Board

Board Member

Cliff Johnson

Cliff has been a MAPLE board members since June 2010. He is an attorney and entrepreneur with a passion for finding innovative ways to promote global equity.

Board Member

Cliff Johnson

Board Member

Dr. Jesús Sepúlveda

Jesús Sepúlveda is a Chilean poet who lives in Eugene and teaches Spanish composition, creative writing and poetry at the University of Oregon. He is the author of eight collections of poetry and three books of essays, including his green-anarchist manifesto The Garden of Peculiarities (2002) and his book on Latin American poetry Poets on the Edge (2016). His collection Hotel Marconi (1998) was made into a film in Chile in 2009 and his selected poems were collected in Poemas de un bárbaro in 2013. He is a regular contributor to the magazine Fifht Estate.

Sepúlveda’s work has been published in more than twenty countries and partially translated into ten languages, leading him to participate in many poetry festivals and poetry readings throughout the world.

Dr. Sepúlveda holds a PhD in Romance Languages and became a board member of Maple in September 2018.

Board Member

Dr. Jesús Sepúlveda

Caz Swank Lockwood

Board Member

Dr. Ruth Vargas-Forman

Ruth is a Chilean psychologist with a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Salamanca in Spain. She worked at OHSU for fifteen years offering mental health services to asylum seekers from Central and South America. She has collaborated extensively with international human rights organizations in providing culturally sensitive psycho-forensic evaluations. She is the author of a book that documents the experiences of indigenous Mapuche leaders in the justice system in Chile and their search for justice at the Inter American System of Human Rights. In addition, Ruth has been offering expert testimony at the Inter American Court of Human Rights. Currently she is providing therapeutic services at Options Counseling Services in Eugene and traveling to Chile every year to document human rights abuses against indigenous communities and environmental leaders. Ruth has been teaching and offering workshops at graduate and under graduate levels in Chile and in the USA.

Ruth is a member of the Maple Board of Directors since August 2013. During her visits to the MAPLE project in LLaguepulli Lof in Chile, she witnessed the deep commitment of the community and MAPLE team with the implementation of the first self-determined Mapuche financial institution. Ruth shares the values of MAPLE; believing in cultural resilience, trusting the capacities of communities to overcome barriers and collaborating for the development of sustainable financial institutions, all which facilitate the expansion of wellbeing for communities and their environment.

Board Member

Dr. Ruth Vargas-Forman

Board Member

Julia Daly

Julia is a graduate of the University of Oregon's International Studies program (2010) and Trinity College Dublin's MSc in Development Practice (2014). She was raised in Washington State, but currently resides in Amsterdam. She joined the Maple Board in 2023. Julia worked for 6+ years in the development sector, but currently works in the travel technology space and remains dedicated to causes and organizations that promote global equality.

Board Member

Julia Daly

Chris currently works for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) as the Adult Education Supervisor and am based out of Boise, Idaho. Chris lived in Uganda for four years, during his time in education, Chris taught and worked in administration for an international school in Kampala. He fell in love with the region and hope to permanently move back to East Africa in a few yearIs. Chris has also worked in/for programs in China and Sudan. He is currently working on his Masters degree in International Development at SOAS University of London. Chris discovered MAPLE during his undergraduate degree at University of Oregon in 2015, where he fell in love with the organization's mission and eventually went on to do a post-graduate internship in Mbale and Lira, Uganda.

"I absolutely love traveling, and my goal is to travel to every country in the world during my lifetime. I love exploring the rich cultures around the world, trying new food and drinks, and meeting people from the countries I visit. Some of my favorite countries I have visited include Uganda, Lebanon, Italy, Tanzania and Mexico”.

Christopher Kuhn

Board Member

Dr. Mary Hope Schwoebel

Mary Hope is an Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She has a Ph.D. from the Carter School of Peace and Conflict Studies at George Mason University and an M.Ed. in International Agricultural Development from the University of California, Davis. She has worked in sustainable development, humanitarian assistance, human rights, democratic governance, and peacebuilding in South America, Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, South and Central Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Schwoebel lived in Paraguay for five years and in Somalia and Kenya for six years. Her research focuses on how customary, religious, and formal legal systems conflict with and/or complement each other at community and national levels. Schwoebel serves on the City of Plantation, Florida (where she resides) Sustainability and Resiliency Advisory Board. In her spare time, she is an activist for the rights of nature and environmental issues, and studies and performs dances from around the world, currently primarily Polynesian dances. She is the mother of a daughter and a son.

