DECA 2025 International Diabetes Camping Conference Program- Speaker Bios – Diabetes Education & Camping Association

Anna Albritton, MS, RD, CDCES

Anna has been active in the diabetes camping community since 2014 in a variety of roles—volunteer, camp staff, Board Member, and community partner at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. In February 2025, she is returning to Kudzu as VP of Mission Delivery, lending oversight to programming, medical, and general operations of the organization. She is excited to be back at DECA and honored to be asked to present.

Kyle Banks

Kyle Banks was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on November 1, 2015, while performing with the Broadway production of Disney’s The Lion King. Performing nightly for sold-out audiences across the country was a dream come true, but after experiencing symptoms of the onset of type 1 diabetes, the dream temporarily turned into a nightmare. The symptoms he experienced were typical of the onset of this chronic illness, but with limited knowledge of type 1 diabetes, he had no idea what was occurring or the drastic life change that would soon follow.

In 2020, he founded the Kyler Cares Foundation, which focuses on improving health outcomes for people of color living with type 1 diabetes. This mission is achieved by ensuring families can access the resources and technology available for better management. Connecting with individuals and families impacted by this chronic condition and building communities of support is Kyle’s driving motivation.

Thanks to innovative funders like the Helmsley Charitable Trust, our impact is spreading, and we continue to build a collaborative coalition of support that includes health systems, school systems, research institutions, and the diabetes industry. 

Katherine Bini

Katherine Bini is an Associate Director at the New Venture Fund where she has managed projects in the medical, conservation, civic engagement and education sectors. Previously, Katherine held a variety of project management roles in the private sector as well as for nonprofits. She also served as the Co-Director of the nonprofit Italian School of San Francisco (La Scuola), in charge of finance, administration and development. Katherine and her two children all enjoyed their numerous day and overnight camp experiences. Katherine holds an MBA from Insead in France and a BA in Anthropology from Amherst College.

Laurie Browne

Laurie Browne, PhD Sr. Director of Innovation and Learning Laurie Browne serves camps and their communities through her work as the Senior Director of Research and Education at the American Camp Association.  In that role, Dr. Browne supports a team of researchers and grant managers who gather insights from the field and translate them into practice.  She is passionate about the transformative role evaluation can play in a camp organization and enjoys working with camp professionals as they work develop a culture of continuous improvement at their camp.  Prior to joining ACA, Dr. Browne was on faculty at California State University, Chico and prior to that she was a day camp director in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She earned her doctorate in parks, recreation, and tourism from the University of Utah.

Megan Castellano

Megan is a long time youth development professional with a background in camps, youth development, sports management and is currently the Managing Director for the American Diabetes Association.  

Natasha Chitsazan

Carla Cox

Carla is a diabetes educator with academic training in nutrition and exercise physiology. She attends camp each year – sometimes many camps!
 

Stephen Dauchert

Stephen is a leader at The Redwoods Group, an insurance carrier for camps and youth-serving organizations. He grew up at traditional camp, where he met his wife, and believe in the power of camping. Stephen was diagnosed with Type 1 in college and wears an OmniPod today.

Phyllisa Deroze

Phyllisa Deroze, Director of Content Strategy at dQ&A, is a global diabetes advocate and co-author of Diabetes Helpers(2023). Misdiagnosed with type 2 diabetes for 8 years before discovering being correctly diagnosed with Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults, she leverages her decade-long career as a Literature Professor to promote diabetes lifestyle advocacy in essays and in the series Doing Diabetes Your Way.

Lisa Drennan

Lisa’s career reflects a deep dedication to fostering inclusion for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. From designing the Sollar Wellness Center at New England Village to leading inclusion initiatives at the South Shore YMCA, her innovative work has earned national recognition. In 2018, she founded MERGE Inclusion Consulting to expand her impact by helping communities embrace meaningful inclusion.

Ernie Fernandez, MD

Camp Director of Camp Sweeney for past 41 years. Practices pediatric medicine in private practice in Dallas Texas. Also is an associate professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of Texas Southwestern medical school. Works at Children’s Medical center in the diabetes center.

Sarah Gleich

Sarah has been mastering type 1 diabetes for so long she was asked by Lisa to present at a conference on it. She hasn’t just made a handful of friends at diabetes camps—she’s built a social network that could rival LinkedIn. And forget just making connections—Sarah turned those into partnerships so impressive even Fortune 500 CEOs would be taking notes.

Gavin Griffiths

Gavin was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes on the turn of the Millennium. After struggles in school, since late teen years he has raised funds and completed endurance challenges – including 30 marathons in 30 days across the UK. It was here Gavin spotted the advantage of recreational engagement in diabetes care, founding “DiAthlete” and its subsidiary “League of Diabetes” – and innovating Game Based Learning techniques to make the diabetes talk connect. Since 2019, Gavin’s team have hosted the UK’s first camp for adults with T1D.

John Hamilton

John is a strategic leader in the camp and out-of-school time (OST) space. He currently serves as Chief Strategy Officer for the Alliance for Camp Health. John has a deep understanding of mental, emotional, and social health (MESH +) of youth and national program expansion. Prior to ACH he served as the national director for Camp HOPE America. John has an MA in Leadership and Cultural Justice, is the founder of the Outdoor Wellbeing Lab, and is a former executive director of a camp near Lake Tahoe.

Eddie Hill, PhD, CPRP

Eddie Hill is an associate professor in the Outdoor & Community Recreation Education program at Weber State University. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Utah with a focus on youth development and diabetes management.

Rob Howe

Rob Howe has been living with Type-1 Diabetes since 2005. He is an Entrepreneur, former professional basketball player and podcaster.

