Staff
Meet the staff of Simply Smiles!
leadership
Bryan Nurnberger, President & Founder
In 2003, Bryan Nurnberger, a 25-year-old mountain climbing guide was injured and traveled to Mexico for what he called “a recuperation adventure”. While in Mexico, he encountered a struggling orphanage for indigenous children where he offered to volunteer. That experience led Bryan to change the course of his life and launch the not-for-profit organization, Simply Smiles, Inc.
“I had no money to offer and wasn’t quite sure how I could be of help. I was strong enough to lift children out of their wheelchairs and care for them. I found where I could be of use. But when I saw that I was also making the children smile, that changed everything. I had this overwhelming sense of possibility. Because I realized that these smiles were moments of happiness and possibility that could be building blocks for a child’s bright future. Simply Smiles was born.”
Simply Smiles, Inc has since grown into a not-for-profit organization highly ranked for its fiscal efficiency and highly respected for its partnerships with indigenous communities.
What began with a smile on a child's face in Mexico is today an organization redefining how society’s most vulnerable children are cared for via the first-of-its-kind Simply Smiles Children’s Village model.
Bryan graduated from the University of Colorado in 1999 with a B.A. in history. In the few years after college and before founding Simply Smiles, Bryan worked as an educator, a mountain climbing guide, “thru-hiked” the entire Appalachian Trail, lived with monks in Greece, and worked with sugar cane cutters in the Dominican Republic.
As the president of Simply Smiles, Bryan divides his time between Connecticut (where Simply Smiles is based), speaking engagements nationwide, and the Simply Smiles Children’s Villages in Oaxaca, Mexico and on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota.
In 2013, he was given the Lakota name “Cante Waste Wicasa”, which means “Kind Hearted Man”.
Gaby Chavez Hernandez, Director • Mexico Village • Zapotec / Oaxacan
In 2000, at the age of 11, Gaby chose to leave her home in a remote Mexican village to pursue her education in Oaxaca City. In 2015, she received her B.A. in Business Administration from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut on a Simply Smiles Scholarship.
After seven years of living in the United States, Gaby made another momentous decision: to return to Mexico to build and manage the Simply Smiles Children’s Village in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Gaby is an exceptional individual and an inspiration to the thousands of people with whom she's crossed paths in Mexico, the United States, and beyond.
As the director of our Oaxaca, Mexico children’s village Gaby is modeling the core Simply Smiles philosophy that she inspired, helped to develop, and she herself has lived:
Simply Smiles recognizes the strength that is born from overcoming adversity, and we nurture children to become adults who are driven and prepared to fulfill their dreams and to help better society - for us all.
From cooking a child’s first hearty meal when they come to live with us to attending college graduations for Simply Smiles Scholarship recipients, under her inspirational leadership, Gaby is providing bright futures for the children in her care each and every day.
Director Gaby Chavez Hernandez (right) with the tireless, dedicated team of individuals who care for the children in Oaxaca.
Alexandra (Alex) Gross, Communications Manager
As the communications manager for Simply Smiles, Alex is responsible for producing everything you see about Simply Smiles. Social media posts, emails, media coverage, and fundraising pages… all come from Alex’s technical skills and keen sense of marketing and communications.
Alex presents the work of Simply Smiles that inspires our donors, supporters, and volunteers. And she does so in a way that preserves, and also builds, the dignity of the children, families, and communities that Simply Smiles serves.
Alex received her B.A. in English/journalism, environmental studies, and politics from Fairfield University, and she holds her M.S. in Sustainable Food Systems from Green Mountain College, including the completion of a capstone project on Lakota foodways.
Alex joined the Simply Smiles staff in 2014 after many years of working as a journalist, marketing consultant, and on small, organic farms in Connecticut. Before becoming the full-time communications manager for Simply Smiles, Alex also piloted our food and garden programs on the Reservation.
Stephanie Kish, Finance Manager
As the finance manager for Simply Smiles, Stephanie oversees the financial operations of the organization. Stephanie is an experienced, highly skilled, financial professional who applies her high standards and diligence to every aspect of her position.
Stephanie manages the organization’s bookkeeping, donor database, payroll, accounts payable, vendors, insurance, and compliance. She also creates financial reports and spearheads annual filings.
The systems that Stephanie has implemented and managed provide Simply Smiles with real-time financial data that allow the organization to make accurately informed decisions that result in our high level of financial and operational efficiency.
Stephanie works closely with every member of the Simply Smiles team, monitoring income, expenditures, and budgets. She also works closely with the organization’s treasurer, accountant, and auditor.
Since joining Simply Smiles in 2016, Stephanie has managed the financial growth of the organization. Her efforts epitomize how a not-for-profit’s finances should be managed, providing the transparency, stewardship, and efficiency that inspires our team, our board of directors, and our supporters.
About our team
Simply Smiles is committed, as a central tenet of the organization, to our children’s villages being led by indigenous persons from the communities the villages serve.
We believe supporting the talent present in these communities is how privilege and access should be applied and leveraged to enact change.
There is a role for everyone in providing bright futures for children. Our partnerships with local communities are based on the appropriate and effective merging of all resources to form the strongest possible effort and most effective teams.
The result is that the children in the care of Simply Smiles are raised to see the strength in their indigenous heritage and positioned to become “citizens of the world” who are driven and prepared to fulfill their dreams and to help better society - for us all.