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, and over the next 30+ years she has gone from CIT to Counselor to Unit Leader to Assistant Director and, since 2008, Director. It’s her experiences throughout that get translated into everything she does at Camp Louise, helping create lifelong memories and friendships for campers and staff alike.
When she’s not at camp in the summer, she’s constantly learning and working on programming, recently participating in the Jewish camp fellowship program Lekhu Lakhem. Building a strong camp community starts with traveling around the country and around the globe to recruit the best staff imaginable, while at the same time meeting with new prospective campers and maintaining her relationships with current ones. Camp Louise is built on a 100-year legacy, so 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 girls are all Louise campers. When she’s not working, she loves spending time with her family and friends – and beating them in games like Bananagrams, Apples to Apples, Scattergories, Phase Ten and more.
Quotable Quote: “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”
Marty Rochlin
Co-Executive Director
Director, Camp Airy
Camp has been part of Marty’s life since 1984, when he was a first-time Airy camper in Bunk 30. Having been a camper, CIT, counselor and Unit Leader, he knows firsthand that camp is the best place to grow up. Just as slogans of the past have touted, he did find his inner awesome, and make friends for life. Marty became a teacher because of camp and, as a teacher, he met his wife Pam — she was introduced to and loved camp … and a short time later, the same thing happened for their daughter, Lilly. Marty was in the right place at the right time when camp was looking for a new Director leading up to Summer 2014. Lilly’s camp journey led her to be a 2021 Camp Louise CIT … 30 summers after Marty! The three of them were all on camp staff together in 2023.
Outside of camp, Marty’s interests include pizza, the Ravens and the Orioles, and his dog Rory.
Quotable Quote: “Live life joyfully.”
Lauren Perlin
Co-Executive Director
Director of Development
Since 2016, Lauren has worked full-time for Camps Airy & Louise leading our fundraising efforts. She splits her time equally across two roles: Raising money for camperships through The Awesome Fund; and curating larger donations for our Capital Campaign. She’s proud not only of the fact that each year The Awesome Fund continues to grow, but that her efforts helped lead to the recent dedication of “Jill’s Place”, the multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art performance center at Camp Louise. She also spends a considerable amount of time reaching out to camp alumni to reconnect them to all the incredible things happening at camp today.
A former camper at Louise, she married a former Airy camper & counselor, with whom she now has three daughters soon to follow her as a Louise camper. And, she’s proud of her Jewish identity, having celebrated her Bat Mitzvah at age 35 in Israel at the Wall while traveling with hundreds of Jewish women from around the world. When not meeting with alumni or giving tours of camp, she spends time on her Peloton or on her boat.
Quotable Quote: “You can always, always give something, even if it’s only kindness” – Anne Frank
Scott Black
Director of Operations
Scott Black is a proud Camp Airy alum. What started as one summer at age 9 now has been a summer routine every year since. He has a background in graphic design and his professional experience has mostly been within the Jewish community including serving as Assistant Director of Camp Airy from 2010 – 2015. After which he joined Towson University’s Hillel as the Assistant Director before moving to Hillel International as the Director for Digital Solutions. The mountain has called him back and he’s thrilled to now serve in the role of Director of Operations. With his combined love for camp, dedication to youth programming, knowledge of design and tech skills, Scott looks forward each summer to providing a space for campers to thrive and find the joy he found in camp so many years ago.
Scott and his wife Lauren have the joy of watching their own children attend Camps Airy & Louise and make it their summer home as well. When not attending to emails and phone calls, you can most likely find Scott on stage hosting a variety of game shows or participating in other Camp shenanigans.
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.”
Zac Plotkin
Assistant 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)! However, he’s spent most of the summers in his life attending and working at other camps. When he started at Camp Airy, he was the Trainee Division Head, in charge of leading the transitionary years where high school campers go from being “just campers” to “campers and…” great social leaders and stellar future staff members!
He brings all of his prior experience in camping to his position now as Assistant Director, to help create awesome programs, find and train amazing staff members, and help oversee the summer experience for both campers and staff alike. He’s a big believer in the “10 for 2 Movement” (Working 10 months of the off-season each year for one purpose: 2 months of camp!). He finds his job tremendously rewarding, knowing that the experiences he plans have such a huge positive impact on so many people each summer.
At home, Zac loves outdoor activities like tent camping, campfire cooking, and hiking, all of which he can do with his dog, Jasper! He’s spent over a year of his life living in Israel, having been on a couple of different long term programs there. His friends would say that he is just about always talking about camp, and he plans to continue working at summer camps for a long time!
Quotable Quote: “If you look for the light, you can often find it, but if you look for the dark, that is all you will ever see.” – Uncle Iroh, LoK
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 then 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