Project Minnesota/León Leaders

León

Orlando Sarria

Orlando is the newly elected president of the Board (2012). He is married and has two sons and one daughter, all now adults. He was born in León and currently lives in Sutiava. Orlando studied biology, chemistry, and education in college. He currently teaches science at a local private high school. Orlando has been a volunteer PML board member since 1998. His knowledge of construction has proved to be immensely helpful with the construction of the health center in San Carlos. He also continues to collaborate with Project Gettysburg/León. He attended the board meetings in Minnesota in 2011, which was his second time visiting Minnesota.

Deysi Sanchez

Deysi was born and raised in León and currently lives in the neighborhood of Zaragosa. She is a retired primary education teacher who specialized in special education.She worked in various educational institutions, both public and private, with varying responsibilities. In 1979 Deysi was a founding member of ANDEN, the teachers' union. She currently provides consultations for children with various types of disabilities. Deysi's involvement with PML began in the 1990s when she was the principal of the Special Education School which was at that time supported in various ways by PML. She first traveled to Minnesota in 1995 as a member of a delegation. Deysi has been a volunteer board member since 1996.

Idalia Ruiz

Idalia has been a consejo member since 1990, but became involved with PML five years earlier as a volunteer. Aside from working extensively with PML, Idalia also worked at the hospital for 25 years but is now retired. Currently Idalia sells Herbalife products. She likes this job because she is able to help many people improve their health. Idalia has 6 children. She describes herself as a "volunteer from her heart" because she loves working with PML and its different projects and delegations.

Ernesto Solis

Ernesto was born in the former USSR where his mother was finishing her doctorate in marine biology. Ernesto is a recently graduated lawyer who now works for the ministry of labor doing labor inspections and enforcing Nicaraguan labor laws. He has collaborated with PML since 2006 when he first started receiving delegates in his home and doing interpreting for PMl delegations. In 2009 Ernesto was invited to be a member of the southern board. He enjoys being a part of making important changes.

Lissette Saavedra

Lissette was born in León. She is married and has 3 children. She has her degrees in Social Work and Social Studies. She has 19 years of experience as a teacher. She currently teaches social studies at a local private high school. Lissette has been on the PML board since 2009. She enjoys working with PML on both a personal and professional level. She likes helping people in the different communities thanks to the support from Minnesota.

Bernabe Perez

Bernabe is originally from a community called Quetzalguaque. He is part of a large family with 5 brothers and one sister. Bernabe's involvement with PML began in 1991 when he was involved in community assemblies as a community leader. The PML coordinator at that time made a presentation. Bernabe was one of the community leaders that was constantly visiting PML with proposals for the community. After several years his leadership capabilities were formally recognized by the PML southern board when they invited him to be a member of the board.

Ruben Centeno

Ruben was born in León. He has a degree in social work. He is a certified life guard and has volunteered for the Red Cross. Ruben likes to do outdoor activities like volcano boarding, going on hikes, and swimming. Ruben has been involved with PML since 2004. He started out as an intern supporting project development and doing leadership trainings. Ruben was invited to join the southern board of PML in 2006. He is very enthusiastic to be involved with PML and for the upcoming summit meeting in Minnesota.

Minnesota

Sarah Shelton, Coordinator (based in León)

Sarah was introduced to León at the age of 11 when her parents brought her along while they volunteered as members of the PML board. She was a high school exchange student in Ecuador. She attended the University of Minnesota (Morris) as a Spanish/Latin American Studies major. Her senior year was spent in the Dominican Republic. Upon returning to the U.S. Sarah worked for Sheridan Health Clinic and then Concordia Language Village and a community health initiative (B-Well) in Bemidji, MN.

Rachel Ackland

A Minnesota native, Rachel has been a PML board member since 2009, and currently serves as board secretary. She was a secondary school teacher and also worked in retail sales and credit for many years. She loves the challenge of working across cultures, is amazed by the complexity of working in two countries and is impressed by how much can be accomplished despite these factors.

Carol Bidon

Carol joined the PML Board in 2003 after she was impressed with PML’s respect for their collaborators in León. She participated in a 1993 Pastors for Peace caravan of trucks, cars and an ambulance from Texas to Managua, and decided to live in Nicaragua during much of the 1990’s. She is impressed by people moving out from under colonialism into self-government. Carol most recently worked as a guardian ad litem for Hennepin County.

Kara Beckman

Kara has been a PML board member since 2008 and is currently chairperson of the delegations committee. Her connection to Nicaragua began in 1999 while working near Estelí with the Peace Corps. She works in MN doing adolescent health research. Her interests include evaluation and conflict-sensitive peacebuilding.

Janeen McAllister

Janeen has been a PML board member since 2009. She is currently a senior business analyst in the information technology division at Ecolab in St. Paul. Previously she worked at Northwest/Delta Air Lines and Augsburg College’s Center for Global Education (CGE) as program director for international travel seminars. With CGE, Janeen travelled to Nicaragua twice to lead small group travel seminars. She also spent time in Cuba, South Africa and Vietnam developing travel seminars. Janeen has master's degrees in geography and business administration.

Keith Olstad

Keith joined the PML board in 2006, and recently served as the president of the northern half of the PML board. He serves as co-pastor of St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran in St. Paul, and has led several ecotours to Nicaragua for Augsburg College’s Center for Global Education (CGE). Previously he chaired PML’s delegations committee. He is an avid outdoorsman and photographer.

Mike Troutman

Mike, PML treasurer, is a diaconal minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). He currently serves as a donor relations representative for Bread for the World. Previously Mike served as chief investment officer for the ELCA Board of Pensions, and for two years worked as an economic development consultant in Nicaragua. Mike has a master’s degree in business administration, is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and is an active member of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Minneapolis