Full-Time Team

Pamela Nugent

(She/Her/Hers) Pam’s first experiences in camping were at a YMCA where she shadowed campers with special needs. She then went on to be a counselor and run the CIT program. In 2001, she joined us as a Food Director on our very popular California & the Canyons and helped out behind the scenes in the Communication Center. Her talent for helping to support Program Directors on the road while assisting parents with an empathetic ear led to her becoming a fixture in the summer office. After graduating from McGill with her teaching degree, Pam taught during the year and became an increasingly valuable member of our summer team. She joined us full-time in 2006 with her penchant for detail as a coordinator helping to ensure incredible European, Australian and Global Adventure programs. Having planned trips from South America to Asia and across all our program types, she now focuses her attention on managing our Planning department and supporting our meticulous program coordinators. She uses her creative talents to develop new itineraries and educational curriculums and serves as a summer Company Director. Outside of work, Pam is a “curler” having played competitively for over 20 years, going as far as the Nationals, and coaching Special Olympics. She is also a soccer player, coach, and while we don’t call her a “soccer mom” around the office, her four children have acquired a few of her soccer talents and might be surpassing her on the pitch (shh don’t let her know). Contact Pamela.

Lori Heering

Amazingly, Lori has been with Westcoast Connection since our 2nd season! After spending 10 summers attending and working at summer camp in Ontario, and earning her BA in Psychology and working with children, Lori was recruited by Stan as our second ever Program Director – and the rest is history! She directed our western trips and pioneered our first European itinerary back in 1990 and has since worked as a supervisor, Company Director and Program Coordinator. Lori has traveled extensively, is a passionate skier and tries to head to the slopes whenever possible! Lori and her husband have two sons which help her relate to the many teens she creates trips for as the architect and planner of our North American Active Teen Tours. A former east coast gal, Lori is based on the west coast close to many of our suppliers and perfectly located to greet and supervise trips during the summer months. Program Directors turn to her for advice and guidance. Her invaluable years of planning experience and tricks of the trade ensure our teens enjoy the most efficient and well run trips in the industry. Contact Lori

Michelle Lieberman

(She/Her/Hers) Michelle was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. After majoring in economics and accounting she spent several years working as a buyer for national retailer chains. She raised three children in Southern California and began her Westcoast Connection career while juggling family life, leading a Brownie troop and volunteering at her kids' schools. That combined with Michelle’s travels and love for visiting many interesting cities and historical sites in the U.S. made her a perfect fit for our program coordinator team which she joined in 2004. She is intricately involved in a myriad of details involved with managing over a thousand North American suppliers and leading our North American team of coordinators. Contact Michelle

Sandi Cyr-Pelletier

After catching the travel bug as a teen, when touring Europe as part of a music group, Sandi has since visited 27countries and 5 continents including living abroad in Japan and Australia. She uses that first-hand experience as an enthusiastic program coordinator!! Sandi grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, not too far from the Canadian Rockies and studied theater in the Fine Arts department at the University of Alberta. She has worked with youth as a program planner at summer camp, taught English while living overseas, and shared her theater and programming skills as the children’s production coordinator in her local church community. She puts together amazing and unique itineraries and is thrilled to pass the bug on to young travelers and inspire them to continue exploring the globe. Contact Sandi

Brittany Goldstein

(She/Her/Hers) After 10 years at sleepaway camp, including 4 years as staff, Brittany’s love of camp and travel led her to begin her WCC career as a Program Leader on our California & the Canyons in 2008. After a second summer out west, she was a Program Leader on our Backpack France & Switzerland program in 2010 and relished her summers working for WCC so much that she hoped to return if ever possible. After graduating from Concordia University with a B.A. in Communications and a minor in Sociology, she worked for five years in entertainment, touring live shows, and three years at a company focused on team building for students. Her organized nature and extensive experience in logistics led her back to WCC full-time where she is thrilled to be part of the Planning team. Contact Brittany

Donna Litvack

(She/Her/Hers) After earning her Bachelors in Communications and her MBA from McGill University, Donna worked for several years in consumer product marketing and in healthcare. But it was her love of summer camp from her younger days as both a camper and staff, and passion for travel that brought her to join the WCC team. As the parent of two boys, she combines her mother’s intuition, knowledge of camp and travel, and her extensive business experience to help our planning department provide teens and staff with well-researched and detailed itineraries. Contact Donna

