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Mission Message from the
Chairman Board of Directors
& Staff AHF Video & Book

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Meet Naresh and Ajit, champions of Navajyoti Center.

Board of Directors & Staff

Board of Directors

Richard C. Blum
San Francisco, CA
Chairman, Blum Capital Partners, LP
Private Equity Investment Firm;
Honorary Consul of Nepal

Dr. Eleanor Adair
San Antonio, TX
Environmental Biologist

Stan Armington
Kathmandu, Nepal
Managing Director, Malla Treks

David Bonderman
Ft. Worth, TX
Managing Partner, Texas Pacific Group

Peter Hackett, MD
Physician, Researcher, Climber

Maurice Herzog
Chamonix, France
Author and Statesman

Hon. Richard Holbrooke
Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.

Seth Hufstedler
Los Angeles, CA
Attorney

Michael Klein
Washington, DC
Attorney

Jon Krakauer
At large
Author and Climber

Maryon Davies Lewis
San Francisco, CA
Civic Leader

The Scot MacBeth
Geologist and Mountain Guide

George E. McCown
Menlo Park, CA
Managing Director, American Infrastructure MLP Fund

Bruce McCubbrey
San Francisco, CA
Patent Lawyer

Hon. Walter Mondale
Minneapolis, MN
Former Vice President

James Morrissey, MD
Physician

Kenneth Nebenzahl
Glencoe, IL
Rare book dealer, Author and Lecturer

Bernard Osher
San Francisco, CA
Private Investor

Prabhakar Rana
Kathmandu, Nepal
Managing Director, Soaltee Group

Dr. Louis Reichardt
San Francisco, CA
Professor and Scientist

James Simons
Chairman,
Renaissance Technologies

Sharon Stone
Los Angeles, CA
Actor

Peter Tarnoff
San Francisco, CA
President, International Advisory Corp.

Hon. Leon J. Weil
New York, NY
Former U.S. Ambassador to Nepal

Emeritus Directors

Richard D. Bass
Dallas, TX
Owner, Snowbird Resort

Hon. Julia Chang Bloch
Washington, DC
Former U.S. Ambassador to Nepal

Ronald Lawrence, MD
Los Angeles, CA
Physician

James Whittaker
Port Townsend, WA
Mountaineer

Staff: San Francisco Office

Erica Stone, President, has directed AHF's humanitarian and conservation work for 17 years. A U.C. Berkeley MBA and fifth degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, she has traveled widely in Asia and delights in the remotest corners of the Himalaya.

Norbu Tenzing, Vice President, has been with AHF for 15 years. From Namche Bazaar to New York and from Namdu to Nancy, he is well connected with the Himalayan world. He has yet to find a chili pepper that's too hot to handle.

Eileen Moncoeur, Program Director, first traveled to Nepal in 1994 where she was smitten and vowed to return. In her previous lives she did research in a molecular biology lab and managed a restaurant. She joined the foundation in 1997.

Marilyn Seaton, Special Planning Coordinator, has worked for the American Himalayan Foundation for seven years, to everyone's delight. She is an Australian, born in Zimbabwe, who has lived on five continents.

Dan Gaff, Program Manager, came to AHF after a circuitous path through biology, music, and government. He assists the Program Director with AHF's many projects, administers the Foundation's database, and updates the website.

Katie Keliiaa, Database Coordinator, is the newest member to the AHF team and found her way here right out of college. Katie is no stranger to cultural diversity, with a family tree that includes Hawaii, Portugal, Italy and the Yerington Paiute and Washoe tribes. Her work with Native American communities was one of her inspirations to come to AHF.

Kathmandu Field Office

Bruce Moore, Field Director, first came to Nepal in 1993 working in tourism. Now he travels throughout Nepal to keep in touch with AHF's many project partners. He joined the foundation in 2001, changing his focus from guest relations to vaccinations and cultural tours to cultural conservation.

Tsedo Suitsang, Associate Field Director, has been on board since 1997 and works closely with the Tibetan communities in Nepal, India and Tibet. At times his work includes dramatic river and mountain crossings to reach our most remote partners.

Charu Pradhan, Amar Scholarship Manager, is a native of Kathmandu and has been working for the foundation since 2001. She now works exclusively with the In Honor of Amar scholars – 250 and growing – who’ve graduated from RHEST and gone on to college. She feels she has the best job in the world - and the hundreds of college scholarship recipients she works with think she is the best in the world.

Michal Shrestha, Assistant Administrator, is a native of Kathmandu and the latest to join the AHF team. It didn't take her long to get into the swing of things - she was off on a field visit to meet RHEST scholarship recipients in her second week! She loves her new job and is happy to be involved in work that helps her fellow Nepalis.

Pema Chirring Lama, Field Assistant, is a native of Humla, far northwest Nepal. He was first introduced to AHF in 1997 when he accompanied Richard, Erica and Norbu on a trek to Mount Kailash. (He met his future wife on the same trek!). He joined the Field Office team in 2000.