Staff

Sara Lamson Nathan

President & CEO

Sara Nathan is the President & Chief Executive Officer of Amigos de las Américas, a nonprofit organization that empowers lifelong leaders who share responsibility for our global community.

For two decades, Sara’s work has centered on building educational experiences and hands-on learning opportunities for students across the Americas. Prior to serving as CEO, Sara served as Managing Director of Programs. Her major achievements in this role were launching year-round programs, including the Gap Program for high school graduates, opening AMIGOS programs to hundreds of students from Latin America, and the securing our first federal grant award for binational exchanges and programming for youth across the Americas.

As CEO, Sara has focused on growing the impact of AMIGOS through program innovation and systems modernization. The organization has established year-round staffing throughout the Americas, built a marketing program for increased visibility, established a regional staff presence in four other cities in the U.S., and doubled annual fundraising. Under her leadership, AMIGOS has achieved record enrollment and is poised for continued growth.

Prior to AMIGOS, Sara served as the Vice Chair of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Overseeing Operations, she facilitated research initiatives and dialogue between students, academics, thought leaders, and government officials throughout the Western Hemisphere. Key initiatives included the U.S.-Mexico Futures Forum and the publication of the Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies.

Sara earned her M.S. in International Development from the London School of Economics as well as a B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies and a B.A in Spanish and Portuguese from the University of California, Berkeley.

Faraz Paliwala

Chief Financial Officer

Jenny Claycombe

Managing Director of Development

Jenny joined AMIGOS in October 2017 and is ecstatic to be part of such an amazing organization. Though she never participated in AMIGOS, she has traveled widely throughout Latin America for study abroad in college and in a previous role as an International Admissions Counselor at a university in Georgia.

Jenny is passionate about the work of AMIGOS and nonprofits in general. She completed an Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Administration and wants to help more people become involved with nonprofits — as donors, volunteers or in any way that they desire!

Bucket List Items: Travel to every continent, have a farm (well, maybe just some chickens and a goat).

Katherine Conway

Managing Director of Programs

Katherine re-joins Amigos from her position as a Program Manager at the National Democratic Institute (NDI) where she managed a portfolio of democracy, governance, human rights, and youth leadership programs in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Katherine is a long time Amiga, participating as a volunteer in Paraguay in 2002, supervisor in Honduras in 2004, and Project Director in Honduras in 2009/2010, and Peru in 2011. Katherine also worked at the AMIGOS headquarters in Houston helping to envision the initial youth ambassador program, and most recently served as a Training Director for the Washington, DC Chapter from 2016-2018. Additionally, Katherine holds a BA in International Relations from Tufts University and a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at the same university.

Katherine is a lover of all things rock climbing, cats, and coffee.

April Hearne

Managing Director of Operations

April is a strategic operations and marketing leader with 10+ years nonprofit and for-profit experience. She is native Houstonian veteran Amiga.

In 2008, she participated in AMIGOS in Guanajuato, Mexico. At Colorado College, she majored in Sociology and continued her Latin American travels in Ecuador and Cuba. An avid backpacker, she spent a month in the backcountry on three separate occasions. 

April is excited to use digital marketing and the power of automation to get the word out about AMIGOS programs.

Alex Murillo

Managing Director of Enrollment

Alex comes to AMIGOS with ten years of experience leading growth teams for both non-profit and startup organizations. From leading the family recruitment and engagement strategy for a rapidly scaling elementary school network, to creating and refining the supply-side onboarding strategy for an EdTech marketplace company, Alex has thrived at mission-driven organizations during periods of rapid growth.

Originally from Costa Rica, Alex’s family moved to the U.S. when he was 5 years old. Growing up Alex spent summers with family in Costa Rica, he studied abroad in India during undergrad, worked as a sustainable tour leader for 4 years in Central America and Mexico after he graduated, and then studied abroad in Hong Kong while working on his Masters’ degree. These opportunities gave him an appreciation for the broad worldview that proximity to people with different lived experiences provides and makes him so excited to join AMIGOS and help introduce young people to the formative experiences we offer.

Caroline Patel

Managing Director of Chapter Operations

Caroline first joined AMIGOS in 2009 as a volunteer from the Houston Chapter. After that first summer, she stayed involved with the organization in a variety of ways, serving as a two-time volunteer, a three-time project staff member, a member of the HQ Programs team, and as part of the Houston Chapter Board.

She returned to the organization in 2022 after pursuing her graduate degree. Caroline is excited to work in collaboration with our local chapter leaders, and she loves to see the way that AMIGOS inspires people across the Americas to get involved in their communities.

Outside of work, you can find her baking bread, listening to audiobooks, or exploring Texas State Parks.