The ACA Family has grown! Please join us in welcoming two new staff members, Lily Otu (left) and Kaycee Maas (right).
Lily is joining us from Reading, Pennsylvania as our first Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Coordinator. By teaching us to lead with equity, Lily will help us achieve meaningful results in our journey towards a more inclusive and diverse community of paddlers. While achieving a BA in Sports Management, and a Masters of Business Administration, Lily also competed as a collegiate track and field athlete at Mount St. Mary’s University. She then went on to work to develop, implement, and support DEI initiatives within multiple collegiate athletic departments. More recently, Lily not only became a mother, but also founded a consulting firm that creates personalized strategies for individuals and organizations to advance their intercultural competence and promote honest and purposeful development. Lily’s extensive professional experience in executing DEI initiatives will be crucial in progressing the ACA’s commitment to overcoming barriers to participation in the paddlesports community. Welcome Lily, we are so lucky to have you as part of our team!
Kaycee is our new Communications Coordinator. She currently lives in Colorado, where she has spent the past five summers as a raft guide on the Arkansas River. As her guiding career developed and she began whitewater kayaking, she enrolled in a Swiftwater Rescue Course taught by an ACA instructor. Having found her own community through shared experiences in sports and outdoor recreation, Kaycee feels passionately about protecting our natural spaces and deeply values the ACA’s commitment to community, stewardship, competition and education in paddlesports. As a student at the University of Colorado, Kaycee earned a BA in Sociology and a Certificate in Public Health, reinforcing her resolution to help increase access and education in wilderness settings. Her knowledge of the industry and adept story telling ability make her a valuable new member of the ACA family. Welcome Kaycee, we are excited to have you on board!