AEE Staff

Sherry Bagley
Executive Director

Pronouns: she/her/hers
Contact: Sherry@aee.org

303-440-8844 x100

Sherry Bagley is the Executive Director of the Association for Experiential Education. In this role, she gets to assist in the elevation and expansion of experiential education by building an inclusive and accessible community; supporting research and programs; and presenting resources to public audiences. Her career path has taken some hard turns from driving tug boats in the Marshall Islands to catering weddings on the beach. She found her true calling when she began working in the experiential education field over 13 years ago. She can often be found out on or in the water swimming, fishing, boating, kayaking, snorkeling, and scalloping. She lives in St. Petersburg, Florida in a 100-year-old house with her amazing husband, 2 great kids, 2 polite dogs, and 2 ridiculous cats. 

Steve Pace, M.S.W.
Director of Accreditations and Certifications 

Pronouns: he/him/his
Contact: steve@aee.org

303-440-8844 x102

Steve was introduced to the power of experiential education when he was an undergraduate at Antioch College. He was transformed after participating in a 3-month field semester course and had the opportunity to lead a similar course before he graduated. Since that time Steve worked for eleven years at the Voyageur Outward Bound School as an instructor, course director, program director, staffing director, and risk manager. He then spent 25 years at Prescott College teaching in the Psychology and Human Development and Adventure Education Programs and later as the Dean of Resident Degrees.  His areas of expertise include adventure education and college program administration, risk management of field activities, interpersonal and group communication, mediation and conflict resolution, and therapeutic use of adventure education.

In 1979 Steve went to his first AEE Conference and was introduced to this remarkable community of educators. Later Steve became an active member of AEE and served both as the President of the Board of Directors and as the Chair of the Accreditation Council. For over twenty years Steve has witnessed the effectiveness of the AEE accreditation process and how it gives organizations a comprehensive method to evaluate and evolve. He is humbled to work with the many talented and dedicated volunteers who make this grassroots program so strong.

In addition to his work at AEE, Steve serves as a member of the Safety Committee of the Board of Outward Bound USA and is an Emeritus Professor at Prescott College.

Anna Miano
Membership & Marketing Manager

Pronouns: she/her/hers
Contact: anna@aee.org

303-440-8844 x 101

Anna is thrilled to serve the AEE community through her role as the Membership & Marketing Manager.  Anna grew up exploring the natural world around her through hiking, camping, rock-climbing, kayaking, and countless other adventures with her family. Anna built her values around the natural world and learning through experience from an early age. Anna also had the opportunity to experience the benefits of experiential education early on in her schooling; as a "lifer" of a Quaker School in Philadelphia. Anna's professional background includes working within the Admissions department of an experientially-focused K-12 School, and as an Event Manager for corporate clients around the world. When she isn't serving the AEE community, Anna can be found hiking, running, baking, painting, or playing with any and all dogs she can find (including her own). Anna currently lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with her husband and dog.

Kat Brown

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Contact: kat@aee.org 

Kat is a freelance virtual assistant and founder of Virtually Possible 365. She left the corporate environment in 2019 to launch her business venture, which would allow her to use the skills and talents she has acquired over the past 30 years to help businesses, associations, and non-profit organizations achieve their goals.   She has a BA in Marketing and Healthcare Administration Management/Human Resources. She is a published children's book author.  When she is not wearing a cape trying to save the world, she enjoys spending time with her fiancé and her rescue pup, Jett. She loves enjoying any time near the water, listening to audiobooks, watching an interesting documentary, traveling, and seeing her best friends as often as possible. She is a native Detroiter. She believes the best thing about launching her business is the freedom to pick and choose her clients, so she was eager to join the team.

Board of Directors

Jay Zarr

Mx. Jeromy Slaby​ (he/him)

Abby Oxborough

Tom Shorrock

Rosanne Mistretta

Kymberly Lacrosse

Justin Hougham

Dr. Justin Hougham is faculty at the University of Wisconsin- Madison where he supports the delivery of a wide range of science education topics to K-12 students, graduate students, and in-service teachers. Justin’s scholarship is in the areas of place-based pedagogies, STEM education, and education for sustainability. Justin has taught 17 different undergraduate and graduate courses as well as instructed over 1000 days in the field. He continues to teach courses, clinics, and trainings that develop pedagogies in experiential education. Justin’s projects and research in the use of technology in place-based environmental education can be found in journals and in conference presentations throughout the US.

Justin currently is on the leadership teams for several federally funded projects that serve needs in community engaged research focused on culturally responsive environmental science education and leadership. Further, he successfully conducts research into and documentation of educational strategies advancing environmental education and organizational change leadership that supports environmental education innovations. He is actively evolving programming innovation to support development of scholarship and research in education in the urban context and expanding access for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Environmental Science Education.

Prior to his faculty role in Wisconsin, Justin served in leadership roles in environmental education programs in New Mexico, Idaho and Washington. This included a Post doctoral fellowship through a NASA funded climate literacy project as well as research projects on-site in the south pacific and in Greenland. Other projects include field work in Alaska, Trinidad and Tobago, Chile, and Costa Rica.

Bernie Rupe

Bernie Rupe has 30 years of experience in the adventure therapy field and has 15 years’ experience working and managing Adventure Therapy programs. He is the founder and Executive Director of Chicago Voyagers, a non-profit charity providing free adventure therapy services to low-income youth of color. He is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Nationally Board-Certified Counselor, Certified Clinical Trauma Professional and Certified Clinical Adventure Therapist. He has developed a community-based model for providing services to those in need and presented workshops seven times at national and international conferences and published research in the field. He is also on the Outdoor Behavioral Health Council’s Proposal Selection Committee for the Wilderness Therapy Symposium.  Bernie feels at home in the outdoors and enjoys international adventure vacations and riding his bicycle almost every day.

Brad Daniel

Interested in serving on the AEE Board of Directors? Have Questions or a Grievance?

Email the Board at board@aee.org