Nathan Gray, President and Co-founder Geoversity Foundation and Fundación Geoversity
Nathan has over 40 years of experience in the fields of international development and education. He is one of the staff founders of Oxfam America supporting emerging community development leadership in low-income countries and has been a pioneer in socially positive investment. Nathan started the youth leadership organization Earth Train Foundation in 1991 and, in 2001, led the establishment of its international base in Panama where he co-founded the Mamoní Valley Preserve with Colin Wiel & family, and founded Fundación Earth Train, now Fundación Geoversity. Together with Verne Harnish, he directed the launch of the Geoversity ecosystem with its annual The Nature of Business executive events, as well as Geoversity’s “Designing with Nature” and “Life Changer” initiatives. He was a contributing author of Disaster and Development (Fred Cuny) published in 1989 by Oxford University Press and a contributing author of Change Not Charity – Essays on Oxfam America’s First 40 Years, published in 2010.
Educational background: BA in International Relations from the University of California, San Francisco. Completed special studies in literature at the Universidad de Guanajuato, Mexico; Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain; and Université de Toulouse en Pau, France.
Lider Sucre, Member, Geoversity Foundation and Fundación Geoversity
Since 2001, Lider has been a full-time environmentalist, first as Executive Director of Panama’s National Association for the Conservation of Nature (ANCON), playing a key role in initiatives such as the creation of Coiba as a National Park by law. Between 2007 and 2010 Lider was the Executive Director of the then-in-construction Biomuseo. Lider became Executive Co-Director of Earth Train, with programs centered at Centro Mamoní and the Mamoní Valley Preserve. Since 2011, he has been Regional Director for Latin America of Wildlife Works Carbon (WWC), a global pioneer in the development of private sector climate change mitigation projects. In September of 2015, Lider was elected to the global Board of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as a delegate for the Meso-American region. Lider is an avid naturalist, scuba diver, and a certifi ed nature guide. Lider’s initial experience was as a manager of industrial maintenance for the Panama Canal. After that, he became a management consultant in both Boston (U.S.) and Panama. Author of the Guatemala Chapter of the “Let’s Go Central America” 1997 travel guide. Currently, he is a board member of the Biomuseo, the Panama Audubon Society, the Harvard Club of Panama, and ANCON.
Educational background: MBA from Harvard Business School.
Shea Welsh, Member, Geoversity Foundation
Shea Welsh is a guitarist, songwriter, and producer. His ability to move freely through any genre has made him share the stage with musicians from The Edge, U2, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Police, Heatwave, Peaches & Herb, John Taylor, and Duran Duran. Among many productions, Shea recorded his first Blujazz project “Arrival” in 2017, but has also produced for The Hipnotics, Michelle Coltrane, The Jane Carrey Band, and emerging artists My Serenity and Chris Monaghan. He has performed at several festivals, including three times at the Panama Jazz Festival and The Miami Beach Jazz Festival with Michelle Coltrane, to whom he is a co-writer, studio musician, and musical director for her touring band. As an educator, Shea runs The Shea Welsh Institute of Jazz at The Conservatory of Performing Arts and he is a USC Thornton School of Music Studio/Jazz Guitar faculty member. Shea is a concerned environmentalist and philanthropist, proven through his work with Geoversity since the early days of Earth Train in Panama.
Educational background: BA in Jazz and Commercial Music from Towson University, Baltimore; MA in Studio/Jazz Guitar from University of Southern California Thornton School of Music.
Elisa Judith Gray, Member, Geoversity Foundation
Elisa Alvarez has worked in the field of education for 20 years as a teacher and administrator focusing on at-risk youth in the inner city. She has worked in San Diego, Boston, and the San Francisco Bay Area. She is currently the principal of Washington Elementary School in San Leandro where she founded the school district’s first Spanish/English Dual Language Immersion Program. Elisa was invited onto the board of Earth Train Foundation in 2005 in recognition of her leadership in the field of education on social justice standards and project-based learning.
Educational background: BA in Liberal Studies from San Diego State University; a Master of Education in Risk and Prevention from Harvard University; a Master of Science in Urban Teaching from Wheelock College; and Administrative Services Credential from California State University at Hayward.
Keith Mautner, CPA, Member and Financial Advisor, Geoversity Foundation
Keith has 20+ years of experience leading forensic accounting investigations into alleged securities fraud and related matters. He provides expert advice, research, and other complex litigation support to prominent law firms. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified in Financial Forensics, a Certified Management Accountant, and a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CPA, CFE, CFF, CMA, CGMA).
Alonso de la Guardia, Member, Fundación Geoversity
Alonso de la Guardia received his B.S. from the Florida State University College of Business in 1975 and later pursued graduate studies at the University of Oklahoma. He also holds a Professional Certified Marketer (PCM®) certification from the American Marketing Association.
He started his professional career in the financial industry, first with Bank of Boston and later with International Bank of Panama, where he served as Associate General Manager. His career later stretched into the distribution and Real Estate sectors.
He served as Vice President of the Board of Directors of the FSU campus in the Republic of Panama from 1999 until 2011. In 2011 he assumed the position of Vice-Rector for University Relations.
