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
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. 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. 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
Sharon Alitema
Sharon is a recent graduate from the University of Oregon's Architecture program (Class of 2019). She was born and raised in Uganda but currently lives and works in Seattle, WA.
Her involvement with Maple began in 2017 a year after she met Ron. Sharon was beyond excited and inspired by the work he does in Uganda and she feels it is an absolute honor to be a part of it. She enjoys her role in Maple and the opportunity it gives her to be involved in community development in rural Uganda and to be a part of something bigger than herself. In Sharon’s free time, she enjoys dancing, hiking, and drawing.
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
Rosie Yerke
Rosie, a dedicated advocate for community development, currently serves as the garden program lead at Everyone Village, a transitional housing community in Eugene, OR. With a Master's in Landscape Architecture from the University of Oregon, Rosie specializes in designing therapeutic landscapes through a trauma-informed approach.
Previously gaining experience in youth development, financial education, and multimedia marketing, Rosie's journey in service began as a camp counselor during high school. She passionately integrates landscape architecture and gardening as therapeutic tools to connect communities with nature and each other, fostering inclusivity and well-being.
Beyond her professional commitments, Rosie finds joy in crafting, hiking, and dancing, including various partner dance forms.
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
Mike Sullivan
Mike is the current President of the MAPLE U.S. board. He has worked for over 30 years in public community and economic development with an emphasis on small business development and financing. He has managed a variety of revolving loan funds that support small business growth and development. Mike is passionate about grassroots entrepreneurial and business development. He has an appreciation for the capital needs of small developing businesses and has seen the positive impacts that these businesses have on small communities. Mike sees MAPLE’s programs and vision as an effective and culturally appropriate strategy to improve the lives of people living in the communities that we serve.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Silvia Calfuqueo Lefio
Silvia Calfuqueo Lefio has been a teacher for 10 years before she decided in 2014 to stay home with her family and dedicate herself to work on projects in her community. Since then, she joined the management team of the Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo, and together with Nadia, and the Mapuche filmmaker Juan Raín, has collaborated with MAPLE Microdevelopment in documenting the creation of the Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo. Her involvement has been ensuring the group has a self-sustainable business to support the management team and family agriculture. She has also collaborated with the Llaguepulli Community’s School Kom Pu Lof Ni Kimeltuwe and the Mapuche School of Filmmaking, a summer camp for Mapuche youth in the region organized by Mr. Raín in collaboration with Canadian partners. Over this time, she was able to start her Artisan business jointly with other Mapuche women from the region. She is also a talented weaver and mother of three.
Fresia Painefil Calfuqueo
Fresia Painefil Calfuqueo was delegated in 2012 by The Llaguepulli Community as one of MAPLE-Llaguepulli’s team members and has been involved with the project ever since, as part of the preparatory research with MAPLE Microdevelopment in 2013. Since 2014, she has formed part of the Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo’s management team. She has a tourism management degree and 10 years of experience with the Mapuche Lafkenche Lago Budi Tourism Committee, leading Mapuche community-tourism while forming alliances regionally and worldwide. She was part of the International Forum for Indigenous Women in 2016 and has had the opportunity to travel to India, Italy and Canada to participate in forums and conversations about indigenous communities around the world. She is also a Mapuche artisan, a daughter, a sister, and a community leader.
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.
Viviana Calfuqueo Caniunir
Viviana Calfuqueo Caniuñir has been part of the management team of the Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo since its formation in 2014, and is currently collaborating with MAPLE in the participatory design and implementation of a livelihoods program in Allipén, a community neighboring Llaguepulli, leading a newly formed Artisan women group, Kazau Zomo, for the revitalization of Mapuche traditional art expressed through textiles and basketry. Through several capacity building and entrepreneurship programs, including those with MAPLE, she has developed excellent leadership qualities. She has also been a Cultural Leader, Parents Association President, and Community Liaison for a road improvement project (2016). She is also a mother of four, a women leader, entrepreneur and skilled weaver of the traditional Mapuche vertical loom weaving, or witral.
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".
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.
Alanyo Grace Fay
Alanyo Grace Fay is my name, 34 years old, an Acholi by tribe and a Ugandan. Attained a bachelor degree in business administration from Gulu University and currently working with Maple Micro development as a Field officer in Lira branch, Northern region.
Safina Wanasi
Safina completed her bachelor’s degree in Business with a major in finance and banking in 2021 at the Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU). After completing the final year of her internship at Maple, Safina decided to continue working with Maple as a volunteer. Her time at Maple has exposed her to projects at MCID and to communities in Eastern Uganda.
Safina has been amazed at the way Maple empowers communities and provides people with the opportunity to build capacity and resilience. Seeing the enthusiasm of the community members has been life-changing for her.
With her background in Finance and Banking, Safina currently works for Maple's accounting department. She also works as a field officer and helps with marketing for the Stoves assembled at the Mbale Center for Innovation and Design.
During her free time, Safina enjoys listening to music, watching series, reading novels as well as traveling.
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.
Christine Kamede
Christine Kamede born in 1986. Am the first child in my family followed by two other siblings a boy and girl. I also have a four year old son.
I am a graduate at the Islamic university of Uganda with a bachelor’s degree in social work and social administration. My passion has always been working with communities am glad Maple gave me the opportunity to explore this passion. This has been a great journey for my life working with different communities helping them address the different issues and needs affecting their communities and seeing them collectively working together proactively to bring about positive change and reaching their goals in the different groups brings a smile on my face. Aside from that I love to travel and meeting new people, Interacting and learning from each other.
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”.
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.
Nick Moses
Kimono Suzan
My name is Kimono Suzan, 26 years old and I am working with MAPLE as a field officer in Mbale. I like the job very much, am a graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in business Administration at Uganda Christian University Mbale campus optioning in Accounting. I joined Maple on 13th January 2014 and I enjoy working with the community and trying new challenges, this` has enabled to improve on my career and move on with my daily life.
During my free time, I like socializing with others.
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.
Kwaga Sharon Irene
I’m Kwaga Sharon Irene, a Ugandan by nationality, with a bachelor of development studies from Uganda Christian University. I work with MAPLE micro development as a volunteer in Mbale. I am a self driven, self motivated, result focused and flexible lady of integrity who is quick at grasping new ideas and can work under minimum supervision.
My hobbies include; travelling, swimming, dancing, reading novels and magazines.
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.
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.
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.
Oregon Team
Co-Founder and Former Executive Director
Ron Severson
Ron served as MAPLE's executive director. He received his Ph.D. in cultural studies, teaches communication, conflict resolution, and social entrepreneurship as senior instructor of management at the University of Oregon, and, together with former students, founded MAPLE Microdevelopment in 2008. He also has taught graduate courses in microfinance and development for several summers at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. He has a passion for working closely with communities to design and implement culturally appropriate, sustainable models for development and for working with youth as the next generation of leaders and social entrepreneurs.
Kellie McSween
Kellie is a senior at the University of Oregon studying Economics and Global Studies and has been interning with Maple for the past two years. She has been working with Ron behind the scenes for the last year, mostly managing the donor database.
Kate Lloyd
Kate Lloyd is a junior majoring in Advertising and minoring in Global Studies and Sustainable Business. She has been interning for Maple for the past few months as the Director of Communications and is very excited to part of such a wonderful organization. She helps with updating Maple’s website and creating newsletters to send to donors.