Dan is a seasoned experiential educator with over two decades of experience in diverse settings, ranging from wilderness camps to environmental education centers to challenge courses and more.

For 14 years, Dan served as the Program and Operations Director for an international summer program for high school students, where he oversaw the marketing, sales, operations, and programming for 10+ service-learning programs worldwide. Over the years, he guided 19 programs abroad, developed trips to several new destinations, and increased student enrollments more than two-fold.

Dan holds an Executive MBA and an MS in Experiential Education and is passionate about leveraging international travel and cross-cultural experiences to foster personal growth. He joined the AMIGOS team in 2024 and is thrilled to contribute to its continued growth and success.

Outside of work, Dan enjoys exploring the outdoors, cooking, yoga, and spending time with his family in beautiful Longmont, Colorado.

Jessica first joined AMIGOS in 2014 as a volunteer in Mexico. After that first summer, she stayed involved with the organization in a variety of ways, including as a six-time project staff member in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Colorado, and Austin, TX; as the Program Coordinator for the Community Impact Project (CIP) program; and as a member of the health and safety team.

Jessica also currently serves as the Training Director for the Houston Chapter. She holds a B.A. in Spanish from Texas A&M University, and she is passionate about youth leadership and cross-cultural understanding. In her free time, Jessica enjoys reading, dancing, and hiking.

Evelio Alegre is originally from Ciudad del Este but is currently living in Asunción, Paraguay. His academic background includes a degree in International Relations with a minor in Regional Integration from UNILA in Brazil. He participated in an educational exchange program in the USA where he volunteered as a camp counselor at Flat Rock River YMCA Camp. He served as the Support Coordinator at AFS Intercultural Programs in Paraguay, where he gained experience in handling various challenging situations with exchange students.

In addition to his role at AFS, he has been actively involved with the US Embassy in Paraguay. He was an ACCESS participant, a Youth Ambassador, and currently holding the position of vice president at State Alumni Paraguay—an association that brings together alumni from diverse programs offered by the Department of State in Paraguay. He has a passion for volunteering and civic engagement, he’s a member of Rotaract. Currently, He’s also part of a project called Scale Up Digital Entrepreneurs, which is funded by the Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF).

Carmen is re-joining the AMIGOS team after serving as a Project Director in 2022. Carmen is a trained sociologist, who has been working with youth for more than 10 years. She has worked with Girl Guides and Scouts, the Red Cross, and TECHO. Carmen is from the coffee producing mountains of Costa Rica and is proud of her culture.

Laura has enjoyed working with Amigos since 1989, as a volunteer with the Houston Chapter she participated in community sanitation programs in Bolivar, Ecuador (1990) and Oaxaca, Mexico (1991). From 1991 to 2005, she was in school and training as a physician. In 2003-2005, she helped start the San Diego AMIGOS Chapter. From 2000-2007, she also served as a medical officer in the United States Navy, including two years aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD6). In 2008, she returned to Houston and started volunteering as a physician with the AMIGOS On-Call Health and Safety team. Laura also is board certified in Adolescent Medicine and Pediatrics and holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health. She is an associate professor of pediatrics and public health and community medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, MA, and a happy clinician. She is super excited to continue her work with AMIGOS and provide health guidance for adolescents and young adults!

Originally from Tacna, Peru. I studied international business, and since I was little I was raised to serve. Working with and contributing to the formation of youth is something I am passionate about, and that’s why I joined Amigos de las Americas. With AMIGOS I was a Mentor in the first Community Impact Project in 2020, and Director of the Montañas y Mar Project in Costa Rica in 2022.

I am passionate about traveling, learning different languages, and being in contact with different cultures, seeing the cultural shock and the impact it generates is very interesting to me, and I believe it generates positive consequences when you have an open mind.

Originally from Paraguay, Andrea first came to the US through a cultural exchange program, so she understands firsthand the experience of living in a different culture and learning a new language. Before starting college, she took a year off and became an au pair in Boulder, Colorado, an unforgettable experience that would unexpectedly lead her back to the au pair program once again! Before joining AMIGOS, Andrea worked as a bilingual financial coach in a housing redevelopment project with low-income families from South and Central America. The excitement to see youth building their skills to adulthood through community values and respect for cultural diversity is what attracted Andrea to the Admissions Advisor position at AMIGOS. Besides English, she is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and Guaraní, the official native language in her home country.

Growing up in Houston, Texas, Emma first became involved with AMIGOS in 2015 as a volunteer in Cotopaxi, Ecuador. This experience influenced her to take a gap year before college, where she lived in Bolivia for a year with Rotary International. From there, Emma studied International Relations, with a focus on Latin America and Culture, Media, and the Arts, and Business Spanish at the University of Texas at Austin, graduating mid-pandemic in December of 2020. She worked as a Program Assistant for the 2021 Youth Ambassadors Program and is ecstatic for her return to the Houston Chapter as the Texas Outreach Manager.

Emma has been inspired by the AMIGOS mission of providing community-first service and immersion since her time in Ecuador. She participated as a fellow with the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy during her time at UT Austin and worked with survivors of human trafficking in her former role with Refugee Services of Texas. She hopes to encourage more youth to explore the path towards building a global community of tolerance, inclusion, and service for others.

In her free time, you can find Emma tending to her many plant babies, visiting art museums, and trying new restaurants in Houston. At the top of her current bucket list is returning to Edinburgh, Scotland, where she studied abroad in college.

Danielle joins AMIGOS with more than 10 years of experience leading strategic change and capacity-building initiatives within non-profit and public service organizations. She began her career in the international arena – as an AMIGOS volunteer in Ecuador, a Peace Corps Volunteer and then Volunteer Coordinator in the Dominican Republic, and a consultant to grassroots organizations in India and Sri Lanka – focusing primarily on community economic development and youth development projects. She was then inspired to be of service to youth and families in her own community and transitioned to leadership roles within hunger relief, homeless services, and girls leadership development organizations in the United States.

Danielle is thrilled to come full circle and rediscover her passion for the AMIGOS mission of offering young people transformative leadership development, community service, and cultural immersion experiences. She played a leadership role within the AMIGOS San Diego Chapter during the pandemic in educating schools and families about new AMIGOS program models and adjusting San Diego Chapter operations accordingly. She is excited to join AMIGOS full time and work with schools to expand access to AMIGOS programs and grow the number of volunteers becoming empowered to make positive change in the world.

Danielle has a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School focused on political and economic development and strategic management of public service organizations.

Born and raised in Uruguay, Zyro got to know AMIGOS while working for a partner agency back at home, where he had been managing several programs for youth and children since he was 19. In 2016 he served as Project Supervisor in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, and came back to AMIGOS in 2020 to work with the Community Impact Project. After working as Program Coordinator for a few months, Zyro served as Project Director for the 2021 Monteverde & Costa Atlantica project in Costa Rica. He assumed the role of Training Manager in September 2021.

He has also lived in New Zealand, Paraguay, and Mexico, where he developed different hobbies like snowboarding, scuba diving, salsa dancing, photography, and videography.