Étienne Desmarais

President - CEO

Etienne holds a certificate in administration from l'Université du Québec à Montréal as well as Organic agriculture from the CEGEP de Victoriaville. As cofounder of Pro-A, an organization that support the development of new cooperatives, Etienne’s had the opportunity to identify and address issues affecting small farmers. His 18 years’ experience in development support, import/export, marketing and finance coupled with his knowledge of organic agriculture became the foundation on which many successful cooperatives were built in Peru.  All together, these experiences helped him draw Ecotierra’s blueprint and create this one of a kind company in 2010.
Multilingual (French, Spanish and English) and passionate about environmental and social issues, Etienne is part of rare breed of individuals that is as comfortable dealing with local farmers as he is with head of industries. 

Karina Santana

Vice-President Programs

Karina holds ten years of experience in the development of educational program in rural Peru as well as her Master’s degree in School and Social Adaptation from the Université de Sherbrooke makes her an invaluable asset in the development of community based program.

As a founding member and major shareholder of Ecotierra, Karina focuses her effort on the coordination between the different offices as well as developing a social engineering and educational program for the communities where we operate.

Bernard Gauvin

Marketing and Finance Director

Graduated from Concordia University in Montreal with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and international business, Bernard has twenty years of banking experience - fifteen of them spent in Asia. As a foreign exchange trader and later regional manager Bernard develop his skills in risk management, business development and human resources.
Since 2006,  he holds the designation of Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) from the Association of Financial Professional.
Bernard joined the Ecotierra team in August 2012, where he holds the title of director of marketing & finance and has one of it's shareholders, holds a seat on the board of director.

Guillaume Nadeau

Operations and communications Director

Multilingual (French, English and Spanish), Guillaume joined Ecotierra as director of operations and communications. 
Holding a bachelor’s degree from l'Université de Sherbrooke in business administration and having work for some of Quebec's best known advertising agencies, Guillaume has the responsibility to develop and promote Ecotierra's brand both in Canada and abroad. 
With five years experience in operational management and his ability to work cross culturally, Guillaume is uniquely qualified to manage and coordinate Ecotierra's different projects.

José de Jesús Osorio Pinto, Ing.

General director Colombia

Educated on three continents, José returned to his native Colombia to open Ecotierra’s office. A serial entrepreneur, José brings a wealth of international experience and passion to the organization.
As managing director of the Colombian operation, José works tirelessly to promote Ecotierra’s unique vision and project development capabilities to organizations looking for a new solution to social and environmental issues. José’s experience and insight has always been sought after.
At the request of UNESCO, he was a panelist for the conference "Innovation et prospective" as well as panelist in the Paris 2.0 round table talks. 

Luis E. Salgado Flores, Ing. Forest.

Technical Director

As one of the pioneers in the field of climate change, focusing on sustainable development and financing, Luis’ expertise as often been tapped by organization such as the UNFCC and IETA. 
Luis led the design of one of the first voluntary carbon market for developing countries as well as serving as advisor to the President of the African Group (UNFCC). Fluent in Spanish, French and English, Luis has the ability to work and unite culturally diverse teams.
His qualifications, in depth knowledge of the carbon market and project management skills makes him one of Ecotierra’s key assets.

Ronal Carranza Montenegro

Organization expert

As a coffee producer and former general manager of a cooperative, Ronal brings a unique perspective to the organization. The management of the different certifications, quality control and the different steps required to accomplish an international sales are all tasks that Ronal perfected during his twelve years working at the cooperative.
As an organizational expert, Ronal will draw on his experience gathered while working with the cooperative in the development of Ecotierra’s agroforestry projects across Peru. 
Ronal is also one of Ecotierra’s shareholders and board members. 

Alexis Navia, Ing. Forest.

Operation manager

Graduate for the Universidad Nacional Agraria – La Molina in forest engineering and recipient of a Master’s degree in forest and forest resource management from the same institution, Alexis brings a wealth of experience to Ecotierra. 