 

Board Member

Dr. Mary Hope Schwoebel

Board Member

Dr. Cinthya Ammerman

Dr. Cinthya Ammerman Munoz's research is focused on Hemispheric relationality, land defense movements, and Indigenous climate change studies. Her current research follows the stories of various plants and the links they have created between Mapuche and California Native homelands. This shared history maps potential paths to hemispheric collaboration in response to climate change. Dr. Ammerman is a multiheritage interdisciplinary scholar from Wallmapu, ancestral Mapuche homelands in southern Chile. She was raised throughout Latin America before coming to the U.S. to study sociology at George Mason University. She went on to complete her MSC in Community Development and PhD in Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis. In 2021, she was awarded an American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Emerging Voices postdoctoral fellowship at Georgetown Unviersity.

Board Member

Dr. Cinthya Ammerman

Board Member

Michelle Mirembe

Michelle Mirembe Baingana completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration at Lewisham College in London in 2005 and has found herself working in marketing and logistics.

She is hardworking and has a passion for people. Michelle is all about making a positive difference wherever she goes.

She is currently the Maple representative in the central region of Uganda and is in charge of Maple Uganda’s social media. Stay for Good, an organization owned by one of the Maple Board members, connected Michelle to Maple.

In her free time, Michelle likes to read the Bible, speak to others about Jesus and spend time with her family.

Board Member

Michelle Mirembe

Laura Williams is volunteering to coordinate MAPLE Oregon’s expansion from Eugene to Portland, OR.  She has a Masters (MSc) of Science in Primate Conservation and a Bachelor of Science in Sociology and Anthropology, both from Oxford Brooks University, England.  Prior to moving to Portland, Oregon, she worked as a digital marketer for an environmental organization in Nairobi, Kenya, as an operations manager for an ecotourism company, and as a business development officer for a restaurant in London.

Laura Williams

Chilean Team

Alison Guzman

Alison received her BA in International Studies/Multi-Ethnic Studies and MA (2008) with a focus on Human Rights and Social Justice from The American University, School of International Service, in Washington DC. Born in the U.S., but growing up overseas in Latin America and Africa, she began her career with international development organizations involved in project management, Monitoring and Evaluation, and access to finance initiatives, including SME banking and microfinance projects in Trinidad and Tobago for the Caribbean region. Following her interest in community-led development, she joined MAPLE in 2010 while working for social, cultural and environmental justice projects in Oregon, US. In 2012 she became the initiator of MAPLE’s programs for indigenous self-development in Latin America and since 2013 is co-directing MAPLE’s program in the Araucania region in southern Chile. She has specialized in indigenous development through co-design and participatory implementation of financial and cultural management tools, including strategies to add value to traditional Mapuche arts and textiles and support women entrepreneurs. She has also managed multiple collaborations in Chile and internationally, with partners such as First Peoples Worldwide, The Sacred Fire Foundation, the Latin American Travel Association, Aid to Artisans, VOZ, and the University of Illinois at Chicago, while working closely with MAPLE team in Oregon for developing sustainable community-to-community philanthropy.

Alison Guzman

Nadia Painefil Curiqueo

Nadia Painefil Curiqueo and her family are pioneering cultural tourism with the Mapuche Lafkenche Lago Budi Tourism Committee since 2008 (lagobudi.cl). In 2012, she was delegated by the Llaguepulli Community as a liaison with MAPLE Microdevelopment. She has since become a leader first in the initial participatory research team with MAPLE in 2013, and since 2014, as part of the management team. Together with Silvia Calfuqueo, and the Mapuche filmmaker Juan Raín, she has collaborated with MAPLE Microdevelopment in documenting reflections of the creation of the Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo. She enjoys sharing with others her Mapuche culture, history and ways of life, and she currently offers a unique demonstration of traditional practice of textiles to visitors, where each symbol has its own meaning. Nadia is a leader in establishing relationships with other First Peoples communities, participating through MAPLE in an exchange of gifts with the Siletz Nation of Oregon in 2015, and in 2016 representing the Mutual Support Group in a tour to New Zealand for exchange of Maori/Mapuche self-development experiences.

