Camp Henry's Staff & Directors are committed to providing outstanding
programs and services.
To contact a staff member via email, please visit our online form.
Our professional staff includes:
Dennis Van Kampen, Executive Director
Dennis Van Kampen has joined Camp Henry's staff as Executive Director. Dennis has extensive experience as a camping professional, having spent 12 years at YMCA camps - the last five as executive director of those camps. Dennis then took a short break from camping to serve as a Kids Ministry Pastor. Dennis is passionate about camping and believes that camp actually changes the world one camper at a time! His goal is to have children come to camp and realize in new ways that God loves them. He also wants everyone that comes to camp to have a ton of fun and experiences that will last a lifetime.
Dennis has a BA as well as a Masters degree in Business Administration from Cornerstone University. Dennis met his wife Kelly while working at camp and they have four young children. We are excited that Dennis has decided to come back to his camping roots and welcome him aboard!
Brent Knoll, Associate Director
Brent Knoll has joined the Camp Henry staff as Associate Director, April 2009. He comes to us from Manson, Iowa. Brent’s camping experiences began as a teenager serving as support staff at Word Of Life Camps in Schroon Lake, New York. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Bible with a minor in Youth Ministries from Baptist Bible College in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania.
Since then Brent’s professional experience includes a variety of positions that have prepared him for this role. He has been a Youth Pastor, Bible and Physical Education Teacher, Senior Operations Manager with Wells Fargo and Citi Group and most recently Program Director/Guest Services at Twin Lakes Christian Center.
Brent’s core value is loving God and loving people. That will be his driving passion at Camp Henry. Brent has "Hoosier blood", having grown up in Middlebury, Indiana. Brent and his wife, Kim, met at Lincoln Lake Baptist Youth Camp in Gowen, Michigan and have been married for eleven and half years. Their children, Josiah and Alayna, are camp kids at heart! Brent enjoys family time, Notre Dame and Indianapolis Colt football and playing co-ed softball.
Mary Robinson, Director of Development and Administration
Mary Robinson has been with Camp Henry for three years as its Development Director. She also served as Camp Henry's Interim Executive Director for 14 months.
Mary loves summer camping and was a camper at Camp Anna Behrens and at Camp Crystalaire. She has worked in non-profit management for nearly 30 years starting with the Peace Corps and Save the Children Federation and then working in Grand Rapids for a number of non-profit community-based organizations. She was also an adjunct instructor at Davenport University for over 12 years.
Mary has a BA from Colgate University and Masters Degree in Non-Profit Management from the School for International Training. She lives in Grand Rapids with her husband Tom and teenage son. Her older son is at Northern Michigan University.
Jeff Jacobs, Summer Camp Director
Jeff's history with Camp Henry began when he first came to the shores of Old Lake Kimball for summer camp in 1978. After 30 years, he is still calling Camp Henry his summer home, serving as our Summer Camp Director. Jeff worked at Camp Henry as a counselor for 5 summers while an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan. He earned his B.A. in Sociology, Secondary Teaching Certification, and M.S.W. degrees all from U of M. In 2003, he earned his Ph.D. in Education from the University of Minnesota. Jeff spent three years as a public school teacher working with alternative education programs. He has over 20 years of experience in summer camping, working with four different camps, serving as the director for three of these camps, including Camp Peggy Lake in Talkeetna, Alaska. 2009 will be Jeff’s 13th summer as Camp Henry’s Summer Camp Director.
In addition to serving as Camp Henry's Summer Camp Director, Jeff is a professor at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, CA. Jeff, along with his wife J.J., their sons Levi, Luke, and Logan, live in California during the school year, yet continue to return to Michigan each June to be a part of another Camp Henry summer. Jeff and J.J. have lived in Oregon, Alaska, Nevada, Utah, Michigan, Minnesota, and now California. They met working as Ski Instructors in Bend, Oregon and already have Levi and Luke skiing. Their dogs Alec and Scooter round out the Jacobs family.
Mat Emerick, Assistant Year-Round Program Director
Mat has been in youth programming and ministry since 1987. He has served youth as a case manager for Big Brothers Big Sisters, program manager for Boys and Girls club of America, youth minister in two churches but is finding the most fulfillment of all at Camp Henry. “Working at a camp offers an environment like no other for impacting youth. Working at a Christian camp, for me, is the ultimate! To impact kids and adults, even in small ways (on a high ropes course, archery range, nature trail, or beside a camp fire) and helping them to see what a treasure that they each are to God, is a blessing that I thank God for every day!”
Jennifer Hughes, Marketing Director
Christine McClain, Business Manager
Scott Tyink, Interim Facilities Manager
Mike Sullivan, Facilities Assistant