The Ama Foundation Board of Directors
Mary has recently moved on from a long career in healthcare, higher education, finance, social work, and teaching. New horizons await as she moves into the next trimester of life. The next journeys, like the past, will be informed by her passions including family, printmaking, travel, pro bono social work now and then and, hopefully, a reunion with her violin and music making.
Bonnie has functioned as Country Director in Nepal for The Ama Foundation for 22 years. During her formative years, age 8-13, Bonnie grew up in Nepal and she continued to visit regularly for the rest of her life. After a 35 year career in advertising in the Bay Area, she was able to live her dream of returning to Nepal. She was chosen by the board to step in and set up the management of Ama Ghar in 2001- the perfect option for her retirement/volunteer years. From then to the present day, Bonnie Auntie has had the best job in the world, watching the antics and growing up of the Ama Ghar children and keeping in contact with the Alumni. Bonnie has a very strong belief that the Ama Ghar children need to be raised by a loving Nepali staff, so she enjoys her Auntie role.
Jacole resides in Bozeman, MT and is a Ph.D. candidate in International Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She received a Fulbright fellowship to conduct her dissertation research in Nepal, and she holds an Ed.M. in International Education Policy from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A in English Teaching from The University of Montana. She has over 15 years of experience as an educator, researcher, and international education development specialist. She currently works for Inclusive Development Partners, where she supports programs and research that advance disability-inclusive development. She also coordinates a statewide rural telemental health program with the Children’s Alliance of Montana that provides trauma-informed therapy for child survivors of abuse and neglect. Prior to starting her Ph.D., she was based in Cambodia as a Basic Education Technical Advisor with World Education, Inc. Jacole visited Ama Ghar for the first time in 2008 when she was teaching in Nepal for a few years. She visits nearly every year, and she has loved watching the original children (now alumni) become kind and independent adults and enjoys getting to know all the children who have joined Ama Ghar over the years.
Trish has been working directly in the Thrift Store and Secondary Material Recycling Industry since 1996. In 2007, Trish started CYCLA LLC, Thrift Store Recycling Professionals, focused purely on the recycling needs of thrift stores, consignment shops and other aftermarket used textile businesses. CYCLA currently recycles post-consumer reusable clothing, shoes, purses, belts, backpacks, bedding, bath, draperies, housewares, books, metals and cardboard. CYCLA LLC , was honored to be recognized on the 2013 Top 50 Colorado Companies to Watch List and again recognized in the 2015 Top 100 Women Owned Colorado Businesses List ranking 36th. Trish’s grandfather, who launched Value Village in the Washington DC area in the 1950’s, had a vision to create community partnerships between for-profit thrift stores and charitable organizations to provide sustainable funding for their cause. These nonprofit/for-profit partnerships have been instrumental in launching hundreds of healthy, strong and sustainable nonprofits over the years, allowing them to focus their time on fulfilling their charitable organization’s purpose. Trish hopes to use her skills and experience to help raise Ama Foundation’s fundraising profile as well. She has visited Ama Ghar many times and has a personal interest in the lives of all the children.
Suyesh Karki is Domo’s chief information security officer and vice president of enterprise IT. He leads the company’s worldwide security team, corporate IT team and operations, and is in charge of customer trust, risk management, compliance and cloud security engineering. Prior to Domo, Suyesh led the Ernst & Young LLP IT Advisory practice for the Utah region. Suyesh is passionate about giving back to his community, especially contributing to the growth of the underprivileged children in his home country of Nepal. He hopes to build relationships with the Ama Ghar children at a personal level and strives to create a positive impact on the lives of these children by supporting their intellectual and physical growth. He believes that an educated society holds the keys to any kind of sustainable development in Nepal and is excited to have an opportunity to contribute towards achieving it.
Jane Ellison has served on the Board of Directors of the Ama Foundation for over 20 years, bringing a deep well of experience and a personal commitment to the organization’s mission. Her first visit to Ama Ghar in 2004 with her teenage children was a profoundly eye-opening experience that kindled a lasting connection to the children and the purpose of the foundation. Since then, she has returned multiple times to maintain those bonds and stay actively engaged with Ama Ghar’s on-the-ground efforts.
