Veteran Leadership

Mark & Elizabeth Standen, Co-Executive Directors

Mark and Liz met on Lake Webb in the early 1980s while Mark was working on the Kawanhee staff and Liz was working at the Kawanhee Inn.  Mark is a former Kawanhee camper and staff member and the past President of the George and Raymond Frank Foundation. Mark has a B.A. from Colby College and a law degree from the University of Maine School of Law.  He is a former high school English teacher and coach, currently maintains a law practice in Yarmouth, Maine, and has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Maine School of Law. Mark also serves as a trustee of the Freeport Conservation Trust and as the trustee of the Town of Freeport’s Winslow Park.

Liz has summered on Lake Webb since she was a child.  She has worked at Camp Kawanhee and the Kawanhee Inn in various capacities.  Liz has a B.A. in early childhood education from Tufts University, is an early childhood educator of many years’ experience, has served as the director of Winfield School in Falmouth, Maine, and has served for six years as a member of the Freeport School Committee.  She is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Southern Maine’s Education Department. In addition, Liz is an ongoing mentor to single teenage mothers in local communities.

Liz and Mark have three adult children, a daughter and two sons, both of whom have been Kawanhee campers and counselors.

Brett Shiffrin, Resident Director

Brett is excited to join Camp Kawanhee community as camp director. His camp experience began as a canoeing counselor at Camp Arcadia, in Casco Maine in the early 90s. Falling in love with Maine and the outdoors led Brett to earn his Maine Guides license and embrace being a boarding school teacher. He has been an educator at Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine for the last 25 years but escapes to his home on Center Hill in Weld often. A highlight for Brett each fall is the annual Gould trip to Camp Kawanhee. The camp’s rope course provides a foundational team building experience for the ninth grade. Being in the wilderness and working with groups of students has been the focus of his work as a mathematics teacher, coach, wilderness leader, director of the ninth-grade program, and avid cyclist.

As a former camp parent, he brings the perspective of witnessing the growth and joy of the summer camp experience through the eyes of his children. From the required letters home that were quickly scribbled on a postcard–”I am having fun…there is a trip soon that I want to go on” to the end of camp comments from tent counselors about personal growth, Brett is committed to supporting all aspects of the life affirming and empowering experience of summer camp in Maine.

Brett and Sara (also an educator at Gould), along with their children, Mia, a senior at Bates College and Eli, a senior at Gould, are excited to support the experience of campers in any way possible. And their dog, Tripper, is a certified Canine Good Citizen who feels right at home in camp!