Adam Weinstein
Executive Director, American Camp Associate NY, and NJ
Adam Weinstein has been the Executive Director of the American Camp Association, New York and New Jersey since 2005. Adam attended five years of day camp and sixteen years of resident camp as both a camper and staff member. Adam has been featured discussing camp on local television including WCBS, WABC and WNYW and in articles in The New York Times, The Journal News, Newsday, Staten Island Advance, and New York Family, among others. Adam attended Yale University and Columbia Law School and practiced law at the Goddard Riverside Community Center for ten years before joining ACA, NY and NJ. Adam lives in New York City with his partner Rodrick and their children Ruthie and Alexander (both day campers).
Renee Flax
Director, Camper Placement, American Camp Association, NY and NJ
Renee Flax is the Director of Camper Placement for the American Camp Association, New York and New Jersey. She has been assisting area families find the right camp experience for their children since 1998. Renee has an extensive knowledge of camp programs and philosophies. Each summer, Renee travels to dozens of ACA accredited camps. She knows the camp directors and senior staff personally and has a keen understanding of each camp's philosophy, program and facilities. She is recognized as an authority on camping and has been featured in The Associated Press, The New York Times, The New York Post, Newsday, The Journal News, Parent Guide and New York Family. Renee graduated Syracuse University (1971) with a degree in Early Childhood Education. Renee attended summer camp for 15 years as a camper, counselor, and group leader. She is the mother of two daughters who were also long time campers and grandmother to four grandchildren.
Peg Smith
Chief Executive Officer, American Camp Association
Peg Smith, with twenty-six years experience working with children, youth, and families, is widely recognized for her entrepreneurial work style and organizational capacity—and her ability to move people, organizations, and government agencies through significant change. Born and raised in Indiana, Smith has a B.S. in early childhood and family studies and a master's degree in management. She began her career in 1974 as a Head Start teacher. During the summers of 1976 and 1977, Smith created a career program which was implemented in five counties and reached over four hundred young people.
In 1977, Smith became the director of the Head Start program for Child Adult Resource Services. In this capacity, she was responsible for children and family services for a five-county area. Under her leadership, the program services were expanded by 74 percent, and she successfully established a home-based infant stimulation program for high-risk infants.
Smith served in this position until 1989 when she was asked to be the director of the Children’s Division for Child Adult Resource Services. The Children's Division served a nine-county area providing Head Start, developmental disability, and public school preschool services. During her tenure in this position, Smith encouraged a wide array of agencies to effectively collaborate and to develop multi-county alliances—and was also able to increase the nearly $500,000 budget by 30 percent with funds raised from individuals and corporations.
In 1991, Smith joined the staff of the Office of the Governor of Indiana as the director of the Governor's Step Ahead initiative. Smith managed a $43.3 millionbudget, which included state and federal dollars as well as private funding. The Step Ahead initiative was supported by eleven state government agencies and was successfully implemented in all ninety-two Indiana counties in a two-year period. During that time, Smith also created the first Bureau of Child Development in Indiana state government.
In 1995, Smith became the executive director of the Indiana Youth Institute (IYI) in Indianapolis, Indiana. IYI is an intermediary agency serving the youth of Indiana by supporting adults statewide who care about youth—both youth-serving professionals and policymakers—with research, training, and advocacy.
In 1998, Smith became the chief executive officer of the American Camp Association® (ACA) in Martinsville, Indiana. The American Camp Association is a national organization representing over 7,000 individual members and over 2,400 ACA-Accredited® camps. ACA is a community of camp professionals who, for nearly one hundred years, have joined together to share knowledge and experience and to promote positive human development by enriching the lives of children, youth, and adults through the camp experience.
Smith presents at both state and national conferences for varied professional associationsand youth-serving groups.
Peg has discussed various camp topics for national media including NBC’s Today Show, CBS’ Early Show, NBC Nightly News, FOX News Channel’s Strategy Room, USA Today and The Associated Press among others.
