Fritz Jacques
Chief Executive Officer
Fritz Jacques is a driven and passionate individual whose varied interests have allowed him to succeed in the business and nonprofit world. He immigrated to the United States from Haiti as a young child and grew up between New York and Connecticut. He speaks fluent Haitian Creole and has a long history of working to engage the Haitian immigrant community to support educational and professional ventures in his home country.
Fritz graduated from Sacred Heart University with a degree in Business Management and has more than 30 years of experience in Project Management working with public utility service providers. Fritz has further developed his business acumen with graduate level coursework in Business Administration.
Fritz is co-founder and CEO of Patrick’s Kids Foundation. Utilizing his project management and business leadership skills he manages the day to day relationships and management of the onsite team in Haiti. His work has been instrumental in setting a vision for the Foundation that will impact the lives of PKF scholars and their parents. His passion for effecting permanent change in Haiti and his interactions with the students fuels his constant desire to do more for the scholars.
He resides in Metro Atlanta with his wife Marie. In his downtime, he enjoys road tripping and watching movies with his wife and three adult daughters.
Marie Elmore
Executive Director
Marie Elmore has 20 plus years experience in the Financial Sector leading teams to realize productivity gains and compliance management. Starting out in Finance and moving on to Risk Management with her six sigma skills has enabled her to deliver results for cross functional teams across the company. She focuses on the use of technology and process improvements to drive relevant tools and practices for her customers. She is a graduate of Fairfield University majoring in Finance and French. Having left her home country Haiti at an early age has not thwarted her desire to see her homeland rise up from poverty and enable others to fend for themselves. While her three boys keep her active while managing a career, her desire to give back is always present.
Frantz Jacques
Director
Mr. Jacques is an international corporate attorney, and currently resides in Washington, DC. He has particular expertise in impact investing and fintech law. Mr. Jacques was an Editor of the Journal of International Economic Law (2015-2016), and served as team coordinator of a consortium of Georgetown University Law Center Trade Law Clinic and Trapca members providing technical assistance to the African Union for the drafting and negotiation of the African Continental Free Trade Area dispute settlement chapter.
Mr. Jacques was born in Haiti and maintains strong ties in the Haitian community. He is a staunch advocate of using education as a tool to unlock the economic potential of emerging markets. As a Director and Co-Founder of Patrick’s Kids Foundation, he has helped drive the strategic vision of the foundation of leveraging technology to help close the education gap between Haiti and developed nations; and utilizing the Foundation’s entrepreneurship development initiative to help Haiti capitalize on the gig economy and the digitization revolution to help Haiti leapfrog in the industrialization curve. Mr. Jacques has a deep knowledge base on the role that impact investing can play to spur inclusive and dynamic economic growth in emerging markets. Mr. Jacques is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center with a Master of Laws in Securities and Financial Regulation. He also holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Miami, and a Bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College.
Samuel Gachelin
Academic Director
Samuel Gachelin discovered his love for helping the youth back in 1997. As a teen, Sam would perform volunteer services for a locally based after school program. It was there he felt a strong sense of community and the need to help the youth. After attending Graduate School at the University of Bridgeport in 2005 with a Master’s Degree in Education, Sam began working for the Y.M.C.A (Young Men’s Christian Association) of Norwalk, Connecticut as assistant teacher for one of their 8 after-school programs. Eventually Sam was promoted to Teen and Family Director, where he oversaw all teen and family programs, as well as supervising the 2 after-school programs held at local middle schools.
Samuel eventually decided to resign from the YMCA to become a full-time schoolteacher; a position he has held for 9 years. During the summer months, Mr. Gachelin enjoys working for camps and summer school programs in efforts to continue helping out the youth in his community.
Amorce Yvont
Field Director/Board Member
Mr. Yvont is an entrepreneur, and CEO of Yvont Multi-Services Corp. (YMS), in Fond-des-Blancs, Haiti (FDBH). Mr. Yvont was born and raised in FDBH, and is a pillar and business leader in the community. He is very engaged in helping increase the quality of education in Fond des Blancs, and is dedicated to help spur inclusive economic growth and social development in FBBH. He is passionate about helping meet the economic needs of underserved segments of the population in Haiti. Prior to launching YMS, Mr. Yvont was an information and technology teacher at L’ecole Exode.
Mr. Yvont started his education at the Evangelical School of Fond-des-Blancs, and obtained his advanced studies at the Evangelical Mixed Whale College. Mr. Yvont eventually pursued his academic career in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where he studied telecommunications and entrepreneurship at Haiti Tec.
Richardson Vertilus
Board Member
Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Mr. Vertilus is the youngest of 3 children. After his classical studies at the Institution of Saint-Louis de Gonzague, he studied medicine at the University Notre Dame of Haiti. Mr. Vertilus did his residency at La Paix University Hospital, and specialized in orthopedic and trauma surgery. Mr. Vertilus is considered to be one of the premier young orthopedic surgeons in Haiti. He is a devout Christian, his faith and love for humanity has fueled his passion to use the practice of medicine to alleviate the suffering of his fellow man.In his spare time, Mr. Vertilus enjoys playing soccer, chess and the piano.
Mr. Vertilus is dedicated to giving back, and uplifting his beloved Haiti. He firmly believes that education is essential to sustainable and dynamic social and economic change. Mr. Vertilus is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Notre Dame Medical School in Haiti. He also volunteers at various public hospitals, and helps to mentor young children and adults.
Sandra Louis
Field Coordinator
As PKF's Field Program Coordinator, Sandra plays a vital role in helping PKF achieve its vision of leveraging technology and our mentorship program to help close the education gap between Haiti and developed nations. Additionally, to help educate our scholars to become the leaders of tomorrow. PKF aspires to empower the next generation with the tools to help solve Haiti’s biggest challenges, by fostering teamwork, leadership, and community service.
Rachelle Jacques
Co-Founder/Chief Marketing Officer
Born in Stamford, Connecticut, Rachelle is the daughter of two Haitian immigrants and is dedicated to giving back to her family's home country.
She has a degree from Princeton University that focused on Race and Public Policy in the African American Studies Department and is very interested in how the construction of race through policy has affected the development of national and state institutions.
Rachelle currently works at Facebook in Community Operations as a Market Specialist where she helps keep the platform safe for all users. Overall, she is passionate about helping underserved communities gain access to resources that will allow them to have the tools for a successful future. Particularly she plans to leverage new technology to meet the dyer needs of the Caribbean and promote the region's development.