|
|
|
Mexico Board
Don retired from Paychex, Inc. in 2004 after 20 years of service. He was a Regional Manager in Detroit, Michigan and Orange County, California for 15 years and spent the last five years as Area Vice-President Operations. Prior to working for Paychex he was Vice President of Paxon Machine Company in Salem, Ohio and a manager with the CPA firm of Arthur Anderson and Company in their audit and administrative services division.
He grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and attended Saint Xavier High School and Xavier University. He has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a major in Accounting.
He is a member of Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in Newport Beach and met his wife Pat while participating in a Corazon house build in the early 90’s. He has two married children, Brad and Courtney, and two grandsons, Evan and Brady. Back to top
Lynn
Buhl, Member
Lynn is a consultant at Cognizant, a global information
technology consulting firm. She provides management and IT consulting
services to clients in the media and entertainment industry. Prior to
joining Cognizant in 2007, Lynn worked at Universal Music Group, Huron
Consulting Group, KPMG and Arthur Andersen. During those years, her focus
was on finance and operations. She graduated with a BBA in Finance from the
University of Notre Dame. In 2009, Lynn received her MBA from the Anderson
School of Management at UCLA.
Lynn began working with Corazon in 2001. She earned her Blue Shirt in 2003. Lynn has worked as a Lead Builder during Super Builds, and has also sponsored scholarships.
Irma E. Ramirez is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Her professional expertise is in the areas of Housing and Urban Design with a focus on the social and cultural factors of housing and urbanism in developing countries. Professor Ramirez holds a B.A. in Architecture from the UCBerkeley; a Master of Architecture and Master of Urban Planning from the UCLA. At Cal Poly Pomona Irma continues her research through in collaborations Cal Poly Pomona's Habitat 21 Sustainable Settlements Project and Corazon since 2005. Her teaching methodologies involve a community-based design approach in which students experience and serve disadvantaged communities through design-build projects in the Corazon communities of Tijuana. In May 2008, she was awarded in collaboration with Cal Poly faculty the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) Grand Prize for "Low cost sustainable housing, Tijuana Mexico". In June 2007, she received the National Lynton Citation Award for Distinguished Engaged Scholarship from the New England Center for Higher Education, and in 2005 and 2009 respectively, the Cal Poly Pomona University's Faculty Award and the School of Environmental Design's Distinguished Faculty Award both for Teaching Excellence through community service. Professor Ramirez has lectured throughout the United States, Mexico and China, and has published work in the areas of housing, urbanism, and the scholarship of engagement, and vernacular sustainable systems. Back to top
John has been self-employed for over 25 years [since graduation from high school] in the construction, real estate management, and information technology industries. John and his wife, Barbara, started and operate “A Stitch Above," an embroidery business they run out of their home. John has earned the Eagle Scout award and speaks reasonable Spanish.
John started with Corazón in December 1980 and averaged one trip per month for several years. After a one year sabbatical, John came back in 1988, believing that he needed Corazón as much as the poor needed Corazón. John has worked with such significant and diverse areas as the medical clinic, research, food distribution, border crossing and government issues, finance, construction, scholarships, and the blanket drives. Over the last six years, he has dedicated significantly more time to Corazón management and organizational duties than the actual Saturday projects, so as to help the group survive its transition to the next generation.
John’s more significant contributions to Corazón include instituting:quarterly newsletters, bimonthly board meetings, annual meetings, the "blue shirt" concept, the multiple house “Super Build," familia repairs, familia teaching including the construction class, the familia Corazón program, computer database development, and “Threaded Rods” -- the internal newsletter for Coordinators / Builder /Blue-Shirt /Researcher /Driver /Warehouse volunteers. Back to top
Carolynn has a Bachelors Degree in Spanish/Latin American History from the University of New Mexico, an MBA from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and a Masters in Special Education [Deaf] from California State University, Northridge. She has taught at the Utah School for the Deaf and is currently a teacher in Oceanside CA. She is fluent in Spanish and Sign Language.
Carolynn has been on the Board of Directors of the Albuquerque, NM, YMCA, served as a Vestry member and Bishop’s Warden at her church, and also volunteered at the North [San Diego] County Hospice.
Carolynn has served Corazón as a volunteer Researcher and a Village Coordinator. She was the Mexican Director, and has been a member of the Corazón Board of Directors since 1996. Back to top
Lee has spent
over 35 years in the Information Technology field as a manager or executive
with such firms as IBM, KPMG, and Texas Utilities. Prior to starting his own
business consulting firm he was Vice-president of Sprint. He graduated with
a BS Degree in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M, a MBA from Southern
Methodist University, and completed the Harvard University Summer Executive
Education Program.