Luisa De Armas

(She/Her/Hers) Born and raised in Bogota, Colombia, Luisa considers herself someone who has always been curious about the world. That makes sense as she hasn't stopped travelling since her very first trip at 16 to Chicago! Luisa began working for Westcoast Connection in 2017 as a summer leader while working year-round as the Coordinator of Afterschool and Extracurricular Programs at a local private Elementary School. As a summer leader with Westcoast Connection, Luisa has worked with incredible teens & staff in Spain, Costa Rica, and South Africa. As part of our full-time team, Luisa lends her talents for coordinating intricate details and her personal experience as a world traveler in her role on our Planning Team. She loves that WCC merges together everything she loves: wonderful people, traveling, working with youth, and helping others to make everlasting travel memories! Contact Luisa.

Allison Plessett

(She/Her/Hers) The travel bug hit Allison hard during a GAP year where she traveled throughout Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia. She immediately knew that her future career would involve sharing that passion with others. She then attended Coastal Carolina University with studies in ecotourism and sustainability. She spent 7 years at an overnight camp, including being a CIT counselor. She enjoyed teaching at a nature school where the great outdoors was the classroom for enthusiastic young minds. In 2018, Allison started working as a Program Leader for Westcoast Connection. She has lead programs in the Teen Tour, Community Service and Global Adventure divisions. When not working you can find Allison spending time with her dog, Bodhi. She enjoys scuba diving, skiing and camping. Allison is thrilled to be part of the planning team at WCC where she can combine her love for travel, education and helping kids make lasting friends and memories. Contact Allison

Noah Ziegler-Hazen

(He/Him/His) Noah started at WCC in 2019 as a program leader on the American Voyageur and was instantly hooked. After completing two more summers as a Program Leader and Graduating with a BA in Psychology minoring in child youth and family, Noah knew that WCC was where he belonged. In addition to summers spent with WCC, Noah's experience interning at several care facilities in both social work and recreation therapy give him the organizational background needed to be a great asset to the planning team. Through extensive travel both stateside (visiting 30 states) and internationally, Noah loves to learn about new cultures and never says no to an adventure! When he's not catching up with the many friends he's made on WCC programs, Noah enjoys drinking iced coffee and listening to Lady Gaga. Contact Noah

Mateya Burney

(She/Her/Hers) Mateya's passion for travel and cultural exchange is largely thanks to her parents' commitment to expanding her cultural knowledge and horizons. She pursued this passion and received a BA in Asian Religions from McGill University before joining WCC to help with summer operations. Soon after, Mateya joined the Planning Team and quickly became a detail-oriented and enthusiastic Program Coordinator, utilizing her first-hand knowledge of travel and cultural exchange to help create unforgettable experiences for teens. When she isn't digging into the details or exploring new additions to our programs, Mateya enjoys learning new languages, exploring Montreal's vibrant cultural scene, and discovering the limitless gustatory wonders of kitchen spices. Contact Mateya

Keely Obrien

Keely discovered her love for travel and cultural exploration when she left her hometown of St John's, Newfoundland on a language program to Quebec City at age 16. Since then, she lived in London, France, and Australia, and backpacked throughout Southeast Asia before moving to Montreal and joining our team of Program Coordinators. When she isn't traveling, Keely is passionately involved in her community and volunteers with feminist and 2SLGBTQ+ organizations. You can usually find Keely at a yoga or dance class, hanging out with her cat, or enjoying the outdoors. Keely brings plenty of travel and project coordination experience to WCC, and enjoys passing on her love of seeing the world to WCC teens! Contact Keely

Amanda Gonzalez

Amanda graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physical education from McGill University in 2015, where she was also a member of the varsity soccer team. She spent 7 years teaching in elementary schools while also coaching multiple high school soccer teams. Amanda’s passion for planning and travel emerged during her teenage years when she organized a 6 week European adventure, traveling through Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Amsterdam, Mykonos, Athens, Santorini, Venice, Florence, and Rome. Amanda finds joy in cooking and spending quality time with her friends and family. Contact Amanda

