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Candidates for ACAP Officers 2004-2005

The “official” slate of candidates, which includes many ACAP officers and directors from the past year, is shown below. Nominations for alternate candidates may be made by members present at the meeting, and election ballots will be distributed to all qualified members.

President

John Lakatos is from Cincinnati, Ohio and arrived to Peru in August 1971 to teach mathematics at Colegio Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the late '70s he was instrumental in bringing the first computers to FDR and continues today in that same arena as the Technology Director of the school ,while also teaching the advanced IB Information and Communication Technology classes. He has been quite involved with the American & Canadian Association of Peru over the years and has served previously as a Board Member, a Vice-President, and as President in 1983-84 and 2003-2004. He is married to Rubela (Ruby), who teaches Elementary Art at Colegio Roosevelt, and they have two grown children who were educated in both Peru and the US. He is known internationally for the work he has done with technology at Roosevelt and travels from time to time to share his knowledge with other Overseas American Schools around the world.

Vice President

James Plunkett or Jim as he is commonly known to all, is originally from New England, and has resided in Peru for 40 years. Jim has been a mining equipment salesman traveling the Andes, a leading exporter of handicrafts and more recently, he has been very active in the Lima community. He has been Vice President and General Manager of the American Chamber of Commerce, director of ADEX, the exporters association, a member of the Fulbright Commission, and director of the American-Canadian Association, and has been the MC for the U.S. government wives annual Christmas party for the hearing, sight and speech impaired children of Peru during the last 15 years.

Treasurer

Jim Louttit is a native of Canada who has been living in Lima since January 2003, after arriving from El Salvador where he spent 2 1/2 years. Jim is a VP with Scotiabank, and a member of the Board of Directors of Banco Sudamericano, their local partner. He has been a member of ACAP since April 2003 and a member of our Board since October 2003. Jim is also active on the Board of Cámara de Comercio Canadá-Perú since March 2003 and their interim treasurer since September 2003.

Directors

Miguel Arevalo is a U.S. Citizen born in Lima. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from Florida International University in Miami in 1982. Miguel has ample experience in the hospitality industry, from managing restaurants such as The Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center to Tavern on the Green in Central Park in New York City, to an entertainment park called Malibu Grand Prix in Miami to El Pardo Hotel in Lima to General Manager of the exclusive Lima Golf Club, to Admiral Casinos and his present position as General Manager of Las Americas Hotel chain

Miguel is married to Cecilia Pezo. They have two children, Cybelle and Lyanne. His hobbies include golf, restoring classic Mustangs, and collecting coins. He has served as Vice-President of the Association and director for multiple terms.

James H. Cunningham was born in Lima and attended Roosevelt School from 1965 to 1975. He later went on to finish boarding school at St. Mark's School, near Boston, Massachusetts in 1979. After graduating from high school, James attended Hobart College in Geneva, New York, obtaining a degree in Economics in 1983. James later returned to Peru to work for Stansa, where he currently works as a Managing Director.

James has been a board member of the American Association of Peru for the last nine years. During this time period, James has served as Treasurer for four years and Vice President for three terms. In addition to these responsibilities, James has been responsible for the Association's legal aspects. James is married to Caroline Koenig, they have two children, Christy and Nicholas. His hobbies include windsurfing, water skiing, tennis, gardening and Peruvian art.

Connie Estrada has been a director of the Association before, from 1982-1992 when she served as the Welfare Chairman. She is a nurse at the Health Clinic at the US Embassy since 1976. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and has 3 sons, who all reside in the United States. Her husband, Julio, works for PetroPeru.

David Jesson is a native of Los Angeles who has had a long and varied career that began in the United States Air Force from 1978 to 1980, then lead him to work with Atlantic Aviation Management from 1980 to 1995, when he was also at Creative Cooking Schools, worked as a private caterer and as an Engine Captain at the Wilmington Manor Volunteer Fire Department. In 1999, David earned a BA in Ministry Development at GWWM Bible College. Since moving to Peru in 2001, he has founded the NGO Dream Center Peru - Mission Center and Leadership School, and established the Lima International Church, where he is currently Senior Pastor.

David plans on living permanently in Peru, and has been a member of the ACAP Board of Directors since 2002. He is married to Andrea; they have three children ages 15, 5 and 1.

Alan La Rue is the owner of EL SOL - Spanish Language School and a member of the board of the Canadian Alumni Association. He is a graduate from the University of Toronto and has worked in journalism and education. He founded and continues to administrate the popular Expatriate internet mailing list. He is married to Shirley Manrique. They have two young children.

Cheri Maisonneuve is Canadian from Vancouver British Columbia, where she was finishing up a Masters in International Business, following on her first degree from the University of Victoria. She has now been in Peru for seven months, working as the Executive Director of the Canada-Peru Chamber of Commerce.

Before her Masters she lived in Malaysia, where she participated in a University exchange and then worked as a Marketing Director in the Oil and Gas industry. She also traveled throughout Southeast Asia, which was one of the highlights of her youth, along with Europe and Mexico - where she was first introduced to Spanish and to Latino food. Cheri loves to dance and is taking salsa lessons. She is looking forward to meeting new people and having a great year with her fellow Canadian and American ACAP members.

Martin Singer was born in New York City. He is a graduate of Loomis School, Windsor, Connecticut (class of 1941), and has an AB from Harvard College (class of 1945). Martin was a 1st Lt., Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, European Theatre, during World War II.

Martin has worked and directed numerous optical concerns in the United States, and is presently General Manager of Optik Boutique, Lima, Peru. He is a past president, and member of the Rotary Club El Rimac. Martin served as President of the American Association of Peru from 1995 - 1997. He has four children, all living in California: Suzanne Lund, Michele Reiner, Martine Weinstock, and Bryan Singer.

Marcel Tratner was born in Brussels, Belgium, and lived a large portion of his life in Manhattan, NYC, where he graduated as an electrical engineer with an MBA in international finance. In 1977 he was sent to Madrid as the local controller for the International Paper Company, and from there he went to work for ITT in Paris and with Honeywell's regional headquarters in Brussels and Hong Kong. He finished his career in the dairy industries working for Danone in Paris and Mexico, and managing the dairy business of the Peruvian group Gloria in Bolivia. He retired in 2000 and has chosen Lima as his permanent residence as his wife, Nelly, is Peruvian. At the moment he is coordinating with the international center of Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, VA and Child Focus, in order to create this type of organization in Peru as a pilot project for South America.

Amy Wesson is from upstate New York, has lived in New England and for the past eleven years in Brazil and Romania, before arriving in Lima last year. Amy is a founding member of the Friends of the National Museum of Art of Romania and member of its board of directors for five years, serving as president 1999-2001, and vice-treasurer 2001-2002. She is also an officer of the board for the Friends of the NMAR in the United States. Amy's husband, Fred, is superintendent of Colegio Roosevelt and they have three sons, Thomas (15), Winsor (12), and Daniel (10). The Wesson's northern residence is in St.Andrews, New Brunswick. Amy has worked as a stockbroker in Hartford, CT, and at the Hotchkiss School, University of Vermont and St. Georges' school as an admissions counselor, and at Choate Rosemary Hall as assistant director of development.

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