Full Time Staff

Leadership

We have a great team ready for campers in 2024!

Our dedicated team of year-round professionals are focused on creating a once-in-a-lifetime camp experience for your son. It is very important to us that we create a climate of respect, cooperation, kindness, curiosity, and fun. As the oldest YMCA boy’s camp in the country, we are proud to carry on the Camp Abnaki traditions and always stand ready to “Help the Other Fellow.”

Brian Roy, Camp Director

A native of Essex Junction, Vermont, Brian is deeply rooted in Camp Abnaki. He began his Abnaki experience in the 90’s and has stayed involved in a multitude of ways ever since! Like so many who develop a love for camp, he started as a camper, then became a valued staff member for a dozen years, holding many leadership roles. After some time away, he returned in 2019 and has fully embraced the role of Camp Director.   

Brian brings with him a wealth of experience beyond Abnaki. His camping career has included leadership stops at YMCA Camp Lincoln, YMCA Camp Gundalow, and YMCA Camp Cristina. He also worked locally as the Assistant Director of the Essex Junction Recreation and Parks Department. 

He holds a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of New Hampshire and a Bachelor’s degree in Child Development from Southern New Hampshire University. As important as his wealth of experience, his education, and his many skills, is Brian’s deep passion for camp, our mission, and our motto to “Help the Other Fellow.”  

Brian enjoys skiing in the winter and biking in the summer. All three of his brothers are Nidokenaks!

You can contact Brian at 802-652-8180 or [email protected]. 

Adam Stevenson,  Assistant Camp Director

Adam was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he grew up with the Y – learning to swim, participating in youth sports leagues, and growing in confidence through day camp. He cultivated a deep appreciation for the outdoors and experienced the transformative power of overnight camping with the Boy Scouts, and worked his way up through the rank of Eagle Scout. 

Adam began his career as a camping professional at YMCA Camp Kon-O-Kwee Spencer while he was at Penn State University. After five years as a counselor, lifeguard, program specialist, and village director, Adam spent another five years as the program director. In this role he spearheaded aquatics, CIT, teen wilderness, teen expedition tripping, and day camp programs during the summer and outdoor education, parent-child, and teambuilding programs during the rest of the year.

Adam took some time away from the Y to hike the Appalachian Trail, one of his lifelong dreams. Over the course of 146 days in 2020, he backpacked 2,193 miles from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mount Katahdin, Maine. He is ecstatic to be a part of the Camp Abnaki team, and looks forward to inspiring and equipping both staff and campers as they find their paths, unlock their potential, and become leaders of consequence.

You can contact Adam at 802-652-8180 or [email protected].

Pronto Parenteau, Camp Advocate

Pronto, a native of Fairfax, Vermont and educated at Lyndon State College, first joined the Abnaki staff in 2000. He received the Spirit of Abnaki award for his work, and that summer served as the launching point for a career in camping. Pronto supports camp in countless ways. His focus is on the well- being of all members of the camp community and he supports this focus through advocacy, brainstorming, and coaching.
 
Pronto brings 30 years of experience in camping and youth development work, including the past 20 years in camp leadership. He has a long history of serving campers with specific medical needs and youth with behavioral challenges. He met his wife working at Paul Newman’s Hole In The Wall Gang Camp, and has also spent time with Vermont’s own Camp Daybreak, multiple sites within PN Serious Fun Network of Camp, SFNC at Victory Junction, NC, Camp Soaring Eagle in Sedona, AZ, and was the Director of Camp Operations for Phoenix Children’s Hospital medically-based camps.
 
During the school year, Pronto serves as a Behavioral Interventionist for the Essex Westford School District, and continues to support numerous camps around the country working to develop a “community of caring” camp culture focused on achievement, belonging, relationships, safety, love, and respect. He is a proud father to two teenaged children and two awesome kittens. He is thrilled to serve as Advocate for staff and campers for years to come!
 
You can contact Pronto at [email protected].

Bill McFadden, Property Manager

Bill has lived in the Upper Valley Region of VT/NH for most of his life, he is a graduate of Hanover, NH High School and Middlebury College. He brings a variety experiences and interests having been involved in recreational facility and operations management, the solar and alternative energy field and has run his own businesses in design/build construction and service/retail, a bike shop.

Although he never had the opportunity to experience a traditional sleep away camp, he has great appreciation for the value of that experience having witnessed the positive effects that the camp experience has had on his two daughters, both of whom are in there 20’s and still very much involved with “their camp.”

When not working around the camp property, you will probably see Bill walking his dog Chance or heading out or returning from a bike ride.

You can contact Bill at 802-372-6164 or [email protected].