BAWT People: Staff and Interns

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 Director

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

Mr. Macdonald's connection to nature began as a youth, on family camping and ski trips in the Appalachian Mountains of New England. He began working with youth at the age of 17 and worked with urban youth in both in and out-of-school settings in Boston, Detroit and San Francisco, and was a 4th grade public school teacher in New Orleans. In addition to his work as an outdoor educator, teaching backpacking, canoeing and basic rock climbing, he taught environmental education in classrooms around the San Francisco Bay Area, where he moved in 1997 to start Bay Area Wilderness Training. He has lead the organization as itŐs founder since 1999 and shares a deep sense of gratitude for the community that has grown up around and fed BAWT as it has grown to an organization reaching 2,000 youth a year. Mr. Macdonald has been honored by Stanford University’s School of Education, and was recently recognized by E Town Radio with an E-chievement Award for service. Kyle lives with his wife and two small children in San Francisco, California. .

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).

Zak Klein - Programs Associate, Camping at the Presidio Coordinator

Originally from Pennsylvania, Zak's outdoor experience was originally fishing with his father, building forts in forests and dams in streams with friends, followed by more frequent and farther-flung backpacking and boating trips as an adolescent. In 2000, Zak thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, an experience which solidified his desire to share with others the delights of backcountry travel and outdoor living. After early work establishing two student-outing organizations and environmental initiatives, Zak worked as a field instructor for NOLS and Outward Bound USA across the country from the Florida keys and the Appalachians to Yellowstone highlands and nearby Big Basin. Zak has instructed whitewater canoe, alpine backpacking, climbing, sailing and caving courses. Serving students from the public school systems in Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Oakland, Zak has witnessed the acute impact of expedition living and experiential learning for students not often exposed to a natural classroom. The simplicity of outdoor living fosters friendship and connection among people in a way that's elusive among 2009's gadgetry and distractions. Knowing that we can reveal a special nook for a camping experience right in San Francisco's Presidio is very unique, exciting and keeps me motivated!

Terry Nail Williams - South Bay Programs Manager

Terry integrates a wealth of experience in adventure-based learning, leadership and organizational development in her work with people from diverse backgrounds within schools, non-profit organizations, and corporations throughout the U.S. and internationally. Her work focused on strength-based experiential curriculum and facilitated programs emphasizing participatory processes, performance, and teamwork. She has a PhD with a specialization in Leadership. Her doctoral studies began with several intensive international community studies and service projects with the Mayan people and their villages including a 40-mile trek through the backcountry of western Guatemala and climbing the highest peak in Central America. Terry has also traveled over 15,000 miles on a bicycle, including a solo 8,000 cross-country journey for a national youth advocacy project, meeting with the President, representatives, U.S. senators, governors, mayors, and community leaders of over 24 states and 150 communities.

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 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.

Interns

Theresa Adamo - Programs
Nancy Shillis - Marketing
Tony Johnson - South Bay
Lilli Keinaenen - Programs
Brooke Johnson - CFK/Development
Rich Sayers - Major Donors
ZhiQiang Shee - OAK/Development
Jessica Arm- Programs
Jonathon Tweena- Marketing
Allen Wagner- South Bay
Hideo "Ickey" Ikeda- South Bay