Our Team
EARTH University Foundation Global Development Team
The Earth University Foundation Global Development team is based in Costa Rica and the United States. We’re committed to making your experience as a supporter of EARTH University, its young leaders, and community partners a positive one.
EARTH University Foundation Board of Trustees
Chair
Erika Gonzalez-Akre
Vice Chair
Gustavo Manrique
Secretary
Tracy Hoover
Trustee
Claire “Yum” Arnold
Trustee
H. Ross Arnold, III
Trustee
Georgie Benardete
Trustee, Former President
Jane Cocke Black
Trustee
Andros Bracamontes
Trustee
Christopher Carter
Trustee
Sonia Medina
Trustee
Julia Novy
Executive Director & Chief Global Development Officer
Kevin Duffy
New York, USA
Deputy Director
Jennifer Szapiro-Fast
New Jersey, USA
Administrative Assistant
Natalia Argüello Quirós
EARTH Guácimo Campus, Costa Rica
Donor and Student Relations
Sara Arias
EARTH Guácimo Campus, Costa Rica For over ten years, Sara has served as Stewardship, Donor and Student Relations Coordinator at EARTH University´s Guácimo Campus in Costa Rica.Sara thoroughly enjoys EARTH´s ever-changing multicultural environment and learning about the courageous stories of the EARTH students which come from rural, disadvantaged populations from over 36 countries.
Coordinator of Database and Advancement Services
Jasmine Graham
Georgia, USA Jasmine serves the global database coordinator and supports the advancement services for the Development Team in US and Costa Rica. Jasmine joined the team in 2019 and has over eight years of experience with non-profit database management.She really enjoys visiting the Periurban farms at EARTH, as she gleams ideas on how to use common household waste to create and manage her own garden at home.
Philanthropy Officer
Kerry McArdle
Georgia, USA Kerry McArdle joined the EARTH team in 2019. As a Philanthropy Officer, she loves connecting individual and foundation supporters who share EARTH’s vision to candidates whose promise exceeds their financial resources and to projects that amplify our impact. Prior to EARTH, Kerry spent six years in fundraising and education/nonprofit management, and her prior experience includes strategy and analytics roles in the corporate sector and a tour in the Peace Corps.One of her favorite things about EARTH is the entrepreneurship program. She is so inspired when she talks to students who are running real-life businesses, and loves hearing about their teamwork, victories, challenges, and learnings (not to mention sampling their delicious products).
Senior Philanthropy Advisor
Victor Sanchez
Michigan, USA Victor raises funds to support the mission of EARTH University alongside a very accomplished and capable group of colleagues. He has forty years of experience in the field and thirty of those have been spent working for our institution.Witnessing the impact of our thousands of students and graduates is the very best part of his experience at EARTH. They are a remarkable group of leaders who are changing the world for the better.
Development Officer
Fabiola Ramirez
EARTH Guácimo Campus, Costa Rica Fabiola is responsible for sustaining meaningful relationships with donors in Latin America, engaging donors with the University’s priorities to align and influence donor giving. She has worked at EARTH for 12 years and has been fundraising since 2015.One of the things that Fabiola enjoys the most about EARTH is interacting with students, they have so much to tell and share about their experiences in the fields, labs and communities. This gives her the fuel to continue her mission of finding new EARTH allies and friends.
Chair
Erika Gonzalez-Akre
USA Erika Gonzalez-Akre is a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI). The SCBI is the leading branch of the Smithsonian dedicated to saving wildlife species from extinction and training future conservationists. Ms. Gonzalez-Akre’s research focuses on tree ecology, botany, and conservation biology.She grew up in Venezuela and holds a B.S. in Earth Sciences Education (Cum laude, Institute Pedagogico de Caracas, 1997), an M.S. in Geology (Universidad Central de Venezuela, 2002), and an M.S. in Tropical Botany (University de Los Andes, 2007). She also serves on the board of the Virginia Native Plant Society.