He is active in his church [Finance Committee, Men's Bible Study, Lay
Pastor's Society] and his community of Poway [Chairman, Budget Committee;
Assistant Administrator of the Sheriff's Senior Volunteers]. He has been
involved with Corazón since 1996. He has been a Blue Shirt for the last six
years working on building over 110 homes. He has also been a Sponsor, Trip
Coordinator, Bookkeeper, and Manager of Administration for Corazón. Lee put
together Corazon's 5-year plan "Corazón 2003" and served as
Treasurer on the Board of Directors. Back
to top
Anne has a B.A. degree in Liberal Arts from San Francisco State University and a Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential from Cal State Fullerton. She taught in the Orange County public school system for seven years before making a career change. She worked as a technical writer for a local software company for three years before turning her efforts to work full-time with her search engine optimization company. Currently, she works part-time for their SEO company and spends the rest of her time taking care of her family, which now includes a young daughter, Cassie.
Anne started working with Corazon in 1996. She believed so much in the mission of Corazón that she decided to make it an active part of her life. Anne earned her blue shirt in 2001 after co-sponsoring several builds and participating in many others. Since then, she has worked as a Trip Coordinator, a group sponsor speaker and has helped develop some of the training materials for trip coordinators and the local Mexican teachers. Back to top
Victor previously worked for the San Diego-Imperial Council of the Boy Scouts of America. His has more than 14 years of experience working with non-profit organizations in Mexico and the United States. Some of the organizations he has contributed to are: Scouts of Mexico, Los Angeles Mission College, The Fund-Raising School, Procura, A.C., Fundación Demos, A.C.; and the International Ophthalmology Institute, I.B.P. He is also a U.S. Air Force veteran who served during Desert Shield/Storm.
Victor has a Bachelor of Science from California State University, Northridge in International Business Administration and a fund-raising management certificate from The Fund Raising School. He is a member of the Scouts of Mexico National Training Team where he volunteers providing management training for volunteers throughout Mexico. Back to top
Julissa Espinoza was born and raised in Los Angeles along with her only brother, Ramon. She currently lives with her parents, Maria and Leonel, who are both from Mexico. Julissa speaks Spanish and English, as well as some Portuguese.
In 2005, Julissa graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in Women Studies and a minor in Politics. During her undergrad years, she studied abroad in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil with the language and culture program. She was in Brazil for a total of four months where she studied the Afro-Brazilian culture and learned Portuguese. Julissa also interned for the Political Action Committee (PAC) with the National Organization for Women (NOW) in Washington D.C. For the duration of her internship, she researched potential candidates for NOW endorsements and she even had the opportunity to pick-it the White House, right after Senator Kerry’s defeat.
After UCSC, Julissa worked for the law firm Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman, LLP where she assisted with the firm’s largest client for two years. She was responsible for supporting six attorneys with legal documentation and filing. Not completely satisfied with the legal world, Julissa decided to pursue her passion of social services.
With the assistance of great people, Julissa came across Corazón. She looks forward to providing Corazón all her skills and knowledge she has gained throughout her non-profit experiences. All of Julissa’s experiences have been guided by her humanitarian spirit of serving others and now Corazón. Back to top
Jorge was born and raised in Tijuana, he has three sisters. His father’s side of the family is scattered across both sides of the border, and because of that, he believes that both sides should be considered one community. In general, what happens on one side affects the other.
Community service in Tijuana has been part of his life since he joined Scouts de Mexico when he was only 9 years old. He also volunteered with Lions Club International, which his father was a member of during the ’93 Tijuana floods when he was a teenager. This volunteer work caused Jorge to realize the enormous inequality and lack of opportunity throughout the city. Tijuana is a new city with many migrants, who lack the education and resources they need to prosper; much needs to be done and many hands are needed.
He is currently studying IT at Universidad de Baja California, the largest University in Tijuana. He got involved with Corazón as an intern, but as soon as he learned that he could work for the organization he jumped onboard and discovered that he loved working for others as part of his daily routine. For him, Corazó is an opportunity not just to help people in Mexico, but to work side by side with people from both sides of the border and learn about their cultural differences in order to better understand each other.
Alejandra was born in Tijuana. She is 27 years old and holds a Psychology degree from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California.
Since she was 14 years old, she has been involved in community services supporting the needy among different migrant ethnic groups from south Mexico, not only in Baja and the surrounding cities but in Oaxaca and Puebla and even in Spain and Morocco by volunteering in a medical organization.
Teaching and everything involved with it is a very important part of her life. She believes giving knowledge is something that stays with people for their entire lives.
Alejandra believes love, faith, service and loyalty should be the basic ingredients in everyone’s life.