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Our Staff
Pueblo a Pueblo’s staff consists of dedicated individuals both in Guatemala and the United States.
Bethesda, MD
Pueblo a Pueblo employs one full-time Executive Director in the United States. Her work is supported by the Board of Directors and Advisory Board.
Rosemary Trent
Executive Director
Rosemary earned her master’s degree at the School for International Training. In addition to two years spent as the Assistant Director of WorldTeach (Harvard Institute for International Development) in Cambridge, MA, she spent 16 years living and working in Africa and Latin America. Before returning to the DC-area, she lived in Brazil managing grants and fundraising with Plan International. She has worked both professionally and as a volunteer with a wide range of local communities on education, health, and volunteer management. A proud mother of three sons, she is also a ceramic artist who ran her own business in Kenya. She lives in Maryland and speaks Spanish and Portuguese.
Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala
Pueblo a Pueblo has six full-time staff members in Guatemala.
Montserrat Deu Pons
Child Health and Education Program Manager
Montserrat Deu Pons, Pueblo a Pueblo’s Sponsorship Program Manager since 2006, has led the development of Pueblo a Pueblo’s education strategy and plan that positions the organization to deliver on its commitment to give education and health access to excluded and vulnerable children.
In 1999 she came to Guatemala as a volunteer with Cooperación Española, where she met her future husband in Santiago Atitlan. Montse has two beautiful children and currently oversees sponsorship programs and operations in Guatemala for Pueblo a Pueblo. Montse speaks Spanish, English, and Catalan.
Amanda Zehner
School Health and Nutrition Program Manager
Amanda Zehner came to Pueblo a Pueblo after working within a wide range of development fields both internationally and in the U.S. Living and working in West Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer, and in Honduras working in conservation and organic agriculture, furthered her interest and passion for sustainable development. Both Amanda’s academic and international field experience has focused on sustainable agriculture, education, and monitoring and evaluation. She earned her MA in International Sustainable Development at Brandeis University where she focused on program planning and implementation as well as non-profit monitoring and evaluation within small scale non-profits in Central America.
Veronica Sunderland-Perez
Maternal Child Health Program Manager
Veronica Sunderland-Perez comes to Pueblo a Pueblo with diverse experience in public health and development, both in the US and in Guatemala. In addition to her experience as a maternity care coordinator at a rural health clinic in North Carolina, Veronica has both conducted and evaluated youth peer sexual and reproductive health education programs at Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina and WINGS, a Guatemalan organization based in Antigua. Most recently, Veronica worked at FHI 360, where she supported business development, particularly prospective partnership development in field offices in Africa. Veronica completed a dual master’s degree in Social Work and Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a focus on maternal and child health and program evaluation.
Johanny Quieju
Sponsorship and Library Coordinator
Johanny Quieju holds an accounting degree and has been working as the Sponsorship Assistant and Library Coordinator since December 2009. Born and raised in the Santiago Atitlan community, she is aware of its challenges and the promise of a better future offered by Pueblo a Pueblo. As she works with the students, teachers and community members, Johanny sees the promise the Library Project holds and has no doubt it will be successful. Prior to joining Pueblo a Pueblo, Johanny worked with the Banco G & T in Santiago Atitlan. She speaks T’zutujil and Spanish.
Genaro Simalaj
School Garden Technician
Genaro came to Pueblo a Pueblo after working as a coordinator for the Mesoamerican Permaculture Institute (IMAP), with REDSAG, an organization working for the food security of Guatemala, facilitating exchanges of experience between farmers, with IJATE as coordinator of the reference center and as a livestock technician with Heffer.
Genaro’s passion for the environment, climate change, and desire to protect our planets biodiversity brought him into this field and work with organic gardening. Genaro’s family was directly impacted by civil war in Guatemala, in which two of his brothers were killed. Genaro is married with three children and lives in a small community outside of San Lucas Tuliman.
Misael Ramirez Samuc
School Garden Technician
Misael is our second school garden technician. He is leading our efforts to expand this important program into two primary schools in the community of Cerro de Oro. He first began working with Pueblo a Pueblo in 2010 as a volunteer who led our vacation school activities in the Panabaj School Garden. He is experienced in organic farming as well as in developing strategies for improving food security in the indigenous populations in Guatemala. Misael is also an accomplished artist; he taught art for a local NGO in Panabaj and has painted several impressive murals the community. Born and raised in the community of Santiago Atitlan, Misael speaks T’zutujil and Spanish.
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