Our Staff
María Soledad Cabezas
Director
Soledad brings a wealth of experience working with businesses and nonprofits, including several Pittsburgh-area NGOs. She has a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. A native of Ecuador, Soledad is our first multilingual director, a quality that is increasingly important for our work in Central America and the United States.
Sandi Suni
Accounting (part-time)
Sandi has been involved with Building New Hope for over 13 years, first packing coffee, then packing off two kids as BNH volunteers in Granada. Their experiences highlighted BNH’s important role in Nicaragua. After 21 years as a homemaker and homeschooling mom, she started with BNH in 2011. Sandi was deeply moved visiting the schools and projects in Granada; hope was truly being built through BNH’s partnerships. Sandi served as Interim Director from April – December 2014 and currently serves as accountant for BNH. Sandi has a BS in Accounting from Valparaiso University.
Zach Crouch
Coffee Project Coordinator
Zach is a graduate student in History at Carnegie Mellon University who joined Building New Hope in 2024. While in undergraduate studies at the University of British Columbia, Zach became interested in food justice after teaching a class on the history of agriculture. He comes to Building New Hope looking to make connections with the Pittsburgh community to build the just coffee networks in Pittsburgh.
Intern
Research and Marketing Assistant (Intern)
TBC
Luis Armando
Luis has been an educator with Building New Hope for fifteen years; he has been nurturing children and adolescents for nearly twenty years! Before joining BNH, he has worked with child street vendors and youth struggling to overcome drug addiction. He currently tutors students in second through sixth grades. He is grateful for the opportunities and support that BNH has provided him
