Samuel E. “Skip” Vichness is the chair of the Board of Directors of Hillel International, the largest Jewish campus organization, with more than 550 Hillel affiliates in 19 countries. He formerly served for three years as vice chair, was responsible for Hillel’s Israel engagement philosophy and chaired its Task Force on Public Statements.
Skip serves as president of Quality Camping Properties, Inc. and a senior partner in GreyPine, LLC. He has worked as a director and investor in the summer camp industry for 45 years, participating in operations on day, resident and special-needs camps across the Northeast.
Skip is a past chair of the Foundation for Jewish Camp as well as the National Ramah Commission – the camping arm of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. In 2011, the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion named him the recipient of its American Jewish Distinguished Service Award. He is also a past president of the American Camp Association, New York Section, and a former chair of the TriState Camping Conference, the largest gathering of camping professionals in the world, as well as former president of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union Counties (The Golda Och Academy).
Skip, who was raised in Newport News, Virginia, graduated with his bachelor’s degree from Randolph Macon College and his doctorate in European history from Florida State University. For eleven years he was a member of the Board of Trustees of Randolph Macon College, chairing its finance committee. He was named a distinguished alumnus in 2011.
He is the vice chair of the Massena Society, which is dedicated to the furtherance of graduate studies in the fields of the French Revolution and Napoleon. In 2004 he was awarded the Distinguished Medal of the Institute for the Study of Napoleon and the French Revolution.
Skip is a graduate of the Wexner Heritage Program. He resides in Manhattan and Delray Beach, Florida with his wife Ilana. They have two sons, Ittamar (Aileen) and Shai (Aileen), and three grandsons, Adin, Lev and Jude.
Skip serves as president of Quality Camping Properties, Inc. and a senior partner in GreyPine, LLC. He has worked as a director and investor in the summer camp industry for 45 years, participating in operations on day, resident and special-needs camps across the Northeast.
Skip is a past chair of the Foundation for Jewish Camp as well as the National Ramah Commission – the camping arm of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. In 2011, the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion named him the recipient of its American Jewish Distinguished Service Award. He is also a past president of the American Camp Association, New York Section, and a former chair of the TriState Camping Conference, the largest gathering of camping professionals in the world, as well as former president of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union Counties (The Golda Och Academy).
Skip, who was raised in Newport News, Virginia, graduated with his bachelor’s degree from Randolph Macon College and his doctorate in European history from Florida State University. For eleven years he was a member of the Board of Trustees of Randolph Macon College, chairing its finance committee. He was named a distinguished alumnus in 2011.
He is the vice chair of the Massena Society, which is dedicated to the furtherance of graduate studies in the fields of the French Revolution and Napoleon. In 2004 he was awarded the Distinguished Medal of the Institute for the Study of Napoleon and the French Revolution.
Skip is a graduate of the Wexner Heritage Program. He resides in Manhattan and Delray Beach, Florida with his wife Ilana. They have two sons, Ittamar (Aileen) and Shai (Aileen), and three grandsons, Adin, Lev and Jude.
