Support from State Legislators and the community
Carmen Gonzales has been a long time educator working in leadership roles in both K-12 and higher education. She retired as the VP for Student Success at both Santa Fe Community College and New Mexico State University, where she is VP Emerita. She is a native of Santa Fe, New Mexico, however, she left for 34 years and happily returned ten years ago. She enjoys contributing her knowledge where needed and feels that education is important in order to have a strong democracy. She is also the President of the Santa Fe Community College’s Foundation Board of Directors. And has served as Mayor Webber’s Education Advisor. Carmen’s parents taught her the importance of giving back and helping others.
Sascha Anderson was born and raised in Oklahoma, attended public schools throughout her education, and is an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Before joining the Board of Education, Sascha volunteered with SFPS as PTA President, School Advisory Committee Chair, Chair of the Policy Subcommittee of the Superintendent’s Equity and Diversity Council, and member of the district’s Equity and Inclusion Committee. Sascha’s professional career has centered on training, development, and communications for public, private, and non-profit organizations, serving as the Director of Education for a specialty food organization before launching her own consulting practice. Sascha has worked as an advocate and volunteer in the community for the issues of equitable public education and family engagement, immigrant justice, and perinatal mental health, and as a volunteer for Girls, Inc. and Girl Scouts. Together with her husband, Michael, Sascha has three children who attend Nava Elementary.
Gerry Fairbrother, Ph.D. is the president of the consulting firm, Fairbrother Associates, Inc. Dr. Fairbrother is an experienced health services researcher and evaluator, whose work has emphasized access to and quality of care, especially for vulnerable populations. She has led numerous research projects, including projects on churning in Medicaid, use of technology and registries, and physician payment. She is widely published in scholarly journals and has begun writing opinion pieces for the popular press.
Dr. Fairbrother holds a Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University and is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association, and a member of the National Association of Social Insurance. She has served on IOM Committees and on the CMS Technical Expert Panel on National Impact Assessment of CMS Quality Measures. She is an Associate Editor for Policy and Health Services Research for Academic Pediatrics, a leading pediatric journal.
Lois Ellen Frank, Ph.D. is a Santa Fe, New Mexico based Chef, author, a Native foods historian, culinary anthropologist, educator, photographer, organic gardener, and a James Beard Award winning cookbook author, for her book Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations. She is the chef/owner of Red Mesa Cuisine, LLC, a catering company specializing in Indigenous Cuisine and Cultural Education with a modern twist where she cooks alongside Native American Chef Walter Whitewater, Diné (Navajo). Dr. Frank has spent over 30 years documenting and working with the foods and lifeways of Native American communities in the Southwest. In 2020, she was the recipient of the Local Hero Olla Award, which recognizes an exceptional individual for the work they do to create healthy, innovative, vibrant, and resilient local sustainable food systems in New Mexico. In August of 2023, her new cookbook, Seed to Plate, Soil to Sky Modern Plant-Based Recipes Using Native American Ingredients will be released.