Meet the SwimLabs Montgomery County Team

Denise Dombay , Owner
Denise Dombay is the owner of SwimLabs Montgomery County. She is a Montgomery County mom who started swimming at the age of 4, then went on to swim at The George Washington University, where she earned an Accounting degree. After a 30-year corporate career, Denise decided to bring a new type of swim school to the County—a swim school that served beginner through advanced swimmers and utilized technology to improve the learning experience. Denise continues to swim with the Germantown Masters and participates in swim meets and open water swim events throughout the year. She completed the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim ten times. She attributes her success to her parents, who were both educators. Her mom taught her how to swim and was her first swim coach. She also acknowledges that she could not have opened SwimLabs without the love and support of her husband, Chris, and her kids Ellie and Jake.

Pam Ambrose , Aquatics Director
Pam Ambrose has been active in the aquatics industry for more than 40 years. Before joining SwimLabs in 2018, Pam was the Aquatics Director with Montgomery County Department of Recreation. Pam was one of the head coaches for RMSC and ANCIENT MARINERS and oversaw the programming for Montgomery County Swim League teams and MCPS High School Swimming and Diving.
Pam was also the Head Women’s Coach of Swimming and Diving at The George Washington University where she coached the SwimLabs owner Denise! She assistant coached at WVU after ending her collegiate swimming career.
Pam loves instructional coaching and remains active in the swimming and triathlete communities. She is happiest interacting with customers and sharing her passion for the sport of swimming. Pam is a Red Cross certified Lifeguard Training Instructor, Water Safety Instructor, and USA Swimming coach.

Margo Kim , Operations Director
Margo is originally from Scranton, Pa, she moved to Gaithersburg, MD shortly after college. She has been swimming her entire life both competitively at the high school level and later as part of her personal health and fitness program.
Margo has been with SwimLabs Montgomery County since 2018, she started as a Client Service Representative and Swim Instructor before taking on the full-time position as Operations Director.
When she is not at SwimLabs, you will find her chauffeuring her kids to their various activities and working on home improvement projects.

Deanna Cherry
Senior Instructor
Deanna joined our team in 2018 and quickly became our most requested instructors. Deanna brings with her a wealth of knowledge pertaining to students with disabilities. She was a MCPS paraeducator for 10 years and has brought this experience from the classroom to the pool.
Deanna specializes in teaching students with conditions classified as special needs, specifically autism, sensory disorders, and the deaf and hard of hearing. Her favorite part of her job is seeing children take pride in their independence in the water.
When Deanna isn't teaching lessons, she is training and mentoring our newer instructors.

Lucy Valiente
Location Manager/Senior Instructor
Lucy joined the SwimLabs team in 2019. She brings over 20 years of experience as a swim instructor, pool operator and lifeguard. Over the past 20 summers, Lucy has been the Aquatics Director at Bretton Woods Country Club.
In addition to supervising and mentoring our swim instructors here at SwimLabs, Lucy teaches a combination of group and private lessons of all levels and abilities. She brings a unique combination of compassion and technique that has helped even the most reluctant students find joy in learning to swim.
Lucy is one of our most requested instructors, especially among our adult students!

Erik Mercilliott
Facilities Manager/Level 2 Instructor
Erik has been swimming competitively for 25 years and teaching/coaching for 15 years. Erik originally started swimming as a way to make friends, after his family moved. Erik’s coaching career began with his summer club’s pre-team, where he earned much needed student service hours. The following year he became head coach of the pre-team. Erik says that coaching is his true passion! He has also coached with multiple Montgomery county swim programs including Swim Select Academy, Hydro-Sonic Tiburones, Nations Capital, Quince Orchard Otters and The Woods Academy.
When he’s not coaching, you can find Erik outdoors. He’s an avid backpacker and has done 1,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail.