Who We Are

Driven by the desire to help, even if it is for just one star, our team is devoted to making a difference. We believe in the power of education to empower youth.

Board of Directors

Our all-volunteer board consists of the individuals listed below.

Debra Arvanites

Board Secretary, & Governance & Finance Committee Member

Debra has been aware of Starfish since its founding. She has been able to support scholars and visit Starfish operations in Ecuador in 2016 and 2018. She considers it an honor to be able to work with the founders and contribute to the work of the foundation’s board. Commitment to education and commitment to service are both important to her.

For 38 years, Debra has been a management professor at Villanova University, which honored her with an innovative teaching award in 2008. At Villanova, she co-taught a cross-disciplinary course on international development and sustainability. Students in that course traveled to a rural community in Panama and contributed to the work that needed to be done to build a dam and water system to deliver water to homes, set up a fee structure to sustain the maintenance of delivering water to homes, and educate residents regarding water safety and health. She also has been the faculty advisor for the student organization Business Without Borders (BWB), and has accompanied BWB students to Nicaragua, Kenya, and the Philippines to work with non-profit organizations.

Debra graduated from SUNY at Albany in 1977 with a BS in finance and earned an MBA (1979) and PhD (1983) in management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She and her husband, Tom, were married in 1977. They have one son, Andrew, who earned a BS in mechanical engineering at Clarkson University in 2008 and an MBA at Villanova University in 2018. They have one daughter, Lauren, who earned a BA in mathematics at Gettysburg College in 2012 and an MA in education from Villanova University.

Todd Chaikin

Todd Chaikin

Board Treasurer, Advancement Committee Member, & Governance & Finance Committee Member

Todd Chaikin is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he majored in information technology. He has been involved with The Starfish Foundation since the early days, first as a sponsor-a-scholar donor and pen pal, then taking on additional responsibilities as a technology coordinator. He visited The Starfish Foundation in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in 2015, where he had the pleasure of meeting students, families, volunteers, and staff who make Starfish the wonderful community that it is.

Todd resides in northern New Jersey. Outside of his work with The Starfish Foundation and his day job in information technology, he enjoys hiking, camping, and attending live theater performances.

Kate Flores

Board Vice President, & Governance & Finance Committee Co-Chair

Kate started volunteering virtually with Starfish in 2016. On the communications and development teams, she became intimately aware of Starfish's mission over time. Kate then joined the board in 2020.

Kate holds a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University and a master’s degree in law (with a concentration in health care law) from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She also has completed and audited several public health courses at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Kate has had a multidisciplinary career within the medical research realm and now works in human research ethics and regulations. In addition, she has volunteered for numerous causes that include education, immigration, humanitarian aid, and the performing arts. Kate aims to bring to the Starfish board her professional and volunteering experiences of combining a passion for human rights with analytical approaches.

Outside her full-time job and Starfish, Kate plays the piano and organ in church music ministry, wedding, and recreational settings. She also frequently attends live music performances of multiple genres. Besides music, Kate enjoys playing trivia, following professional and collegiate sports, and watching independent films.

Martin Garcia

Advancement Committee Member, & Governance & Finance Committee Member

Martin was the first intern for Starfish in 2012. He traveled to Guayaquil after working with Beth Mayr to support Starfish in his entrepreneurship class at Villanova University. Martin was drawn to Starfish because education was a catalyst for opportunities in his own life.

Martin is a member of Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity, Inc., whose mission aligns with Starfish’s to motivate people, develop leaders, and create innovative ways to unite the Latino community.

Martin brings over eight years of work experience in higher education and three years of working in international education. Martin earned both his Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Public Administration from Villanova University.

Outside Starfish, Martin loves playing basketball, board games, and traveling to new countries. He and his wife currently live in southern California.

Beth Mayr

Co-Founder, & Advancement Committee Member

Beth started volunteering at a young age – but never did she think that serving her community would lead her to start a non-profit in a foreign nation! In high school, Beth served with Key Club, among other service organizations. In college, Beth continued her service activities mostly through Villanova’s campus ministry department, the Center for Peace and Justice, and with internships through Catholic Relief Services, the Romero Center, and the VU Migrant Worker Clinic.

After completing her bachelor’s degree in mathematics with a concentration in peace and justice, Beth volunteered for a year in Ecuador with Rostro de Cristo. After her return to the United States in 2011, Beth co-founded The Starfish Foundation, as she began working for Catholic Charities of Baltimore. She formerly served in volunteer management at two different Catholic Charities programs over a four-year span. Currently, Beth works in communications for a Catholic church in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. She is also active in other volunteer opportunities to better the beautiful city of Baltimore, Maryland.

