John Hill is the founding CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Amigos de Chocolá. He holds a Masters degree in Public Administration from the University of LaVerne. John served the Los Angeles County (CA) Sheriff’s Department as a sworn Deputy Sheriff for 22 years. After serving the United Nations as a Police Monitor in Bosnia & Herzegovina for one year, he became Executive Director of Reach Out West End, a substance abuse prevention education agency serving students and adults in San Bernardino County (CA). John first visited Chocolá in 2005, after which he incorporated Amigos de Chocoá in California as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. John currently lives in Claremont, CA.

Lauren Hill is the Director of Training and Special Projects at Planned Parenthood Pasadena & San Gabriel Valley, an affiliate of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She previously served as Director of Health Center Operations at the same agency. Lauren graduated cum laude in Religious Studies from Occidental College, and holds a Masters degree in Global Health from Emory University. She completed her graduate research in adolescent sexual behavior in Paraguay, and has served social service NGOs in Guatemala and Ecuador. Lauren is fluent in the Spanish language. She currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and has been a member of the Amigos de Chocolá board since 2010.

Anne Kraemer Diaz is a medical anthropologist at Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina. She has been examining NGO-Community relations for ten years in Guatemala and works extensively to help communities in resource poor areas access education and health care. She holds a Masters degree in Anthropology. Anne is a former Fulbright scholar and is currently completing her doctoral degree in Anthropology at the University of Kansas, where her research explores the impact of nongovernmental organizations on Maya communities.