|
Board Of Directors
The New Mexico Land Conservancy is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors whose primary role is policy-making, governance and strategic planning for the organization. Collectively, our Board and staff have extensive land conservation experience as well as expertise in other key areas such as non-profit management, organizational development, natural resource management, public relations and community outreach, public policy and fundraising.
The 2006-2007 Board of Directors are:
Executive Committee Chair - Dr. John B. (Jack) Wright, Las Cruces, NM Vice Chair - Joseph R. T. Montoya, Santa Fe, NM Secretary - Anthony (Tony) Anella, Albuquerque, NM Treasurer - Dave Johnson, Farmington, NM
Members of the Board
Anthony L. (Tony) Benson, Past Chair & Founding Member, Taos, NM Elizabeth H. Richardson, Founding Member, Los Angeles, CA Moo Thorpe, Board Member, Santa Fe, NM Ray Powell, Board Member, Albuquerque, NM
Chair Jack is Chair of the Geography Department at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, where he has been the Professor of Geography since 1990. Jack has consulted in the land trust field for 30 years and has designed more than 100 conservation easements in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Jack has written five books on land conservation and geography, and numerous book chapters and journal articles on conservation easements. He also has considerable expertise in land use planning. Earlier in his career, Jack served as Planning Director for Mineral County, Montana. In Montana, he also served for eight years on the Board of the Five Valleys Land Trust based in Missoula. Jack holds three degrees in Geography: B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, M.A. from University of Montana, and a PhD. from the University of California at Berkeley.
Vice-Chair
Joseph is a native New Mexican whose family roots are in Mora and Santa Fe. Joseph is currently Deputy Director of the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority. Previously, he served as Executive Director of the Albuquerque Civic Trust. From 1990-2002 he worked for the City of Santa Fe as the Principal Planner, Housing & Economic Development Team Leader and, ultimately, Community Services Department Director. He was instrumental in the creation and development of Tierra Contenta, a mixed income housing development in Santa Fe that won the national American Planning Association Award for implementation. Joseph has also been awarded the national Innovations in Government Award. Joseph was also instrumental in forming the first housing trust in the state. Joseph is a past president of 1000 Friends of New Mexico and currently serves as a Board Member of the Rural Development Corporation. Joseph’s formal education includes Bachelor’s degrees in University Studies and Architecture, and coursework for Master’s degrees in Planning and Finance from the University of New Mexico.
Secretary
Tony is the principal of Anthony Anella Architect AIA, an award-winning practice dedicated to site-sensitive design, and also a partner in Conservation Design Partners, an Albuquerque group that specializes in conservation-based design and development. He is co-author, with John B. Wright, of SAVING THE RANCH: Conservation Easement Design in the American West, Island Press (2004). He is also co-author, with Mark C. Childs, of NEVER SAY GOODBYE: The Albuquerque Rephotographic Survey Project, The Albuquerque Museum (2000). Born and raised in Albuquerque, Tony spent his early summers working on farms and ranches in New Mexico. From that experience he gained an abiding respect for the land and the people who earn their living on the land. He believes that good design is distinguished by the art of listening and by letting the land do most of the talking. Tony has a B.A. in History from Dartmouth College and a Master of Architecture from the University of Colorado.
Treasurer
Dave has been involved with park, conservation, and environmental issues in New Mexico for over 25 years. He is currently working with a private environmental consulting firm specializing in wildlife habitat, wetlands, land conservation and erosion control measures. Dave is past Director of Design and Development for New Mexico State Parks. He served on the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission from 1978 to 2003. He designed the Rio Grande Nature Center, Living Desert State Park, and the Mesilla Valley Bosque Park, and was also instrumental in land conservation and restoration in the Rio Grande corridor. Dave is extremely knowledgeable about land conservation, natural resource planning and state governance issues. He holds a B.S. in Environmental Biology from the University of Colorado.
Former Chair and Founding Member
Tony is a retired geologist and formerly the Vice-President of Exploration for the Amoco Corporation. He has been in cattle ranching around Cerros de Taos for the past 10 years, working to restore native grasslands and improve the natural productivity of his property. Tony granted a conservation easement to the Taos Land Trust on part of his Ranch in 1999. Tony is also currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of New Mexico - Taos, teaching geology, soils and groundwater. He is currently a member of the Board of Supervisors of the Taos Soil and Water Conservation District, Chairman of Region 2 of the New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts and a Board member of the Taos Land Trust. He has also served on the Bureau of Land Management’s New Mexico Resource Advisory Council. Tony has a B.S. and Ph.D. in Geology from Ohio State.
Founding Member
Elizabeth retired from Colorado Open Lands (COL) in 2001, a statewide land conservation organization, where she had worked since 1994 as Manager of Public Affairs and subsequently as a Land Protection Specialist. In these positions, Elizabeth had responsibilities that included the acquisition of conservation easements, management of the Stewardship Program, fundraising, communications and public relations. Elizabeth’s career has included work in the private, public, political, educational and non-profit arenas. Elizabeth served on the Board of the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts for 12 years. She is a long time Board Overseer of Simon’s Rock College of Bard, and is also on the Boards of the Rocky Mountain Women’s Institute, the South Metro Land Conservancy, and the Greenway Foundation. Elizabeth holds a B.A. from Radcliffe College, a M.P.A from University of Southern California, and an M.B.A. in Finance from University of Denver.
Board Member
Moo a native of Santa Fe, has been a licensed New Mexico Real Estate Broker since 1982 and presently is with Sotheby's International Realty in Santa Fe. She holds a New Mexico GB-98 General Contractor's license, as well as the G.R.I. designation from the National Association of Realtors. During her career she has gained extensive development experience through the marketing and development of several successful communities in Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico. She and her husband Marc built an authentic adobe home where she lives with her two children and many pets. With her husband, Moo skis, camps, hikes, rides horses, and runs in the mountains. Moo has a degree in Geography from Middlebury College in Vermont.
Board Member
Ray is currently the Regional Director of the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots and Shoots Four Corners States Program. Previously, he was the Executive Director for the Valles Caldera National Preserve from 2004-2005 and the New Mexico State Commissioner of Public Lands from 1993-2002. He has been a practicing Veterinarian for over 20 years. Ray was featured as one of the 30 voices in the Museum of New Mexico Press Publication - ALBUQUERQUE IN OUR TIME/30 VOICES, 300 YEARS - in 2006. He also received the Outstanding Alumnus Award presented by Tufts University Veterinary Alumni Association and the Rangeland Manager of the Year Award by the New Mexico Section Society for Range Management in 2003. Ray was an avid tennis professional for twelve years with the United States Professional Tennis Association. Ray has a D.V.M. from Tufts University, School of Veterinary Medicine; a M.S. from Systematic Botany and Plant Ecology, University of New Mexico; and a B.S. in Anthropology and Biology, University of New Mexico.
| ||||||||||||||||
