Staff

Mark has over thirty years of professional experience working with social-profit nongovernmental organizations in leadership positions, including over twenty years as executive director. Before joining New Mexico Wild, Mark’s activities focused on anti-poverty and social justice work, with an emphasis on developing permanent affordable housing for persons experiencing homelessness. Mark’s projects earned national recognition for modeling award winning sustainable “green” design. Mark subsequently led a national project team providing technical assistance and training to communities on community development. He has served on numerous national, regional, and local boards of directors.

Mark has demonstrated success in strategic planning, organizational development, management, and fundraising and is adept at partnerships and coalition building. Since coming to New Mexico Wild in 2013, Mark has been proud to lead a team that has helped secure numerous new protections for New Mexico’s land, waters, and wildlife. Mark earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from Illinois State University. Mark fell in love with New Mexico in 1977 and moved here permanently in 1993. He resides in Albuquerque with his wife, Jenny Metzler, and his two sons, Levin and Jack. He believes passionately that we have a responsibility to permanently protect land, not only for future generations to experience and enjoy, but for its own sake.

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Tisha has worked for New Mexico Wild since 1999. She has served as Interim Executive Director, Development Director and Membership Coordinator. Tisha was a member of the Wilderness50 Executive Committee in 2014, when the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act was celebrated in Albuquerque. With a degree in environmental science and a background in environmental consulting, Tisha manages fundraising, communications and membership for the New Mexico Wild. Tisha also works to build community partnerships and lead youth outreach and volunteer service projects.
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Sarai was born and raised in Quito, Ecuador. She was introduced to the Land of Enchantment for the first time 11 years ago as a foreign exchange student. In 2016, she came back to New Mexico after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design & Visual Communications at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador.

With over 6 years of experience, she has worked for several magazines and newspaper publications like The Albuquerque Journal and Brewers Crew Magazine creating promotional and advertising content for numerous clients. Her work is guided by a strong belief in design as a problem-solving tool and as a way of forming relationships between ideas and reality.

She volunteers at Wildlife Rescue, loves to hike and spend time in Nature. Sarai is excited to contribute with her grain of sand towards protecting New Mexico’s lands, waters and wildlife. She believes that we were born to take care of the wildlife, not to destroy it. “Nacimos para cuidar la vida silvestre, no para destruirla.”
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Brittany Fallon, Ph.D., leads the organization’s state policy and legislative efforts; wildlife issues; and policy research and analysis. Brittany previously worked at the Sierra Club, where she helped negotiate and pass state legislation on clean energy, lands, water, wildlife, and the regulation of oil and gas. Dr. Fallon was a research professor at The University of New Mexico funded by the American Association of University Women. Brittany has extensive experience in conservation as the former Assistant Director of the Budongo Conservation Field Station, a research station in Uganda's largest forest and home to an estimated 600 wild chimpanzees.

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Julian was born and raised in Santa Fe. He is married to Peggy and has three children. He is an avid hunter, angler, and all-around sportsman who enjoys recreating on public lands. He served 27 years in the military and is a decorated combat veteran, serving as 1SG in the New Mexico Army National Guard. He has shifted his energy and is now a passionate advocate for wildlife and public lands. If you get him talking, he may tell you a story or two from catching a hybrid bass in a pond at Saddam Hussein's palace to catching wild, attacking javelina bare-handed. He carries a remarkable wealth of knowledge on mountain and Spanish traditions. Passing this knowledge is one of Julian's passions. He is a firearms expert, bowhunter education instructor, HE instructor, NM land navigation instructor, survival instructor, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish northeast chair for the habitat stamp program and livestock rancher.
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Keegan King is from the Pueblo of Acoma and has over 15 years of experience in political and public policy work. He has managed dozens of candidate and issue campaigns beginning with his time at the Albuquerque based Soltari Inc. Keegan continued as the Executive Director of the League of Young Voters New Mexico and New Mexico Youth Organized. In 2009, Keegan founded Atsaya Consulting a Native-owned political consulting company. Since then he has worked as Political Director of the NM Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, national Field Director to the Pushback Network and Data Director for United We Dream. He has been instrumental in protection campaigns such as Chaco, particularly in his work with the All Pueblo Council of Governors and the National Congress of American Indians. Keegan was most recently the Policy, Legislative Affairs, and Communications Bureau Chief for the NM Department of Indian Affairs.
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Living more than 30 years in New Mexico has given Lois Manno a great depth of appreciation for this state and its wild country. She is pleased to help promote wildlands protection. Lois has a background in nonprofit administration, with experience coordinating programs and membership for groups including the Forest Stewards Guild, 1000 Friends of New Mexico, and the National Parks Conservation Association. She is a cave enthusiast and has volunteered as a project caver for Carlsbad Caverns National Park and other land management agencies for over 20 years.
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Becca is originally from the Great Lakes region of the Midwest, growing up in South Bend, Indiana and spending much of her life around the coast of Lake Michigan. She is passionate about community relationships with their lands and waters, climate adaptation, and the connections between human and environmental health such as trauma and resiliency. Becca received a B.A. in Anthropology and Religious Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, after which she worked with trauma survivors in both Madison and New Orleans. Becca moved to New Mexico in 2019 and is currently pursuing a dual graduate degree in Public Health and Community & Regional Planning at UNM. Becca joined NM Wild in 2022, and loves hiking, gardening, and pottery.
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Kineo grew up in Crescent City, California and moved to Taos, New Mexico in high school. She is currently a senior at the University of New Mexico studying Environmental Science and Sustainability Studies. She is heavily involved in environmental activism on campus through UNM Leaders for Environmental Action and Foresight (LEAF), a student-led coalition trying to help UNM to become a more sustainable campus. After graduation, she hopes to work in Natural Resource Management to protect the country’s water and land resources. She is very excited to work this summer as a Nancy Morton Wilderness Intern and help to develop the Wilderness Defenders Program.
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Captain Muenzberg ( y Tinajero de Barreras y Lucero Godoy ) is a long time New Mexican, like numerous generations of American Miners, Muleteers, Merchants, Machinists, and Mariners before him. Darrin is proud of his Hispano, Chicano, and Coyote heritage in the region. While “following the work” as his forebears have for centuries, he has remained anchored in his ancestral village of La Bajada, where he lives with wife Eva, and son Baern Candelario.