Stephanie Mazur

Advancement Committee Member, & Program Committee Member

Stephanie began volunteering with Starfish virtually in 2016 and served in Ecuador as Volunteer Coordinator in 2018. In 2020, she began supporting the grant writing team, and she joined the board in 2023. Her experiences volunteering with the Starfish team in Ecuador drives her to continue supporting Starfish’s mission of reducing global poverty through education.

Stephanie holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and international studies with concentrations in Latin America and Africa, and she recently finished her master’s in international development management from American University. From 2018 to 2020, she served in the Peace Corps in Uganda as a primary literacy and sex education teacher. She currently works in global agricultural affairs and enjoys sewing, knitting, and crafting in her free time.

Sarita Ram

Advancement Committee Member

As a proud child of immigrants to the United States, Sarita was exposed to the power of giving back abroad, having seen her parents support their communities in India. She developed an early understanding of how education can uplift and empower young minds—a belief that has been a guiding force in both her professional and personal life. She went on to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Syracuse University.

On the professional front, Sarita has focused her career on optimizing healthcare through technology to ensure better health outcomes for all patients. With over a decade of experience in this field, she has worked with both large hospitals and small startups, and her expertise lies in data interoperability, artificial intelligence, and electronic medical records.

On the personal front, Sarita is a mom and a globetrotter—both of which have strengthened her commitment to supporting social justice causes around the world.

Sunny Yeo

Committee Position, Photo, and Bio Coming Soon

San Robinson

Governance & Finance Committee Member

For San Robinson, education has always been a transformative force. Growing up, she witnessed firsthand how access to education could open doors to new opportunities and change the trajectory of one's life. This understanding guided her pursuit of a Bachelor's degree in Accounting and Business from SUNY Oswego, as well as her ongoing academic journey.

Currently, San is pursuing a master’s degree in Development and Diplomacy from the University for Peace, where she is focused on global governance, international relations, and equitable development. Her international experiences across Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia, including her time as a Huayu Enrichment Scholar in Taiwan studying Mandarin, have deepened her commitment to fostering equity and inclusion on a global scale.

At the heart of San's work is a belief that education is not just a pathway to individual success, but a vital tool for empowering communities and creating lasting, positive change.

Jenn Zocco

Co-Founder, Board President, Program Committee Chair, & Advancement Committee Member

Jenn graduated from Fairfield University, where she majored in international studies and social justice in Latin America, with minors in Spanish and French. It was through her Jesuit education at Fairfield that she developed her passion for Latin America, social justice, and development work. After participating in several service trips and a semester abroad in Nicaragua, the next step was clear: a year of volunteer service with Rostro de Cristo in Ecuador.

During her volunteer year in Ecuador, Jenn was inspired to co-found The Starfish Foundation as a way to continue to serve the people who had opened their hearts and homes over the past year. As a community organizer in an invasion community called Monte Sinai, and a teacher in a shelter for street kids, she was witness to extreme poverty, and also incredible strength. For the first seven years of Starfish, she was the In-Country Director in Guayaquil, Ecuador for all Starfish programs, building our staff, volunteers and community.

Now, back in the U.S., Jenn continues to serve Starfish in her new volunteer role. Currently, Jenn works in fundraising and communications for another non-profit. She is also active with her local chapter of the Jaycees, providing support for her local community. Jenn believes that education is the way to stop the cycle of poverty, and that one by one, we can all make a difference!

Sanchia Rodrigues

Program Committee Member

Sanchia is a teacher, trainer, and materials writer. Having benefited from academic scholarships throughout high school, Sanchia began to volunteer in the education sector as a university student in London, mentoring incoming students and later becoming the chapter president of a charity providing disadvantaged local teenagers with free after-school tuition.

She began her Starfish career in 2014 as a volunteer in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Inspired by the Foundation's mission statement and moved by its daily commitment to making education a tool for empowerment, she went on to serve as volunteer coordinator and, later, program advisor in Flor de Bastión before returning to Europe in 2016. Her conviction in the work that Starfish does and her first-hand experience of its powerful impact led her to rejoin the Foundation as a board member in 2018.

Sanchia holds a BSc Mathematics and Modern Languages and an MA Applied Linguistics from University College London. She speaks four languages and is passionate about travel, fitness, and the culinary arts.

Additional Committee Members

Listed below are non-board members who volunteer on our committees.

Stephanie Allen, Program Committee Member

Lauren Carrig, Governance & Finance Committee Member

Anna Evich, Program Committee Member

Jerica Itterly, Advancement Committee Member

Kim John-Williams, Advancement Committee Chair

Diana Muteba, Program Committee Member

Danny Newell, Governance & Finance Committee Co-Chair

Michelle Velez, Program Committee Member

Meet Our Ecuador Team

Meet Our Other Volunteers