Leadership & History

Hidden Valley Camp is owned and operated by the McKinlay family. Bob and Nan McKinlay purchased HVC from Harry and Imogene Truman after the summer of 1972. Bob spent his entire career in organized youth camping (over 60 years) starting with YMCA camps in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Washington State (Camp Orkila) and Pennsylvania. Bob was very involved with the American Camp Association over this time. He was Minnesota Section President, board member, camp standards visitor, program chairman of a mid-Atlantic states convention, President of the Evergreen Section, chairman of the Western Region ACA including all states west of the Rockies, member of the National Board of ACA, and General Chair of the 1989 ACA National Conference in Seattle. Bob received a National Honor Award given at the ACA National Conference in 2003. Sadly, Bob passed away in 2016, but his passion for the outdoors and youth development lives on with everyone that attends HVC. Nan McKinlay was the year-round camp registrar, and worked in the summer office at camp through the early 1990’s. She is still living on her own at age 95. Bob and Nan’s children (Scott, Todd and Laurie) have all been very involved with HVC over the years. Scott and Laurie worked at camp through their college years, and then pursued different careers. Laurie also worked in the camp office before becoming a full time teacher. Todd has worked at HVC every summer since 1973, and started working full time for camp in 1992. (see below)

Todd, Jen, Ryan and Kristen

Todd McKinlay is the Executive Director at Hidden Valley Camp.  A graduate in Education from Washington State University, Todd taught school for 10 years and has been involved with Hidden Valley Camp each summer since 1973. Todd has spent every summer of his life (except 2) at a summer camp and has worked full time for HVC since 1992. He has been an active member of the American Camp Association.  Todd has been an Evergreen Section Board member, member of the Nominating Committee, Chair of both the Public Relations and Education Committees, and has been a Lead ACA camp standards visitor for over 25 years. Todd manages the year round administrative responsibilities of camp, and currently shares the staff hiring/training with Ryan.  The plan is for Todd to retire after the summer of 2025 … but he will still be very involved with camp for years to come.

Todd's wife Jennifer has been involved with HVC for over 35 years, is the Camp Registrar, and also works as a full time Registered Nurse outside of camp. Todd and Jen's kids (Kristen and Ryan) have been very involved with camp over the years. Kristen is now a Registered Nurse and Mom.

Ryan McKinlay has been a Counselor at HVC, Program Director, Assistant Director, and is now the Camp Director. He currently resides at camp year-round and takes care of all of the routine maintenance (and the non-routine). He shares the staff hiring responsibilities with Todd, and is responsible for the day to day operation of camp during the summer. The transfer of Directorship between Todd and Ryan is very similar to what Bob and Todd did in the early 1990’s. 

Hidden Valley Camp was established in 1947 by Harry and Imogene Truman and it is one of the finest camps in the Northwest and in the country.