“[The coordinator] has been a help in every way I needed. It was really wonderful knowing I could go to him. He is kind, compassionate, full of knowledge, and always willing to help with everything.”
Kathryn Weill
Santiago,
Chile
“[The coordinator] made me feel welcome the second I met her. She´s very friendly and approachable and such a sweetheart! When I got sick, she made sure I was OK by calling to check up on me. She´s thoughtful, considerate, and genuine. I really enjoyed getting to know her and I´d love to get to work with her again.”
Stella Lee
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
“I could always go to [the coordinators] if I had any concerns. They were wonderful, helpful, and very informative. They even took a lot of their personal time to explain how the school at the favela works. I really appreciated that!”
Nicole Bidges
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
Jean-Marc Alberola is the founder of BridgeVolunteers and its sister organization, Volunteer Adventures. Jean-Marc was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he spent most of his youth before moving to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Jean-Marc began his career in the language business as Director of the Washington, D.C. office of Linguex/Telelangue Systems, a
France-based language company catering primarily to US government agencies. He then returned to South
America where he spent the next 10 years co-founding Linguatec Language Centers and
opening language schools in Brazil, Chile and Argentina.
Linguatec's acquisition of Bridge International, a Denver, CO-based language company, brought Jean-Marc to the US. He now acts as president of the resulting merger: Bridge-Linguatec. His
work in the field of language education, particularly in Brazil, led to the establishment of the very
first Teaching English and Youth Outreach volunteer projects in the favelas (shantytowns) of Rio
de Janeiro.
Jean-Marc has backpacked and traveled extensively in Central and South America, Africa, Europe and Asia. He has a BA in Economics from the University of Vermont and is fluent in English,
Spanish, Portuguese and French.
Bob Wurmstedt - Senior Advisor
Bob (far right) served as the U.S. Peace Corps Country Director in Kenya from 2003 to 2007. As director of one of the largest and oldest Peace Corps programs in Africa, Bob was responsible for administration, programming, and safety and security for a staff of 35 Kenyan and American professionals, as well as 150 American Peace Corps Volunteers assigned to public health, education and small enterprise development
projects. In Kenya, Bob also served as a member of the U.S. Ambassador’s Country Team and the U.S. Embassy Emergency Action Committee.
Prior to his post in Kenya, Bob worked as a bureau chief and foreign correspondent for Time Magazine and Business Week, managing news coverage from 15 countries. He also co-founded the Center for the New West, a Denver-based non-profit public policy institute, where he served as director of communications and publications until 2000. Currently, in addition to his responsibilities as Senior Advisor of BridgeVolunteers and Volunteer Adventures, Bob serves on the board of directors of the Aspen-based 10th Mountain Division Hut Association.
Carrie Bennett - International Outreach Coordinator
Carrie has been involved in many areas of international education for over 10 years. After high school, she served as a Rotary Ambassador to the Netherlands. She received her BA degree in Latin American Studies from Claremont McKenna College and studied abroad in Buenos Aires to learn more about human rights issues.
Carrie spent two and a half years in Barcelona, Spain teaching English before earning her MA in International Education at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT. She also taught English to immigrants while in Vermont. Prior to working for BridgeVolunteers, Carrie was the on-site director for LanguageCorps in Quito, Ecuador where she also served on the Board of Directors in an organization to help street children.
Lisa Rooney - Director, Outbound Programs
Originally from Rhode Island, Lisa studied Secondary Education at the University of Rhode Island and received her MA in French from Middlebury College in Vermont. She began her career teaching French and Spanish to American adolescents, and taught English in France on a Fulbright Teacher Exchange. She also taught French and Spanish to preschoolers in Maine for her own company called Global Kids.
Lisa joined our team in 2003, first as an English teacher at BridgeChile, then as a BridgeTEFL trainer in both Chile and Argentina, and finally as director of our office in Argentina. After five years in South America, Lisa returned stateside in 2008 when she became director of outbound programs at our Denver headquarters. In her free time, Lisa can be found dancing, listening to music, or playing instruments. She also loves to cook and to spend time with her dog, Pogo, whom she rescued from the streets of Santiago, Chile.
South American Offices
Alejandra Lombardo - Director, Argentina
Alejandra was born and raised in Argentina, and completed her higher education in the United States at Northeastern University in Boston. She earned her BA in Modern Languages (French and Spanish) with minors in Latin American Studies and Cultural Anthropology, and her MA in Higher Education and Counseling. She started with us in 2007 as our Volunteer Coordinator in Buenos Aires, and in 2008 she became the director of our Argentina office. She is very happy to have the opportunity to work with us in Buenos Aires and to be living back in her home country.
Regina Szwarcfing - Volunteer Coordinator, Brazil
Regina grew up in Brazil in a very traditional family. It has always been their tradition to thank God for their blessings through volunteer work to help the underprivileged. At a very young age, she taught the illiterate maids at their home how to read and write, and since then she has always been engaged in some kind of volunteer work.
Regina graduated in Political Science and
Economy at Candido Mendes University, and has worked in retail all her life, mostly with international clients, as she is fluent in English, Spanish, French and Italian! She has
also lived for short periods of time in New York City and in Paris.
Marie Brandt - Spanish & Volunteer Coordinator, Chile
Marie is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA. She studied abroad in Santiago, Chile at La Universidad Católica in 2006 and that same year graduated from University of Milwaukee - Wisconsin with a B.A. in Spanish and Communication. She volunteered as an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher at The Milwaukee Achiever Literacy Center for a year before deciding to get her TEFL certification.
Marie has been with us since 2007, when she got certified through our BridgeTEFL teacher training program in Santiago. She then worked as an English teacher for us before becoming our Spanish & Volunteer Coordinator in 2008. She really enjoys working with people and volunteering her time to those who need her help.
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BridgeVolunteers | 915 S. Colorado Blvd., Denver, CO 80246 USA
Phone: 303.785.8881 | Toll-Free 1.877.847.8917
BridgeVolunteers is a division of Bridge-Linguatec, Inc.
