Colibrí Sanfiorenzo Barnhard
Executive Director
Colibrí Sanfiorenzo-Barnhard has a background in ecology and administration. For the past 13 years, she has worked in the nonprofit sector with community groups that develop education, conservation, and cultural grassroots actions in Puerto Rico. She is co-founder of HASER. Her background in action-based field ecology research, and her experience with diverse community groups have shaped her vision for social change in Puerto Rico, which focuses on understanding that just and equitable actions done at neighborhood level can cause meaningful global change.
Ury Natalia Vega
Administration and Human Resources Director
Natalia oversees Human Resources and Administration at HASER. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Communications at the University of Puerto Rico. She also has a Certification in Administration, Human Resources and Labor Relations. She joins our team after having worked for several years in administration and project management areas: creating, coordinating and directing various initiatives, many of them focused on the field of education.
K. Paola González Sánchez
Finance Manager
Paola has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus and a master’s degree in Agricultural Economics, also from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez campus. She has experience in the administration of agricultural projects and non-profit organizations. For Paola, it is of great value to put her knowledge at the service of justice and social equality.
Natalia Purcell Servera
Development Manager
Natalia has experience in action-research projects in the community sector, and evaluation design and documentation. In the nonprofit sector, she has worked on research, managing impact metrics and proposal reporting, writing organizational content, and coordinating educational programs and projects.
Collaborators
Ana Pellicer Alonso
Communications and Development Consultant
Ana specializes in Communications, Digital Marketing, and Education. Born and raised in Madrid, Spain, she studied Law at the Complutense University and completed postgraduate studies in Corporate Communication at the Barcelona European Business School and Digital Marketing at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She arrived in Puerto Rico in 2018. Currently, she works as a consultant managing projects, creating content, and communication strategies for various clients in the non-profit sector.
Josué Oquendo
Design Consultant
Josué was born in Utuado, Puerto Rico, in 1984. He has been a design director for different companies and firms for more than 15 years. He was a professor of Escuela Internacional de Diseño y Arquitectura of the Ana G. Mendez University, Gurabo campus. Since 2015, he is co-creator of “Letra Criolla”, a vernacular labeling documentation and cultural research project. He has been an illustrator for musical artists, the Puerto Rican film industry and for the publishers Norma, Panamericana, Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, and the book series “Barco de Vapor” by Grupo SM. He studied at Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño of Puerto Rico, located in old San Juan.
Board of Directors
Edgardo González
Board of Directors, President
Edgardo has maintained a forestry consultant practice and managed technical projects with NGOs in aspects of conservation initiatives in forest areas and at a landscape level. He has a bachelor’s in science with concentration in biology from the University of Puerto Rico and a master’s in forestry from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He worked for twenty years in the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER) of Puerto Rico and directed the Forest Bureau from 2003 to 2009. In 2009, Edgardo started to work with the “Centro para la Conservación del Paisaje” (CCP), an organization focused in professional aspects of conservation initiatives at a landscape level. In 2013 he was appointed as Executive Assistant of the Secretary of the DNER and Administrator of the Natural Resources Administration of the agency; position that he maintained until March 2014. He is now Executive Director at the CCP.
Melissa Armstrong
Board of Directors, Treasurer
Melissa is the Director of Interdisciplinary Global Programs (IGP) at Northern Arizona University, supporting undergraduate students to add a comprehensive international dimension to their careers through language and culture immersion. Melissa’s own background is in Ecology and Spanish. Under Melissa’s leadership the IGP programs have expanded to over 20 principle disciplines and six languages and has led to numerous partners and projects around the world. With a heart for social justice, diplomacy, and diversity in leadership positions, Melissa has always been drawn to grassroots efforts that affect positive social change.
Jonathan Frye
Board of Directors, Secretary
Jonathan has been teaching environmental stewardship and biology curricula at McPherson College since 1993. He served for 16 years as a director and secretary/treasurer of a local, non-profit utility company in McPherson, KS, and is passionate about supporting grassroots initiatives, environmental education, and outreach.
Rima Brusi
Board of Directors, Vice Secretary
Rima Brusi is a writer, advocate, and educator. Currently, she is a professor of Anthropology at Northern Arizona University. Previously, she was a Distinguished Lecturer at CUNY-Lehman College; applied anthropologist at The Education Trust in Washington D.C.; and Associate Professor at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, where she also founded and directed the Center for University Access, a research and educational justice initiative that has expanded to six campuses in the system. Rima also writes literary non-fiction and is the author of numerous essays and 4 books in this genre. She has been invited to speak about her work in academic forums and various national and regional radio and television outlets, including Univisión, National Hispanic Media, NY1, and NPR.