Nadia Painefil Curiqueo

Ignacio A Krell

Ignacio is a Chilean sociologist with over 15 years of experience in rural development collaborating with Mapuche communities. In his college years at the Universidad de Chile (1998-2003) he participated in the defense of the Biobío river, an experience that led him to a deep commitment with the wellbeing and rights of indigenous communities of southern Chile. From 2004 to 2008, he founded and directed an ecotourism joint venture with Mapuche communities focusing on responsible tourism as a means for strengthening indigenous rights. Since 2005, he has conducted participatory academic and applied research on political ecology, indigenous rights, and ecotourism. In 2013, after completing his Masters in Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon, Ignacio moved back to Chile as part of the MAPLE team assisting our community partners in lake Budi region to design and establish the first-ever Mapuche-managed community finance institution. In these last 4 years, Ignacio has also had a key leadership in developing culturally-appropriate environmental and agroecology projects jointly with Mapuche leaders and families and other stakeholders in the region.

Ignacio A Krell

Juan Rain

Within the process of reconstruction of the Mapuche nation, Mr. Rain has assumed the role of communicator. For him, “There is a need for the territory to revalue all aspects of our way of life or vision of the world that we have as a Mapuche people, so I joined this project (MAPLE) because it strengthens our process of visualizing the mapuche lafkenche economy of Aylla Rewe Budi, an ancestral territorial space that forms part of the Mapuche Lafkenche (people of the sea) located between the river Traitraiko (Imperial) on the north and the river Toltén on the south, corresponding administratively to the communes of Puerto Saavedra and Teodoro Schmidt (IX Region) by the Chilean State. This is where our work of socio-political, cultural and spiritual restructuring of our territory is centered.” It is in this context that Rain has conducted different experiences that aim to revalue the ancestral forms of communication incorporating the new technologies and creating an instance of formation and reflection around the Mapuche communication, addressing the issues of importance for the Aylla Rewe Budi, as the Cultural meaning- historical and spiritual aspects of territorial spaces. Mr. Rain directs "Lafken Ñy Zugvn Comunicaciones", an agency that coordinates audiovisual communicators in his territory. He is also part of Werken Kvrvf community radio and a member of the team that runs and produces "The Ayu Rewe Budi School of Cinema and Communication".

Juan Rain

Fernando Quilaqueo

Fernando Quilaqueo Calfuqueo, born and raised in the Mapuche Lof of Llaguepulli, is an Agricultural Technician with experience collaborating in various productive and cultural projects with Mapuche-Pehuenche Communities in the Lonquimay Mountains and with Lafkenche Communities in Saavedra and Teodoro Schmidt. In search of better job prospects he migrated to the capital Santiago. After more than five years far away from the Community, MAPLE offered him the opportunity to join our team as Field Coordinator for the Program for Strengthening Family Foods and Livelihoods with and work in agroecology and agroforestry, his areas of interest, with the families of his own community, in a project he describes as an “innovative proposal for the development of my own Community”. Fernando and his wife also collaborate with a family tourism business focusing in bird-watching and Mapuche traditional herbal medicine.

Fernando Quilaqueo

Mario Fonseca

A Chilean national born in Lima, Peru, Mario Fonseca studied at the Art School of the Catholic University of Chile, and later obtained a Bachelor of Visual Arts at the Finis Terrae University. He has developed an outstanding professional activity in the fields of graphic design, edition, advertising and communications, independently or at important publishing, advertising and strategic communication companies. From 1983 to 1984 he was member of the International Council of the World Wildlife Fund, and in 2012 he participated in the creation of the Fungi Foundation, dedicated to the fungi kingdom in Chile, integrating its Board for eight years. He has taught Visual Arts and Design at different universities, and to date he is a professor at the Faculty of Communications of the Catholic University of Chile. He has been curator of various individual and group exhibitions, as well as responsible for the museum content of three museums in Chile. As a visual artist, he occupies photography as an expressive language, and his work is part of the permanent collections of the George Eastman Museum, in New York, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, in Minnesota, and the Leticia and Stanislas Poniatowski Collection, in Paris, as well as of the five main art museums in Chile.

Mario Fonseca

Ugandan Team: Mbale

Rogers Raymond Muduku

Rogers Muduku is my name, currently serving as the Country Director for Maple Microdevelopment Uganda. I joined Maple as an Intern right after completing my Bachelors Degree in Business Administration with a Major in Accounts at Makerere University (MUBS) in 2010.

