Jim Ryan	Terry Ryan Kane D.V.M., M.S.	Cynthia Jiron
Pamela Gómez Obando

        Jim Ryan

        Agua Solutions International, S.A. 
        President/Founder

Jim Ryan began his career in the water industry upon graduating from Stanford University and beginning work at ADS (American Digital Systems, Inc.). ADS was a NASA ‘spin-off’ technology company formed by the German scientist responsible for telemetry on the Gemini & Apollo projects. ADS designed, built and operated networks of remote mini-computers with sensors to provide local governments and municipalities with real time environmental and hydrological data (analysis of rainfall, storm water, waste water, industrial effluent and river flows) in order to aid the design of appropriate water treatment facilities.
   By pursuing his twin passions for water and the latest technological advancements, Jim quickly rose to the position of President of the company’s multi-million dollar Long Term Water Monitoring Division, the company’s largest and most profitable group.   

  This early focus upon water and the environment was the basis for Jim’s work in the legislative, regulatory and commercial aspects of providing water and energy supplies to large multi-national industrial clients such as Alcoa, GE, Pfizer, Ford Motor, Pepsi, Smucker’s Foods, Reynolds Metals, Dana Corporation, Timken Steel, Rohm & Haas Chemical, Sun Oil and British Petroleum.

The lure of Europe’s newly emerging competitive utility markets prompted Jim to establish one of Europe’s very first private utility supply & consultancy companies in 1992. After nine years of working in Europe, and having sold the successful company to a large utility conglomerate, Jim left London in 2001 to visit Costa Rica for a week’s holiday (sunshine!). However, instead of returning to London, Jim stayed to explore the region’s diverse flora & fauna and enjoy its natural beauty...and while experiencing his first dry season recognized the challenge and opportunity to introduce sustainable water supply technologies to the region in the forms of Rain Water Harvesting, advanced purification systems, etc.

Before forming Agua Solutions International, Jim had lived and worked in the USA, UK, Italy, Hungary, aboard a sailboat and most recently in Costa Rica & Nicaragua. He has also completed projects in Australia, Sweden, Norway, Russia (Siberia) and Poland, besides traveling much of the world in search of new sailing, scuba diving or windsurfing experiences. Jim now resides in Liberia, Costa Rica where Agua Solutions International’s Central American offices are based.

Jim is a member of ARCSA (The North American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association) and the International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance (IRHA), which includes the Blue Schools Programme.

        Terry Ryan Kane D.V.M., M.S.
        Development Director – Energy & Humanitarian Projects

Terry grew up in Nebraska and Colorado and like her brother, Jim, learned to love the prairie wind and the mountain waters. She learned to fly airplanes in that windy region of the country and now pilots her own small plane.
                    
Her education in the sciences, and her curiosity, have taken her to many regions of the world. She received her undergraduate degrees in Biology and Chemistry in New York City, earned a Master’s of Science in Ecology from the University of Illinois in Chicago and went on to receive her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. This has led to many conservation projects in such places as Africa, Mexico, and Central America, including work with marine mammals and sea turtles. She also works and trains in disaster medicine, living and working in austere or even hazardous environments.
 
This aspect of Public Health has helped focus her interest in disease prevention and availability of safe water for people and animals. Having worked for almost two months in New Orleans immediately after Hurricane Katrina struck, Terry knows first hand the challenges which arise when water scarcity and natural disaster combine.

Her experience with aviation (instrument rating with USA & Costa Rica licenses) has combined her love of wind and weather with the global need for sustainable energy. When her brother founded Agua Solutions and ASI Power & Telemetry, combining renewable water and energy resources, she decided to pitch in and help.

Terry has 5 grown sons who like to travel with her and all of them are bilingual. She is still learning.

        Cynthia Jiron

        Costa Rica

Cynthia Jirón was born in San José, but raised all her life in the countryside just outside of Liberia. She went to school in Liberia and moved later to San José to finish higher education as an Industrial Engineer at Fidelitas University.

She started working at Agua Solutions in June of 2008. Cynthia had been working at a local manufacturing company and first heard about Agua Solutions and ASI Power while reading environmentally oriented articles in the popular magazine called “Utopia”. While reading an article about ASI Power’s work in renewable energy; she became especially interested and e-mailed Jim to introduce herself and offer her skills. Her obvious commitment to the environment mixed with her professional skills and eagerness to learn were all a natural fit with the company. That was the beginning of her employment.

Cynthia cares deeply about the environment in part because she grew up in an agriculturally oriented family which taught her with words and deeds to have great respect for the fabulous natural world around her. Today, besides trying to preserve the environment for her own generation, as a mother she is especially concerned about leaving a healthy planet for her children and for their children. She considers her work at Agua Solutions and ASI Power as another means to help her countrymen to adopt more sustainable lifestyles and to protect precious natural resources. But as Cynthia says “this is only the beginning, our planet is in danger and we all should learn to contribute and help take care of it”.

Cynthia is married and has two children aged 2 and 4. In her spare time she likes to go to the beach or to her family’s farm in Tilarán where some day she and her husband Fernando wish to build their own sustainable eco-lodge. She also likes to exercise and cook. She is a very positive and energetic person, and always is ready with a smile.

        Pamela Gómez Obando
        Administrative Assistant

Pamela was born and raised in Cartago. She began her education there and showed an early inclination for mathematics. She graduated initially as a private accountant.

However, she has always loved the natural environment, learning about living organisms, their biology and physiology. Her interests in science, nature and the environment led her to further her science education. She attended the Technology Institute of Costa Rica to study biotechnology and pursue a new career path.

While pursuing her science education in biotechnology she participated in many projects. One interesting study was to investigate a bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis. This bacteria was isolated from the larvae of Aedes aegypti,  the mosquito responsible for Dengue Fever transmission. This research focused on utilizing this bacteria as a larvicide to control this mosquitoe’s reproduction and reduce the spread of this terrible disease.

Also, during a part of 2006, she worked in Language Line Services as a “Costumer Service Interpreter”, which gave her a chance to refine her language skills.

Currently she lives in Liberia where she enjoys sharing her time with her family, traveling to new places and reading.

Agua Solutions International, S.A.
Apdo #384-5000
Liberia, Costa Rica
Ph: 506/ 665 6161
E:mail: jim@aguasolutions.com
Web: www.aguasolutions.com

We all drink rainwater….some of us just prefer to do so before it hits the ground!