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Our Team

Executive Director – Ronaldo Andrés

He is Maya Chuj from San Mateo Ixtatán, Huehuetenango. He is from a community called Tiaktak, which is 12 kilometers from San Mateo Ixtatán, Huehuetenango. One of the villages benefited by the work of the Ixtatán Foundation. He began his studies in 2005, and in 2007 he graduated as a Teacher of Bilingual Intercultural Primary Education (Spanish-Chuj) from the Centro Comunitario de Educación “Yinhatil Nab’en” (Seed of Wisdom), the first project of the Ixtatan Foundation. He is one of the first nine teachers to be trained and graduated for the first time in San Mateo Ixtatán. Thanks to a scholarship he received from the Ixtatán Foundation and the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, he now has a degree in Education, specializing in educational management and application of ICTs in Education by the Del Valle of Guatemala Univesity, Central campus (2008-2012). He also has a closed Master’s Degree in Research from the San Carlos de Guatemala University, Central Campus (2017-2018). For his leadership, he also earned a scholarship from the SUSI Program of the United States Department of State (2012) to study leadership and forms of community organization at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.

He was Coordinator of the Training Component for the Prevention of Racism and Discrimination in the Presidential Commission against Discrimination and Racism against Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala (2013-2018). During this time, he coordinated the Postgraduate program “Update on Human Rights, Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Racism and Racial Discrimination” of CODISRA and the University of San Carlos de Guatemala. It has also held countless workshops on human rights, the rights of indigenous peoples, the right to equality and non-discrimination, among other topics. He was the coordinator of various educational materials on human rights and citizen training.

In 2019, he returned as Country Director of the Ixtatan Foundation and is currently the Executive Director of the Ixtatan Foundation and Project Manager of the BEAR, Access, SEAL, and TTS  Programs administered by the Ixtatán Foundation, sponsored by the Embassy of the United States.

Development Director – Elías Alonzo

Elías was born and raised in the Guatemalan mountain town where the Foundation’s work is focused: San Mateo Ixtatán. The second of seven children, Elías smiles as he tells people he comes from a small family. From a young age he developed a strong desire to get a good education, which at that time (before the Foundation’s work in San Mateo) meant going away from his home and family from the middle school level on. Through many interesting life turns Elías eventually ended up getting two degrees in the U.S., an associate’s degree in Computer Information Systems from North Georgia Technical College in 2004 and a B.A. in Business Administration from Toccoa Falls College in 2008. Soon after his graduation in 2008 he moved back to his Guatemalan hometown, returning to his family after an 8-year absence, with knowledge, ideas and passion to share, as well as a new wife to introduce to his family. He immediately began to work for the Foundation first as a computer teacher, then as Coordinator for the Foundation, and lastly as Business Administrator for two years. His facility in the three languages needed for these jobs (English, Spanish, Chuj), along with his training in business administration, proved invaluable in strengthening and improving the structure of the foundation. In 2012, Elías took on the challenge of becoming the Executive Director of the Ixtatán Foundation, and he looks forward to pouring out his passion and energy into this new position in order to continue to impact his community positively. Cheering him on in all of these projects are his wife, Becky, daughter Norah (born in 2010), son Bryan (born in 2012), and daughter Karen (born in 2017).

General Accountant- Edilio Gregorio

One of the first graduates of the Seeds of Wisdom School in the accounting program. Ever since he started middle school, he showed special interest in numbers and accounting; when it was time to choose a career track, he did not think twice in enrolling in the accounting program when it was being offered for the first time at the Seeds of Wisdom School. Before graduating as an accountant Edilio interned with he Ixtatan Foundation where he learned to book-keep for a nonprofit organization and became familiar with the financial reports using Quickbooks. He then went on to work for the Seeds of Wisdom School for one year; by the end of 2014 he officially became the general accountant of the Ixtatan Foundation. He is currently finishing up his CPA degree at the Universidad Da Vinci de Guatemala.

Administrative Assistant – Daniela Martínez

Daniela was born and raised in the departmental capital of Huehuetenango. She considers that your home is a stable place of communion, communication, and trust. Daniela is an accountant by profession and studying a degree in Business Administration at the Davinci University in Guatemala. She also has master’s studies in human talent management. She has been an outstanding student and dedicated to improving her intellectual capacity and developing her skills. She considers himself a responsible, proactive, dynamic person, with ease of teamwork and leadership spirit.

Librarian and Bilingual Reading Coordinator – Juana Pablo

Juana is an educator by profession with many years of experience in bilingual education. She has been part of conferences held in Mexico about culturally pertinent education for indigenous communities. Juana holds a degree in education from the Universidad Panamericana de Guatemala. She is the administrator of the community library Banco de Guatemala and implements bilingual reading programs for the community of San Mateo Ixtatán and neighboring municipalities in Northern Huehuetenango.