Our Team

Valerie has been the Chief Operating Officer of The Clubs at Pine Brook Fitness since early 2014. She joined the team from Philadelphia, PA, where she managed a health club with over 4,000 members. Although her climbing experience is tragically nowhere near the knowledge and expertise of her fellow managers and staff, she is confident she will someday conquer the slackline and become a master at jumps and turns.

A competitive swimmer for over 12 years, she did not have “land sports” in her early repertoire of physical activity. Swimming on the Varsity high school boys’ team all 4 years, she often made guys twice her size cry when they underestimated her speed and were left in her wake. She has maintained the record at SUNY Cortland for Women’s Deadlifting for over 10 years.

Valerie enjoys daily long drives, her 2 cats, and playing tennis (shh!), in addition to chasing after her young son and taking in the sights of the northern Hudson Valley. She also loves and can’t live without Burts Bees lip balm and Seinfeld re-runs. [ X ]

A New Rochelle native, Daniel developed an early love of the outdoors going on hikes with his Dad. Loving to scramble up rocks and boulders, he discovered climbing at a young age, and as a teen even enjoyed a short stint climbing at The Rock Club. After a hiatus from the sport, Daniel rediscovered his passion for climbing when he started working at The Rock Club in 2015. Working at The Rock Club has helped bring both climbing and the outdoors back into his life in a big way. “I love how passionate and welcoming the community is at The Rock Club. It has absolutely helped me rediscover things that I loved.” Over the years, Daniel has worked as a Belayer, Facilitator, Junior Program instructor, and head instructor. Along the way he developed a passion for teaching kids. He graduated with BS in psychology in the fall of 2018 and in late spring of became the Rock Club’s Director of Junior Programs. Now, he hopes to help spread his passion for climbing and the outdoors he rediscovered through The Rock Club. [ X ]

Foster Concannon may look young, but they hail from the pre-historic age of competitive rock climbing.  Foster started climbing at 9 years old when gym floors were made of cut up tires and the first youth nationals had speed climbing as an entertainment activity- not as a competition.  Nevertheless, Foster fell in love with the sport and the culture.  Foster continued to competitively climb throughout their childhood and early adult years, consistently landing them with international accolades. 

Foster’s travels to international competitions opened their eyes to community and cultural growth, inspiring Foster to study Cultural Anthropology and Asian Studies at Tulane University.  True to Foster’s passionate nature, studying other cultures just wasn’t enough.  Foster went to Vietnam to work as an Operations Manager for an eco-adventure tour company specializing in rock climbing.  In the one year that Foster lived in Vietnam, they taught themselves colloquial Vietnamese, negotiated deals with local businessmen, and took pro climbers to deep-water solo in precarious locations.  Foster learned how to run a business in a foreign nation and brought that experience back here- where they find themselves back in the gym they grew up in. 

A climber for life and an advocate for community safe spaces, Foster has made it their mission to protect and grow The Rock Club’s community.  As you may have already witnessed, Foster has begun to integrate arts into the gym.  They hosted The Rock Club’s first art show and plans to host many more!  If you see Foster, ask them how to say, “I am strong” in Vietnamese or about that time they climbed alongside water buffalo! [ X ]

Paul was born and raised in NY and joined the team in 2016. He brings many years of marketing and entrepreneurial experience to the club, having previously run two businesses of his own, a professional recording studio and teaching practice. He has worked in the marketing department for NJ Transit and a variety of tech startups in NYC. He is an avid lover of all things tech, whether it is the latest gadget or new marketing software. He holds an B.A in Music from SUNY Purchase and an MBA in Marketing from CUNY Baruch.

Paul has been climbing for over four years and became hooked as soon as he set foot in TRC. He is a lover of the outdoors, enjoys traveling, cooking, playing his guitar and drums, and investing in the stock market. One of his life long goals is to hike the Appalachian Trail in its entirety, ME to GA, all 2200 miles of it. He says Yosemite National Park is his favorite place on planet earth (check out the valley in his pic). When he’s not at the club, you can find him exercising, reading, teaching music lessons, and taking care of his nine year old bombay cat, Lucy. [ X ]

Ashlee started climbing and working at TRC in 2017. With a dancing background, she was able to pick up slacklining quickly and learn how to walk, sit and lay comfortably on the slackline within a few weeks. Ashlee is very excited to be a new Team Rock coach and can’t wait to join them at Nationals this year. “The team inspires me to push past my limits and I can’t wait to help them do the same”. Ashlee loves balancing, bouldering, and bacon-burgers! [ X ]

Chris is a third year economics student at purchase college and is also an avid pool shark, music nerd and full time goon, but for the past year his greatest love has been climbing. Chris started working at The Rock Club in December 2016 and started climbing a few months after that. Since starting his journey at TRC, Chris has become a facilitator and head instructor of TRC’s amazing junior programs and even started lead climbing. Chris’ favorite things about climbing are balancey stem climbs, unnecessary dynos and calling himself a boulderer (yes, that is a word). When he’s not climbing Chris can be found making music, writing lesson plans for his Junior Programs classes or sleeping on the roof of his car. [ X ]

Full time Graphic Design student, part time Head Instructor of Junior Programs, full time goofball and laughter machine Marissa can be found somewhere in the gym correcting footwork, cheering too loudly, or sneaking in a sneaker send with the kids. Marissa enjoys participating in TRC’s own Adult Climbing League, conquering her fear of heights and falling on lead, eating burritos, and hiking in nature. Outside the gym, you can’t find Marissa because she’s probably lost in Manhattan on her bicycle, in a crowd at a concert, or drove her beaten up Subaru somewhere into a galaxy far, far away…. [ X ]