Director
Bethann was introduced to AMIGOS by her daughter, Kirsten, after a presentation
by an AMIGOS alum in her Spanish class. After meeting Doug Condie, President of
the East Bay Chapter in California, she agreed that AMIGOS was a terrific
opportunity.
Kirsten went to Ecuador on a guinea pig animal husbandry
project in a remote village high in the Andes. After AMIGOS, Kirsten went on to
work with bigger animals – elephants in Kenya and bears in Yosemite – before
majoring in landscape architecture, working in the field, and grad school.
Kirsten hopes to work internationally in park planning, an interest that was
influenced by her AMIGOS experience.
Bethann has worked in international
education for 25 years. Currently, she works in fundraising and alumni
relations at International House at the University of California, Berkeley.
Before coming to International House, she served as the Director of the Western
Area for an international youth exchange program and worked for the World
Affairs Council in Boston. She holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from
UC Berkeley and a master’s in international administration from the School for
International Training.
Bethann serves on the AMIGOS Development
Committee and is committed to building alumni support for the program. “Amigos
has had a profound impact on the lives of thousands of participants,” she says.
“As a direct result of their AMIGOS experiences, many have gone on to careers in
health care or in fields with an international component. In the long run, the
future of AMIGOS rests in the hands of those who know from their own experience
what a life-changing and life-enhancing opportunity AMIGOS can
be.”
Bethann and her husband, Dave Johnson, share interests in gardening,
spending time in the Sierras, and travel.
