TerraMica's Team

Ed Apffel

Co–Founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors

Ed and his wife, Pam, founded TerraMica in 2015, and are based out of their office in Texas. He is an internationally experienced business executive, strategic development leader, consultant, recruiter, and innovator with over 35 years in the global coffee industry. He comes from a family heritage with over 110 years‘ experience importing, roasting, and distributing coffee on an international level.

He has held senior executive positions in a publicly traded company with multiple clients, overseeing and controlling global expansion with over 12,000 employees in Asia, Australia, Europe, and the USA. He has spent the last 10 years in poverty alleviation work, building the foundation of TerraMica‘s scalable model and long–lasting approach in Central America, as well as consulting for NGO‘s in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Pam Apffel

Co–Founder, Director of Business Operations

Pam and her husband, Ed, founded TerraMica in 2015, and are based out of their office in Texas. She works closely with TerraMica‘s professional service providers, including accountants, attorneys, and oversees all integrated business solutions for the organization. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing.

She spent years in security, compliance, training, and contracts within the aerospace industry, working closely with government clients. She has held senior leadership positions with several mega church organizations in women‘s ministry, focused on leadership development, training, and teaching.  She has spent the last 10 years in the nonprofit environment, applying business principles to nonprofit management, while delivering impactful local projects.

Rachel Baxter Lukas

COO/ Chief Operations Officer

Maine local Rachel joined the TerraMica team in 2021 with a goal of maximizing the sustainable impacts of our mission. She is a humanitarian business development professional with over a decade‘s worth of experience in 15 countries across five continents.

Rachel‘s field experience stretches from short–term humanitarian aid disaster responses ( in the Middle East, Asia, and the Caribbean ) to longer–term international development programming ( throughout Central America, Africa, Middle East, and Asia ) . Prior to joining TerraMica, she was the Forte Foundation fellow at the University of Cambridge, researching the application of business principles to sustainable aid on a global level.

Samuel Matute Del Cid

Honduras Country Representative

Samuel works out of his office in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, overseeing budgets, finance, and verification. He is a finance specialist with particular strengths in planning and strategic analysis. His clientele includes companies and non-profit organizations in Honduras and at the regional Central American level, facilitating finance-oriented training for companies and NGOs.

Samuel has also held the position of Chief Executive Officer of several growing companies for more than 25 years, as well as a consultant project manager for non–profit organizations in throughout Central and South America. Samuel‘s experience includes working with the financial management and compliance procedures for more 40 international development, aid, and cooperation agencies from Europe, USA, Canada and Japan.

Saira Iveth Bautista Nolaso

Training Coordinator

Based in Intibuca, Honduras, Saira oversees all aspects of training as well as our local trainers for the “My Healthy Home“ and “ My Healthy Community“ programs in her home country of Honduras. She is a primary education teacher with Master‘s degrees in both International Trade and Strategic Marketing.

Saira‘s experience is centered on international cooperation with organizations on local development issues, and she also brings a depth of experience in designing, collecting and managing Monitoring, Evaluation, Assessment, and Learning (MEAL) programs for both TerraMica and other NGOs across Central America. Saira has had significant experience working throughout Central and South America ( Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic ) .

Jorge Sosa

Infrastructure Coordinator

Based in Siguatepeque, Honduras, Jorge oversees construction and infrastructure projects for TerraMica Honduras, including the “My Healthy Home“ program. He is involved in community leadership relationships in support of those projects. He has extensive experience in the field, holding a Bachelor‘s degree in Biology and a Master‘s degree in Renewable Energy.

Jorge has been part of the TerraMica team from day one back in 2015. Since then, he has cultivated strong relationships with local communities and managed family and community–level infrastructure projects, from household latrines to community parks, and everything in between. Jorge‘s international experience has taken him throughout Central America, Europe, and North America.

TerraMica’s Team