Kristen Marriott

(She/Her/Hers) Kristen’s love for travel started in 2010 when she worked at a performing arts summer camp in Italy. She immediately knew that she needed to combine her passion for working with teens and love of travel into a long term career. Kristen joined the Westcoast summer team in 2011 and since then, has worked in the Communications Center and led programs around the world. Kristen is also a trained teacher, having taught in Canada for 8 years and abroad in Cambodia for 4. She is thrilled to be joining Westcoast as a Program Coordinator where she looks forward to putting her eye for detail and passion for expanding teens’ horizons to use. In her free time, Kristen loves to explore new destinations, try new dishes and stay active through hiking and kickboxing. Contact Kristen.

Stan Browman

Stan had a dream over 40 years ago to create a program for teens to learn and have fun through enriching travel. Actually, Stan just didn’t want to grow up. His many years at camp inspired him to start our company directing our first adventure program for teens in 1983. Stan, his wife Elaine, and four friends as leaders journeyed across the USA and Canada with 40 starry eyed teens on a six-week adventure, the debut of today’s American Voyageur. Since then, he has surrounded himself with a talented and passionate team, living out his dream creating once-in-a-lifetime experiences for our teens from around the world. Stan gets as much joy from visiting groups each summer as he does reading end of summer surveys with rave reviews from parents and participants. He takes great pride hearing about new friendships being made, skills learned, and cultures explored. Stan hires many of our senior Program Directors, is involved in scouting new destinations, and leads our strategy and vision. From humble beginnings, who knew years later we would be operating offices in two countries and escorting participants across six continents? Contact Stan

Mark Segal

Mark joined WCC in our 3rd summer and combined his love for summer camp with his enthusiasm for travel and was a leader out west. Seeing Bryce Canyon and the Canadian Rockies and sharing it with a group of teens, he was hooked on the beauty of our National Parks. Mark directed programs in his summers during law school at McGill and in 1990, he established our New York office. He has worn many hats over the years from staff recruiting and training to driving WCC’s development. After 30 years full-time and 35 summers, he transitioned to Director Emeritus, still using his years of experience to support our team and help programs run smoothly in the summer, while allowing him more time for his passion of cycling, hiking and kayaking. Contact Mark

Jason Tanner

Jason’s foundation is deeply rooted in summer camp. He spent 20 years at CBB of Ottawa, from youngest camper to working with teens and eventually helping to run the place as Assistant Director. After years of us calling him to check references on his former staff that we were hiring, he became intrigued enough to see if we might have a need for his talents too. Sure enough in 1999, we lured him to our New York office where he joined us in meeting and speaking with inquiring families. That summer he also directed our American Voyageur. His soft-spoken style, selfless leadership, tireless stamina, and legendary patience were immediately in full evidence. After a few years in New York, Jason’s phone calls with our other office led to a wonderful Westcoast “Connection” when he and Susan from our Montreal office got married in 2002 and that led to him moving back north. He has a great head for systems and somehow manages to help thousands of moving parts come together and make it look easy. He manages much of our extremely complex operations and logistics which includes about 5,000 flights a summer, our warehouse, distribution of equipment and/or supplies, and is our self-taught tech guru. Jason is the Product Manager of our North American Teen Tours. During the summer, you can always see him in his trademark shorts (okay during the other three seasons too) as he loves being on the road visiting our western tours mentoring our Program Directors and leaders and lending a hand in any way he is needed. As a Company Director, Jason wears many hats but perhaps due to his love of the “camp experience,” one of his favorites is his secret planning of the surprise program at our annual Program Directors’ training retreat. Contact Jason

