Key Staff
Until 2001, the Fabretto Children's Foundation was an entirely volunteer run and managed organization. While we now have paid staff, we remain committed to staying lean – and doing much with little. We aim to keep management and fundraising expenses to the very minimum necessary to meet Fabretto program funding goals.
In his role as President, Kevin oversees operations in Nicaragua, Europe and the United States, focusing primarily on fundraising, representing Fabretto as chief spokesperson before public and private donors. Kevin splits his time between the United States and Nicaragua.
Kevin first went to Nicaragua in 1989 as part of a Georgetown University volunteer program, where he met Father Rafael Maria Fabretto and was introduced to Father Fabretto’s work with Nicaraguan children who were living in extreme poverty, or had been abandoned by their families. After Father Fabretto’s untimely death in 1990, Kevin took on a leadership role establishing a much-needed organizational structure to continue Father Fabretto’s work with disadvantaged children. Since then, Kevin has dedicated his life to developing Fabretto’s mission to offer hope and opportunity to Nicaragua’s poorest children.
For more than twenty years, under Kevin’s stewardship, Fabretto has grown from an organization serving less than 300 children to serving over 10,000 children in seven different geographic centers in Nicaragua. Kevin earned his BA from Georgetown University in 1989 and his MBA from the Kellogg Business School in 1995. Kevin lives in Managua with his wife, Manely, and their son, Nicolas.
Kathy Baczko, VP/Chief Development Officer
Kathy Baczko joined the Fabretto leadership team in December 2012 as Vice President, Chief Development Officer. In this role, she is responsible for the overall design and execution of the long-term, strategic fundraising plan for the next important phase of growth of the Fabretto programs, including major gifts, planned giving, foundation, corporate and government support. She also oversees the operations of the US office in Arlington, Virginia.
Kathy’s diverse background includes strategic planning, fund-raising, advocacy, and project development and management in the non-profit sector. Most recently, Kathy was Director of Global Partnerships for the WASH Advocacy Initiative where she led the creation of a global campaign, Women for Water, scheduled to launch in 2013. From 2005 – 2010, Kathy worked for the William J. Clinton Foundation where she focused on Water and Sanitation and Climate Change and was involved in the launch of two major initiatives. She led the design and initial implementation of the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative (CHDI) in Rwanda, including small and large scale solutions for Water and Sanitation. Subsequently, as New York City Director for the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) she worked closely with the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability to create replicable models to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, culminating in the historic energy efficiency retrofit of the Empire State Building.
She has been involved with Save the Children for over a decade and was instrumental in establishing its national Delegation Leadership Council. She participated in two delegations: Nicaragua (2001) and VietNam (2003). She has also engaged in a number of national political campaigns. Throughout her work, she keeps a particular focus on educating women and girls and those most at risk and underserved.
An alumna of Georgetown University, Kathy served as President of the Georgetown University Alumni Association (2002-2004) and remains active with Georgetown.
Helen Edwards, Ex. Director Program and Operations in Nicaragua
Helen Edwards started as a technical consultant with Fabretto at the beginning of 2005, to provide a study on Fabretto’s Education Program. After submitting her study and proposals to strengthen the program, she was hired as a permanent staff member as the technical director for the education and nutrition programs. She developed and managed the initiation of Fabretto’s innovative secondary rural education program (SAT), which began in 2007. In mid-2011, Helen was promoted to senior staff as the Director of all Program activities to promote synergies among Fabretto’s technical and operational objectives, activities and resources.
Helen has more than 24 years of experience directing rural development programs and projects; she has taught at the university level and been a consultant for over twenty years. She has an MBA from INCAE (Latin America’s premier university for business administration, linked to the Harvard School of Business), and has a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business, with an emphasis on Human Resources and Project Management.
Patricia first got involved in 1994 as a volunteer on the New York Benefit Committee, increasing her involvement significantly after an extended visit to Nicaragua in late 2000 until eventually joining full-time in late 2002 to primarily develop ties in Europe. As a volunteer, Patricia served for a number of years as Co-Chair of the annual New York event, spearheaded Fabretto´s first website and helped develop the scholarship fund. When she launched Fundación Fabretto in Spain in 2002-03 Fabretto served approximately 1200 children in five communities and had no European network of supporters. Under her leadership and close coordination with Kevin, Fabretto has developed a solid network and secured government and private-sector funding, primarily in Spain where Nicaragua is considered a priority country for Spanish development aid.
Patricia´s prior work experience includes working as a corporate attorney at the law firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton on sovereign debt restructurings and mergers and acquisitions for clients in Latin America and as co-general counsel and business development director for a US-Canadian venture. Patricia earned her B.A. from Georgetown University in 1989, her law degree from Columbia Law School in 1995 and certificates on not-for-profit management from Columbia Business School and international humanitarian assistance from the Center for International Health & Cooperation. Patricia grew up between the U.S. and Europe, is a dual national (U.S. and Spain) and now resides in Madrid, Spain.
Monica moved to Latin America from California in 1980, and has lived in Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala and Nicaragua (since 1996). Though she has background and experience in biochemistry, food science and food safety, she has worked as program coordinator and administrative officer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (3 years) as well as the United States Agency for International Development in Nicaragua, managing all administrative functions and operations for USAID/Nicaragua for five years, at times serving as coordinators with other donors, representing NOAA and USAID with World Bank and European Union as well as international non-Profit organization representatives.
Starting first as a volunteer in the summer of 2010, Monica was hired to provide oversight for administrative and financial functions in both the United States and Nicaragua in September 2010. She was appointed Board Secretary in February 2012.
Interested in joining the Fabretto team? Click here for current job opportunities.
