to grow each year, helping ensure that any child who wants to be at Camp can be there regardless of financial circumstances. Most recently, she led the fundraising efforts for the new Camp Airy dining hall, an $11 million project that opened in Summer 2025 and now serves as the heart of Camp Airy. Her work also helped bring “Jill’s Place,” the multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art performance center at Camp Louise, to life. She also spends significant time reconnecting alumni to Camp and strengthening the broader Airy & Louise community.
A former camper at Louise, Lauren married a former Airy alumnus, Ryan. Together, they have three daughters at Camp Louise, including their oldest who was a CIT in 2025. She is deeply proud of her Jewish identity, having celebrated her Bat Mitzvah at age 35 in Israel at the Wall alongside hundreds of Jewish women from around the world. When she’s not meeting with alumni or giving tours of Camp, you can find her with a diet coke in her hand or taking a walk.
Quotable Quote: “You can always, always give something, even if it’s only kindness.” – Anne Frank
Scott Black
Director of Operations
Interim Co-Director, Camp Airy
Scott Black is a proud Camp Airy alum. What started as one summer at age 9 has become a lifelong connection to the mountain. He has a background in graphic design and has spent much of his career within the Jewish community, including roles at Towson University Hillel and Hillel International. He previously served as Assistant Director of Camp Airy before returning as Director of Operations, bringing a combination of camp experience, dedication to youth programming, and tech skills to the role. Each summer, Scott looks forward to providing a space for campers to thrive and find the same joy he found in camp years ago.
Scott and his wife Lauren have the added joy of watching their own children call Camps Airy & Louise their summer home. When not attending to emails and phone calls, you can most likely find Scott on stage hosting game shows or participating in other camp shenanigans.
Quotable Quote: “Have fun. That’s what life is all about.” — Bob Hope
Jeannie Freeman
Director of Finance
Jeannie joined our team as the Director of Finance during the Fall of 2025! Jeannie has lived in Michigan her whole life and especially loves the Fall there when the leaves become so colorful. Jeannie began her career in the automotive industry and eventually transitioned to a career in public accounting. When her kids were young, Jeannie volunteered for several non-profit organizations and loved the ability to give back while having meaning to the work she was doing.
Jeannie is the wizard of spreadsheets and numbers. She keeps our finances on track so camp can be full of fun. From budgets to planning, she makes sure everything runs smoothly behind the scenes!
Outside of work, Jeannie can often be found at her kids’ archery tournaments, football, and baseball games. She also enjoys outdoor activities such as camping and fishing!
Quotable Quote: “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” — Aesop
Zac Plotkin
Interim Co-Director, Camp Airy
Zac brings something to the table that not many of our staff do – he’d never been to Airy or Louise before joining us on staff (he’s not a complete outsider – his two sisters did go to Camp Louise)! After spending 13 years as a camper, counselor, and supervisor at Capital Camps, Zac graduated from Towson University and accepted the role here of Trainee Division Head and Engagement Coordinator. He’ll readily admit that at first, Airy & Louise was just the first stop on his professional journey, but the fantastic community here kept him close and engaged. He became the Assistant Director in 2020, and now going into his 9th year on the team, he’s thrilled to be taking on the role of Co-Director. Zac is passionate about creating awesome programs, finding and training excellent staff members, and making a positive impact on the lives of campers and staff alike.
Outside of camp, Zac loves cooking and spending time outdoors with his Border Collie, Jasper. They hike on trails almost every day, and Jasper is the official taste tester in Zac’s kitchen.
Quotable Quote: “You don’t stop playing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop playing.” — George Bernard Shaw
Jaci Steinhart
Assistant Director, Camp Louise
Growing up attending overnight camp in NC and working at a camp in PA during college — Jaci decided to get back into the camping world after 11 years of being an educator in Atlanta. She joined the Airy & Louise team in February of 2019 and hasn’t looked back. She loves talking with new families about camp, giving tours of camp, hiring and training new staff, planning programs, and her favorite part of her job is during the summer when she can participate in activities around camp with the campers and staff.
Outside of camp, Jaci enjoys cheering on the Buffalo Bills and the Florida State Seminoles. She also enjoys playing lacrosse, and if you ever want to talk about the Gilmore Girls — she has watched every episode!
Quotable Quote: “True friends are never apart – maybe in distance, but never in heart.”
Susan Vogel
Business Manager
Susan has been working at camp since 2014, when she spent her first summer handing out mail and working canteen. After falling in love with camp life, she began working full-time, managing facility rentals during the spring and fall, and purchasing everything possible for camp — from arts and crafts supplies to dishwashers and plungers — during the summer months.
A transplant from NYC, Susan has a background in advertising and marketing. Susan became part of our camp family after marrying her husband Bruce and moving to Baltimore in 2005. Before camp, she was a stay at home mom to her two kids who have been campers for the last 9 years, one at Airy, one at Louise.
When she’s not working, Susan loves spending time with her family, trying new restaurants, exploring local areas, and playing lots of Bananagrams. She also loves running marathons (on Netflix).
