NMFMA Board of Directors
Jedrek Lamb
Farmer, Bosque Farms
Jedrek Lamb currently operates a small family farm in Bosque Farms and is an elementary school teacher. He was a market manager, market vendor, and co-director of a food hub for a farmer-owned cooperative. Jedrek is very appreciative of the work of the NMFMA and full of gratitude for all people that support the local food system
Cindy Talamantes
Manager, Los Alamos Farmers’ Market, El Rito
I have served on the NMFMA board of directors for three terms and have managed the Los Alamos Farmers’ Market for the past nine years. I also helped start the Pojoaque Farmers’ Market and managed that market for five years. I’ve been involved in farming for 20 years.
Todd Taylor
Ranchline All Natural and Ranchline Agribusiness
Todd and the Taylor family are part of a company that represents some of the finest ranching and farming properties in the country. Todd also was instrumental in establishing a foothold in the New Mexico farmers' market arena by providing all natural lamb and beef directly to New Mexicans. He has been instrumental in developing a new lamb jerky product called “Ch'arki”, which is a an all natural, gluten-free and paleo-certified product.
Linda & Mario Rosales
Rosales Farms
Mario and Linda farm in Lemitar, New Mexico and grow 60 to 75 acres of chile, vegetables, and melons. They started out selling at the farmers' market, and then at their own farm stands. They also sell their produce to Magdalena schools and senior center in Socorro.
Ralph Vigil
Molino de la Isla Organics LLC
As an 8th generation acequia farmer from East Pecos and Chair of the New Mexico Acequia Commission, Ralph Vigil's passion lies in the defense of acequia traditions and culture. Ralph is also the owner of Molino de la Isla Organics LLC, a small certified organic farm specializing in traditional and acequia agriculture focusing on Farm to School, CSA, and Farmers' Market sales. It is his primary goal to defend land and water through organic agriculture by utilizing our centuries-old acequia systems to demonstrate their ability to economically sustain our communities and aid in physical and emotional well-being.
Bryce Townsend
Farmer, Pueblo of San Felipe
Bryce is a farmer from the Pueblo of San Felipe, growing a variety of organic produce that he sells at the Albuquerque Downtown Growers' Market, and the San Felipe Pueblo Farmers' Market in order to provide his community with local access to fresh produce. He also serves on an advisory board for an infrastructure grant program being offered by a collaboration between the NMFMA and New Mexico Acequia Association, on a review committee for applications to the master's program for Community and Regional Planning, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of New Mexico, and oversees a grant program for the San Felipe Pueblo that includes the implementation of a young farmer mentorship program.
Contessa Archuleta
Financial Advisor, The Rikoon Group
Contessa Archuleta is a financial advisor with The Rikoon Group, where she manages the day-to-day operations and leads the team's marketing, communication, and community outreach initiatives. She specializes in establishing lasting intergenerational relationships with various financial objectives and finds it extremely rewarding to work with people as they navigate life's stages and collaborates with them to help achieve their retirement and financial goals. Born and raised in Santa Fe, she is inspired by her community and takes pride in sharing her knowledge of investment fundamentals and opportunities, both in professional seminars and one-on-one. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications, a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from the University of New Mexico, and holds a FINRA Series 65. She lives in Santa Fe with her husband and two children. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, cooking, eating, and being outdoors.
Carrie Theilen
Manager, Presbyterian Healthcare Services
Carrie Thielen, MPH RD, oversees community health programs as the manager of regional community health for Presbyterian Healthcare Services in northern New Mexico. As a public health dietitian, Carrie utilizes her clinical nutrition and public health background to develop and implement programs to increase access to affordable, healthy food, including the Del Sur Farmers' Market hosted at Santa Fe Medical Center, produce prescription programs for different audiences, and support for institutional procurement of local food. Carrie also has extensive experience working with federal, state and local nutrition assistance programs (e.g. WIC, National School Lunch Program) and was the project director for a multi-year Blueprint to End Hunger grant for the Colorado Department of Education School Nutrition Unit. She is excited to be a NMFMA board member to strengthen connections between local food systems and the health, well-being and resilience of communities across New Mexico.