Guido van den Bogaard

Guido was born and raised in The Netherlands where he completed university and started his career in accounting. His passion for travelling brought him around the world discovering new cultures including an international exchange program with an Australian firm in Melbourne. It was also pretty special to see kangaroos and koalas in their natural habitat. Additional adventures included trips to Malaysia and Singapore. Climbing Kota Kinabalu in Borneo to the summit (towering at 13,435 feet) feet during the night to see the sun rise was a once in a life time experience. But one trip changed his life most. Visiting Ecuador and the Galapagos he saw many lizards and shared beaches with many sea lions and seals. In this magnificent setting he met his significant other Sandrine, a Canadian who shared the same passion for traveling and after a few years in The Netherlands they moved to North-America with their two boys. With his CPA and CA designations, and 20 years of international accounting experience and wanderlust in his heart, it was most fitting for him to land at an international travel company. Guido is our controller, making sure that while so many of us are busy playing and having fun, the very complex accounting and finances are running smoothly. It is no easy task juggling Euros, British pounds, Swiss francs, Peruvan nuevo sol, Costa Rica colons, Thai baht, and dollars (US, Canadian, Aussie & Kiwi)! His efficiency, systems and attention to detail helps Program Directors and Leaders focus on the students in their care and making sure they enjoy a lifetime experience. Contact Guido

Brandon Steinmetz

From his first taste of WCC as a participant on our American Voyageur in the summer of 2002, Brandon knew the moment he got home that he wanted to work for us one day. He honed his counseling and leadership skills working at a traditional summer camp in Ontario, Canada and 5 years after his own participant days, he joined our family as a Program Leader on the very same itinerary. In the fall of 2009, Brandon joined our full-time team where he now manages our IT department along with many operational aspects of our business from our online forms to our flight database. Outside of the office Brandon manages a minor league hockey team, and enjoys adventure travel with friends and family. Contact Brandon

Jordan Respitz

Jordan joined our full-time team in 2023, after spending two incredible summers as a program leader on our Californian Extravaganza, California and the Canyons, and Northwestern Odyssey Teen Tours. As a graduate of Concordia University with a degree in Mathematics and Statistics, Jordan has taken up the role of Operations Coordinator, bringing his passion for travel, attention to detail, and creative mind to help create unforgettable summers for participants.

Angela Guezen

(She/Her/Hers) Angela joined the team in 2017 and she now oversees the marketing department. With 10+ years of experience in travel marketing, working with brands such as BritRail, Eurail, Renfe and Trenitalia she handled international marketing and communications for these partners, as well as, traveling Europe by train. After growing up in Morin-Heights where she worked as a lifeguard at a local camp, her passion for travel started thanks to family trips to Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands. Her love for writing, photography and marketing is the perfect combination to help fuel marketing strategies for WCC!

Sean Lumley

(He/Him/His) Sean joined our marketing team in 2018 and has taken on the role of Digital Marketing Specialist. A graduate of the University of Ottawa, he spent 4 years studying Marketing and gaining experience with a number of organizations through the co-op program. As the undefeated Bananagrams champion of the company (self-proclaimed with a 2-0 record), Sean is right at home working on content creation and digital marketing campaigns to help grow the WCC brand.

Mélanie Edmunds

(She/Her/Hers) After completing a 3-year degree in Graphic Design at Dawson College, Mélanie joined the team in 2022 as a Graphic Designer. Outside of work, Mélanie's curiosity and explorative mindset have led her to a wide array of artistic and linguistic passions - she speaks English, French, Chinese, and Italian! As part of the WCC team, she hopes to encourage teens to explore with an open mind and have new inspiring and memorable experiences through travel.

Shadi Deeb

Shadi joined the WCC team as an accounting clerk in 2022, but his love for travel began in 2003 when he moved to Dubai. After living there for 15 years, he headed to Canada with his family to complete his studies in major accounting. Outside of work, Shadi has a passion for the outdoors and loves camping, scouting trips, and safaris. He has even volunteered as one of the assistants in preparing scouting activities for Scouts Canada. Shadi is thrilled to be joining the team at WCC where he can combine his professional skills with his passion for travel.

Jake Rudin

(He/Him/His) After working as a Social Media Specialist during the summer of 2022, Jake knew he had a passion for travel marketing. The following spring he graduated from Western University’s Media & Digital Communications Programs, and was ready to join the team as Marketing Coordinator. Jake loves all things marketing and social media, which is the perfect complement to WCC’s storytelling efforts. In his spare time, Jake enjoys watching reality TV (especially for the banter) and trying new restaurants around the world. He is excited to create and share all of the amazing content our different programs capture!