Emmy Niinimaki

Sewataro’s Executive Director, Emmy Niinimaki, spent 18 years serving the Sewataro community and moving up through the director team before taking on the role in 2025. Emmy oversees the entire year-round leadership staff and operations to ensure Sewataro continues to be a leader in creating safe, meaningful experiences for children. She is responsible for the myriad nuts and bolts at Camp, but it is the intangibles that fostered and maintained her deep love for camping.

“I believe deeply in the positive impact that camp can have on the lives of children, families and staff. Feeling like you belong and being valued for your true self, as well as feeling connected with nature, are maybe the most important ingredients to being fulfilled, and are quickly becoming harder to find in this world. I found this at camp myself, and I’ve witnessed others finding this belonging at camp over and over again. I love being a part of it. I want my work to mean something and I can’t think of a better place than camp to accomplish that goal.”

Emmy is responsible for ensuring Camp’s smooth operation – not only what occurs during the camp day, which is a huge task – but all the things that occur before and after the camp day and before and after each camp season.

And Camp has changed a lot since Emmy first arrived on Liberty Ledge.

“When I started, Camp had one computer and one email address! We did everything by snail mail and on paper. There were only three sessions…all 8 weeks, the first four or the second four. Tribe – now Group – assignments were done by hand, with tiny nametags for each camper hung on a big wall.”

Things change, but what hasn’t is Emmy’s commitment to making Camp Sewataro the very best.

“To see how Camp helps to shape campers to be such kind, joyful, confident and respectful people…and to feel like my work plays a part in that growth, is very fulfilling.”

Emmy hails from Cummington, a very small town in Western Mass. After studying to be a teacher, she fell in love with camp while working at an overnight camp in NH and decided to make it a career. She now resides in Westminster with her husband, two children who are Sewataro campers, and their dog, Kofi. In her free time, Emmy enjoys the outdoors, especially camping, hiking and skiing, as well as live music and cheering on her kids’ various sports and music activities.

Education: Waconah Regional HS | BA Elementary Education and Communications, Keene State College

Trivia: hiked the Appalachian Trail from Virginia to New York after college