Joshua Cunningham
Marketing & IT Director, Cid's Food Market
As the Marketing Director of Cid's Food Market in Taos for the past seven years, Joshua ``Josh`` has been intimately connected with the growers, makers, and doers within the northern New Mexico and southern Colorado agricultural communities. He believes that the strength of a community is reflected in the strength of its local business, and that ultimately is what drives him in all he does with Cid's and the NMFMA.
Stephanie Sanchez
Director of Operations, Roadrunner Food Bank
Bio coming soon
NMFMA Staff
Denise Miller
Denise has been with the NMFMA since 2005. A Chicago native, she spent every vacation of her youth at her grandfather's farm in Harvard, Illinois, falling in love with nature, fresh farm food, and quiet country roads. After many years in promotional and brand marketing for companies of all sizes as well as non-profits, Denise took a brief detour into education and taught part-time at several Santa Fe middle and high schools. She then hightailed it back to marketing something close to her heart - fresh, locally grown food. Cooking for three hungry teenagers at home keeps her culinary skills sharp, and proves real-world inspiration her her long-running Albuquerque Journal column. She enjoys every aspect of supporting New Mexico's sustainability-minded farmers, ranchers, and food producers, and is grateful for the knowledge and spirit these individuals regularly share with her.
Michael Venticinque
Michael has been in the produce and grocery business for almost 20 years. He has worked as a department manager and area supervisor overseeing three states and 24 stores. Michael now travels New Mexico making connections between farmers and sales outlets in the state. He is passionate about what he does and strongly believes in local food and farming.
Catherine Baca
Catherine is a Santa Fe native with deep roots in the community, serving on several boards in the area. Over the past twelve years Catherine has explored many roles focusing on land health and conservation. Some of her local work includes overseeing a grass bank and grass-fed beef operation, and managing grants for land restoration projects in New Mexico, Arizona, and southern Colorado. For the Navajo Nation, Catherine coordinated Chapter members and managed an annual conference focused on growing and selling food. Catherine lives in Agua Fría Village where she experiences the cultures and traditions with which she grew up.
Sarah Thompson
Sarah has been an enthusiast of local, sustainable agriculture for many years and is excited to become more involved in the community. She has an AA in General Studies and a Certificate of Completion as a Film Technician from CNM. She currently lives in Albuquerque with her daughter and two yorkies. Sarah is an avid lover of books and documentaries, and in her spare time enjoys hiking, sewing, and cooking.
Sonora Rodríguez
Sonora Rodríguez (she/her/ella) is a proud Nuevomexicana, who was born and raised in Albuquerque. She has a deep love and commitment for New Mexico and the communities that make this place so special. Her lived experience has grounded her to work alongside communities to address critical issues like food apartheid and just community development. Some of her formal training includes two bachelor‘s degrees from the University of New Mexico in Chicana/o studies and international studies. She also completed her master‘s degree in city and regional planning from Cornell University in 2019. Sonora currently works as a Planner for the City of Albuquerque, addressing root and contemporary causes of unequal development, and visioning alongside historic communities on how to grow, preserve and develop. Sonora also worked as an active community organizer with the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP). Some of her work with SWOP centered on campaigns of food justice, educational access, and youth employment. In her spare time, she likes doing home improvement projects and tending to her garden. She is excited to be working with NMFMA to increase awareness and participation in the Double Up Food Bucks program.
Kirsten Hansen
Kirsten has lived in and loved New Mexico for more than 20 years. Her passion has always been teaching, and she spent many years home schooling her children in Santa Fe. To stay connected with the greater community, she volunteered at several local non-profits while her children were young. Now, she is putting some of those teaching and organizational skills to good use promoting New Mexico’s farmers’ markets and helping reduce food insecurity in our state. She holds a BA from Williams College in Massachusetts and considers herself a life-long learner. If she doesn’t have her nose in a book, chances are you will find her in the garden out back, struggling to make beautiful things grow with the dubious help of three pups.
