Co-Founder & Co-Executive Director

Chris was the Founder of Transplaining for Camps (the last iteration of TQAMP) and is excited to be moving forward as a Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of TQAMP. He has found so much self-healing and joy in working with camps around the country on building belonging into their culture. With a patterned shirt collection bigger than a costume closet, Chris uses humor, storytelling, and a theater background to ignite people into action. Chris meets people where they are and educates with empathy, not shame. He brings seventeen years of combination day/overnight camp experience and a passion for helping others be their best selves & make their biggest impact. Through Transplaining for Camps, Chris has helped hundreds of camps create broader belonging for campers and staff.

Co-Founder & Co-Executive Director

Al brings 15+ years of experience in youth development, facilitation and nonprofit leadership . Since beginning work in camps 22 years ago, they’ve served at multiple YMCA and Girl Scouts associations and in senior leadership levels at 2SLGBTQIA+ youth-serving organizations and advocacy groups across the South—most recently at the Campaign for Southern Equality in Asheville, North Carolina. Al is also an artist and maker and uses creativity and curiosity in every aspect of the support they offer clients. Their history leading teams pursuing equity and justice fuels an ever-present analysis of power and meaning-making in all their relationships. Al is known for their pep-talks and a signature emphasis: Orienting to Joy—amplifying it as a truth when it is present, connecting themself and others with it, and channeling its power however possible. The only things they love more than pizza are their adorable wife Rebecca and twin toddlers Sam and Starr.

Co-Founder & Director of Operations

Amy provides the TQAMP team with the essential foundation to thrive—serving as the critical link between our exceptional training staff and the clients we serve. With a keen eye for operational excellence and a deep commitment to mission-driven work, Amy ensures that systems run seamlessly so the focus can remain on impact. Her multidisciplinary background spans camping and leadership development, educational advisement, HR, operations, sales, and marketing. Prior to joining TQAMP, Amy played a pivotal role in building and sustaining a national startup, gaining valuable experience in growth strategy and organizational resilience. Driven by a passion for inclusive community-building, Amy thrives in fast-paced, purpose-filled environments. She is inspired by TQAMP’s mission to reimagine how communities engage at camp—and believes wholeheartedly that camp should be a space where we draw the circle wide enough for everyone to belong.

BOARD PRESIDENT

Partner & Coach, The Management Center

Rev. Alex Patchin McNeill coaches clients in the progressive sector to articulate and act on their vision for a more just world. He is also the Principal at AMP Coaching, a coaching and consulting practice focused on supporting leaders and mission-driven organizations to expand their lived values, practices, and operations towards greater diversity, equity, and inclusion. Alex is a member of the Faith Advisory Council at Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, partnering with AU to protect democracy by preserving church/state separation.

Between 2013-2021, Alex served as the executive director of More Light Presbyterians (MLP). At MLP, Alex empowered and equipped hundreds of faith communities to visibly and tangibly expand inclusion for LGBTQIA+ people and implement antiracist practices for deeper equity. As a non-profit leader and activist Alex has: worked to elect LGBTQIA+ leaders; advocated for reproductive justice; and won state, national, and denominational legislation affirming and protecting the rights and dignities of queer and trans people. Before earning a Master’s of Divinity from Harvard University, Alex got his start in LGBTQIA+ and reproductive rights activism as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Alex is a white, queer, transgender man, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A, and certified coach through the International Coaching Federation. Alex lives in Asheville, NC, where he can be found kayaking with his dog Spike, hiking in the mountains, and planning adventures with his partner.

BOARD TREASURER

Principal at Northwest Outdoor Science School

Akari Jensen is the Principal at Northwest Outdoor Science School. Born and raised in Portland, she now resides on the unceded ancestral land of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla peoples, among others. Akari began her work with Outdoor School as a Student Leader, which led her to become a classroom teacher for eight years prior to receiving her administrator’s license and joining Northwest Regional Education Service District and the NOSS Team in 2022. This was also the year that Akari met Al and Chris, having worked with them to build our 2SLGBTQIA+ Inclusion policy that was implemented last year. Our gender-inclusive housing policy has made Outdoor School a safer place for students and staff. Akari’s passion for intentional community-building outside has been a part of her life since 2006 - the year she started working for Oregon Summer Star, a camp that supports youth from military families in building resiliency through connection. Outside of work and camp, Akari loves rock climbing, hiking, and spending time in the Sandy River with her two-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback, Jax.

BOARD SECRETARY

Camp Director, Appel Farms Art Camp

Ella comes from a varied background in education and the arts, having held positions at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, in Washington DC Public Schools, at the University of Alaska, the University of the Arts, and Interlochen Arts Academy. As a queer, mixed, indigenous woman, she grew up without many adults who looked and identified as she did. As a result, Ella is dedicated to taking up space where no one like her has been able to before. She is particularly focused on the intersection of arts education and equity, amplifying youth voices, and creating intentional communities of care wherever she goes. Ella is based on the unceded Lenni-Lenape land known as Pennsylvania and New Jersey.