Testimonials for Rita Yerkes,
President of Yerkes Consulting LLC
"Rita and I work together
as volunteers for the American Camp Association on the Board Development
Committee. Her work with ACA has been outstanding and I have appreciated her
attention to detail and the dedication she brings to the job. She is always
very thorough in any assignment she tackles and brings a very clear and concise
analysis to the group. It is a pleasure to serve with her."
Ann Sheets
Sr. Vice President at Camp Fire USA First Texas Council
Past President, American Camp Association
"Thank
you for the excellent summary report and recommendations that was provided on the
NRPA Joseph Lee Memorial Library & Archives. Your study and report
summarized well what the strengths and challenges are involved with the
library, and your recommended guidelines for archival purposes was well
outlined. Your report has given us an excellent resource for bringing the library
into the 21st century for our members and the general public."
Steven J. Thompson,
CPRP
Executive Director
Wisconsin
Park & Recreation Association (WPRA)
“Yerkes Consulting helped us to meet and exceed our goals
for our board development workshop. I
highly recommend them.”
Walter Lenckos
Superintendent
Porter County
Indiana Parks and Recreation
“Rita Yerkes is uniquely suited and able to assist a
variety of businesses and organizations with strategic planning, board
development, operational restructure, human resource professional development,
program design, and on-target problem solving. I have
directly observed demonstration of her skills as she developed Aurora
University’s Recreation Department and the George Williams College, Lake Geneva
Campus graduate and undergraduate curriculums. She has earned many well
deserved accolades for her work within the fields of outdoor recreation and
adventure education. Rita and I have recently co-led an American Camp
Association, Basic Camp Director Course. It was a pleasure to work with
Rita. She is a team player and consistently focuses on meeting the needs
of students and clients. She has abundant knowledge and access to
extensive resources, and she gladly shares both! Rita serves on the board
of directors of my employer, the American Camp Association, Illinois and her
counsel has been one of the keys to a major upgrading of our
governance. I wholeheartedly endorse her consulting services.”
Gordie Kaplan, Executive Director
American Camp
Association, Illinois
“Dr. Yerkes is an exceptional professional/educator who has that rare talent
to connect the real world to academia in a manner that is relevant to both.
Rita brings to the table the knowledge base and ability to determine what
issues/problems exist in an organization and to solve those issues in a
creative and professional manner.”
Jack Sebesta
Superintendent of Recreation
, Crystal Lake Park District, Crystal Lake, IL
I’m happy to recommend Rita. She worked with us in
preparation for our 100th anniversary celebration and helped us
identify what we needed to do. Her excellent recommendations on how we should
proceed provided us with the necessary framework to organize and preserve our
historical materials. Rita is a pleasure to work with and her expertise
is an asset to any organization."
Harriet
Lowe - Director of Communications
American
Camp Association
"Rita is a true team player and
leader that everyone respects. We work together to achieve the goals of AEE and
I always appreciate her wisdom and business skills in ensuring that all parties
involved wins."
Paul Limoge
CEO Association of Experiential Education
“The Basic
Camp Director’s Course taught by Rita Yerkes was excellent, fast paced, full of
need to know information and above all fun! I highly recommend this course, she
went above and beyond to insure that all the course material was covered and
any questions were answered as well.
Juan Morales
Director of
Operations
Camp Soaring
Eagle
“I have worked with Rita in several capacities - both as a customer of hers
and as co-presenter in media consultation. Working closely under her guidance
my company created an impactful recruiting video for George Williams College of
Aurora University. We also gave two presentations together teaching effective
use of media in camp and outdoor programs. Rita is extremely knowledgeable in
all topics in which she consults and is a confident, highly effective
presenter. She is an asset in any project which she is involved.”
Gary Cline
Cline Creative Media
"Rita served a
remarkable nine years on the AEE Accreditation Council, and has held various
leadership positions within AEE. Rita is a consummate professional who
possesses a tremendous wealth of experience, insight and leadership qualities
applicable to a wide range of business, education, and recreation interests.
Her perspective, industry knowledge and expertise was highly valued within AEE.
I wholeheartedly recommend Rita if you are looking to improve any component of your
program's quality."
Shawn Tierney
AEE Accreditation Director
"I have known and worked
with Rita for more than a decade. During many of those years, we served
together on the Association for Experiential Education's Accreditation Council.
I consider her to be extremely competent, professional, fair and reasonable. It
would be my pleasure to work with Rita again, and I would not hesitate to
recommend her for any position in any area related to education, leadership,
risk management, or the outdoors."
Deb Ajango
President, SafetyEd
“Rita is a forward thinking professional whose extensive background in
experiential education gives her the experience and judgment to work
effectively with organizations. I have worked with her on several projects and
highly recommend her!”
Deb Sugerman
Past Chair, Accreditation Council
, Association for Experiential Education
“I have been fortunate to work with Rita in various committees and projects
with the Association for Experiential Education. We served together on the
Board of Directors, professional groups, and the Journal Advisory committee.
For over thirty years Rita has served the Association for Experiential
Education (AEE) with the highest ethical standards. She is a visionary with a
capacity for consensus building and collaboration that produces remarkable
results. She has been an important mentor to many younger members who have gone
on to leadership roles in AEE. AEE is where it is today because of the tireless
work of Rita Yerkes.”
Karen Warren
member , Association for
Experiential Education
“Rita
Yerkes is an expert in the areas of Experiential Education, Recreation
Administration, and Leadership Development. Through her years of work at Aurora
University she has worked with hundreds of students, faculty and community
leaders. She built collaborative partnerships between the University and many
organizations to help both the organization and support the educational goals
of students. She has done extensive work with the Association for Experiential
Education on the Board level and as a consultant.
As a consultant with her own company, I am confident that Rita brings the
highest level of integrity to her clients and provides a service based on years
of research, practice and expertise.”
Donna Price, President
Compass Rose Consulting
