Team

Runa´s team is composed of ex-Senators, professional forestry engineers, and indigenous field technicians from the local communities, bringing extensive experience in export, agronomy, and community development. The team is very proud of all of their accomplishments, and many of them have been with Runa from the beginning of the organization, collectively envisioning how we wanted to build this organization. We are very happy about the international presence our company has built, so if you would like to connect with the Runa team, please e-mail info.ecuador@runa.org. It is our pleasure to introduce you to the staff in the US and Ecuador. 

Tyler Gage

Co-Founder, President

Contact info: tyler@runa.org

Tyler has spent the last five years working with indigenous communities in the Amazon developing Fair Trade initiatives and cultural preservation programs. Tyler has a unique ability to bridge cultures and translate the traditions and values of indigenous cultures with modern life. Having turned down a Fulbright scholarship in order to dedicate himself fully to Runa, Tyler loves sharing guayusa and believes deeply in the transformative power of Runa's work. Tyler brings his leadership and team experience from Brown University's varsity soccer team and national championship-winning Ultimate Frisbee team to manage Runa's team. Tyler has been awarded a Rainer Arnhold Fellowship for Social Enterprise in recognition of his work building Runa.

Daniel MacCombie

Co-Founder, Executive VP

Contact info: dan@runa.org

Dan has diverse experience in conservation, public policy, and organizational development/management. For Runa, he guides the organization's legal and financial affairs, and plays a key role in numerous other aspects of the business. Aside from his passions for tea and sustainable development, Dan is an avid photographer and scuba diver, and serves on the board of the Ostara Foundation, an organization devoted to critical and time-sensitive support of innovative models of sustainable development and community growth.

Steve Verde

VP Sales

Contact info: steve@runa.org

Steve is a true leader in sales, growth, and brand-building in the natural products space. Starting his career in the industry in 1982, he reached VP of Sales for United Natural Foods, the premier distributor in the industry. Since then, he has moved onto the producer side, building the sales of companies like Runa in a sustainable, focused, and determined way. Steve lives in East Greenwich, R.I. with his wife and children.

Caroline Turnbull

Sales and Operation Manager

Contact info: caroline@runa.org

Caroline found Runa through her interest and research experience in developing small social enterprises. Her background in international relations and cross-cultural engagement brings an interdisciplinary sensibility to her work with the Runa Team. She has been managing sales accounts and zig-zagging the East Coast running demos since November 2010, when she joined the team. She now lives in Brooklyn in a lovely little loft and avidly seeks fresh air on bicycle when she isn't in the office or sharing tea.

In the field

Patricio Andy

Field Technician

Hometown: San Pablo, Napo Province, Ecuador

Hailing from a long line of shamans, Patricio tells stories of Kichwa ancestry with unmatched ease and fervor. His laugh is infectious, his love for life…palpable. After graduating from high school, he attended university in Cuenca and went on to work on cacao-agroforestry projects with Proyecto Productivo Fonakin, a local project involving the Kichwa community Pueblo Kichwa; and Kallari, a Napo-based indigenously-governed cacao cooperative. While deeply connected to the history of guayusa and its importance to Kichwas, he also promotes its commercialization and the reasoning behind it: its ability to provide additional income to local families and communities at a time when Western values and markets are eroding ancient Kichwa traditions (e.g. rituals surrounding guayusa)

Fernando Grefa

Field Technician

Hometown: Tena, Napo Province, Ecuador

As one of the oldest (and wisest) técnicos, Fernando brings an unmatched sense of calm and poise to the offices of Runa. After graduating from high school, he somehow ended up in the forests of Colombia developing cacao and coffee projects with Fundación Al Tropic. Now back in his hometown, Fernando contributes to what is Team Runa. He sees guayusa as a both a cultural custom and a practical solution to the physical demands of life in the jungle. More importantly, he sees his work as an opportunity to build upon ancient Kichwa knowledge through shared experiences and experimentation with the local guayusa farmers.

Pedro Grefa

Field Technician

Hometown: Tena, Napo Province, Ecuador

Although originally a "city boy" (a relative term here in the Amazon), Pedro first began working after high school as a member of an oil exploration team deep in the jungles of Ecuador's Oriente. He is always happy to share his crazy tales of the long, trail-blazing days and ant-ridden, bamboo-bed nights over the course of his expeditions. Stick around long enough and he may slip into accounts of more hilarious happenings from his life. Working along the Napo River from Puerto Napo down to Misahualli, Pedro shares with the rest of the team a deep commitment to his farmers and their progress. He also loves to share ancestral Kichwa knowledge with outsiders and vivid Kichwa jokes with his friends, often the same farmers he works with everyday.

Alexander Hermosa

Field Technician

Hometown: Archidona, Napo Province, Ecuador

Born and raised in Archidona, Alex developed a love for kayaking early on in his life. After graduating from high school and then the Escuela Politécnica Amazónica, he even worked as a white-water kayak guide out of Tena. Now working for Runa, he finds satisfaction in his daily work developing farmers' ability to earn evermore needed money while preserving the cultural heritage that is guayusa.

