Board of Directors | Alvaralice Foundation

Maria Eugenia Garces-Campagna, President

Maria is one of the founding members of Fundacion AlvarAlice and AlvarAlice Foundation. Mrs. Garces-Campagna is also a board member of Fundación Corona, founded in 1963 by the Echavarria family, on her mother's side, which focuses on education, health, entrepreneurial development and community management initiatives. She and her family are members of The Synergos Institute's Global Philanthropists Circle.

Mrs. Campagna, a native of Cali, Colombia, lives in New York City.

Milena Gómez, Secretary
Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs – Columbia University.
Prior to moving to New York in 2000, Milena Gomez was Acting Dean of the School of Finance, Government and International Relations at the Universidad Externado de Colombia. From 1993 to 1999, she was Vice Dean of the School and since 1986 she taught (profesora titular) various courses in the field of international relations. She was also a founding member and a member of the Board of Directors of ALADAA-Colombia, the Latin American Association of African and Asian Studies.

Milena Gomez has been a faculty member at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) since 2002, teaching the fall Public Policy Workshop in the MPA program. She has lectured and written on issues related to the Colombian Diaspora in the United States and Latino politics in New York. Her written work has been published by the Colombian Foreign Ministry as well as Hoy, a local Spanish language newspaper. One of the articles appearing in Hoy, that she co-authored referencing Latinos and the 2000 Census, won the first prize for Outstanding Multiple Series, Largest Publications by the National Association of Hispanic Publications. She is currently researching the impact of remittances on housing investments in Colombia, her dissertation topic for her Ph.D. degree in the Department of Urban Planning at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. She has engaged in consulting jobs related to this topic, most recently with the Inter-American Development Bank
Professor Gomez holds a B.A. from Brown University (1979), a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics (1983) and a M.Phil. from Columbia University (2004).

Martiza Wild Chateau, Officer
Photographer

Maritza Wild Chateau, a native of Bogota Colombia has been involved in art and photography for a large part of her life. After receiving a BA in anthropology from La Universidad de Los Andes, in Colombia, she relocated to New York City where she continued her education and received an MA in Media Studies from The School For Social Research.

Her visual style has been informed by her professional endeavors and extensive world travels. She has held various positions in advertising such as, art director, photographer and producer in agencies specializing in the Hispanic Market and for the Colombian Society of Architects.

Maritza’s travels have been for commission and pleasure and include India, Vietnam, Kenya, Rwanda, Madagascar, Australia, Japan, China, Europe and South America.

Andrew Sillen, Officer
Vice-President for Institutional Advancement – Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College graduate of the class of 1974 and the son of two alumni, Sillen will be responsible for overseeing the offices of development, alumni affairs, publications, and public relations.

He serves as executive director of the Brooklyn College Foundation, which supports the College’s efforts to develop private funding for its mission to provide quality education.
Sillen was previously director of development at the University of Cape Town (UCT), where he worked from 1985 to 2001. Before becoming director of development at UCT, Sillen was professor of paleoanthropology and chairperson of UCT’s Archaeology Department. Prior to coming to Brooklyn College, Sillen was a deputy director of the Synergos Institute, an independent nonprofit organization founded by David Rockefeller’s daughter Peggy Dulany that is dedicated to the development of sustainable and locally based solutions to poverty.

Nancy Sherwood Truitt, Officer
Senior Advisor - Tinker Foundation Inc.
Nancy Truitt is senior advisor to the Tinker Foundation Inc. and president of Truitt Enterprises Inc., a development consulting company. Ms. Truitt has over 35 years of experience in economic and political policy issues in the developing world working with both multinational corporations and non-profit organizations.

Mrs. Truitt received a B.A. from Stanford University and a MBA in Management/International Business from New York University. She serves as chair of the Board of the Collaborative Arts Project 21 and as a director of the Yorktown Land Trust. In addition to being a board member emeriti of ACCION International, she is a director of ACCION USA and of ACCION New York.