Quotable Quote: It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up. — Vince Lombardi
Henry Rosendale
Accounts Payable
Henry has worked in our Baltimore office for eight years, making sure all of our bills are paid promptly and correctly. He enjoys taking care of back-office work, as well as helping with off-season activities, and visiting camp when he can in the summer. Henry worked in banking for 15 years, in branches as well as commercial lending documentation. He can also be found occasionally assisting in the kitchen for some of our off-season rental groups, since he has worked in a number of different restaurants in a variety of roles.
Henry enjoys running, and recently completed the Baltimore Running Festival Half Marathon. He also loves reading, cooking, and video games.
Quotable Quote: “The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.” — Neil Gaiman
Zoey Senzel
Marketing Coordinator
Zoey joined our team in 2021, which was also her first summer ever at overnight camp! Though she never attended overnight camp while growing up, her older sister went to Camp Louise, so Zoey was already familiar with the Airy & Louise community. Zoey is the mastermind behind many of the things you may see online: our camp Instagram accounts, Facebook page, and website. You may see Zoey around in the summer with her shark backpack, and if you catch her during Shark Week in July, she may even give you a shark sticker.
Zoey can frequently be found identifying a variety of cloud types.
Lexie Werner
Operations Specialist
Lexie has been working with Camp since 2021, when they joined Camp Airy as the seasonal Digital Media Specialist. The following fall, Lexie joined the Camps Airy & Louise staff part-time in the Social Media and Marketing department, and the rest is history! Since then, Lexie’s worked on a variety of projects as part of the year-round team, including the Camps Airy & Louise Centennial Celebration, and working on maintaining ACA accreditation.
Previously a “big summer theatre guy,” Lexie brings a variety of non-profits administration experience to their role at camp. Outside of work, they double as a professional photographer and dabble in extreme sports such as NYT Wordle and Connections.
Quotable Quote: “My cabbages!!!!!!!” — Cabbage Guy, Avatar The Last Airbender
Mike Tallman
Logistics & Groups Manager
Mike, known to many only by his last name, “Tallman,” has been working with Camps Airy & Louise since the summer of 1987, when he started as a young counselor. Now, he works year-round as an onsite manager of transportation, security, and off-season rental groups.In his time off, Mike loves traveling, hiking and exploring.
Quotable Quote: Work hard and play harder.
Joanna Rubin
Food Service Manager
Joanna grew up in Israel, and has always gravitated toward educational community environments, seeking out counselor positions in a variety of youth programs from a young age. After her time served in the IDF, Joanna worked as a guidance counselor and manager for a youth group on Kibutzim and Moshavim in Israel for over 5 years. At the same time, Joanna worked as an assistant manager at a small grocery store, providing her with the base knowledge for doing inventory, working with suppliers, and managing food safety.
But surprisingly, it wasn’t until 2018 when Joanna moved to Florida that she broke into the food industry. Looking for a fresh start, she worked her way up to assistant General Manager at a small restaurant and, after 3 years in the Miami industry, Joanna sought something more fulfilling. It was then that she found Camps Airy and Louise—or maybe Camp found her. When accidentally applying for a cook position (not a cook), Susan caught Joanna’s resume and offered her a Food Service Manager position at Camp Airy. After her first summer in 2020, Joanna fell in love with camp. And now, as of 2022, she is excited to join the office team year-round to oversee both Airy and Louise food service.
You might find Joanna staying active, riding her bike, hiking, thrifting, cooking, spending time with her dog, doing photography, or crafting.
Quotable Quote: “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours” — Dolly Parton
Manny Gerton
Campership Coordinator
While growing up in Baltimore, summers for Manny, although filled with adventures, didn’t find him signed up for the celebrated excitement of summer camp. Instead he waited until years later when he married Karen, whose own long-term affiliation at Camps Airy & Louise has inspired countless members of the camp community. Summertime in the Catoctin Mountains would then become an enjoyable part of his life as well. Volunteering his time, he’s been called on to do a lot of ‘whatever is needed’. One assignment that brings him great pleasure is overseeing the ‘Road Crew’ on opening and closing days at Camp Louise. In those brief encounters, he’s found a shared joy of the memories to come and a responsibility to assure families and their campers we can manage just about anything. Some of those interactions are informed perhaps by his ‘regular’ day job as a clinical psychologist.
In his year-round capacity as Campership Coordinator, he oversees the founding philanthropic mission of Aaron and Lillie Straus and Miss Ida (S’Ida) Sharagrodsky to ensure those without sufficient financial resources will find hope in the Straus-inspired camperships. And bunks full of happy children have benefitted over the last 100+ years.
To find Manny outside of camp, check here first: 1. On a college campus hustling to a ballgame. 2. At a favorite Jewish Deli/Bakery, always searching for the best corned beef sandwich or rainbow cake. 3. He and Karen recently welcomed a gaggle of grandchildren and he’s usually trailing them everywhere.
Quotable Quote: “A long walk and a calm conversation are an incredible combination if you want to build a bridge” — Seth Godin