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Sabina Cournoyer was born in Peru in 1927. She is a direct descendant of Juan Gildemeister and grew up in the department of La Libertad. She attended secondary school while living on a sugar cane farm called Casa Grande. Sabina developed an intense interest in the long-term affects of good agriculture management and soil conservation in Peru while growing up in the Peruvian countryside.
Sabina is a graduate of Smith College with a MA in Spanish Literature. She has written two books on the history of 19th century Peru.
Nicholas Cournoyer spent the majority of his early career with The Chase Manhattan Bank. After completing the bank’s credit training program, Nick worked in the sovereign and corporate debt restructuring teams in Central and South America (1982-1985). In 1985 Nick established its New York-based emerging markets debt trading group and from 1986 to 1991 he headed a similar operation in London.
Nick founded Montpelier Asset Management in 1992 to focus on investments in emerging markets debt. Montpelier currently has over US$1 billion in assets under management and focuses on both distressed debt and equity investments in emerging markets.
Sabina Shelby handles the day-to-day operations of Peru Opportunity Fund. Sabina was formerly vice president of a software development company that focused on using technology in the most efficient way. She brings this focus to her foundation work. Sabina has lived abroad and is multi-lingual (Spanish, German, and Russian). She is a graduate of Wesleyan University in Connecticut with a BA in Government.
