Executive Staff
Linda Mornell, Founder and President
Jay Jacobs, Chief Executive Officer
Lori Campbell , Chief Financial Officer
Stacey Thompson, Program Director
Nicola Twilley, Director of Marketing and Communications
Emily Edwards, Senior Executive Director

Other National Staff
Katherine Kennedy, Interim Director of Development
Matt Osgood, Summer Program Coordinator
Wendy Wilkinson, Design and Communications Manager
Marina Arsovska, Comptroller
Amanda Graham, Development Associate
Jumin Kim , Director of Alumni Relations
Erin Lasky, Executive Assistant
Alicia Reza, Office Manager

Regional Executive Directors
Debbie Krause, Boston
Janice Yang, New York City
Jessica Vibberts, North San Francisco Bay
Melissa Rawlins, San Francisco
Mia Ellis, Seattle
Kamba Tshionyi, Silicon Valley
Wendy Epstein, Philadelphia

executive staff

Linda Mornell, Founder and President
Linda was born in Muncie, Indiana in 1943. She attended Methodist Hospital School of Nursing. In 1964, she studied psychiatric nursing at Langley Porter Institute at the University of California Medical School in San Francisco. From 1972 until 1989, Linda was in private practice counseling families and adolescents. She developed a special interest in summer experiential educational programs as corrective emotional experiences for teenagers. In addition, her three children participated in these programs, ranging from leadership camps in North America to drama programs in England and community service projects in Haiti. In 1990, with no experience in the non-profit sector, Linda started the Summer Search Foundation.

Jay Jacobs, Chief Executive Officer
Jay holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota (1992) and a master of theological studies degree from Harvard Divinity School (1995). He came to Summer Search after actively working in the field of summer experiential education including experiences as a student and instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School. Jay founded Summer Search Boston in 1995 and built that office to serve nearly 200 students annually. In August of 2002, Jay moved to San Francisco to build a national team with Linda Mornell and currently serves as CEO, overseeing national operations.

Lori Campbell, Chief Financial Officer
A resident of the Bay Area since 1970, Lori Campbell has over 35 years of non profit financial and management experience.  Prior to joining Summer Search, Lori was the Chief Financial Officer for the North Peninsula Jewish Campus and before that, the Director of Finance/Administration for Brandeis Hillel Day School, providing expertise in areas of budget and finance, human resource, risk management, and facilities operations. Prior to coming to Brandeis Hillel Lori was the Associate Publisher of Mother Jones Magazine. Lori has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the California Association of Nonprofits, the Foundation for National Progress and the Bay Area Independent Schools Business Officers Association. Lori graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Cum Laude from UC Berkeley and earned her MA from the University of Chicago.  Married with three sons, Lori lives in Westwood Highlands, a sleepy hamlet in the southwest corner of San Francisco. She tries never to miss Opening Day, and prefers seats on the third base side.

Stacey Thompson, Program Director
Stacey was born and raised in San Francisco and has a long history with Summer Search. She was accepted into the program as a student in 1994, and participated in an art camp in Massachusetts, and Outward Bound in Oregon. In college, with a scholarship through Summer Search, she taught environmental education in a small village in Ecuador for three months. While attending Sonoma State University, Stacey interned in the San Francisco office and served as the Project Manager of the North San Francisco Bay office. In 2001, she became the first in her family to graduate from college, with a bachelor's degree in women and gender studies from Sonoma State University. In 2003, as program director, Stacey helped launch Summer Search New York City. After three committed years in New York City, Stacey is thrilled to bring her unique experience to the Summer Search office by training new staff members and supporting new Summer Search sites.

Nicola Twilley, Director of Marketing and Communications
Nicola grew up in England, and graduated from Leeds University with a BA in English Language and Literature. She also holds an MA in Art History from the University of Chicago. Before joining Summer Search in September 2007, Nicola was responsible for development, strategic planning, and media relations at The Wende Museum of the Cold War, in Los Angeles, and for public programming and marketing at the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary, in Philadelphia. Throughout high school and college, Nicola sought out and raised funds to take part in several summer experiential programs, including a three-month Raleigh International expedition to Belize, a month’s community service in Ittoqquortoormiit, Greenland, and several weeks crewing a Tall Ship on a voyage from Denmark to the UK.  She continues to travel widely, most recently to Tibet, and to volunteer her time to local service non-profits, including Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic.

Emily Edwards, Senior Executive Director
Emily graduated from Philadelphia's Central High School and from Wesleyan University with a Bachelor's degree in African American Studies (1999). Both of these educational experiences sparked her interest in helping young people break the cycle of poverty. Emily began working at Summer Search in 1999 as a mentor and became Executive Director in 2002. In 2004, Emily won the TOYL award, in which the Jaycees recognized her as one of Boston's Ten Outstanding Young Leaders. In 2005, Emily participated in “Strategic Perspectives on Non-Profit Management,” a Social Enterprise course at Harvard Business School, thanks to a full scholarship from the Rimsky Family Fund. Emily is currently a member of the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation Capacity Building CEO Group, as well as Grand Circle Travel's Advisory Council, and she is an active member of Wesleyan University’s Alumni Association. With the growth Emily helped catalyze  in Boston,  in November 2007, Emily  stepped up to join the national staff to become Senior Executive Director focusing on mentoring and coaching local Executive Directors.