Rogers Raymond Muduku

Grace Burleson

Grace serves as Director of Research & Innovation for MAPLE Uganda, working remotely from Ann Arbor, MI, USA. She has worked with MAPLE in Uganda since 2015 on several water, energy, and income-generating projects and has a passion for empowering local design and innovation. She is pursuing a PhD in Design Science from the University of Michigan where her research focuses on socially-engaged and environmentally responsible engineering in emerging economies. She holds a dual Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Anthropology from Oregon State University and has served as an Engineering for Change Fellow since 2017. 

Grace Burleson

Diana Watsemba

Diana Watsemba earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Uganda Christian University.

After completing her degree, she worked on short-term contracts with different organizations, mainly in the area of data research. While at Maple, Diana received training in the Creative Capacity Building curriculum originally developed at MIT D-Lab. 

Currently working with Maple as a field officer, Diana has been thrilled by this opportunity. Working with community members and interacting with nature has been extremely fulfilling for her. While she was born in the Mt Elgon region, Diana never had the opportunity to interact with various places in the region so she feels lucky to be emersed in it now.

In her free time, Diana loves to explore new places with friends, meet up with new people, and occasionally watch movies. As an active member of her church's choir, Diana loves to sing and be surrounded by music; she considers it “the food for her soul”.

Diana Watsemba

Ben Wamaluku

Ben Wamaluku currently serves as a Maple field officer attached to MCID and a CCB facilitator. He also works on other Maple programs within the region. Ben holds a National Certificate in Agriculture from the Mbale Municipality Community Polytechnic Institute which he completed in 2021. With his agricultural background, Ben is currently working on establishing a demonstration garden at the MCID Center and helps provide farmers in the communities that Maple serves with new skills and practices.

He is among the pioneer participants at MCID who were trained through the Creative Capacity Building program (CCB) at which is originally developed at MIT D-Lab but used globally. He later stayed on as an active participant.

Through Maple, Ben got an opportunity to attend a TOT training by the MIT group, at the end of 2021, for CCB facilitators so he is a qualified CCB trainer.

He also holds other certificates in scouting, patriotism, music dance and drama, school leadership and one from the green tree world agency.

In his free time, Ben loves to adventure, hike, make new friends, learn and research more about agriculture.

Ben Wamaluku

Nick Moses

Nick Moses

Badete Taibu

Badete Taibu is a Level One Creative Capacity Building (CCB) Trainer and a Field Officer for the ROSE Program.

Hobbies
He is passionate about creativity and innovation.

Badete Taibu

AROMORACH BRENDA

AROMORACH BRENDA aka Amaro is originally from Nebbi District in Northwestern Uganda (West Nile) but lives in Mbale. She attained a bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management from the Uganda Christian University (UCU) in 2018.

She Joined Maple through the MCID project as one of the pioneer participants of the first CCB training at the Center. She was part of the stove assembling team of participants. Through Maple, Brenda had the opportunity to attend a TOT training by the MIT group and is a qualified CCB trainer.

She is currently serving as Maple's field officer but also works with the other Maple projects in the communities. She is excited to be part of the Maple and MCID family and looks forward to more growth in her career.

Aromorach Brenda

Gibemi Musa

He is Communications Specialist!, He is a highly motivated and creative Ugandan with extensive experience in social media content creation, management, community engagement, and cinematography. Musa has experience in media and social media management. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Media Technology from Livingstone International University, where he specialized in social media marketing, digital content creation, and public relations. Musa is proficient in various technical skills, including Adobe Creative Suite and social media analytics tools, and he has a proven track record of effectively managing social media platforms and developing compelling content strategies. His volunteer work with the Red Cross, MCID, and Maple in Mbale further showcases his dedication to community engagement and disaster preparedness.

My Name is Gibemi Musa, born in Uganda living in Mbale. “Weaving narratives, crafting worlds. Capturing moments, telling stories”

Final year in Bachelor of Science in Media Technology at Livingstone International University.

Am a video editor and producer, A writer, content creator, social media manager and communicator.

I love listening to music and writing stories/scripts in my free time

Am passionate about exploring new technologies in the media world. And love listening to Gospel music.

