MEET OUR STAFF
Senior Staff Members

Karen Krieger, Director

Karen grew up in Pittsburgh and followed her Aunt Susan to Walden. She was a camper for five summers and later a counselor. She graduated from Yale University, where she studied architecture and played ice hockey and soccer. She also managed the men’s baseball and ice hockey teams, and in doing so was the first woman to earn a varsity letter in a men’s sport. It was this experience that made her recognize how much she enjoyed organization, planning and detail.

She became a high school art teacher, a coach at a prep school in New Haven, and helped coach the Yale women’s ice hockey team. She attended and graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, with a master’s degree in Regional Planning. She spent several years in the arts management field and in 1993, formed her own company, Karen Krieger Metals. Her company produced items for the high end gift market, including jewelry, tabletop sculpture, and accessories.

In 2006 she and her husband, also a Yale-trained artist, adopted their daughter Janet from China. Karen started looking for work, which would provide more financial stability for their two-artist household, but still be as challenging and satisfying as running her own business. During this time, her niece Kate was a camper at Walden. Karen visited her niece every summer and delighted in spending late nights talking with alumni and reconnecting with the Walden community.

When the trustees asked her to be director, she realized this was the perfect fit for her interests and strengths. She is thrilled to have a chance to give back to the place, which was instrumental in making her the woman she is today and in nourishing the life-long friendships that she treasures.

Lynn Campbell Miller, Assistant Director

Lynn is from Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes. Growing up in the "real" state where Paul Bunyan is from, she loved spending time outdoors. Her early summers were spent at the family’s lake side cabin, days filled with fun, fishing with her dad and swimming with siblings and friends. In high school she was active in sports and cheer leading. While attending St. Cloud State University, where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree, she learned about a camp in Maine called Walden. Intrigued by what she heard, she applied for a job, was hired and spent the next five summers as a counselor, mentor and friend. Many of the friendships she developed during those years continue to grow today.

She met her husband while skiing in Colorado. They spent seventeen years in the Rockies, managing a cattle ranch and working with at risk children. As a specialized therapeutic home, they helped these children and their families overcome bonding issues. During these years, Lynn was continuously drawn back to Walden. One summer she took her entire family, including the dog, to work at camp.

She and her husband now live on a mini mountain valley ranch in Idaho, aka "Spudagonia", where they raise hay, horses and Oreo-Cookie cows. Their home, near the whitewater rapids of the Salmon River or River of No Return replaces the family’s lake side retreat. Currently she works in a middle school, teaching math and reading to 5th and 6th grade students.

Her summer job as Assistant Director, allows her to enjoy some of her childhood pastimes as well as being a guide and mentor for campers and counselors. Her love for children and her passion for Walden continue to draw her back to her other “home” in Denmark Maine.