Board & Staff
Our Leadership
Board
Anne Klaeysen, D. Min.
Dr. Klaeysen (she/her), D. Min. is clergy leader emerita of the New York Society for Ethical Culture where the Encampment was founded. Former Humanist Chaplain at NYU and Humanist Religious Life adviser at Columbia University. Board member since 2013.
Evelin Aquino, MA
Co-Chair and Board Development and Program CommitteesEvelin Aquino (she/her) is a consultant/trainer and provides workshops / trainings on coalition development, leadership development, youth and community empowerment, with strong emphasis on equity and engagement. Former Amherst-Pelham Regional Middle School Climate and Culture Coordinator.
Dr. Dyanne London
Co-Chair and Alum Outreach & Engagement CommitteeDyanne London (she/her), Ph.D. (Staff 1981) is a licensed psychologist in private practice and at Harvard University in the Staff/Faculty Behavioral Health Clinic. Member of founding board, board member since 2011.
Steve Leibman
Treasurer and Fundraising CommitteeSteve Leibman (he/him), (alum 1969), Human Resources and Coaching, with a specialty in working with people from many cultures and backgrounds. Member of founding board, board member since 2011.
Maria M. Hernandez
SecretaryDr. Maria M. Hernandez, Secretary, (alum 1979), principal of Rio Real Dual Immersion Academy, a K-8 school focused on language education and the appreciation of cultural contributions by all ethnicities and races. Board member since 2014.
Mabel Picotte, M.Ed.
Program CommitteeMabel Picotte (she/her), (alum 1992 and former staff), M. Ed. Harvard in School Leadership. Mabel was an integral part of the Center for American Indian Research and Studies (CAIRNS) in Martin, SD. Member of founding board, board member since 2011.
Steve Davis
Program CommitteeSteve Davis (he/him), Founder and CEO, Institute for Human Relations. Former Director of Diversity & Community Relations, Pomfret School, CT, former director of the Virginia Eaton Multicultural Resource Center. Board member since 2013.
Nancy Marr
Alum Outreach & Engagement CommitteeNancy Marr (she/her) (alum 1950), founded a youth and family agency that became the Bellport Boys and Girls Club in 1996. Currently involved in programs that try to inform people about the economic problems in our community and country. Member of founding board, board member since 2011.
Dr. Faith Kares
Fundraising CommitteeDr. Faith R. Kares (she/her), lifelong educator, community organizer, and inclusive researcher. Associate Director of Research & Evaluation for the Institute for Racial Justice (Loyola University Chicago), and faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Board member since 2024.
Elliott Black
Alum Outreach & Engagement Committee
Marquise Steward
Fundraising Committee
Margot Gibney
Executive DirectorMargot Gibney (she/her), (alum 1971) oversight of the organization and program design. She has worked extensively in the justice system nationally with at-risk youth, young adults, and families. Member of founding board, board member since 2011.
Angel Mendez
Fundraising Committee
A'Shaela Chaires
Fundraising CommitteeA’Shaela Chaires, Microsoft Commercial Executive, is known for her passions for innovation, operational excellence and strategic leadership across Finance, Marketing, Sales, and Compliance. She is a sponsor for the annual MLK HBCU tour in Springfield and provides educational, financial and community service through Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Board member since 2024.
George Maxxwell Guffey
Fundraising CommitteeGeorge Maxxwell Guffey, (he/him), lifelong learner, social media marketer, person who wants to enact good. Board member since 2025.
Aaron Richardson
Program and Alum Outreach & Engagement CommitteesAaron Richardson, has been a member of the EFC since 2014, attending as a Encamper, later to work as an intern and now as a board member working with board committees and on organizational and program planning. Aaron’s focus is education through facilitation, curriculum design and youth empowerment. Board member since 2024.
Year-round Staff
Margot Gibney
Executive DirectorMargot Gibney (she/her) has worked extensively in the justice system nationally with at-risk youth, young adults, and families. She has over 35 years of nonprofit management experience, including program design and planning, implementation, training and supervision, fundraising and financial management, community outreach, cross-sector collaboration.
Jane Sapp
Education DirectorJane Sapp (she/her) is a nationally admired cultural worker, musician, educator, and activist whose approach to social transformation is rooted in African American musical traditions. Jane actively engages people in creative cultural processes, writing songs together, telling stories, shaping festivals, and designing museums of local culture.
Jesus Salcido Chavarria
Program DirectorJesus Salcido (he/him) is an educator, community organizer, and bilingual hip hop recording artist originally from Chihuahua, Mexico. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Texas at Austin and is passionate about theatre, cooking, and education. Currently based in Austin, Texas, Jesus channels his diverse interests and talents into making a positive impact within his community.
Florencia Ramirez
Pesticide-Free Soil Project DirectorFlorencia Ramirez (she/her) is an award-winning author of Eat Less Water, a public speaker, and an environmental justice activist. She is an expert on sustainable living. She is the host of the podcast THE KITCHEN ACTIVIST.
Juna Rosales Muller
Pesticide-Free Soil Project Internship DirectorJuna Rosales Muller (she, her) lives in Ventura County, California, where she enjoys working with young people through experiential education and arts as activism. Her practice centers on finding collaborative ways to grow the connections between movements for social & ecological justice.
Marion Silverbear
Admin and Communications DirectorMarion Silverbear (she/her), has spent many years administering and communicating with the EFC and other programs in service of making the world a more compassionate, creative, authentic, and just place. She is the former Coordinator of the Stanford Hospital Music Program and creator and facilitator of Dream Soirees.
SNAPSHOTS
2015 InterGen group with board members Margot Gibney, Ada Deer and Michael Carter.
Major Supporters
The Ethical Society has a long history with the Encampment, since Algernon D. Black and Alice K. Pollitzer founded the EFC. This support continues today.
The Libraries at Virginia Commonwealth University house the archives of the Encampment for Citizenship. In addition, the Libraries were a major sponsor of the 2013 summer program and a special event on July 13, 2013, for alumni, encampers, staff, and the community.
In Recognition
Thanks to Ruth E. Thaler-Carter (White Plains ’70) for acting on her inspiration to create the alumni association which then led to the re-launch of the Encampment in 2013. Since then she has generously donated her copyediting talents to the Encampment. To learn more about Ms. Thaler-Carter and the beginnings of the alumni association, click here.
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Hearing Dr. Kenneth Clark was like a thunderbolt!
He and Dr. Mamie Clark devised a famous experiment, showing white dolls and black dolls to Black schoolchildren in the segregated South. The children’s overwhelming preference for white dolls demonstrated the damage that racism inflicted on them. These results were used by Thurgood Marshall in Brown v. Board of Education, declaring segregation in public schools “inherently unequal” and unconstitutional. As I realized the impact of how Drs. Clark and Clark used their expertise to help their people by working against racism, I connected the dots and realized that I also could do something of equal importance for American Indians. And I have!
Ada Deer was elected the first woman chair of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. She led a grassroots movement that brought about an historic reversal of federal American Indian policy, recognizing the Menominee tribe. She served as the first woman Assistant Secretary, Indian Affairs, US Department of Interior. She continues to work tirelessly as an activist for American Indian rights.