The HYF Team

Board of Directors:

The board members of the Himalayan Youth Foundation are professionals committed to administering HYF carefully and efficiently without debt. They initiate new projects only as HYF is financially capable of honoring them and all prior commitments.

Each member of the board enjoys a prior history and dedication to the children of the Himalayas.  Most members have traveled to the area and all provide their unparalleled support of HYF as it has grown through the years.

Micheline Kramer - Co-Founder – President

Micheline is a graduate of The Solvay Business School in Belgium. She is currently living in Florida after a career in Real Estate.  She has trekked extensively throughout the world. She fell in love with Nepal on her first of many trips to the country in 1993. During a trek through Mustang, David Bidwell and Micheline discovered their common love and passion for the children of the region and decided to devote their energies to help them.

David Bidwell - Co-Founder – Vice-President

David is a Harvard graduate. After a 20-year management career with Procter and Gamble, he established himself in Geneva, Switzerland, as an independent Project Manager. In 1993, David served a nine month volunteer assignment with the International Executive Service Corps as Country Director for Nepal. He still has many friends in Kathmandu from that time. David has been instrumental in the development of the Kailash Hostel since 1997. David has been a personal friend of the Choki family in Bhutan for many years.

Anselme Baud

Anselme is a certified Mountain Guide, Instructor at the National School of Alpinism of Chamonix, France. He has written several books and produced movies of extreme skiing. During his 18 visits to Nepal, Anselme has guided several treks and international expeditions. Anselme is the founder of a program offering training for Nepali guides. He also provides climbing instruction to our older students and has started to include some HYF children in his expeditions.

Brad Blum

Brad Blum is an influential visionary in the restaurant industry who has led significant turnarounds of various restaurant brands, focusing on serving artisan products that are exceptionally flavorful and better for our health.  Brad wants to instill his philosophy in our children to teach them the value of “good food for the planet”.

Monica Mackey

Monica has twenty-five years professional experience working with non-profit organizations as a manager, board member, and consultant. She is currently the Chief Philanthropy Officer at The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem Massachusetts. Monica is a graduate of Wellesley College and earned her MBA from Babson College. Her visits to Nepal and Bhutan have reinforced her dedication to HYF.

Kevin M. Miller, CPA,

Kevin earned a master’s degree in accountancy and a bachelor degree in business administration from Stetson University in DeLand, FL. For the past fifteen years, Kevin has served as treasurer for Sawmill Investments, LP, an investment management firm with over $20 million in assets.  Since 2006, Kevin has served as an adjunct instructor at Stetson University.  Currently, Kevin directs the finance and accounting functions of Atlantic Center for the Arts, as well as consulting with various start-up and early stage companies.

Frederick A. Raffa, Ph.D.

Dr. Raffa is a resident of Maitland, Florida.  He received an MBA in Finance and a Ph.D. in Economics from Florida State University.  He was a faculty member in the Department of Economics at the University of Central Florida for 29 years, retiring as a tenured full professor of economics in 1998.  He is currently the Senior Economist and President of Raffa Consulting Economists, Inc., an economic consulting firm located in Orlando, Florida.

Oriol Ribas

Oriol is President of Fundacio Muntanyencs per l’Himalaia, a Mountaineering Foundation in the Principality of Andorra.He is himself a high altitude climber and has
accomplished a number of major successful climbs in the Himalayas. Oriol is a lawyer and a senior banker in his country.  Oriol has been a strong supporter of HYF since 2002.

Hubert Secretan

Hubert has been a member of the Bar and practicing law in Geneva since 1966. He sits on the Board of Swiss and off-shore charitable Foundations, one of which has been supporting HYF for a number of years. He has trekked extensively in the Himalayas since 1986 in Nepal, Pakistan, India and Bhutan. He was introduced to HYF by David Bidwell whom he has known and worked with for over 40 years.”

Mark Zahra

Mark is currently a private banker based in Geneva since 1969 after living in New Delhi for 10 years.  He has trekked in Nepal on several occasions, hence his interest in HYF and the children of the region.  Mark met David several years ago through Ngima Sherpa who guided Mark in one of his Annapurna in 1999.  Motivated by David’s dedication and friendship Mark intends to do more to assist HYF over the coming years.

Advisory Board:

Didier Cherpitel

Terry Delahunty

Mario Fontana

Koenraad Foulon

Andrew Knight

Hubert Secretan

Local Personnel:

Steve Webster – Development Coordinator

 Choki Traditional Art School (Kabessa, Bhutan):

Sonam Choki – Principal

Kuenzang D. Thinley – Project Manager

 Himalayan Childrens Foundation (Kathmandu, Nepal):

Steve Webster – Development Coordinator

Tenzing Wangdu – Operation Manager