Board of Trustees
Sabina Cournoyer was born in Peru in 1927. She is a direct descendant of Juan Gildemeister. She was raised in northern Peru on a sugar cane plantation called Casa Grande. During these formative years, she was strongly influenced by her close relationship with her father, who managed the plantation, and her mother, who was a horticulturist. Sabina developed an intense and life-long interest in the long-term effects of good agriculture management and soil conservation.
Preservation of land and natural settings has been an ongoing interest for Sabina. In recent years, she became involved with The Kestrel Trust, which focuses on land conservation and stewardship near her home in Amherst, Massachusetts. She has provided funding for protection of open land and maintenance of hiking trails. She also intends for the trust to inherit her extensive property to further its conservation goals.
Sabina is a graduate of Smith College and earned a MA in Spanish Literature from the University of Massachusetts. She has written two books on the history of 19th century Peru, Gildemeister-Chronik (1991) and Konsul Juan Gildemesiter (2011), which detail the life and times of her ancestors.
Nicholas Cournoyer spent the majority of his early career with The Chase Manhattan Bank. After completing the bank’s credit training program, Nic worked in the sovereign and corporate debt restructuring teams in Central and South America (1982-1985). In 1985, Nic established its New York-based emerging markets debt trading group, and from 1986 to 1991, he headed a similar operation in London.
Nic founded Montpelier Asset Management to focus on investments in emerging markets debt, such as Latin America in the 1980’s, Russia and Indonesia in the 1990’s and, in recent years, the Middle East and China. Montpelier currently has over US$1 billion in assets under management and focuses on both distressed debt and equity investments in emerging markets.
Nic brings a keen financial expertise and analytic eye to Peru Opportunity Fund’s grantmaking. He is a graduate of Connecticut College with a major in history.
Sabina Shelby has managed the foundation’s growth from a one-person operation to a professional staff of three as the foundation acquired experience in Peru and in philanthropic best practice.
Sabina has a strong interest in the relationship between natural resource conservation and rural poverty in Peru. She brings this commitment to environmentalism to her other philanthropic efforts as well. She has supported numerous initiatives in her home state of Connecticut to provide educational programs and incentives for better care of the environment. Recently she co-founded a public-private partnership, Lead by Example, to promote green jobs and energy efficiency in the state of Connecticut. The initiative provides support for a state program that encourages municipal governments to modernize public buildings and facilities to reduce their energy use.
Sabina was formerly vice president of AE Software Company, which focused on using technology in the most efficient way in hotels and convention centers. She applies this sensibility to the foundation to maximize efficiency and minimize costs.
Sabina has lived abroad and speaks Spanish, German and Russian. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University in Connecticut with a BA in Government.