CAMP Rehoboth, the LGBTQ community services center serving Rehoboth Beach and areas across Delaware, has announced it has hired Dr. Kim Leisey, a longtime high-level administrator at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, as its new executive director.

Leisey, who holds a Ph.D. in Human Development, has served for three decades in the field of student affairs and facilities management at UMBC leading up to her current position as Senior Associate Vice President of Student Affairs, according to a statement released by CAMP Rehoboth.

“The appointment of Dr. Leisey, a Lewes resident since December 2020 and a Rehoboth Beach visitor since the early 1990s, marks the first time CAMP Rehoboth will be led by a cisgender lesbian in its 33-year history,” the statement says. “She will join the CAMP Rehoboth team on July 10, 2023,” it says.

“After conducting a comprehensive national search, the Board of Directors selected Kim because of her widely respected leadership in creating strong, healthy, and inclusive communities throughout her career,” said Wesley Combs, president of the CAMP Rehoboth Board of Directors and chair of the group’s executive director search committee.

“As a champion for all things that help humans to thrive during their lifespan, combined with extensive experience with human resources, facilities, health and safety, and operations at UMBC, Kim is the exact person to help strengthen the CAMP Rehoboth of today and into the future,” Combs said.

The need for a new CAMP Rehoboth executive director surfaced in May of 2022 when then executive director David Mariner resigned to start a new Delaware LGBTQ advocacy group called Sussex Pride. The CAMP Rehoboth board a short time later named Lisa Evans, a longtime administrator at nonprofit organizations in Baltimore, as CAMP Rehoboth’s interim executive director.

The May 11 statement announcing Leisey’s appointment as the new executive director says the search for the new director was conducted by Johnny Cooper of Cooper Coleman LLC, an LGBTQ-owned executive search firm that was selected after a Request for Proposal process that included five firms that applied.

Combs told the Washington Blade that Leisey continued in her role as Senior Associate Vice President of Student Affairs at University of Maryland Baltimore County after moving to Lewes, Del., in late 2020.

“I am honored to be working with the amazing team at CAMP Rehoboth Community Center,” she said in the statement announcing her appointment. “My leadership will honor the important and beautiful legacy of Steve Elkins and Murray Archibald,” said Leisey. “The foundation they have created is strong and powerful.”

She was referring to CAMP Rehoboth’s 1991 co-founders Steve Elkins and his then partner and later husband Murray Archibald. Elkins served as CAMP Rehoboth’s executive director from the time of its founding until he passed away in 2018.

“Together with the staff, the Board and community, CAMP Rehoboth will continue to offer advocacy, support and connections among our LGBTQ community and our friends and neighbors throughout Sussex County and Delaware at large,” Leisey said. “CAMP Rehoboth will continue to add to the vibrant communities at the beaches and beyond,” the newly named director said. “Together we will thrive. I can’t wait to meet everyone!”

The CAMP Rehoboth statement says the hiring of Leisey was the “latest milestone in CAMP Rehoboth’s multi-phased transition process that includes a three-year strategic plan being supported by MMP Associates.” MMP is a consulting firm operated by Michela Perrone, a nationally acclaimed strategic planning consultant affiliated with Georgetown University.

“Dr. Leisey will play a pivotal role in the completion and execution of CAMP Rehoboth’s new strategic plan,” Combs said.