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Alan Friedman - Executive Director
Alan Friedman is thrilled to bring thirty-one years of successful camping experience to Camp Mountain Chai. His summer camping career began as a child, at the age of ten, when he first attended Camp Mah-Kee-Nac, a private boy's camp in Lenox, MA. Over the next eighteen years, Alan continued to spend his summers at Camp Mah-Kee-Nac, as a camper, CIT, group leader and program director. In 1993, he became its first full-time Assistant Director and in 1999 was promoted to Director. Alan began working as a consultant for CampGroup, the largest group-owner of private summer camps in United States, in 2005.
Alan grew up outside of Princeton, NJ. He attended Ithaca College where he earned a degree in Communications Management. In addition to camping, Alan has had a prosperous advertising career, selling television time in the New York City, Boston and Harrisburg markets. Moreover, he spent ten years working as Senior Youth Group advisor to four different Reform congregations in the northeast. He looks forward to sharing this Jewish education experience with us, as well.
Alan moved to San Diego from West Orange, NJ with his lovable four-year old Golden Retriever, Einstein. He is very excited to join the Camp Mountain Chai family and become part of the Jewish Community in the San Diego area.
Steve Gerard - Summer Camp Director
Steve has been the director of Camp Mountain Chai since 2009 and came to CMC with an abundance of Jewish resident camping experience. Beginning at the age of nine, Steve attended Camp Charles Pearlstein in Prescott, Arizona. And for the next 20 years Steve pursued an impressive camp leadership progression; he became a CIT, counselor, L.T.P. Director (Leadership Training Program) and CIT Director. In 2003, after five summers as a Senior Administration Staff member at Camp Modin in Belgrade, Maine, Steve returned to Camp Pearlstein and became its full-time Assistant Director.
Born and raised in Tempe, Arizona, Steve earned a degree in Political Science from Arizona State University. And, feeding his creative side, he also studied and worked in the field of graphic design for several years. Steve consistently maintained his connection to the Jewish community through his active involvement in the reform movement's NFTY program (North American Federation of Temple Youth) both as a teen and later as a youth group advisor.
Steve sees his new role at the director of Camp Mountain Chai as a wonderful opportunity to share his passion for Jewish residential camping in our setting where children can experience personal growth, learn and develop leadership skills all while cultivating a lifelong connection with their Jewish Identity.
You can reach Steve at steve@campmountainchai.com.
Rachel Saslove - Assistant Camp Director
For as long as she can remember, Rachel has spent every summer of her life at camp. Beginning when she was six years old, Rachel came
to residential Jewish camp as the "doctor's kid" at Camp Shalom in Gravenhurst, Ontario. From there, she went on to spend the next
23 summers working her way through camping as a camper, CIT, and staff member. In 1999, Rachel began her staff career at the URJ Camp
George in Parry Sound, Ontario where she held positions as a counselor, songleader, head specialist, Arts Director, and CIT Director.
After a decade of summers spent working at camp on the East Coast, Rachel tried her hand on the West Coast where she spent the past
two summers as a member of the senior staff team at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple Camps in Malibu, California.
Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Rachel earned her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Psychology from the University of Windsor in
Windsor, Ontario. She will be receiving her Master of Arts in Jewish Education and her Master of Arts in Jewish Communal Service this
May, from the Baltimore Hebrew Institute at Towson University.
Rachel's passion for informal Jewish education was ignited in NFTY's North East Lakes Region where she participated as a teen on a local
and regional level, and later worked as a youth group advisor. She went on to fuel her love for the field through her work as a teacher
in congregational schools in Windsor, Toronto, and Baltimore, as a Program Associate for Hillel of Greater Toronto, as a madricha with
Taglit-Birthright Israel, and as an educator on the March of the Living.
Rachel is thrilled to be joining the Camp Mountain Chai family, and cannot think of a better place to share her passion for Jewish
camping and Jewish education. Her goal for this and every summer is to create a fun and lively Jewish community where children
can and form and nurture lasting friendships and relationships. She is looking forward to becoming a part of the CMC community,
and is excited for a fantastic first summer!
Julie Gross
Originally from Maryland, summer camp was a way of life for Julie's east coast family and friends. Julie spent several summers as a child at Camp Wayne, in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania. As a teenager, she experienced a fantastic summer with Musiker Teen Tours, traveling to some of the country's most beautiful attractions. It was at that time that Julie realized she wanted to move out west for college. She attended Colorado State University in where she received her B.A.
Julie moved to San Diego from Fort Collins to pursue her teaching degree in Elementary Education. She now resides in North County with her husband Chris, and two sons Barrett and Parker. Julie now combines her experience as a camper, with her experience as a parent and teacher, to assist our camp families in preparing for their summers at Camp Mountain Chai. Entering her second year on the Camp Mountain Chai team, she is looking forward to helping camp flourish and thrive.
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