OUR SOLUTIONS
We are a financial and educational solution
The Savings Collaborative is supported by, and partners with, foundations and non-profit organizations that have a long history of serving immigrant families in Colorado.
The Savings Collaborative is supported by, and partners with, foundations and non-profit organizations that have a long history of serving immigrant families in Colorado.
Guilherme de Oliveira Fernandes is the Lead Developer at LaMedichi and a core member of the team at Quantica Technologies. Barbara Freeman and Gui started working together on a World Bank project five years ago. Gui has always been a gifted and talented developer, and he has since added English to the other languages (programming) he knows: NodeJS, SQL, React, TypeScript, and GraphQL. Prior to Quantica, Gui worked for Adventus, developing Interactive Voice Response systems with speech recognition. Gui loves that his work is aimed at closing the social inequality gap and is especially happy when he hears stories of people’s lives getting better because of his work.
Riccardo Chiapa Gutierrez is a LaMedichi ambassador. He is an
architect with a degree from the Autonomous University of
Guadalajara. Since moving from Mexico to the U.S. 25 years ago,
Riccardo has worked in the restaurant and car industries. Riccardo has
two middle schoolers and volunteers with Aspen Family Connections,
the family resource center of the Aspen Public School District. He
enjoys working with people and loves providing advice about how to save money.
Alma Ruth Guzman is a LaMedichi ambassador. She is originally from Guerrero, Mexico, and has lived in the U.S. for 30 years. Alma is an extraordinary connector in the community. She believed in LaMedichi from the start, and her passion, ideas, and commitment are a central factor in LaMedichi’s success and impact. Alma is also an extraordinary mother of three children, cook, and founder of El Fandango Catering. She worked with the St. Regis Hotel and spa for 15 years. Alma loves making a positive difference in the lives of her family, friends, and community.
Nancy Arcila Moncada is a LaMedichi ambassador. She is Colombian, born in Santiago de Cali, during the month of winds and kites. Nancy’s creativity and love of meaningful conversation has helped transform LaMedichi’s spirit. Nancy worked with the non-profit Valley Settlement in the Learning with Love program, fosters children’s social-emotional, language and cognitive development, and more. Before that she worked with the Parent Mentor program, which builds bridges between Latinx families and the public schools. Nancy loves working with the community because she is part of it and believes that together with it, it is possible to generate positive changes that can make things work better for everyone.
Josias Nascimento is LaMedichi’s Product Designer and a core member of the team at Quantica Technologies. Josias is a specialist in mobile products and design systems management. He is motivated by social innovation projects that align design, social purpose and technology. Josias has worked for iFood (major Brazilian delivery company), Creditas (small loans company in Brazil), AgendaEdu (school-family connections). His degree is in graphic design from RMIT University.
Marcos Soledade is LaMedichi’s technology strategist and leads LaMedichi’s team of technologists. Marcos met Barbara Freeman in Bogota, Colombia six years ago on a project for the World Bank, and the collaborative spark was immediate. Marcos is the co-founder of Quantica Technologies, a São Paulo, Brazil based e-learning technology firm that has served more than 90,000 government employees and citizens with educational platforms and resources. He was CTO for Agenda Edu and manager of the Univesp, the Virtual University for the state of São Paulo. Marcos is an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Innovation Lab at the Lemann Foundation and holds a degree in Information Systems from the University of Sao Paulo, and participated in the Columbia Startup Lab, at Columbia University (USA).
Janderson Souza is a developer and a core member of the team at Quantica Technologies. Janderson is a senior front-end developer. His enthusiasm for development with purpose is infectious. Janderson has worked Tech Lead at HerMoney (personal finance for women), ChatClass (a conversational learning platform), Agenda Edu, Wipro Limited, and Banco do Nordeste do Brasil. He is a graduate of Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais.
Ricardo Sudario is a marketing strategist and a co-founder of
Quantica Technologies. He has worked in leadership positions in
organizations that combine education, technology, and scale to
develop impact projects, including the World Bank, Vetor Brasil, and
Stoodi. He has a degree in Information Systems from USP, and
participated in the Columbia Startup Lab, at Columbia University (USA).
