Simón Bolívar Spanish School Staff
Our dedicated staff and teachers help you feel right at home at our school from the very first day! There is always someone around to help you out in whatever you need - books, traveling, questions or to send an e-mail back home.
Together with our teachers, we form the Simon Bolivar Spanish School in Quito, offering excellent Spanish training at reasonable prices and in a friendly environment.
The School Administration:
Management |
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Kjetil Haugan He is the owner of Simon Bolivar Spanish School. He is a Norwegian citizen who has lived in Ecuador since 1994. Kjetil has a Graduate degree in Organization Development from England and a undergraduate degree in Management from Norway.. He speaks Spanish, English and the Scandinavian languages. |
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Luisa Cordova She’s the school administrator. She has 14 years experience working with Simon Bolivar, is a wonderful decision-maker and likes to be sure that facilities are optimal and that students are having a great time with their lessons, activities and accommodation. |
Academic Area |
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Sandra Quishpe She’s our Academic Director; responsible for organizing students’ schedules, the weekly activities, as well as organizing and preparing the educational material for the students. Sandra also coordinates monthly meetings with the teachers in order to evaluate and be able to improve their capabilities. She loves to be in touch with students and be sure they are learning much Spanish and fulfilling their goals. Read the letter from our Academic Director |
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Sofia Valdivieso She’s the Student Coordinator; answering all e-mails from students and coordinating their arrival, accommodation, lessons, reservations, etc. Sofia is always willing to help students with any special needs, queries or questions they may have before their arrival, and is very interested in the well-being of students at all times. |
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Daniela Boada She´s the Assistant Coordinator; always nice and friendly she loves to be in contact with students and help them in everything from their first day of class. She also helps us with phone calls, correspondence, printing, organizing welcome packages, information updates and students’ payments. |
Operations Department |
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Soledad Salazar Soledad graduated at the University Tecnologica Equinoccial (UTE) in Tourist Administration. She works in the operation department and does everything related to land and cruise operation in Columbus Travel. |
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Xavier Proaño Is the first person you will meet! Xavier always offers a friendly smile, which you will see when he picks you up at the airport and takes you to the place you will be staying at. |
Marketing Department |
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Juan Carcelen Juan is in charge of the working with the corporate image, web design and advertising for company. He has a graduate degree in Communications and Advertising from University of the Americas and has also completed course studies in New Technologies of Communication at Andina University in Quito. He speaks English. |
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Kathryn Beckwith Born in New Hampshire and raised in the state of Maine, Kathryn completed her BA in Environment Recreation and Tourism at the University of Maine at Machias in 2008. Most of her experience has been working in the environment practicing conservation in State Parks or working at summer camps as Assistant Program Director or Head Program Director focusing on program development and eco-tourism and conservation. After graduating, Kathryn moved to Quito, Ecuador, where she is now Head of Business Development, as well as Social Media Marketing and Social Networking for Columbus Travel Group. English is her native language, though she also speaks Spanish and French. |
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Andres Trujillo Andrés studied at the Metropolitan Institute of Design with a degree in Multi-Media Design and focuses mainly on projects which involve audiovisuals that include web, video, animation and illustration. Andrés has also completed other media courses at CIESPAL, and applies these studies in the Marketing Department for Columbus Travel, Simon Bolivar and the Simon Bolivar Fundación. Andrés also acts as Web Coordinator on specific sites |
Finance Department |
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Ximena Almeida Ximena studied accounting and audit at Universidad Tecnologica Equinoccial (UTE). She's in charge of the income of all the companies. |
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Nancy Alencastro Nancy got a Commercial Engineering degree in Business Administration at the Polytechnic Xaverian School of Ecuador. She began working for the company in June of 2011. Her functions include managing hotel invoices, issuing checks, managing Human Resources and Sales budgets, and overseeing transfers, honorary payments, and commissions. |
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Marylin Brito Marylin completed her degree in two years at Ecuador’s Central University and is currently working in Accounting, serving as an Assistant in Finance and Assistant Accountant for Columbus Travel Group. |
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Guadalupe Narváez “Lupita” as we like to call her, is our cashier. Guadalupe is very sweet and likes to help students practice their Spanish. She helps us following in detail all payments made by the students and works close with the accounting department. |
Human Resources |
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Martha Orbe Martha started in the company on December 2007 in the Financial Department. She holds a degree in Commerce and Administration. This is her first time working at a Travel Agency which she finds it very interesting. |
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Nataly Manchuca Natali has studied accounting and she is currently our front desk assistant in the reception area for the entire company and provides customer service to all internal and external clients of Columbus Travel Group. |
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Gabriela Diaz Gabriela is a very nice lady who always has a smile on her face. She does a fantastic job of making the classrooms a relaxing and nice, clean place to study. |
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Guillermo Calderón He kindly helps us in whatever we need him to do. He knows how to fix almost everything and make a lot of chores at the bank; this is why he is very important for the school. A very nice man always willing to help and do anything to please the staff and the students. |
Systems Department |
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Luis Avalos Luis graduated from the ESPOCH with a degree in Computer Applied. He works at Columbus Group in web development. He is also responsible for the preventive and corrective maintenance of computers. |
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Juan Carlos Rojas Juan Carlos studied his degree in Systems at ESPE of Quito. There, he graduated with a degree in Systems Engineering. Juan is a calm natured person and is very sociable around the office, always looking to help his colleagues. At Columbus Travel Group, Juan acts as support engineer, in charge of the help desk for any systems problems, as well as IT. |