John Primm

 Board Secretary

Having a Tiger by the Tail

John Primm grew up outside of St. Louis in Clayton, Missouri.  John studied at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and Colorado College, where he was a member of the varsity soccer and lacrosse teams. Entering the business world after first his time in U. Mo Law School and The United States Army Reserves, most of his career was spent in the investment business as a municipal bond trader for N.Y.S.E. firms.  As  a member of the Colorado business community, John has served on several nonprofit boards and has taught Blind and Adaptive skiing for 25 years on a volunteer basis.  In 2006 he retired to Costa Rica, where currently resides and works as an ESL instructor.

John Previously spending his breaks volunteering at an orphanage in Cambodia and found it very rewarding.

Looking for something closer to home, John became interested in Education Plus after a visit to the school as a volunteer during one of his semester breaks, where he was inspired by the children and the organization’s mission.  Since then he has been a steadfast supporter and repeat visitor to Education Plus, providing the organization with endless support and key operations advice.  Education Plus is grateful to John for his expert opinions, constructive critical feedback, and steadfast guidance.

 

John with the kids

John with the kids


Yamileth Castillo

Chef

IMG_2848Yami is our hard working full time chef.  Yami wakes up to go to the market at 4am in order for us to get the best prices on our vegetables, and always makes delicious food that the children love.  Yami has previously worked as a cook in restaurants in Granada.  She is the mother of three of our students, Prisila, Gabriela, and Diana (pictured left).  We are very grateful to Yami for all of her hard work!

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Joel Lindenberg

Board Treasurer

IMG_8570A dynamic executive, Mr. Lindenberg brings more than a decade of business and corporate development experience to Education Plus. In his professional life, Mr. Lindenberg has been instrumental in driving high level strategy in both private equity and entrepreneurial capacities.  His financial expertise and networks have been an invaluable asset to Education Plus.

Mr. Lindenberg began his career in venture capital, financing a portfolio of early stage tech and bio tech companies at Trautman Wasserman’s San Francisco practice. He honed his deal making skills consulting for tier one private equity firms such as H.I.G. Capital and The Jordan Company as an origination associate at Dinan and Company. Early stage investment banking at Growthink Incled him to his first tech start up where he oversaw all aspects of corporate development from capital formation through joint ventures and the eventual exit of cloud based, IT services provider, Artistforce Inc. Joel holds an MA in economics from the University of California Santa Barbara.

Joel leads Education Plus Nicaragua’s Board Meeting and assists in its fundraising campaigns.  He is continually mining his corporate contacts in an effort to expand support for Education Plus internationally.  Joel has spent over a month working with the children as a volunteer Education Plus in the past and has never forgotten his time with them in Pantanal.

 

Joel serving Pizza to the kids on Thanksgiving day, 2012

Joel serving Pizza to the kids on Thanksgiving day, 2012