Vice Chair
Gustavo Manrique
Ecuador Gustavo Manrique is the President of Sambito in Guayaquil, Ecuador, a company focusing on environmental sustainability. Gustavo is very pro-active in all issues regarding climate change and has been a spokesperson for such issues. He leads a business ecosystem with an impact in Latin America involving tires, oil, water, carbon footprint recycling companies as well as the Latin America Green awards. In 2020 considered one of the 100 most influential leaders in climate change in Latin America.He received an Agronomy degree from EARTH University and has been instrumental in maintaining EARTH’s relationships with its alumni in Ecuador. He has also played a pivotal role in EARTH’s fundraising efforts.
Secretary
Tracy Hoover
USA Tracy Hoover is an experienced nonprofit executive, impact strategist, and respected social sector thought leader. As president and chief executive officer of Points of Light, Ms. Hoover led the largest organization in the world dedicated to volunteerism. She joined Points of Light in 2008 and served as chief of staff and chief operating officer before taking the helm of the organization in 2013. Before joining Points of Light, she was the executive director of Hands On Atlanta, a Points of Light affiliate.Today, Ms. Hoover consults with leaders from nonprofit organizations, Fortune 500 companies, social enterprises, and B-Corp start-ups. She has contributed to six books and delivered more than 100 talks on topics such as the promise of citizen action at scale; corporate social responsibility and shared value; accelerating change through disruptive innovation; global citizenship and borderless problem solving; and the emergence of the trust economy and its impact on change making. Ms. Hoover received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Tennessee. She and her husband, Scott Hoover, live in Atlanta.
Trustee
Claire “Yum” Arnold
USA Claire Arnold is the Founder and CEO of Leapfrog Services, Inc., a managed services provider. Ms. Arnold serves on the Board of Trustees of EARTH University Foundation and Spelman College, as well as on the Governing Board of The Woodruff Arts Center, and is a member of the Atlanta Committee for Progress. Additionally, she chairs the Board of Achieve Atlanta and is Deputy Chair of The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. She holds a BA and an Honorary Doctorate from Mary Baldwin College.
Trustee
H. Ross Arnold, III
USA Ross Arnold is CEO and Chairman of Quest Capital Corp, a private investment company. He serves on the boards of Endurance Gold Corporation, a Vancouver stock exchange company, Warren Wilson College, and Duke University’s Advisory Board of the Nicholas School for the Environment. He graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts and a Juris Doctorate degree.
Trustee
Georgie Benardete
USA/Puerto Rico Georgie Benardete is a technology investor and entrepreneur. She is the Co-Founder and CEO of Align17, a private platform for family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals to identify vetted, impactful investments. She previously co-founded and was the Head of Strategy of OrchardMile.com, a luxury fashion marketplace for busy women. Previously, she was Managing Director at Multicultural Capital. Ms. Benardete started her career at OPIC, Coopers & Lybrand, and JP Morgan in Wall Street. A committed environmentalist, Ms. Benardete founded Yeslist.com, Turkey’s largest green portal. She is also part of Al Gore’s Climate Project as a speaker, a founding member of the Charly Alberti R21 Foundation in Latin America, and a LEAD International Fellow. In 2012, the World Economic Forum recognized her as a Young Global Leader for her global leadership in environmental progress – the first Puerto Rican to receive this honor.Ms. Benardete is an active investor and part of the investment committee in Belle Capital USA, an early-stage VC fund that promotes investments in companies with strong female leadership. She earned a Master of Science in Foreign Service (with honors) from Georgetown University, where she was a Woodrow Wilson Foundation Fellow. She finished undergraduate studies at the University of Puerto Rico, completed the executive education program at the Harvard Kennedy School, and coursed special International & Policy studies at American University and Carnegie Mellon University.
Trustee, Former President
Jane Cocke Black
USA Jane Black is the President of the Exposition Foundation, Inc. and the Exposition Company. She is currently the Chair of the Ben Franklin Academy Board of Trustees and the former President of the EARTH University Foundation Board of Trustees and Piedmont Hospital Foundation.She is an emeritus board member of the High Museum of Art and the Woodruff Arts Center. Mrs. Black received the Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals in 2007. She attended Mt. Vernon Junior College and the University of Georgia.