Erika Vargas is a LaMedichi ambassador. She is from Michoacán Mexico and has lived in the U.S. for 14 years. Erika leads with empathy and kindness, a way of being in the world that has inspired LaMedichi’s essence and approach. Erika has worked with several institutions that support the Latinx community, including the non-profit Valley Settlement in the Lifelong Learning Program. Erika’s likes being able to serve and help the community, and her goal is to learn more and share her understanding with everyone who needs it. What she enjoys most is exploring and learning from her two children
Ingrid Zuniga is LaMedichi Senior Ambassador and leads the team of ambassadors. Ingrid is thoughtful, perceptive, and an incredible powerhouse. She worked with several of the ambassadors previously and has an extraordinary facility for collaboration and teamwork. Ingrid came to the U.S. from El Salvador eight years ago with many dreams and desires. Ingrid learned English, which she says helped her break barriers, and now facilitates bilingual workshops. Ingrid worked with the non-profit Valley Settlement in the Lifelong Learning Program. The program provided classes in English and Spanish literacy, computer skills, and more to provide opportunities for immigrant adults in the Roaring Fork Valley. Ingrid is completing her degree at Colorado Mountain College.
Maria Judith Alvarez is a highly-respected community leader in the Roaring Fork Valley. She is a medical assistant from Mexico who has lived in the United States for the past 15 years. Judith is the coordinator of The Peoples Clinic, the Community Engagement Coordinator for SANA, Alliance for Safe and Abundant Nutrition, and the coordinator of the New Project Promotoras del Bien-Estar for Garfield County. She was previously the Valley Settlement coordinator of the Alma Project, a joint project with University of Colorado at Boulder to help women experiencing postpartum depression. LaMedichi was born during Judith’s time at Valley Settlement, a non-profit that works with two-generations immigrant families. Judith championed LaMedichi from the start and has built understanding and connectedness to the community. She serves on the board “because the Latino community, who works so hard, needs an organization like LaMedichi that they trust to save their money and learn about saving money for the future.”
Reginald Berry is a retired client partner of Fair Isaac Corp (FICO). He helped develop the federal sector business for FICO and has a background in FICO’s Credit Risk and Fraud Management Solutions. Mr. Berry has worked with the Small Business Administration (SBA), EXIM Bank, and the U.S. Treasury department on credit risk issues. Reginald is the author of numerous articles on technical and economic subjects. Reginald brings his expertise in credit and finance, which he is helping to craft LaMedichi’s structure, risk management, and credit and savings processes. Reginald sees serving on the board as an opportunity to use his knowledge and experience “to support low-income communities that lack access to banking and credit.”
Cecily Drucker is a consultant and advisor to LaMedichi. Barbara Freeman worked with Cecily on several projects in the past, and believes that Cecily’s intelligence, vision, and unmatched energy is vital to the growth of LaMedichi. Cecily sits on the board of the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University, California. She is one of Peter and Doris Drucker’s four children, is the founder and CEO of Start-Up Strategies, a San Francisco consultancy. Ms. Drucker is also an attorney who has focused her practice in the areas of real-estate tax planning and financing, as well as other business and commercial transactions.
Jon Fox-Rubin is the treasurer of LaMedichi’s board of directors. He worked as an automotive technician and a ski instructor to pay for his studies in mechanical engineering at CU Boulder. Upon earning his BSME—with honors—from CU, Jon worked in Germany on a NASA Space Shuttle project. Jon earned both an MSME and PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jon was part of Rocky Mountain Institute and Executive Director of the Manaus Fund where he helped build the Mountain Voices Project and lead Valley Settlement. He has served as an elected official in the town of Basalt, CO and as a board member of numerous non- profits, including as of the board of Mountain Family Health Centers. Jon helped facilitate the initial testing of the LaMedichi prototype during his tenure as Executive Director of Valley Settlement, and loves being on the board because of “how LaMedichi works with people to build their savings, learn about finance, and ultimately realize their long-term dreams.”
