Larry Closs
Director of Communications
With a career that spans global media corporations, leading nonprofits, international consumer brands and high-profile federal agencies, Larry Closs is a versatile writer, editor and media producer skilled at reaching a broad spectrum of audiences, cultures and constituencies through print, interactive and broadcast media.

At News Corporation, Time Warner, Hearst and Viacom, Closs honed his expertise at brands such as TV Guide, TV Guide Online, Road Runner and Nickelodeon. At Gesso, an interactive agency Closs co-founded, he crafted communications solutions for a diverse portfolio of clients, including Sony, the NBA, Estee Lauder, Smithsonian Institution, National Cancer Institute and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Closs is the founder and editor of TrekWorld, a travel magazine devoted to adventure, insight and inspiration. His personal passions include writing, photography, filmmaking and travel, and he considers himself fortunate to spend many months doing what he loves in Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, Latin America and Europe.


Farid Ait-Mansour
Country Director, Nepal
Farid Ait-Mansour has worked in child protection and social services since 2003.
Ait-Mansour’s career began in France, where he served for two years as a social worker for children, teens and adults with social issues and disabilities after earning a BA in Economic and Social Sciences at the School of L. Armand.

In 2004, went to Nepal to manage the Little Princes Childrens Home. In 2006, Ait-Mansour returned to France to create Karya, nonprofit devoted to reconnecting trafficked children with their families.

As President of Karya, Ait-Mansour set strategy, developed policies, recruited and trained staff, oversaw administration, implemented reconnection and monitoring programs and served as liaison with the board of directors, the organization’s partners and the Nepal government.

In 2006, Ait-Mansour returned to Nepal to serve as NGN’s Country Director until 2008, when he enrolled in the Institut Bioforce Development, an international humanitarian school based in France. In 2011, after receiving a Masters degree in Coordination of Humanitarian Projects, Ait-Mansour resumed his role as NGN’s Country Director in Nepal.

Nepal Staff
Kathmandu
Farid Ait-Mansour: Nepal Country Director
Sundup Dorje Lama: Project Field Manager
Samjyor Tsering Lama: Program Assistant
Ram Sharan Shrestha: Accountant/Office Assistant
Dhan Bahadur Lama: The Himalayan Innovative Society, Counterpart representative
Devaka Khanal: Karnali House manager
Kalpana Thapa: Didi, House assistant
Binod Karki: Office assistant

Humla
Purna Thapa Maghar: Educational project manager
Gyalgen and Prema Lama: House managers
Chandra Lama: Dai, tutor
Dawa Lama: Didi, House Assistant
Padam Rawat: Gardener
Dilip Raj Giri and Kali Bahadur Karki: Tutors
Sarita Bohara: Health Assistant