Nicaragua Director

Guillaume is a co-founder of blueEnergy and has been the Director of blueEnergy Nicaragua since the end of 2004. In this position, Guillaume has built blueEnergy’s presence in Bluefields, Nicaragua, by establishing its current office, workshop and housing facilities. He also created a network of partners at the local, regional, national and international levels that have been crucial to blueEnergy’s early successes. Guillaume has over 10 years of experience in the services industry. Fluent in English, French and Spanish, Guillaume provides the strategic vision for bE Nicaragua and leads the Program Board on all large projects providing guidance strategy and management expertise to the projects.

Director of CERCA

Ismael Castillo has worked with blueEnergy since it first established itself in Bluefields, Nicaragua, in May 2004. Ismael is an expert welder and mechanic and is the designated full-time liaison between IPCC-INATEC and blueEnergy. Ismael has the crucial role of directing the new capacity building center (Centro Ecologico Regional de Capacitación Ambiental, CERCA) that is at the core of blueEnergy’s activities and is a joint venture with IPCC-INATEC.

Advisor

Lâl Marandin is a co-founder of blueEnergy. A French Public Servant currently on a leave of absence, Lâl is responsible for blueEnergy’s activities in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. As such, he is responsible for managing blueEnergy’s public relations, to liaise with development programs (UNDP, World Bank, etc..), to coordinate with blueEnergy’s strategic Partners and support the extension of the "renewable energy" Association (Renovables) nationwide.

Community and Culture Director

Vida-Luz worked for many years for a large nonprofit development organization in Bluefields, leading teams of fieldworkers to engage communities in negotiated planning and to ensure project implementation. Vida-Luz has been interested in blueEnergy’s activities since its arrival in Nicaragua and has informally advised the organization since that time. She now works for blueEnergy overseeing community relationships, fieldwork activities and cultural issues that affect blueEnergy’s direction and image in the region.

Operations Director

Casey joined blueEnergy in September 2008, with the intention to be involved "hands on". Casey has rapidly shown to be a skilled technician with a "can do" attitude, and therefore given the responsability to keep things running in the blueEnergy world, wich is a challenging task on the Caribbean coast environment ! Casey is also the editor of the now famous blueEnergy Volunteers’ bulletin: "blueNews (The most trusted source of news. Period. Ever. Period.)

View Casey’s blog.

Administration

Maria Elena has been with blueEnergy since November 2009. Maria Elena works in many areas of blueEnergy Nicaragua’s administration and is responsible for ensuring all general blueEnergy services are maintained. When asked about her work at blueEnergy, Maria Elena states: “I have made lots of new contacts, both professional and personal.” Maria Elena resides in Bluefields with her three kids and husband, blueEnergy plant foreman Ronald Quintana.

Human Resources

Indira has worked with blueEnergy since October 2010. Yarlene works in the human resources department of blueEnergy Nicaragua and currently serves as blueEnergy Nicaragua’s principal cashier.

International Human Resources Coordinator

Gabriella joined the blueenergy team in March 2011 as a part-time intern. After teaching classes at the local university and volunteering with the Creole Communal Government in Bluefields, Gabriella began working full time for blueEnergy in July. Currently serving as blueEnergy Nicaragua’s International Human Resources Coordinator, Gabriella works on the recruitment of international volunteers and leads their orientation upon arriving to blueEnergy. Gabriella’s mother is a Bluefields native, so she spends time with her family, dancing in her barrio’s carnaval team and trying to learn to speak Creole.

Accounting Manager

Eric came to blueEnergy in January of 2009 to help administer the local accounting process and lead the team of Nicaragua accountants. With three years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and 4 years living in Colombia (with Peace Brigades). Eric brings his perspective of non-profit management in another Latin American country, leveraging his Spanish on a daily basis. Eric is “proudly struggling” to learn the guitar.

Accountant

Sandra has been working with blueEnergy since July of 2008, and has a technical degree in Business Administration from INATEC-IPCC in Bluefields. She works in the administrative department and brings an easy-going mentality to the sometimes dry world of accounting and bookkeeping. She enjoys the mix of cultures at the blueEnergy house, and that the work is completed in teams instead of individually. “If someone falls, we all fall together!”—says Sandra.

Accounting

Yarlene Sequeira started working at blueEnergy in June 2011 as an accountant. Already with a degree in business administration, Yarlene is currently working towards a degree in Finance and Public Accounting at the BICU. When asked why she enjoys working at blueEnergy, Yarlene states: “I like the work I do, especially working with people from cultures all around the world.”

Assistant to the General Director blueEnergy Nicaragua

Kenia started working at blueEnergy in January 2011. Working towards her degree in business administration from the Bluefields Indian and Caribbean University (BICU), Kenia is currently writing a thesis on Creole women microenterprises in Bluefields, Nicaragua. At blueEnergy, Kenia assists Guillaume Craig in his daily responsibilities and is in charge of blueEnergy Nicaragua’s overall impact monitoring and follow-up.

Plant Manager

Ronald joined blueEnergy in the summer of 2007 and is the plant foreman. Ronald is an expert electrician and directly oversees all electrical work in the plant.

Plant Technician

Gilberto is a jack of all trades in the shop, working on turbine blade sanding and assembly, batteries and control panels. Prior to blueEnergy he worked in a wood processing company. Gilberto grew up in Leon, Nicaragua and has lived in Bluefields, Nicaragua for 13 years. He has a 12 year old son also named Gilberto who he hopes will be able to become a professional in his field of choice. Gilberto supports 5 people with his blueEnergy salary. About blueEnergy: "Its good work. Its good help for the community. We at blueEnergy are the brothers of the community. Lots of times the electric current can´t reach the communities far from town and we can bring them TV and radio."

Workshop helper

Alex is a high school student from the Rama community who is participating in blue Energy’s work to support his community. He began working in the workshop in September 2009 and since then has worked on the construction of the filters, welding and has made moulds for the construction of the turbines. Alex doesn’t talk much when in a group but he can surprise you when he answers your question in Miskito or Rama.

Community Mediator

Cindy began working at blueEnergy in July 2009. However, since the beginning of the year she has volunteered on diagnostic work in the communities. She is one of the pillars of our relationships with the communities and can speak Criole and Spanish, two of the most common languages of the Coast. Cindy says that she loves to work in this region where you can find six different ethnic groups: Miskito, Criole, Rama, Mestizo, Garifuna and Sumu. On top of those, you add the people from Europe, America and Australia that she works with at blueEnergy, and it’s quite the challenge. It gratifies her to hear, in communities that normally feel isolated, that the people there have a positive feeling about the presence of blueEnergy. She says “to take this kind of energy allows them to save because with the system that they used before (candles, diesel, kerosene) they spent much more.”

Domestic Staff

Pina is the caretaker of blueEnergy’s heart and soul, its employees and volunteers. She maintains the blueEnergy house and office and cooks for the blueEnergy crew. Pina grew up in Bluefields, Nicaragua. She has two sons ages 12 and 7 years and hopes to give them a better future. Pina supports 4 people with her blueEnergy salary. About blueEnergy: "Poverty brings more poverty and blueEnergy is helping people get out of that. Lots of people need this help because so many don’t have the capacity for lights like those who live in cities."

Cook

Mara has been cooking for blueEnergy since February 2011. She resides in Bluefields with her two kids and husband.

Soozie is in charge of the 24-hour security at bE. With specialties in barking really loudly at 3am, biting chairs, it brings years of unparalleled experience to the blueEnergy team, and is an asset to us all.