Advisory Board
Our advisory board has child development professionals, education professionals and camp professionals from around the world who support the purpose, mission, and vision of Camp Education International.
Julie Lythcott-Haims
California, United States
NYT Bestselling author of Your Turn, Real American, and How to Raise an Adult; TED Speaker; Mentor; Activist. Former Dean of Freshman and Undergraduate Advising, Stanford University.
Jean Twenge
California, United States
Author of iGen, Professor at San Diego State University and Owner, Author and speaker.
Terri Givens
California, United States
Author, Radical Empathy: Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides, Higher Education Leader and Advocate
Christine Ching
Shanghai, China
Book author and CEO at Cardinal Oaks Play-based Learning Center
Daniel Parra
Mexico City, Mexico
NYU Abu Dhabi Senior Outreach Officer at Institute of International Education
Jackie Pye
Ontario, Canada
Educator, project manager, and program designer
Girish Venkat
California, United States
Entrepreneur, Product Strategy & Technology Executive, Advisor to Early Stage Technology Companies
James Gamble
California, United States
Professor, Orthopaedic Surgery at Stanford University
Peg Smith
Indiana, United States
Retired CEO American Camp Association
Tom Holland
Wyoming, United States
Former American Camp Association CEO and current Owner/Director at Wilderness Adventures
Emily Dobson
Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Counselor, mentor, educator, mom, access warrior, public speaker, global networker, and geo-swerver for college placement
Our Leadership
Stuart Jones
Principal, Founder
Stuart is an American child development professional with years of experience as President and CEO of multiple organizations. He has been a member of the American Camp Association (ACA) since 1994, and is a frequent speaker at both local and national ACA conferences, leading sessions on camp management, staff supervision, child development, business management, and program evaluation.
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In 2001 Stuart founded Outpost Summer Camps – a private, independent day camp offering a traditional summer program to children aged 3-14. As the largest private, family-owned day camp in San Diego, California, Outpost Summer Camps serves approximately 1500 children each summer with a staff of 180 high school and college students. Outpost is characterized by small groups, outdoor adventure, and the consistent high quality of its program and staff.
Stuart also founded and currently serves as CEO of Acorn Evaluation, Inc., a consulting firm providing professional development and management coaching in data-driven decision making for Head Start programs nationwide. Head Start is a federally-funded program serving one million American children ages 0-5 and their families living at the poverty level, and is currently funded at close to 13 billion dollars each year.
Stuart previously served as a Senior Research Associate at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, California, providing evaluation and technical assistance for a countywide health program for families with children aged 0-5, and worked as an external evaluator with the California Department of Education’s oversight of the Even Start Family Literacy program. He also worked as a child development consultant for the Poway Unified School District (PUSD), training supervisory teams at each of the district’s 26 elementary schools.
Stuart holds a Master's degree in developmental psychology and is a graduate of the University of California at San Diego. He is father to five children ages 22, 21, 18, 12, and 9.
Jeff Gamble
Principal, Founder
Jeff Gamble graduated from Stanford University with a BS in Biology and a BA in Psychology with a focus on Child Development. Upon graduation, Jeff co-founded Jefunira Camp. Jefunira Camp focuses on social/emotional development through play.
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Jeff is a member of the American Camp Association (ACA) and has served as an ACA Lead Visitor for over 20 years, helping camps to ensure that they are operating according to the best standards and practices of the camp industry. Jeff is also a member of the Western Association of Independent Camp (WAIC) and is the current Vice President, Chair of the Northern California section.
Jeff has been a member of the International Camp Fellowship (ICF) for a decade. He has done extensive consulting in the international camp community. From 2014- 2017, he was the Managing Director of Green Camp Bali, located in Bali, Indonesia. Jeff has consulted with camps in England, Japan, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil. The majority of his international camp work has been done in the ASEAN region. Jeff is married and has three children, ages 19, 17, and 15 years old. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Dave Brown
Chief Learning Officer
Dave Brown LCSW, is a camp director, therapist, and educator based in northern California. For over 20 years, he has worked with children, youth, and families in a variety of settings including residential treatment facilities, public schools, therapeutic classrooms, and summer camps.
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As a year-round director for Mountain Camp, an independent, residential summer camp in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, he specializes in hiring, developing, and managing the counseling staff. Dave speaks at regional and national conferences regarding youth development, staff training, leadership, and social-emotional skills. He’s trained leadership staff at some of the best camps in the western United States and has been published in the American Camp Association’s Camping Magazine.
Dave has a BA in Sociology from Wesleyan University and an MSW from U.C. Berkeley where he specialized in direct practice with children and families and school social work. He was awarded the Hutto Patterson Fellowship in School Social Work in 2006. Dave has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker since 2011 and maintains a small telehealth therapy practice for children and adults. (Lic#27860)