Leadership School Staff

Here are our Leadership School Staff photos and bios. If you'd like to meet our Teachers, click the icon to the right.

Samantha Richard - Residential Director, The Leadership School
Sammie Richard becomes our Residential Director after two years as a Teacher and one season as intern extraordinaire. Working in the experiential education field since 1999, Sammie has also been an exchange student in New Zealand, and has traveled extensively throughout Europe and the Pacific. Originally from Presque Isle, Maine, she graduated from the University of Maine-Presque Isle in 2002 with a BA in Leadership and Management of Outdoor Recreation.

Ross Cameron, Ropes & Adventure Course Director
Ross Cameron is The Leadership School's Ropes Course Director. He is also the most senior teacher at the Leadership School, having worked for Kieve-Wavus Education and The Leadership School since 1986. A graduate of Greenfield Community College and Goddard College with degrees in Recreation and Leisure Services, Outdoor Leadership, and Experiential Education, Ross enjoys long distance running, paddling, and playing ice hockey.

Amy Lyndaker, Aspirations Coordinator
Amy Lyndaker is the Aspirations Coordinator for The Leadership School. She has worked for Kieve-Wavus since 2005, organizing the various details for each residential program along with occasionally stepping in as a teacher. She became the Aspirations Coordinator in Fall 2007, and continues to expand the reach of this program in Maine. Prior to joining The Leadership School, Amy worked in the Probation Department as well as with Pregnant and Parenting Teens in Lowville, NY. A SUNY Utica/Rome graduate with a B.S. in Psychology, Amy lives with her husband Luke and two children Megan and Andrew, in Newcastle.

Dick Kennedy - Founder, The Leadership School
Richard C. Kennedy, Founder of the Leadership Decisions Institute (now The Leadership School) and of the Science Camp for Girls, was Camp Kieve's Director from 1959-1990. Dick is a former member of the Maine State Board of Education and the Governor's Task Force on Teenage Pregnancy and Parenting. He is an Emeritus Trustee of The Artisans College, in Rockport, Maine, an Emeritus Trustee of Lincoln Academy in Newcastle, Maine, and an Emeritus founding member of the Board of Riley School in Rockport, Maine. Early in his career, Dick was founding Assistant Headmaster of the Pingree School in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. Dick remains very close to Kieve, assisting in development activities and program design. He and his wife, Nancy, spend their winters on Sanibel Island in Florida. In the spring of 2003 Dick was awarded the prestigious Jefferson Award for his contributions to Maine education. He received a BA from Columbia College and an MA from Stanford University.

Alison Chase - Administrative Assistant
Originally from nearby Newcastle – and having attended Kieve in 8th grade – Alison is excited to be part of The Leadership School. Alison has a B.A. in Geology from Amherst College in Massachusetts. She first worked in experiential education during an Americorps stint in the White Mountains with the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Forest As A Classroom program and went on to work as a crewleader for Northwest Youth Corps in Eugene, OR. Since then, she has worked in IT at an investment firm, as a shiatsu practitioner in private practice, as an Executive Assistant to the CEO of PBS in Washington, DC, and most recently as the Director of Administration for the Gulf Restoration Network, a regional environmental non-profit based in New Orleans, LA. After all this moving around, she is happy to be “home” in Maine, and to have returned to the field of experiential education.