Silverio Mamallacta

Field Technician

Hometown: Santo Domingo, Napo Province, Ecuador

At one point the Dirigente (director) of Pueblo Kichwa, the largest organized community of Kichwas in the area, Silverio stands out as one of the most well known faces at Runa. Under the auspices of his father Don Vincente, the regional Kichwa spiritual leader, Silverio grew up in the realm of old Kichwa culture and its shamanic traditions. Ask him to tell you a little about it, and he may recount stories, often hysterical, for hours. He was also a promising boxer in his youth. Faced with the opportunity to fight in a Junior International Boxing circuit, he instead chose to stay and finish high school. Before Runa, Silverio worked as a field technician for both Proyecto Productivo Fonakin, a local cacao agroforestry development project; and Kallari, a Napo-based indigenously governed cacao cooperative.

Angel Tapuy Shiguangoector Vargas

Field Technician

Hometown: Las Maravillas (Archidona), Napo Province, Ecuador

Angel is easily the friendliest and kindest man you will find in Archidona. His smile could melt an iron heart. While guayusa harvesting is in full swing, you will find him operating the guayusa-processing machinery. In between harvests, he helps out in the 70,000 plant nursery near his home. There in Las Maravillas ('Wonderland'), he lives with his big happy family on the outskirts of Archidona.

In the office

General Manager

Hometown: Quito, Pichincha Province, Ecuador

Francisco is our General Manager in Ecuador. He brings to Runa both his knowledge of project management in the public sector as well as a strong entrepreneurial spirit cultivated in the private sector. After living in the US for two years, he returned convinced of the need to bring Ecuador's rich and diverse products to the world market. He studied international business focused on coordinating and overseeing the entire import and export processes. He developed great negotiation skills working with the American, Asian, and European markets. He then entered the public sector working for the Ministry of Environment on development projects throughout Latin America. He is starting a part-time MBA program at the Universidad San Francisco in Quito while he works with Runa.

Technical Director of Projects

Hometown: Riobamba, Chimborazo Province, Ecuador

After graduating from the Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo in Ecuador's Sierra, Alexandra moved down into the Ecuadorian Amazon to study at the Docente Universidad Estatal Amazónica. There, she strengthened her background in agriculture and botany, two knowledge sets she now uses to direct the technical side of Runa's Ecuadorian field operations. She sees Runa as an opportunity for Amazonian inhabitants to share guayusa with the world while bettering their own lives. Through Runa, Amazonians, Highlanders, and Westerners alike have the chance to form one cohesive group and do just that.

Nick Olson

Regional Manager

Hometown: Durango, Colorado, USA

A former volunteer returned from an epic mototaxi race down the length of South America, Nick now assumes the position of regional coordinator at Runa's Archidona headquarters. Aside from solving day-to-day problems using his Birmingham-Southern College training in economics and Spanish, he enjoys taking runs and swimming in rivers outside the city. He often remarks that the imminent wilderness surrounding Archidona reminds him of his hometown, Durango, CO. Here for the next year, Nick brings an indomitable enthusiasm for the jungle, its people, and Runa's projects.

Sofia Pazmiño

Administrative Director

Hometown: Quito, Pichincha Province, Ecuador

After high school in Quito, Sofia moved down into the Amazon to attend the Escuela Superior Politécnica Ecológica Amazónica where she studied accounting and finance. Since then, she has worked in the financial sections of a Tena-based loan and credit cooperative and the local chapter of the Red Cross. To her, Runa is the opportunity to improve Amazonian farmers' quality of life while sharing guayusa, its ancestral culture and its life-changing properties with the world.

Anna Premo

Social Media Manager

Hometown: Washington, Illinois, USA

Naturally social and charismatic, Anna fits perfectly into Team Runa and her role as online media coordinator. Before arriving in Archidona, Anna worked in Chicago with buildOn, a nation-wide non-profit dedicated to empowering high school youth through afterschool programs and 3rd world development projects. There, she maintained the chapter's web media and applied her collegiate theater training to preparing students for public-speaking opportunities (e.g. The Today Show, local news, high-school events). Anna is psyched to be down here in the heart of Runa's operations. She revels especially in the frequent opportunities to learn more about Kichwa culture and guayusa.

Katya Rivadeneyra

Adminstrative Secretary

Hometown: Tena, Napo Province, Ecuador

Born nearby, Katya feels right at home in Runa's Archidona office, so much so that sometimes she may slip into the kitchen to best the cooking skills of in-house volunteers with her own spectacular dishes (e.g. chicken ceviche…mmmmm). After graduating from the local Escuela Superior Politécnica Ecológica Amazónica, she started her own business and worked there until joining Runa. At Runa, she is particularly happy about the opportunity to learn more about guayusa and Kichwa culture.

Fundación Runa

Eliot Logan-Hines

Executive Director, Fundación Runa

Hometown: Austin, Texas, USA

Eliot has worked for over six years in the non-profit sector in Latin America. Prior to working with Fundación Runa, Eliot served as Executive Director of Finca Project, a reforestation and environmental education initiative in Costa Rica. He has worked as an environmental consultant and advisor to climate change negotiations at the United Nations. Eliot received his masters degree in environmental management from Yale University where he studied tropical forestry and conservation finance. Eliot brings to Runa his expertise in agricultural cooperative development, tropical forestry, and non-profit management. He is a professional adventurer and a good cook.