Meet Jay, BOSS’s new Executive Director

Hi!

My name is Jay, and I’m the new executive director at BOSS. I’ve been in this role since May, but with the season in full swing almost from the day I started, I haven’t had a chance to introduce myself.

Being the executive director of BOSS is about the last thing I thought I’d end up doing as I embarked on my 14-day student course in September of 2021. I signed up for a BOSS course because, with four children, I wanted to be far more competent in the wilderness and to have a better sense I could take care of myself and my family if I needed to. Over those fourteen days, I developed those skills and that confidence, but I got much much more. Facing the difficulty of a BOSS course and living for fourteen days without so many of the things I thought I needed, helped me find something inside myself I didn’t know I had. I found myself doing much more than surviving. I found myself thriving. It ended up being perhaps the most profound experience of my life aside from my marriage and the birth of my children.

2021: My Student Course

When they asked me to come back to train to be an instructor, I was surprised (and flattered — then I figured there must be some kind of affirmative action for people over 40). With young children and a writing career, working toward being a BOSS instructor made no sense on paper. But, as my wife reminded me, ‘neither does falling in love or having children or any of the rest of the best stuff in life.’ So, I said yes.

2022: My First Apprentice Course

And I was going about my business happily learning the ropes of BOSS and honing my skills on my path to becoming an instructor, when the ED role opened up last year. Despite the fact that it, again, made no sense on paper, I felt the same gnawing pull to do it that I’d felt about my student course or becoming a BOSS apprentice. So, I threw my hat in the ring, and here I am.

That’s the how of how I got here, but the why is more important. Simply put — I love BOSS, it has had a profoundly positive effect on my life and the lives of everyone in my family. Unlike a lot of their friends in this increasingly screen-heavy over-programmed world in which we live, my children love being in nature and the deeper we go into the wilderness, the happier they are. My wife, who is taking her first student course this September, says she likes the post-BOSS version of me MUCH better than pre-BOSS (and I put the 12 pounds I lost back on, so it’s not just that).

I’ve felt my perspective on my own life shift dramatically thanks to BOSS. I care a lot less about things that don’t really matter, and the feeling of thriving that my student course gave me has stayed with me. And I have seen the same (or similar) positive effects in almost every student I’ve met in the four seasons since I’ve been here (and in many other students and staff who I’ve had the privilege to meet in my time working here). Being a part of that felt like too great of an honor and opportunity to pass up.

My Family

I plan to write you every month or so to tell you what’s happening at BOSS, and I’ll try to be as open and candid as possible in my notes. My hope is that you’ll take a few minutes to read them, and you’re more likely to read them if you feel like I’m telling you the truth (at least the truth as I see it).

BOSS courses are fantastic and life-changing. That was true in 1968, and it is just as true today. Now more than ever, BOSS meets a growing need in our society for genuine, tangible, outdoors-based, non-screen-centric opportunities for growth and learning, and we need to meet that increasing need and demand. That means growing, more effectively telling our story, better connectedness to alums, upgrading our facilities, increasing pay of our incredible instructors, expanding the reach of the BOSS story so people who might never consider a BOSS course hear our story and decide to take a course, and a lot more.

We’re implementing a number of organizational changes that will hopefully help us do a lot of the above and more.

• A major website overhaul
• Greater capacity on the leadership team
• A beefed up admissions team
• An improved admissions process
• A robust marketing and communications effort including a strong online presence with timely video and written material
• An online store that can sell existing (and new) BOSS gear 24-7, year-round