Alexis is the lead person in the development of technical documentation for the Verified Carbon Standard.  His strong research ability, redaction and management of tight timelines coupled with his ten years field work experience as a forest engineer made him a crucial member of our team in developing ties with the local communities as well as assuring the proper operation of our projects.

Sandro Aquino

Value-Chain expert

Sandro joined Ecotierra after working 18 years in all facet of the agricultural value chain. His experience in cooperative development, project management, agricultural financing, international trade & logistics centered on sustainable agricultural practices making him a valued asset. He holds a Master’s degree in Science Management and Conservation of Tropical Forests from (CATIE) in Costa Rica, as well as diplomas in Management of Agricultural Cooperatives (MYCOOP), Business Management Export, and Agricultural Engineering. Sandro attended the University of Arkansas’ International language center to further his English competencies. Sandro was recognized by Minister von Hesse and President Ollanta Humala for his work as General Manager of the Oro Verde Cooperative.

Francisco Javier Diaz Llain

Operation manager

Economist with extensive experience in management, strategic development, financial accounting and logistics, Francisco joined Ecotierra Colombia as assistant operation manager in 2014.
Having graduated and worked for the Universidad de Santander (UIS) in Bogota, Francisco worked on projects involving all level of management. Focused on the development of a project database, his responsibility included the gathering of the information, the creation of performance indicators and the analyzing of the findings.

Erly K.Camizan Moran

Export specialist

Graduated from ISIL - Instituto San Ignacio de Loyola in International Business administration, Erly has a natural capacity to exchange with cooperative so he keeps regular contact with them to insure the future development of our projects.  
In his role, Erly is in constant contact with the cooperatives identifying crops looking to be exported and communicating with potential buyers. As our export manager, Erly is responsible for the sales and logistics of the commodities, mainly coffee and cocoa. He is also responsible in producing all export documents.

Waldo Jhonatan Saccaco Cárdenas

Software engineer

Graduated with an IT degree from Instituto superior Tecnologico IDAT and developer of cloud based applications, Waldo joined Ecotierra in 2012. 
Waldo was mandated to create a database application that would combine all field information gathered and present them in a user-friendly manner. With the MINKA completed, Waldo now
focuses on adapting the application to represent the specific requirements of our new projects. 
As manager, Waldo has the responsibility to ensure that all information in the database has been properly recorded and inputted.

Ya Suzanne Ouattara

Administrative assistant

Originally from the Ivory Coast, Suzanne studied law at l’Université Felix Houphouët Boigny in Abidjan receiving a master’s degree in private law focusing on business law.
After arriving in Canada she followed her passion for accounting and enrolled at the Collège de l’Estrie where she received an Attestation of College Study in accounting and management. 
In her day to day role Suzanne looks after the accounting, human resources and assures follow-up to all our local customers. 

Milagros Cisneros Vivanco

Administrative manager

Holder of a degree in business administration from the Universidad Privada San Juan Bautista (Lima), Milagros was part of Ecotierra Peru’s original team.
Independent and driven, Milagros is a key member since the first days of Ecotierra’s team.

As administrative manager, Milagros role includes the management of the financial aspects, the human resources as well as supporting the sales and export initiative of Ecotierra Peru.

Dagner Duber Montalván García

Value-chain specialist

After graduating from the Universidad Nacional de Cajamarca with a bachelor’s degree in Forestry
Science and later becoming Forest Engineer, Dagner worked in both the field of forestry and certifications.  
Working with the Asociación de Productores Cafetaleros Juan Marco El Palto, Dagner was responsible for ensuring the proper adherence of the different certifications. More recently he’s been field engineer concentrating on coffee and cacao production with different Peruvian cooperatives.

As our value-chain specialist, Dagner is taking care of training and coaching of new collective organizations in the delicate and crucial steps of the crop processing, management and export.