CoDev Staff
Barbara Wood, Executive Director
Barbara has been involved in solidarity, human rights and development work related to Latin America for more than 25 years. Her work experience includes time with the Latin American Working Group (LAWG) and the Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights in Latin America (ICCHRLA) in Toronto. In the early 90’s, Barbara was a CUSO cooperant in Nicaragua, working with a local human rights organization to begin a program on women’s human rights. On return to Canada, she completed a MA in Latin American Studies at SFU focusing on how women’s organizations employed human rights to define their own priorities at the same time as challenging the traditional definition of human rights in order to include women’s specific conditions. Barbara has worked at CoDevelopment Canada as the Executive Director since 1999.
Kyla Epstein, Communications & Development Director
Building on her degree in Political Science and International Development Kyla has worked for social justice in both Canada and Guatemala. Kyla has worked in and learned from the for- and not-for-profit worlds and hopes both have benefited from her organizational know-how and her uninvited opining. Kyla is an active volunteer having served on many governance boards including Check Your Head, PEDAL and Kiwassa St. David’s Preschool. She currently sits on the board of directors for genius an organization that runs Next Up, a leadership program for young people committed to social and environmental justice, and the Vancouver Public Library, which she is thrilled about. Kyla joined CoDev in 2006.
Carol Wood, Program Director
Carol has been traveling to Latin America since she was 5 years old. After a degree in French, and several years in the travel guide publishing business in Montreal, she worked as the Program Coordinator for Casa Canadiense in Managua. After 4 years, home beckoned, and she became the Program Coordinator for Pueblito Canada in Toronto. She has been a Program Director with CoDev since 2002.
Steve Stewart, Program Director
Steve is CoDev’s Education Program Director and the Technical Secretary for the IDEA Network, which is housed at the CoDev offices. Steve has been involved in Latin American issues since he first visited Central America in 1986. After a stint as a Surrey Spanish and Social Studies teacher, Steve joined the CERIGUA news agency and covered the civil wars and land, labour and human rights issues during the 1990s in Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador. He has been working for the IDEA Network since its founding in 1999 and joined CoDev at the beginning of 2000.
Sarena Talbot, Education Program Assistant
Sarena is passionate about community at a local and global level. Her interest in Latin America began at an early age when, in grade 11, she traveled to Guatemala with Café Justicia BC. Since then she has traveled extensively in Latin America and around the world, and has lived and studied in Cuba. She holds an Honours Degree in International Studies and a certificate in Sustainable Community Development from Simon Fraser University. After a brief stint on the CoDev board, Sarena joined the CoDev staff team in 2010.
Jeffrey Cramer, Finance & Operations Director
Prior to working in the private sector, Jeffrey enjoyed a career in the non-profit HIV/AIDS community, capped off by an exciting year with the XI International Conference on AIDS in 1996. He then moved into the private sector for 15 years, organizing and operating successful small-business ventures, where he gained a world of knowledge and experience, and honed his entrepreneurial spirit. His commitment to human rights and social justice subsequently drew him back to the non-profit sector, when Jeffrey joined the CoDevelopment team as Finance & Operations Director in 2011.
Café Ético Staff
Kirsten Daub, Café Ético Coordinator
Kirsten runs Café Ético, CoDev’s fair trade, organic coffee company. Kirsten holds a Masters in Latin American Studies from SFU, which she got largely thanks to having had the opportunity to do research with the Campesino Committee of the Highlands, a farmers’ association from which Café Ético buys its Guatemalan coffee. Kirsten originally joined CoDev in 2003 as a volunteer and then completed contracts as both a program director and administrative director before taking on her current role in 2007.
Laurie MacLean, Café Ético Operations Assistant
Laurie previously worked as a high school teacher in Social Studies and English. Her interest in fair trade, especially as it relates to coffee, was developed during a six-month internship with a fair trade coffee organization in Oaxaca, Mexico. At the moment, she is working toward an MA in Educational Studies at UBC, focusing on citizenship and social justice education. Laurie has been working for Café Ético since February 2010.
