Trent Christensen
Trustee - Board Chair

Trent was born and raised in Des Moines, IA and attended the University of Iowa where he graduated with a degree in finance. After graduating, he moved to San Francisco and began working for a private equity firm and then spent 8 years at a startup. After 13 years in SF, he, his wife Sarah and son Henry decided they were ready to try a different lifestyle and moved aboard a sailing catamaran, called the S/V Upside Up. After nearly 4 years exploring the Eastern Caribbean, Trent and his family found Del Mar Academy and moved permanently to Nosara for a new chapter of adventure.

Bram Shook
Founder

Bram grew up in Westport, CT. After graduating from San Diego State University, he remained in San Diego for eight years working with a Fortune 500 information technology company in sales and management. In 2001, Bram decided to trade in his suit and tie for shorts and flip-flops and moved to Nosara, where he immediately began working at Century 21 Nosara, which he has owned since 2006. Bram and his wife Jessica are co-founders of Del Mar Academy, where their two children attend.

Hayley Macmillian-Ord
Founder/Trustee

Hayley (with her husband and young daughter) moved from the Cayman Islands to Costa Rica in 2002 intending to move her private practice of Acupuncture and TCM to Nosara.  Both were put on hold as she turned her focus to co-founding Del Mar Academy and raising 3 children whom all attend DMA. Their daughter was the first IB graduate from Del Mar in 2018.  Currently she can be found supporting the different needs of Del Mar Academy as it continues to expand its programs and student or teaching Aerial Yoga classes at The Nosara Performing Arts Academy she co-founded with her friend Adrienne.

Jessica Sheffield Zamora
Founder/Trustee

A Costa Rican Fulbright Scholar and Ashoka Fellow with a Master Degree in Environmental Resource Management and a Bachelor Degree in Marine Biology. She is a co-founder of Del Mar Academy and the founder of the Guardians of Nature Movement. In 2012, through an entrepreneurial competition, Jessica’s “Sustainable Homes ” idea was adopted and implemented nationwide. She is the author of The Guardian of Nature children’s book series.  Jessica is also a co-founder of the Nosara Recycling Association. She lives in Nosara with her husband, Bram and her children, Kai and Lucia. Jessica’s dream is to see the “Guardians of Nature” initiative and strategies be implemented worldwide.

Iain Ord
Founder/Trustee

Born and raised in the UK, Iain owned a successful construction business in the Cayman Islands for 20 years prior to moving to Nosara full time in  2008. He is co-owner of Pacific design group here in Nosara and a co-founder of Del Mar Academy. When not building or renovating homes in Nosara, (Inky) can be found 3 times a week coaching the local NFC futbol team ‘Maniacs’ with his co-coach Bram.

Carlos Castro
Founder/Treasure

Carlos was born and raised in San José, Costa Rica and moved to Nosara in 2003. He has a Bachelor´s degree in Pharmacy and a Master of Science in Commercial Management in Marketing from the University of Barcelona, Spain.  He currently works for Century21 as a real estate agent. Carlos, his wife Natalia and their two young boys have made their home in Nosara and their oldest boy attends Del Mar Academy. He is one of the original co-founders of Del Mar Academy.

Andrés González
Founder/Trustee

Born and raised in San José, Costa Rica where he graduated from law school in 2003. Arrived for the first time in Nosara in the year of 1985, when he was only 6 years old and since then himself and his family fell in love with the town. In 1993 the family decided to build their second home in Guiones Beach. In the year of 2007 he decided  to move permanently  to Nosara and opened the law firm IBL Consultores, then in 2011 he converted his old family house into the Nosara Beach Hostel with the purpose of giving an affordable option for ticos and foreigners to come to surf at Playa Guiones without paying outrageous prices. Andres and his wife Alessandra have 2 young daughters and live permanently in Nosara.

José Guillermo Chavarría Sánchez
Founder/Trustee

Born and raised in Costa Rica, attended DMA from 4th through 12th grade, graduated in 2019 with an IB bilingual diploma.

Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering  and currently pursuing a Master’s in Project Management and Administration.

Jane Marchant
Founder/Trustee

Born and raised in Switzerland, with an English Dad and a Dutch Mom, Jane graduated from physical therapy school in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1990. In 1995 she took off to Nosara, Costa Rica to experience a year living in a foreign (warm and tropical) country. Fast forward 5 years, and in 2000, after having worked as PA to Don and Amba Stapleton of the renowned Nosara Yoga Institute, she founded Nosara Wellness, a center for movement and healing therapies and gave birth to her first child. In 2006, Selina and her younger brother Silvan were part of the very first cohort of students attending DMA. A few years later, Jane became the first member of the DMA board of trustees who was not a founder. She served on the DMA board for 5 years and started the Financial Aid program at DMA. Selina and Silvan have both graduated from DMA, with a bilingual IB diploma and Jane is back on the board of trustees.  

Ryan Tognazzini
Founder/Trustee

Ryan has been living with his family in Nosara since 2021. Originally from San Francisco, Ryan and his wife Brooke lived in Austin, TX where they had daughters Edie (4th grade) and Marlo (3rd grade). They moved to Pelada 2 years ago, and are full-time residents in Nosara. Ryan began his career in sales and general management in business services. Following that, he joined a boutique management consulting firm where he helped B2B companies with growth strategies, and ran their private equity business. Ryan was also the CEO of an enterprise software company for 4 years. He currently works as an advisor to his prior firm, as well as a private equity firm based in Princeton, New Jersey.

Anne Greenhaw
Founder/Trustee

Anne moved to Nosara from Boulder, Colorado in 2014, and her son Judge has attended Del Mar Academy since Casa kindergarten and is now in grade 8. Before relocating to Nosara, she was a marketing leader at various software start-ups in the areas of cybersecurity, project management tools, and video conferencing. She serves as a board Marketing Advisor for Refugee Projects, a non-profit that provides legal services to asylum seekers around the world, a board Communications Advisor for non-profit Las Huacas Community Association, and a teacher for the children’s program at the Biblioteca David Kitson.

Andrew Weinstein
Founder/Trustee

Andrew and his family moved to Nosara from Washington, DC in late 2017, and his two children, Athena and Lincoln, have attended Del Mar since then. He is the founder of Ridgeback Communications, a media relations and communications firm, and he has worked in top communications roles in presidential politics, government (US Congress, SEC), and the corporate world (AOL, LivingSocial, CrossFit). Andrew served on the boards of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Washington Humane Society, and he is actively involved with several local not-for-profit organizations in Nosara