The traditional lifeways of the Caja del Rio , La Majada, El Camino Real, and Santa Fe River acequia culture, have sustained the families of La Bajada since the 17th century. Stewardship, and respect for the revelation of nature, lie at the heart of those community beliefs. Darrin’s worldview was formed by his Great-Grandmother, and influenced by his interactions and relationships with people while trading in the ports of the Eastern Mediterranean, Arabian Peninsula, Persian Gulf, Balochistan, South Asia, East Asia, Central America, and South America.

Darrin seeks to apply the lessons he has been taught in his travels, to his work toward sustaining traditional New Mexican culture as a model for survival through a challenging environmental future. He has served as Chairman of the La Bajada Traditional Village Committee since 2006. He was a founding member of the Santa Fe River Traditional Communities Collaborative in 2011, and was elected as a Commissioner of the La Bajada Community Ditch & Mutual Domestic Water Association in 2013. "La Lucha Sigue!"

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Nathan is a fifth generation New Mexican with two decades of experience working on wilderness campaigns in the state of New Mexico. He has previously been the media director and associate director at New Mexico Wild, having first joined the organization in 2002. Nathan heads up the Silver City office as Grassroots Organizer for the Gila.

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A lifelong visitor to New Mexico, Devon moved to Albuquerque with her husband Jason in the spring of 2021 to be closer to the wild beauty of this totally unique state. You can catch them zealously hiking, camping, and rafting their way around New Mexico.
Devon grew up in Dallas. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Northern Colorado, she lived in Denver and worked for the Harm Reduction Action Center in homeless outreach. She is thrilled to finally be “home” in New Mexico, and is so inspired by the work New Mexico Wild does to protect our state’s precious ecological and cultural heritage.
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Vicente comes to New Mexico Wild after a 33-year career with the US Forest Service. He brings a wide range land management experience including wildlife biology, wildland firefighting, land management (timber/rangeland/recreation/fire management) expertise, wilderness management and trail maintenance experience, endangered species impact analysis in relation to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA). The last eight years of his career he worked as the FS Liaison to the Mexican Wolf Recovery effort.
“My career with the FS has all been in the SW. The Gila Wilderness has always been my favorite place to work and recreate. I am thrilled to be able to focus my land management expertise, experience and passion in the Gila with New Mexico Wild”.