Trustee
Andros Bracamontes
USA/Mexico In 2001, when Andros Bracamontes graduated from EARTH he was told by his friends in his home state of Chiapas, Mexico, that if he wanted a good future he should go somewhere with more opportunities. But he ignored them. His loyalty to his family’s 130 year history in the coffee business took him back to Chiapas, where he hoped to revive the family farm after it was hit by the coffee crisis of the ‘90s.Upon his return, Andros became an agricultural consultant. He worked on sustainability projects with local government, NGO’s, and regional coffee farms. These projects provided Andros with income to help his family farm, Finca Perú París, achieve its organic certification in 2004. Soon thereafter, he was approached by a buyer from a California-based coffee roasting company looking to buy organic beans. The buyer, Pete Rogers of The Rogers Family Company, was so impressed with Andros’s knowledge of organic agriculture that he soon approached him with a different offer. Rogers Family Company wanted to open its own coffee plantation in the region, and Pete had a key role in mind for Andros.
Currently, Andros manages the business’s Mexican operations, which consist of three organic farms and an exporting office. He is also involved in the implementation of environmental and social measures at the company. He promotes conservation of primary forests on the farm’s property and the enactment of fair labor policies. This includes infrastructure improvement to offer workers better living conditions and healthy and nutritious lunches for the 500 seasonal workers that are employed in the high season. In the area of social responsibility, Andros brought a unique proposal to the company’s portfolio, suggesting that The Rogers Family Company support an EARTH scholarship. Pete Rogers liked the idea so much that the company supported two EARTH students – one from Chiapas, Mexico and one from Panama, both of whom are now graduates.
Trustee
Christopher Carter
USA Born in Albuquerque, NM, and raised in Boston, MA, Christopher Carter infuses a blend of ethnic and urban influences in all of his artistic work. Carter graduated with an MFA in Sculpture from UC Berkeley and a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). He has held teaching positions at UC Berkeley, as a visiting professor and lecturer, and at The Art Institute of California, San Francisco, as an instructor.Mr. Carter continues to create, exploring new themes and materials in his lifelong pursuit of individual expression. His home and studio are located in Miami, FL, where he lives with his wife and daughter.
Trustee
Sonia Medina
Spain Sonia is the Chief Ecosystem Development Officer (CEDO) & Executive Director, Climate, at Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). As CEDO, Sonia drives CIFF’s commitment to strengthen global ecosystems and philanthropic communities to solve some of the toughest challenges children face. Sonia also leads CIFF’s climate team and portfolio. Over 50 professionals at CIFF manage more than $1billion in active investments, spanning a range of sectors, including energy, transport, industry, food and land use, alongside cross-cutting strategic levers such as climate finance, diplomacy, legal action, and communications.Before joining CIFF in 2013, Sonia was COO of a biomass start-up in Africa. Before this she spent seven years at EcoSecurities, a large carbon offset project developer, where she was US Country Director and Global Head of Origination. Sonia started her career at UNEP and holds a BSc in Environmental Sciences from Madrid University, an MSc in Environmental Change from Oxford University and an MBA from the London Business School. Sonia was named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2014.
Trustee
Julia Novy
USA Julia Novy is Professor of the Practice and Executive Director of Stanford’s Leadership for Sustainability Program which explores the mindsets, knowledge, and tools leaders need to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable and resilient society.With 20 years of experience leading nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, Julia Novy is recognized for her innovative leadership in designing and scaling entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges that integrate economic, social, and environmental objectives. In 2013, she founded Resilience in Action, dedicated to helping 21st-century leaders cultivate resilience in their lives, organizations, and sectors. In 2010, Ms. Novy was recognized as a distinguished Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and served as a Topic Leader for the Clinton Global Initiative on market-based solutions to environmental challenges.
A Fulbright and Marshall Scholar, Ms. Novy speaks French, Spanish, and Kiswahili, and has lived and worked extensively in developing countries for agencies, including the World Bank, USAID, and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).