Am excited to be part of this great family and my participation is an honour"

Gibemi Musa

Uganda Team: Lira

Mark Egeny

My name is Mark Egeny, I work for Maple Uganda as a field officer and a baseball and softball coach in the Northern town of Lira, I like playing baseball and I still play at the National team in Uganda, I am 27 years old I like traveling and making new friends.

Mark Egeny

Acut Moses

Acut Moses is my name, 30 years old, I live In Ayago, Railway Division, Lira municipality, Ugandan by nationality, Langi by tribe.

I went to King James Comprehensive secondary school in Lira for my O Level , Certificate in agriculture at Human Technical Development Training Institute in Lira and Later a Diploma in agriculture at Bukalasa agricultural collage Wobulenzi, Luwero district.

I have worked with Maple Microdevelopment Lira, northern Uganda since 2013 as a field officer serving communities with business skills and agriculture training and assisting in baseball and softball coaching.

Acut Moses

Opio Solomon

Opio Solomon Tonny, more commonly known as Coach Kid, is part of the Maple Team in Northern Uganda and volunteers as a Baseball and Softball coach. He is extrememly passionate about baseball and this journey of his started at the early age of 8.

He has played professional baseball in Osaka, Japan and in Southern Africa but retired early from the game to a knee injury.

He has coached at the national level with Coach, Maple’s other baseball and softball coach, for the U23 Men’s team as well as the National Women’s softball team that went to Canada in 2018.

He decided to relocate to Lira, his ancestral place, in 2019 to work and volunteer with Maple in developing young talents.

He is so happy to see young talent achieve their goals of playing baseball and softball and loves being a part of their journey.

Opio Solomon

Oregon Team

Ron taught courses in international business communication and social entrepreneurship in the University of Oregon Department of Management for 23 years. With his students, he co-founded MAPLE in 2008 and thereafter served pro bono as executive director until his retirement in 2020. Today, he directs MAPLE's Oregon Branch. He also speaks Danish and has taught graduate courses in microfinance and development for several summers at Copenhagen Business School.

Ron Severson

Sam works as Site Lead for Everyone Village Eugene (E1V) and serves as the liaison between MAPLE and the EVE community.  He is also a member of the planning team for co-designing small cooperatives of more permanent housing that E1V residents can actually afford. Prior to working at E1V, Sam awas a care provider and information technology assistant for the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology where he earned his Masters of Divinity (MDiv).

Sam Koekkoek

Laura Williams is volunteering to coordinate MAPLE Oregon’s expansion from Eugene to Portland, OR.  She has a Masters (MSc) of Science in Primate Conservation and a Bachelor of Science in Sociology and Anthropology, both from Oxford Brooks University, England.  Prior to moving to Portland, Oregon, she worked as a digital marketer for an environmental organization in Nairobi, Kenya, as an operations manager for an ecotourism company, and as a business development officer for a restaurant in London.

Laura Williams

Jessica works as the education program coordinator a p:ear, a creative non-profit that serves homeless youth in Portland, Oregon.  She serves as our liaison to p:ear youth and staff who are currently co-creating a savings and credit-building pilot with MAPLE.  Prior to working at p:ear, Jessica served as program director, on site, and as program advisor, remotely, for the Marpha Foundation in Nepal.  She earned her Masters of Fine Arts in Sculpture and Extended Media from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Bachelors of Arts in Studio Art and Anthropology from Dartmouth College.

Jessica Kain

Sharon is an architect and project manager for a housing company in Portland, Oregon. Originally from Uganda and formerly a MAPLE board member, she now advises MAPLE Oregon on affordiable housing issues.

Sharon Alitema Cornwell

Mike is a retired Eugene city planner. Formerly a MAPLE board member, he now advises MAPLE Oregon on affordable housing, land, and sustainable development issues.

Mike Sullivan


Caz researches sustainable communities around the world and currently serves as advisor to MAPLE’s Oregon Branch.  She holds a Masters in Leadership in Sustainability Education/Environmental Education from Portland State University and has vast experience as an event planner, content producer, and project manager for global and local events. Prior to moving to Portland, Oregon, she earned a Masters in Event Management from Leeds Beckett University and a Bachelors of Arts in Sustainable Industrial Design from Sheffield Hallam University, both in England, her country of origin.

Caz Swank Lockwood