With over 35 years of experience as an interior designer, Jane brings creativity, vision, and practical insight to her work. Her professional expertise, combined with the life experience of raising four children, has shaped her compassionate, thoughtful leadership style. Jane’s long-standing commitment reflects her belief in the power of service, community, and sustainable impact.
Andi was born and raised in Southern California where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from California State University of Long Beach. At 22, she moved to the UK where she earned her Master’s Degree in Media and Cultural Politics.She spent three years in England and developed a love for travel that she’s never been able to shake. She moved to San Francisco and continued her career in Commercial Banking with Wells Fargo where she met Nick Ray – they quit their jobs in 2015 to travel around the world for 1.5 years; this was when they first visited Nepal and Ama Ghar. They fell in love with Nepal, the mountains and the children, and they came back a second time before they left Asia and a third time in November 2018. She currently works remotely on the partnerships team at Rippling and resides in the Lake Tahoe area. Andi is thrilled to have the opportunity to be a part of an organization that does amazing work and with whose mission she aligns so closely.
Matthew grew up in Michigan and graduated from Anderson University in Indiana with degrees in Psychology and Political Science before earning his J.D. at Duke University. After two years in Chicago, he moved to San Francisco in 2010 on the advice of his law school roommate, whose then-girlfriend, now-wife was visiting Ama Ghar. Several years later, he quit his job as an employment lawyer and traveled the world for three years. He first visited Ama Ghar in September 2015 where he stayed a month and fell in love with and adored the children, the remarkably caring staff, the ever-endearing Bonnie, and the country and people of Nepal. After visiting Ama Ghar on three separate occasions, he returned to the U.S. where he has done logistical planning and operations management for an events startup company, and managed operations for an organic strawberry and pumpkin farm in Watsonville, California. He has since returned to law as Counsel at the firm of Seyfarth Shaw, specializing in employment litigation.
Cathy has been working with The Ama Foundation in some capacity since her first visit to Ama Ghar in 2003. She served on the Board of Directors as a member at large until 2011, when she became Communications Director. In 2023, she took the position of Administrator, managing the Foundation’s database, correspondence and accounting. She has visited Ama Ghar 16 times and is devoted to the mission and the children.
Prior to that time, Cathy had a long career in communications and marketing, which included owning her own agency in the Bay Area and finishing her career with an eight year stint as Communications and Marketing Director for the Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives at Arizona State University.
Stacy spent a month at Ama Ghar in the Fall of 2009 and stayed connected to the organization and the children after she left. 10 years later, in 2019, she joined the Board of Directors, and in 2023, she became the Director of Communications for The Ama Foundation. She is inspired by Ama Ghar’s commitment to providing a safe home and education to the children and is thrilled to support their mission through her work with The Ama Foundation. Stacy lives outside of San Francisco, CA with her husband and 2 young daughters. Prior to her role at The Ama Foundation, she earned a degree in English from Vanderbilt University and led Social Media for POPSUGAR for over a decade.
Nick resides in Lake Tahoe with his partner Andrea Osbon. He has spent his 11 year career working in Commercial Banking with Wells Fargo, primarily in Relationship Management. He studied Business Administration at California State University, Chico. His first visit to Nepal was in 2015, when he was on a 18 month travel break, and he fell in love with the country and people immediately. Ama Ghar was introduced to Nick by a San Francisco friend who had spent time volunteering with the organization. Nick was deeply touched by the compassion and love of the staff, the countless stories that Bonnie shared, and especially, the joy and laughter of the Ama Ghar children. He believes that his passion about the organization, finance background, and Bay Area network will help raise money and bring awareness to the Ama Foundation.
Yasmijn Adhikari resides in San Francisco with her husband and two sons. She first traveled to Nepal in 2004 for her wedding (her husband is Nepali) and immediately fell in love with the people and culture. Since then, Yasmijn has traveled to Nepal numerous times. In 2012 she spend three months in Nepal taking Nepali Language classes and volunteering at a local pre-school her son was attending. Yasmijn has over eight years of experience in the hedge fund services and alternative investment management industry and worked for BlackRock, one of the largest asset managers in the world, in their Global Securities Lending group, until the birth of her second son. Yasmijn has a degree in Finance and International Business from Florida State University. She has lived in the Netherlands, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates (Dubai) and is an avid traveler. She believes that her global upbringing, passion for kids and education and financial background puts her in a unique position to help the Ama Foundation.