Caroline Martin

Caroline Martin (she/her) is a Program Associate on the Partner Solutions Team in Arabella’s Chicago office. She provides operational and management support to a portfolio of nonprofit organizations, with missions ranging from women’s rights to climate action. She has supported the Type 1 Diabetes Camp Project at NVF for over a year. Caroline comes from a background of local government and nonprofit partnership work. She received a BA in Urban Studies from Fordham University in New York City.

Anthony Myer

Anthony is the Director of Diabetes Youth & Family Services for LifeCare Alliance/Camp Hamwi. Anthony enjoys long walks on the beach, spending time with his beautiful wife and daughter, and throwing out his shoulder throwing dodgeballs at campers during all-camp games. Anthony does not love getting knocked out cold in front of the entire camp during Slip n’ Slide kickball or when med staff tries to force feed him cheese sandwiches during night rounds because his blood sugar is low.

Sarah Noel

Sarah Noel serves as the Executive Director of US Diabetes Patient Advocacy and Professional Relations for Eli Lilly and Company. In this role she leads Lilly’s diabetes advocacy efforts, including managing Lilly’s corporate relationships with patient advocacy and professional medical associations.

Prior to joining Lilly, Sarah spent nearly two decades at JDRF International where she served in a variety of roles, including her last role as Vice President, Community Engagement and Strategic Alliances. 

Sarah, her husband Ryan, and children Simeon and Juliet, enjoy the diversity, culture and community that an urban lifestyle offers near downtown Indianapolis. She enjoys all forms of exercise, reading and experiencing new places and cultures through travel.

Theresa Parsons

Marna Redding

Marna Redding serves as chief development officer, leading business and funds development, growing resources, relationships, and partnerships to expand the work and influence of the American Camp Association. Marna is directly responsible for the design and implementation of strategies to identify funding sources through annual giving efforts, brand alliance, corporate and foundation funding. While not a camp kid herself, Marna resides in upstate New York with her husband and they are proud camp parents of a son and daughter who attend camp in Maine.

Kyle Jacques Rose

Kyle Jacques Rose is a DECA Board member as well as the former Vice President of the Intl. Diabetes Federation where he founded and directed the Young Leadership Camp at IDFEurope and the Global YLD Program. Outside of camp, his work focuses on innovation in healthcare and medical technology as a serial entrepreneur, perhaps best known for co-founding mySugr. His twenty years of experience combine the world of medtech startups and healthcare consumerization with traditional big industry medical device know-how. He helps judge a number of venture pitch competitions including MedTech Innovator, StartUp Hlth, and ADA Innovation.

Rob Shaw

Robert “Rob” Shaw serves as Camp Kudzu’s CEO, leading its professional staff and working closely with the board on policy, strategic planning, budgeting and finances as well as peer groups with other nonprofits. Rob has a deep and longstanding appreciation for the needs of children and youth, and specifically those living with diabetes (T1D). He has nearly three decades of relevant professional experience for leadership, development and believes that that camp is a force for good in young lives and has great zeal for growing Camp Kudzu programs.

Jaren Smith, RN, BSN

Jaren Smith works full-time as a Critical Care Registered Nurse in Boise, Idaho and was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in March 2023 at the age of 25. Since that time, Jaren has created DECA’s first video game summer camp where children use an avatar to interact with peers and learn about Diabetes management. This platform, titled Heroic Diabetes, is extremely scalable and allows even the most vulnerable families to have daily summer camp experiences.

Jennifer Stimpson

Dr. Jennifer Stimpson, a Dallas native and dedicated STEM advocate, empowers students and shapes the future of science. With over two decades of experience teaching Chemistry and Geology in both public and private schools, she has significantly impacted her community by inspiring and empowering students and fostering STEM awareness. Her diverse career includes roles as a forensic chemist and a policy influencer on Capitol Hill as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator. With a proven track record of success, Dr. Stimpson champions the future of STEM by advancing science education through innovative teaching philosophies and practices.

Grechen Throop

Grechen is a long-time staff member of the American Camp Association and has served as their director of membership for over a decade. She is also the liaison to NVF camps from ACA.

Marissa Town, BSN, RN, CDCES

Marissa is a nurse and diabetes educator currently works at the non-profit Children with Diabetes as well as Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Marissa has lived with T1D for 35 years and is passionate about advocacy, health equity, and the voice of the person with diabetes. She has 2 school-aged children, 2 pitbull mixes and currently resides in the midwest.

Sarah Victor

Sarah brings 7 years of experience in the software industry where she has contributed to and led fast-growing teams in customer success, support, and community. Sarah also has 2 years of experience working for nonprofit membership organizations focused on civic engagement and opportunities for women. Throughout her career, Sarah has been passionate about bringing tech solutions to the public and nonprofit sectors to enhance their impact.

Jenna White

Jenna is the Executive Director of the Diabetes Youth Foundation of Indiana. She also serves as the Secretary on the DECA Board of Directors. Jenna loves competing in the all camp nine square tournament where she dominates the middle square as Queen. Jenna does not love being hit in the face with the ball by a cabin 1 camper who is taller than her.

Richard Wood

Richard Wood is the CEO and co-founder of dQ&A, an organization he established in 2009 with Kelly Close. dQ&A is dedicated to helping companies understand the lived experiences of people with diabetes. Previously, Mr. Wood was Vice President of Consumer Insights at Nielsen, overseeing consumer market research initiatives for the mobile telecommunications sector across the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Ashley Wunderlich, CCLS

Ashley Wunderlich, CCLS, is a Certified Child Life Specialist with 15 years of clinical experience supporting children in healthcare settings. For the past three years, she has served as the Executive Director of Camp Hertko Hollow, where she leads efforts to provide enriching, therapeutic experiences for children and families.

Lisa Gier – Executive Director & Conference Chair

John Latimer, Conference Technology

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