BAWT People

The people of Bay Area Wilderness Training include several staff listed below, but BAWT could not run our programs, distribute our materials, build our website or fundraise without our wonderful and dedicated volunteer community. For more information about getting involved with BAWT, please visit our volunteer section.

Chelsea Griffie - Program Manager

As a young woman, Chelsea dreamed of the mountains and going camping. Unfortunately, she lived in suburban Chicago and her family just did not do that sort of thing. Chelsea began rock climbing in 1993 and began doing backpacking trips as a means of getting to backcountry rock. She was soon hiking and climbing every weekend and before she knew it, Chelsea had amassed significant experience in both. Chelsea moved to Yosemite in 2001 to be close to that rock climbing Mecca. She was the Business Manager of Yosemite Guides, a local guiding service for hiking, bird watching, and fly-fishing and worked in the office of the Colorado Mountain School. She brings BAWT lots of enthusiasm for getting city kids outdoors. Photos of Chelsea periodically crop up in Patagonia catalogs, Essence Magazine, and Sports Illustrated Women. She is also proud to be included in Black & Brown Faces in America's Wild Places, a new book by Dudley Edmonson about Afro American outdoors enthusiasts. Chelsea is medically trained to the level of Wilderness First Responder (CPR-Professional Rescuer/Provider C).

Kyle Macdonald - Founder and CEO

Kyle’s experience in the outdoors began as a youth, on family camping and ski trips in the Northeastern United States. This experience brought him to work in 1993 with the Appalachian Mountain Club. There he worked for five seasons, maintaining back country facilities and leading groups of youth and adults in the White Mountains of Maine and New Hampshire. In addition to his work as a backpacking instructor for (UC Berkeley's) Cal Adventures Program, Kyle has led trips involving high ropes challenge courses in Connecticut, canoeing retreats in Mississippi and camping skills training in Louisiana. He has worked with urban youth groups in Boston and Detroit and decided to start BAWT as a result of these experiences. He recently completed the Management Center's Executive Director 101 course. Kyle is medically trained to the level of Wilderness First Responder (CPR-Professional Rescuer/Provider C).

Roger Miller - Executive Director

Roger’s passion for the backcountry is rooted in family camping outings and Boy Scout trips. For two years prior to joining the BAWT staff, Roger served on BAWT's steering, development, strategic planning and finance committees as a volunteer. Roger has worked in grantwriting, major donor and membership development for the International Forum on Globalization, Redefining Progress, and Rainforest Action Network. He has led backpacking trips throughout the Sierra and helped teach wilderness first aid with Outdoors Unlimited and mountaineering trips throughout North and South America. He traveled around the world for a year researching what sustainable solutions people were using to address local environmental problems and worked on permaculture farms, community forestry programs, rural solar electrification projects, and eco-tourism initiatives. Roger is currently completing his Masters of Nonprofit Administration through the University of San Francisco and graduated from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana with degrees in Finance and German. Roger is medically trained to the level of Wilderness First Responder (CPR-Professional Rescuer/Provider C).

Eve Skylar - Programs Associate, Camping at the Presidio Coordinator

Eve Skylar is a radical activist, artist, actress, climber, dancer, educator, environmentalist, feminist, and wilderness enthusiast who began as a marketing intern for BAWT. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, where she took on numerous leadership roles on campus. Notably, she performed in, and then served as Director (2007) of The Vagina Monologues. Her outdoor adventures began as humble camping trips with her family. She and her family once reached Vancouver, Canada in two weeks by camping at nearly all the National Forests/Parks in the Western Coast. One of her favorite outdoor memories is sleeping on a raft underneath the desert stars, while floating down the Colorado River from Moab to Lake Powell. Another is navigating and leading a group of ten to the peak of 12,000ft. Mt. Henry, CA. Eve is medically trained to the level of Wilderness First Aid and has participated in courses in Colorado and California with Pacific Crest Outward Bound School. She carries the beauty and strength of the outdoors in everything that she does.

Cisco Martin del Campo, Jr. - South Bay Programs Associate

Cisco’s outdoor exploration started at a young age, by purposely getting himself lost in Bay Area open spaces, forcing him to navigate his way out! Cisco has been involved in all aspects of recreation and leisure programming. As a student in Criminal Justice studies and working with incarcerated and at-risk youth, he quickly became aware of the array of benefits recreational opportunities provide. Working for the city of San Jose and a number of South Bay non-profit organizations has given Cisco experience recruiting volunteers; running unique programs for the physically challenged population; and shrinking the digital divide. He is currently completing his degree at San Jose State University in Recreation and Leisure studies and is managing the South Bay operations for BAWT.

Michael Mitrani - Outreach Coordinator

Michael developed his passion for the outdoors as a youth traveling with his father, a professional photographer, capturing the bounty of our nation's National Parks. Becoming an avid outdoor photographer in his own right, he has traveled extensively photographing the beauty of our nation's last wild places. As a boy scout, he spent years exploring the Southwest Canyon Country canoeing down the Colorado River, hiking in the Grand Canon, Bryce Canyon, and reveling in the Virgin River Narrows of Zion National Park. Before he could drive, he spent a summer rock climbing and backpacking Pikes Peak with Outward Bound in the Colorado Rockies. Michael brings a wealth of experience in corporate sales and management from the medical devices industry. After 15 years of teaching many of the nation's leading surgeons the newest techniques in minimally invasive surgery, he returned to graduate school earning his Master's degree in Science in Environmental Management from the University of San Francisco. He began working with BAWT last summer, and enjoys sharing his passion for the outdoors.

Cliff Agocs - Climbing for Kids Coordinator

Cliff learned to snowshoe at the age of ten using old-style wood and sinew decks that were more than half his height. He discovered summertime camping after eight years of mastering winter survival on father-son trips in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Cliff graduated from the Pennsylvania State University and moved to Berkeley, California where his love for snow and ice led him to try mountaineering and rock climbing in the High Sierra. He has volunteered with the Berkeley Police Activities League Outdoor Education program as a trip chaperone and bike mechanic. He began volunteering and fundraising for BAWT when he climbed seven peaks in ten days during the Sierra Challenge. He has worked as a writer and newsletter editor and has written about local environmental issues, as well as consumer technology in magazines such as Wired, Sync and FHM.