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Sally fell in love with nature and all things wild at an early age. She moved to New Mexico with her family in 1989. Prior to law school, Sally studied biology at the University of New Mexico, where she focused on biodiversity, conservation, and ecology. Sally obtained a law degree in 2009 from the University of New Mexico, completing the Natural Resources Law Certificate Program and serving as editor-in-chief of the Natural Resources Journal. Prior to joining the staff at New Mexico Wild, Sally served in several capacities at the New Mexico Supreme Court, including law clerk to Chief Justice Charles W. Daniels, Senior Counsel, and Deputy Clerk of Court. She has also clerked in federal district court for Senior District Court Judge James A. Parker and has worked as Senior Assistant City Attorney for the City of Santa Fe, where she focused on land use and property law. Sally spends her free time exploring the outdoors with her husband Danny, hiking, backpacking, and exploring the beautiful landscapes and communities of our beautiful state and beyond.
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As a resident since 1979, Kerry has developed a love for the mountains and deserts of New Mexico. She has been to every corner of the state, and particularly likes to visit the Gila Wilderness, Ojito Wilderness and the Jemez area. As a former public school teacher, she brings her organizational skills to the task of protecting and enhancing New Mexico’s wilderness areas.
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Will’s passion for the outdoors began as a young kid playing by the river in his hometown of Corrales. His passion for conservation grew at Bosque School through programs like BEMP (Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program) and he went forward to pursue a degree in Environmental Studies at Eckerd College on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Upon graduation he returned home to Albuquerque to continue his passion for conservation work and environmental stewardship. He worked for Rocky Mountain Youth Corps for 5 seasons doing a variety of conservation projects such as conservation outreach, backcountry trail maintenance, volunteer coordination, invasive species removal and more. He loves hiking mountains and experiencing New Mexico’s beautiful wilderness areas.
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Terry is the former Chief Marketing, Membership and Philanthropy Officer for The Nature Conservancy is Washington, D.C. When he retired, he moved back to New Mexico and has been supporting New Mexico Wild for the past six years. Terry is the author of “The Marketer’s Visual Tool Kit” published by the American Management Association. He describes himself as an enthusiastic hiker and a very mediocre fly-fisherman.
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Nathan first joined New Mexico Wild in in 2004, after graduating with dual degrees in Philosophy and English from the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. Nathan is a third generation New Mexican who comes from a family of ranchers and educators. Nathan was a key team member working to secure and then safeguard National Monument protection for the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks. Now there are 10 new wilderness areas in the OMDP, and Nathan’s focus on community conservation partnerships are a key part of recovering and rebuilding from the twin challenges of Covid-19 and the climate crisis. You’re as likely to see him riding horseback out in the OMDP wilderness areas as you are to see him walking on Las Cruces’ Main Street.
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Suzanne was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM. Her love of the outdoors began at a young age and has carried through to adulthood. She loves spending her free time connecting with family and friends, and loves living in the southwest. During the summer months, she will find any excuse to get to one of NM’s many lakes and rivers. Suzanne attended UNM’s Anderson School of Management and brings NM Wild a diverse skill set in nonprofit administration and management.
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Garrett was a candidate for the New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands in 2018 and then worked as a political advocacy strategist for Conservation Voters of New Mexico leading up to and during the New Mexico Legislative session. Before running for office, Garrett was Executive Director of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation. He was also the Southwest Director of Trout Unlimited’s Sportsmen’s Project (NM. AZ and CO) as well as Trout Unlimited’s New Mexico Public Lands Coordinator and also founded the New Mexico Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. Garrett has been a tireless champion for the conservation and protection of public lands and native wildlife, fighting for everything from federal and state funding for native wildlife, stricter regulation of off highway vehicles on public lands, higher state water quality standards, stricter regulation on mineral development, to enhanced conservation and protection of threatened and endangered species.
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Ralph is a twelfth-generation Nuevo Mexicano from Pecos whose passion lies in his work protecting the precious resources that have sustained New Mexico's traditional acequia communities for hundreds of years. He is the Chairman of the New Mexico Acequia Commission where he has fought tirelessly to protect acequias and the watersheds that feed them for 16 years. Ralph is also the owner of Molino de la Isla Organics, a small organic farm that grows healthy, acequia grown food for his community and helps educate the public about acequia culture and its contribution to the environment that sustains them. Ralph was instrumental in the founding of the Stop the Tererro Mine Coalition. bringing stakeholders from the environmental, traditional, and pueblo communities together to protect the Pecos River and its tributaries. It is Ralph's goal to ensure that New Mexico's natural resources and traditional communities are cared for, respected, and protected for future generations.
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Walker's adoration of the Southwest is tied directly to the land and all of the astonishing places to explore. At an early age, Walker was able to explore the San Juan mountains, the vast Ponderosa-Piñon forests and stunning canyons that make the Southwest landscapes so special. Being an avid hiker, runner, and rafter fostered his enthusiasm for conservation and stewardship. Walker studied film and music in college and still finds the best creative inspirations come from the being out in the Wild. Walker is excited to work with Wilderness in a professional capacity as an advocate and ranger with New Mexico Wild.
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Emma recently moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico through Young Adult Volunteers, a yearlong service program focused on addressing systemic oppression and engagement with local community. Born and raised in Ohio, Emma graduated from Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia with degrees in History and Sociology. During her year in Albuquerque, Emma looks forward to utilizing her past experiences in environmental groups to aid the restoration and protection efforts currently underway at New Mexico Wild and exploring the rich cultures and vast wilderness New Mexico has to offer.
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