Other National Staff

Katherine Kennedy, Interim Director of Development
Katherine was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and attended the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in African American Studies. She first discovered the field of summer experiential education when she taught in a village in Kenya after her freshman year at Penn. Upon graduating in 1993, she joined Teach For America and taught middle school in Baltimore. In 1995, Katherine joined Founder Linda Mornell as her first staff member to teach and train the unique mentoring methods. After five years as Program Director, Katherine became the Executive Director of the San Francisco office in 2000. In 2005 Katherine joined Summer Search National to apply what she has learned as a director and mentor to the training and building of a growing staff.

Matt Osgood , Summer Program Coordinator
Matt grew up in Kansas City, but he has been traveling the world off and on since high school, experiencing different cultures in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.  He graduated with majors in Biology and Spanish from Hanover College in 2004.  He has been interested in improving the lives of others ever since the summer of 1999, when he lived and worked in a rural community in Paraguay.  Seeing how people can live and be happy and healthy despite impoverished conditions opened his eyes to very different ways of thinking.  Before coming to the National Office of Summer Search, Matt worked at various non-profits, including Children International, the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, and Amigos de las Americas, where he came to learn the amazing things that Summer Search does for young people.  Observing the drive, energy, and maturity of Summer Search students and how it spreads to other teenagers was always a highlight of his job at AMIGOS.  Matt truly values the Summer Search family enjoys offering new opportunities for such deserving students.

Wendy Wilkinson, Design and Communications Coordinator
Wendy was born in Mountain View, California and grew up in Colorado for most of her life. She graduated from Santa Clara University with majors in Psychology and Studio Art. During college, Wendy worked a lot with youth in educational settings. When she graduated, she went to Bhaktapur, Nepal to teach and design a library at a primary school. Wendy’s interest in education and psychology, along with her work experiences, were very inspirational in her desire to work with Summer Search.

Amanda Graham, Development Associate
Amanda was born and raised outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She attended George Washington University in Washington, DC and during her junior year, she studied abroad. Her spring semester, Amanda was a student of the Semester at Sea program where she studied aboard the S.S. Universe Explorer. During this time, Amanda participated in global fieldwork and cultural exchanges in countries such as Brazil, South Africa, Kenya and China. In each port, she was able to learn about and assist local communities with some of their challenges including hunger prevention, family planning and wildlife preservation. Amanda graduated in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in business with a concentration in marketing. Her lifelong interest in volunteering and her experience on Semester at Sea, brought Amanda to Boston to work for United Way of Massachusetts Bay. After four years at United Way, Amanda relocated to San Francisco and joined Summer Search staff in June 2007.

Jumin Kim , Director of Alumni Relations
Born in Korea, Jumin spent most of her childhood and adolescent years in Thailand. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, she worked first at an internet startup in Silicon Valley, and then with Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth. This experience encouraged her to pursue a masters degree in social work at Columbia University, and then continue into the doctoral program at the University of Michigan. Though she remains interested in social science research, Jumin is on leave from academia and back in the working nonprofit world. Jumin was introduced to Summer Search by her mentor of many years, Katherine Kennedy, Interim Director of Development. After attending fall and spring events and tutoring Summer Search students, Jumin is thrilled to finally join the Summer Search family in a professional capacity.

Erin Lasky, Executive Assistant
Erin grew up in the Bay Area, and is native of a Petaluma, California. She attended the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 2001 with a dual degree in Latin American Studies and History.  During her junior year, Erin spent a life-changing semester studying in Oaxaca, Mexico, where she came to love traveling, languages, and especially working with young people. After graduation, Erin spent a year working and traveling in Italy, and returned home to teach 3rd grade at Marin Country Day School. In 2003, she joined the Summer Search San Francisco staff and over the last five years, has worked in mentoring, development and fundraising. In 2006, Erin helped launch Summer Search Philadelphia, the seventh and most recently opened site. Now, in her new role in the National office, Erin is contributing her years of experience and her love for Summer Search tosupport the Nationalteam as she prepares for graduate school this upcoming fall.

Alicia Reza, Office Manager
Alicia was born and raised in Orange, California.  She remains a proud Southern Californian albeit happily relocated to the Bay Area.  She attended the University of California at Santa Cruz and holds a BA in Sociology.  During her 4 years there, her main focus was the evolution of the Juvenile Justice System in the United States and its reform.  The child of two educators, Alicia is a natural advocate for educational equality and, therefore, a great fit for Summer Search.  Alicia joined the team in the beginning of 2008 as the Office Manager for both the National and San Francisco offices, where her smiling face is the first one you’ll see when you walk in the door.