Dr. Barbara Freeman is the founder and CEO of LaMedichi and is ex- officio on LaMedichi’s board of directors. She is an international educator and social entrepreneur who draws on her international experience and her doctoral degree in educational leadership for change (social justice) and M.B.A. to make a difference in our local communities. LaMedichi is a culmination of all that she has learned and experienced thus far. She believes that LaMedichi provides an opportunity to make a difference in people’s real-life possibilities.
Barbara has lived and worked on five continents and created multiple educational and socioeconomic interventions with people living in vulnerable circumstances. She co-founded KPMG Consulting’s Risk Management practice in Asia, which she grew into a 400-person practice (SE Asia to China to India to New Zealand). Barbara started her career on Wall Street, working as a currencyptions dealer for UBS. She was part of a small team that founded the first global derivatives portfolio for Hong Kong Shanghai Bank (originally Midland Bank). Barbara is a long-term consultant to the World Bank and World Vision. She was a visiting scholar at U.C. Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education for five years and a visiting professor at the University of Sao Paulo’s FEA School of Economics and the Graduate School of Education. Barbara writes a bi-monthly column, Money Matters, for the Aspen Daily news.
Cindy Kahn is the secretary of LaMedichi’s board of directors. She has spent the past 25 years working in the non-profit arena. Cindy was the long-time Executive Director of MANAUS and was instrumental in LaMedichi’s formation. She joined the board because she “believes in LaMedichi’s mission and loves that it offers financial opportunities to those who fall outside of the traditional savings models. Prior to Manaus, Cindy served as Development Director for Jazz Aspen Snowmass and as Executive Director of the Aspen Education Foundation. Cindy holds a BA, JD, and MBA from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She brings her understanding and acumen as a non-profit leader and lawyer – and her passion for social justice – to LaMedichi.
Rob Pew is the first chair of LaMedichi’s board of directors. He is chairman of the board of directors of Steelcase Inc., the largest office furniture manufacturer in the world. These days Rob’s loves working with LaMedichi because it helps people most in need develop some financial security for their future. Rob is the President of MANAUS, and serves on the boards of IDEO.org, the Aspen Community Foundation, the Steelcase Foundation, and served as board chair of The Institute of Design in Chicago for 25 years. Most importantly, Rob asks the most thought-provoking questions in the world – and we can only wonder where LaMedichi would be today without those questions
Iliana Renteria lives in New Castle. Born in Mexico, she worked for the Health Economics Masters Department in the National Institute of Public Health and completed her Psychology studies before moving to Colorado in 2017. Iliana is the Associate Director for Raising a Reader – Aspen to Parachute, a local nonprofit focused on early literacy and parent engagement. She is also a Mental Health First Aid instructor and has delivered training for adults in English and Spanish in Colorado. Iliana brings her talent and experience in marketing, social media, and optimizing community engagement to LaMedichi. She strives to bring information and Page 3 of 5 resources to all members of our community, and “loves being on the board of LaMedichi because I believe in the mission and the work it does to provide financial opportunities and education for underserved families across Colorado.”
Yana Ricart is a psychotherapist who provides counseling services for adults, adolescents, and children for a wide variety of psychological issues, integrating various therapeutic approaches. Yana currently lives in Singapore but wanted to be part of LaMedichi “because of the guidance and support that La Medichi is providing for people in vulnerable situations.” She is originally from the Dominican Republic, where she trained and worked as a civil engineer. She is multilingual: Spanish, English, and Japanese. Yana brings her huge heart and brilliant mind to LaMedichi, where she has helped shape the organization from its inception.
George Stranahan (deceased) was the founder of MANAUS and LaMedichi is one of his many legacies. Manaus is a Colorado based non- profit committed to working in partnership with others to help create sustainable solutions to issues that further social justice and equity within our communities. MANAUS incubated LaMedichi until it was ready to stand as its own non-profit. George was a lifelong educator, philanthropist, serial entrepreneur, physicist, writer, publisher, and fine arts photographer. He founded the Aspen Center for Physics, Aspen Community School, and Carbondale Community School.
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201 Main Street, Suite 2L Carbondale, CO 81623
info@lamedichi.org
