About Sogro
At Sogro, our vision is to serve impoverished communities and fuel sustainable community growth through a variety of services, ranging from education and healthcare advancement to workforce development and small business training. The majority of our projects are short-term teams that aim to provide temporary relief while teaching long-term sustainability to community leaders, both in the US and in countries around the globe.
In addition to short-term projects, we also invest in a variety of small-scale business projects that aim to provide grassroots growth to the communities of which they are a part. These projects are designed to create jobs while providing valuable services that might otherwise not be available.
Sogro Staff
Joshua Jones
Chairman of the Board
Joshua Jones is a non-profit management professional with international development and relief experience in 30 countries and 4 languages. Mr. Jones received his Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from the University of Alabama and is completing his Masters in Business Administration in May 2013 at Emory University’s Goizuetta Business School. As a teenager, Joshua started a software company in Latin America, where he spent his free time volunteering for medical relief times. A part-time hobby soon became a passion, and over the next 14 years, he started a non-profit organization, Emercy, where he became fully invested in serving the poor and needy in Latin America and Asia. Throughout his career, he has started and sold multiple successful businesses, and he currently serves as Director of Public Policy for Alabama’s largest non-profit dental organization, Sarrell Dental & Eye Centers. Joshua lives with his wife, Akiko, and three daughters, Naomi, Emma, and Ella Marie in Hoover, Alabama.
Christopher B Alfaro
Director of Operations
With 4 years of experience in wealth management at Wells Fargo and over 11 years in the nonprofit industry, Christopher Alfaro serves as Sogro’s Director of Operations. Mr. Alfaro has served in many boards and commissions, including the American Red Cross, Big Brother and Big Sister, and St. Jude’s Hospital. Chris has also worked in many political campaigns both in the state and federal levels, and he currently works with corporations, nonprofit organizations and government agencies to improve organizational effectiveness and support strategies for change. Chris is a graduate of Samford University in Birmingham, AL.
Maggie Holmes
Research Intern
Maggie is in her final semester at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama where she is studying Political Science and Communication Studies. An aspiring corporate attorney, Maggie plans on attending law school in the coming fall in her home state of Georgia. When she’s not doing research for Sogro, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, hiking, reading mystery novels, cooking, exploring new cities and meeting new people. At the top of her bucket list? “See the world, make it better.” Through her internship here at Sogro, Maggie plans to turn that dream into a reality.
Sogro was founded as Emercy International in 1999 and incorporated in 2002 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Alabama, USA. Although Sogro does charge for some services, all work is currently done on a part-time basis by unpaid volunteers and staff.
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