Mary Fifield, Executive Director of Amazon Partnerships Foundation, has lived in Tena, Ecuador since 2007 and has worked in the country since 2004. Originally working for a community health organization, she created the grant-making model that Amazon Partnerships Foundation uses today. Previous to her work in Ecuador, she was a communications consultant for companies such as Microsoft and Boeing, as well as for nonprofit organizations such as Episcopal Charities, MoveOn.org, and The Pachamama Alliance. For four years she served on the advisory board for Interalianza, an environmental organization working in Guatemala. She has also taught composition and designed writing curriculum for ESL and disabled students at San Diego State University, where she received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. Her articles and reviews have appeared in print trade journals and online, and she writes on her experiences in Ecuador at Traveling Storywriter. Her articles and reviews have appeared in print trade journals and online, and she is a regular contributor to GoodEater Collaborative, blogging about food security and environmental issues in Ecuador.

Edmundo Cerda is director of the Kichwa-Spanish bilingual high school in Pano, a Kichwa community in the Amazonian county of Tena, Ecuador. Since 2004 he has also served as a coordinator for Q'ellkaj Foundation, organizing workshops for young people on citizenship and participatory democracy as well as cultural projects such as handicraft production. In 2007 he worked as a coordinator for electoral observation in conjunction with Q'ellkaj Foundation and the Organization of American States. He holds a technical certificate in information systems from Institute of the Oriente and is bilingual in Kichwa and Spanish. Through Amazon Partnerships Foundation, Edmundo hopes to help empower his fellow Kichwa people to revive their cultural values and ancestral knowledge of living in a clean, healthy environment so that they can lead the charge for environmental protection..

Susan Studer King is the Environmental Studies Program Manager at Denison University in Granville, Ohio where she coordinates a wide range of curricular and co-curricular environmental projects and administers campus sustainability grants. An alumna of Denison, Susan brings over a decade of experience in the environmental nonprofit field, including three years during which she served as the Development Director of the Ohio Environmental Council. Susan also worked on state agriculture and wetlands policy, gaining experience as a grassroots organizer, lobbyist and membership coordinator. From 2007-2009, Susan served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Ecuadorian Amazon where she worked side by side with the Waorani Women's Association (AMWAE) to help build organizational capacity and develop income generation opportunities for indigenous women through the sale of traditional handicrafts. In addition to serving as President of the Gender and Development Committee, Susan’s Peace Corps service included projects involving reforestation of native palm species, construction of composting toilets, and installation of water catchment systems. An Ohio native, Susan grew up on a small farm north of Lima where she and her family started a small business growing organic flowers for green weddings and special events

Ulises Gutiérrez , born in the Ecuadorian Amazon province of Morona Santiago, is a land use planning consultant with the government of Napo province and the German Technical Corporation. Previously, he was Director of Projects with the City of Tena, (Napo province) supervising a team that implemented projects ranging from sanitation to micro-enterprise. Participating in a variety of sustainable development and land use planning initiatives, he has worked directly with international organizations in Napo and Morona Santiago, as well as many indigenous communities. He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from ESPEA University in Ecuador and is currently studying for a master’s degree in regional development and land use planning. He is married with three children.

Rahul Joshi has 15 years of experience in strategic development, project management, and business analysis. As president of Aware Learning Technologies, his company produced award-winning worker-safety applications while consulting with government regulatory bodies including the IAPA (Industrial Accident Prevention Association) and NIOSH (National Institute of Safety and Health). In 2006 he was a member of the architecture committee for the Cancer BioInformatics Group of the US National Institute of Health. At Boeing, he is responsible for improving office workflow through direct front-line consultation. He is an Affiliate with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and holds a Master's of Science degree in Molecular Biology.

Stella Klemperer is Regional Office Administrator for Root Capital, a nonprofit social investment fund that pioneers finance for grassroots businesses in Latin America and Africa. She graduated from Brown University in 2006 with a B.A. in development studies and economics. While at Brown, she was president of her campus chapter of Oxfam America and an active member of United Students for Fair Trade. In 2006, Stella was awarded a year-long fellowship in Amazonian Ecuador where she worked with the Kallari Association, an indigenous artisan and agricultural cooperative. She is fluent in Spanish and speaks basic Kichwa.

Natalia Santillan, M.D., M.P.H, was born in Napo Province, Ecuador, and is the Coordinator for Intercultural Health with the Ecuadorian Health Ministry in Pastaza province, Ecuador. Previously she served for two years as Provincial Project Coordinator of the Tuberculosis Control Program in Pastaza. In collaboration with the Ecuadorian Health Ministry, Global Pediatric Alliance, and other organizations, Natalia has coordinated health brigades and grassroots health education projects in indigenous Kichwa communities since 2001. As staff physician for the Tapori Foundation, she helped coordinate environmental health and nutrition programs for indigenous patients. Natalia received her M.D. in medicine and general surgery from the Central University of Ecuador in Quito and a Master of Public Health degree from the Institute of Public Health at the Catholic University of Quito

Patricia Bowman, D.D.S., holds a bachelor's degree in cell and microbiology and a DDS degree. She worked as a dentist in Canada for low-income inner city families and in private practice before emigrating to the United States. As a social activist and Pacific Northwest artist (www.psbowman.com), she has been active in the peace movement, helping to elect socially and environmentally responsible representatives to Congress. She remains passionate about the fair distribution of wealth and the preservation of the environment with a focus on grassroots activism.

Sue Sivyer has a Certificate in Sustainable Business from The Bainbridge Graduate Institute and brings 20 years of experience in the wireless telecommunications industry, including nine in project management. Sue believes that raising awareness among corporate leaders about the benefits of sustainable practices on profits is a powerful tool to help end environmental abuse and social injustice. Sue grew up in Wisconsin, has been an active volunteer since age 14, and holds a BA in Sociology/Anthropology/Politics from Lake Forest College.