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a few finca las brisas community members
Al is really the visionary behind this
project. Two years ago he sent most of us an email entitled
"Paradise Found" and sketched out his initial idea. He
visited Costa Rica for the
Al’s strengths are his big-picture vision, personable nature, marketing savvy, and his uncanny ability to make the right real estate investments. He is also recognized for his unyielding drive to see projects large and small through to completion.
Al is looking to Costa Rica to provide the next chapter in his life - not only for business, but also for a special place for his new family (twins Coleman and Owen were born to Deena and Al in April 2006). Deena is terrific - she is smart, energetic, and entrepreneurial. Deena is in the corporate training business and is currently doing executive coaching. Both Deena and Al come with a lot of business skills to move this project along, but perhaps their best skill is the art of friendship.
Benjamin, Ray & Darlene Coker According to Ray, Darlene is the smartest person he as ever met. Darlene laughs at the idea, but you know, it doesn't hurt to have smart people around on a project like this. Both Ray and Darlene own small consulting/training companies. http://www.pssi.biz. Ray's niche is enterprise project management and has had a wide diversity of clients ranging from NASA to the US Secret Service, from IBM to the City of Las Vegas. He has also worked extensively in residential, commercial, and government construction project management. Darlene's company creates event-like training programs for large companies like Pepsi and Bank of America. (Darlene's son Benjamin was a little perturbed to discover that Coke products dominate all the shelves in Costa Rica and is determined to change that.)
Ray and Benjamin just came back from the property. "Ben
has always been one of these kids that likes to get off the
beaten trail, spread his wings a little and explore," say
his parents. Costa Rica, with everything new and natural,
and the remote mountainous location of this project are
perfect for him. Ben has already drawn extensive tree-house
designs for the perfect place in one of the large trees down
by the river. His concept is that the tree house could be a place were we can view the wildlife
coming down to the river to drink,
and maybe a place put up a hammock and spend the night.
One of Benjamin's favorite expression is something we have all been saying is "There are no rules in Costa Rica! It is like the Wild West!" Keith Jeffery Keith is a salesman for Automatic Data Processing (http://www.adp.com), and although we would all like to take the credit, when it came to making this deal work, his expertise helped us keep perspective and led us in the right direction. In his part time he rehabs and then sells property. So far, he has rehabbed 15 homes in his off time hours! This energy and his expertise is going to be valuable on the project. In addition, Keith has direct experience doing community development and charitable work in third world countries. There are some plans to help some of our neighbors like the small school a kilometer away, but we are expecting that his expertise will help guide much of our involvement. One partner said this about Keith, "He is always up, optimistic, has nothing to bad to say about anyone, you can count on him." Currently Keith is a Master chess player with at ranking of 2020 (that is quite good if you follow the game). After college he lived for 3 years in the British Virgin Islands and after securing residency he became eligible to represent the BVI in international tournament. This summer he returned (without winning but with a respectable showing) from a tournament in Spain. Keith has a picture of himself in the Pamplona Bull Run frantically running with a rook in each hand with a rather large bull hot on his heels.
Wayne and Victoria (Vicki) McDonald Wayne is a real hands-on guy. We have all of these pictures of Wayne from the different trips to Costa Rica, and they are all of him catching the fish, cracking open the coconut, climbing the water falls, conducting an experiment, and in this one, drinking the beer. Wayne is experienced in construction as a lead carpenter for a custom home builder in Bucks County PA and Princeton NJ, and as the design engineer and project manager for PSE Engineering. Victoria owns a financial planning firm (http://www.lincolninvestment.com). Together they have three children Madeline age 9, Ian 4, and Gavin 2. Wayne left engineering to become Mr. Mom and remodel a recently purchased home. We all have our reasons for being involved in this project, Wayne explains it this way,
The second reason we are involved in the project is we want to expose our children to as many other cultures as possible. The people in this rural area of Costa Rica are wonderful and my family looks forward to making many new friends. Alan Benner the master mind of this venture has been my good friend for 38 years! Finally, my bagpipes are going to sound great from the top hill at Finca Las Brisas.
Mark is the general contractor on the team and has extensive experience in residential, development, building and is highly respected in the high-end Philadelphia remodel business (Janiczek Homes LLC). Mark is an initial investor and construction/development advisor on the project. (In the picture Mark is standing in front of the ultra-light flight he took over the property this past July while we were all staying at the Flying Crocodile http://www.flying-crocodile.com.) Mark is married (Molly) and they have 2 children, Andy 10 & Allie 12.
Garland M. Baker, Costa Rica Expertise We all know you can not conduct business anywhere without legal expertise and without someone to solve problems and certainly the problems and issues can be quite different in another country. Garland is our Costa Rica legal and business counsel. He and his team has exceeded all of our expectations and clearly we would not be able to do this project without his help. We are looking forward to a long and rewarding relationship with Garland. Costa Rica Expertise (http://crexpertise.com) was created in 1987 as a direct result of having learned the ins- and outs- of Costa Rica from personal experience. Unfortunately, Garland often found that navigating the Costa Rican tramites (red tape) required perseverance, fortitude and an absolute unwillingness to throw in the towel. Garland made it a personal challenge to learn all that was necessary to know so that doing business in Costa Rica could be a less daunting task. Garland has been a resident of Costa Rica since 1972 and is now a naturalized citizen. He provides multidisciplinary professional services to the international community. His articles can be found at: http://www.crexpertise.info
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Al,
Deena, Coleman and Owen Benner
first time in 1993 on an
adventure/fishing trip with three amigos, and after having
experienced the best trip of his life, vowed to return. In
2004 with his wife Deena accompanying him, he-revisited CR
and began his quest for the ideal property on which to
fulfill his vision of a community in harmony with nature and
the local culture.
An
owner of a handful of specialty internet/mail order
businesses in the States 
When they are not traveling they hang out in Tampa with
their son Benjamin (age 9) and dog Spirit. 
political
support in Costa Rica preservation is possible.
Rebuilding the woodlands on the property and
creating habitats for the wildlife in the area also
gives Victoria and I the opportunity to educate our
children on how an ecosystem works and how we can
effect that system by improving small portions of
that system. We believe that we can not expect
future generations to protect the environment if
they do not know anything about it. Education is the
key to the future of the environment.
Mark
Janiczek
Copyright 2006-2009 Arjuna Limitada. All rights
reserved.