Board of Directors

NCA’s Directors and Officers are elected for a one-year term at the Annual General Assembly (AGM) held in the first quarter of each year. The NCA Board comprises four Officers, President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary, four Directors-at-Large, and the immediate Past President. All Officers and Directors must be Lakeside area residents. Officers may not be re-elected to the same post more than twice.   Directors may be re-elected to successive terms without restriction.

Every current sponsor is a voting member of NCA, and is entitled to vote in person, or by a registered proxy given to another member. Proxies must be in written form to be acceptable.

NCA’s bylaws provide that if a Director resigns, or for any reason is unable to complete his or her term in office, the President, with majority support of the Board, may appoint another member of NCA to fill this position until the next AGM. Also, effective in 2006, the outgoing President remains on the board as Past-President.

On July 29th, 2020, a new slate of Directors was elected.  Officers and Directors elected at this AGM are:

Cyndi Bosch, President

Doug Friend, Vice President, Past President

Lana Ehlebracht, Secretary,

Tyler Buhl, Treasurer,

Ronald Hudson, Director at Large

Three board positions are vacant at the moment.

Cyndi Bosch

After serving 25 years with the Canadian Air Force, in 2013 I moved to Ajijic with my husband and grandson. I have taught Church School for over 35 years and was a scout leader for 26 years. I currently teach the Church School at St Andrews Church in Riberas. I belong to Needlepushers Ajijic and Mi Bebe y Yo, both organizations that help needy children, babies and new moms in the Lakeside area.
I firmly believe that education is the only way to end poverty. My husband and I currently support three young girls, two in secondaria and one in university.

Doug Friend

Originally from Montreal, Canada, I moved to Mexico with my wife and two children in 2007.  My wife and I are now permanent residents of Mexico, living in La Floresta (where we’ve hosted the East Indian Butter Chicken fundraisers).  We have been ongoing sponsors with NCA for the past ten plus years, usually with three or four children sponsored at a time.  I’m the President of Register4Less.com, an ICANN-Accredited domain name registrar and full-service web hosting provider, and also own Lakeside Web Works, a Chapala based company that specializes in website development and search engine optimization.  I hold a B.Sc. in Computer Science, with minors in Mathematics and Business.

If you have attended our “For the Love of Education” fundraisers held on or close to Valentine’s day, so will have seen me on the drums with Mike and the Suspects.  Our band gladly donates our performance to the NCA fundraiser every year.  For close to ten years I have been NCA’s web director.  In 2016 I have focussed on NCA’s outreach program, and we are now working with the Presbyterian church, the Foundation for Lakeside Charities and Operation Feed in San Juan Cosalá to expand NCA’s reach for helping local children obtain a quality education.

Lana Ehlebracht

Lana McCoy Ehlebracht retired ten years ago in Mexico after selling the majority of business holdings in the United States. A career specializing in consumer and commercial auto financing did not prepare her for the adventures waiting in this new homeland. She is now proudly a ‘Permanente´ in this wonderful little bubble of paradise. Education has always been a passion. In the ‘old days’, when the IBM desktop was the best thing on the market she earned a BS CS following her first field of study, computer programming. Necessity would dictate that she develop business and finance skills leading to an MBA with a finance emphasis. Lifelong learning is paramount and the love of learning was clearly passed to her daughter, Lily, who together started here, lakeside, Instituto Internacional. Giving back to the community which has so graciously accepted the newcomers has been rewarding. Offering world-class educational opportunities to our area and competitive programs open doors and minds to new experiences.

Tyler Buhl, Treasurer

My background is in finance which led to career in the music industry in New York.  I stepped out of my role as CFO of a Warner Music division and into independent music promotion in 2001 taking the helm of a start up internet marketing company as COO, which brought me to Mexico for the first time in 2005 to interview and film a local band.  I immediately found ‘family’ and a deep connection to Mexico and the people here.  I was drawn back for regular visits and knew I had found where my heart belonged and made the move.  I have known the work of the NCA organization for many years and greatly admired the dedication and drive of the volunteers and the respect and admiration from the community they serve.  I am proud to take a more active role and be a part of changing the lives of children through education.

Nicole Belinne, Director at Large

I moved to Ajijic in 2014 from the United States and found true love immediately. My passion throughout life has been to help children and their families experience improved quality of life. I began working with autistic children in 1996 while earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communicative Disorders at the University of Central Florida. My work involved teaching language, as well as social and life skills. In 2002, I earned my Master of Science degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from the Florida Institute of Technology, then accepted a position with the University of South Florida.  The position involved educating foster/adoptive parents and facility staff with positive behavioural interventions while developing and implementing programs to reduce problematic behaviours, and stabilize foster and adoptive placements. In 2011, following statewide foster care budget cuts, I took a position supervising practicum students at Florida Tech’s Autism Center until 2013, when I decided to continue my education and move to Mexico. I look forward to contributing to the growth of Los Niños de Chapala y Ajijic.

Ronald Hudson

I was born in a farm house in Southern Saskatchewan, Canada. During and following high school, I worked in the petroleum industry in several capacities.
I joined the Royal Canadian Air Force where I served for over 8 years. The highlight of my time in the RCAF,  was flying jet fighters in France during the cold war, where I met and married my wife Babette.  I attended the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada where I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree.  On leaving university, I began flying commercial jets.  I remained in this occupation until my retirement having spent 41 years in the air.
In the year 2000, we moved to Ajijic. Here we taught ballroom dancing for several years and I spent three years teaching English at the John Wilkes Center.  At the moment, I am presently giving English classes to 6 NCA students on Saturday mornings.  I am happy to loin the board of this very worthwhile association and shall do my best to fulfill any task asked of me as a board member.   The sponsors must be very proud of the help they are extending to young Mexican children.  They are part of a healthy and vibrant association which is extending its profile in the community every day.

To view the organization’s bylaws, please click here.