Alison Penn
Alison is a writer, editor, and visual storyteller, who considers all of the Land of Enchantment to be home. She is currently based in Las Cruces, NM. Working as a journalist and photographer at Roswell Daily Record set the foundation for her passion for communications and creating community connections. Her love for local food began with helping her grandmothers in their gardens and kitchens to feed her large family in the mountains of High Rolls, NM, and continued as she migrated north. In 2012, she graduated in the inaugural class, with a concentration in visual art, from New Mexico School for the Arts in Santa Fe and continued her education at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Outside of work, she can be found exploring food, art, and culture scenes.
Bryan Crawford-Garrett
Bryan brings to this role nearly 20 years of experience in New Mexico as well as around the world working to strengthen local food and agricultural systems. He has held leadership positions in a variety of nonprofit and funder organizations, and his career has focused on supporting more equitable and just food systems for families and communities that have too often been systematically excluded or exploited. Bryan is originally from Tennessee and has lived most of the past 10 years in New Mexico, with short-term stays in New Zealand and Nicaragua. He currently lives in Albuquerque with his wife and their 3 kids. When he's not attempting to keep up with his kids, Bryan enjoys cooking, hiking, traveling, and playing soccer.
Andrea Warner
After moving to New Mexico in 2002, Andrea Warner discovered her devotion to growing food in the High Desert. She loves gardening with school children and community members in the interest of supporting a thriving local food system. Andrea served as the market manager from the Silver City Farmers' Market from 2018-2022, working to create a marketplace for local entrepreneurs, artists, ranchers, farmers, and food producers. She lives in Silver City NM, where she and her husband run a successful woodcraft business and are raising two teenage children.
Charise Gonzales
Charise is a native New Mexican, who currently resides in Santa Fe, NM, and is an advocate for healthy eating and locally grown food. She worked for NMFMA for three years as an auditor before her current position, where she oversees financial operations and manages human resources for the NMFMA. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, camping and instructs a cardio kickboxing class. She has a passion for the outdoors and nature. She graduated from Texas Tech University with a bachelors' in accounting and looks forward to being a part of the NMMFA community.
Mark Chamberlain
Mark’s interest in creative pursuits started at an early age when his mom proudly taped one of his finger paintings onto the family fridge, and he’s been chasing that buzz ever since. He kickstarted his creative career in the Albuquerque design community but left in the early 2000s to pursue advertising & marketing career opportunities at larger agencies nationwide. While the national exposure was often exciting and rewarding, Mark was always a New Mexico boy at heart and dearly missed having the High Desert as a backyard. Recently his love for the Southwest brought him back home to the Burque, where he once again savors being close to the great outdoors, his family, old friends, and the finest food on the planet.
Jena Marquez
A Northern New Mexico girl at heart, Jena spent her summers growing up in San Miguel County. Jena attended the Academy of Art University in San Francisco with a focus on textile design and fashion Marketing. Working in restaurants while attending college is where her love for all things food blossomed. She dove into the culinary scene in San Francisco and worked almost every job imaginable in a restaurant. She sold tacos at the Ferry Building farmers market, washed dishes at a cigar bar in Northbeach, and curated a wine program in the Mission. Living in San Francisco, she naturally transitioned to the start-up world, where she curated national events focused on her favorite thing…food. Jena returned to New Mexico in April of 2021, living with her husband, Rob, and daughter, Jupiter. She loves riding bikes, traveling with family, and finding the best street food (especially dumplings and tacos).
Scott Knauer
Scott was raised in eastern New Mexico, where he spent his professional life learning and practicing graphic design, advertising, and technology. He holds two degrees in graphic design and advertising and has spent most of his career in the higher education sector via his prior experience at Clovis Community College. He currently volunteers on the Clovis Community College Foundation board, focusing on fundraising and scholarships for area students. When Scott is not clicking away behind a keyboard for the NMFMA, you can find him practicing many hobbies, including trail and distance running, strengthening his green thumb in his backyard garden, or cooking up new recipes in the kitchen as an aspiring pro home chef.
Ally Jacobs
Ally's work has always centered on good food, whether gardening (and taste testing!) with toddlers as an Early Childhood Educator, facilitating hands-on cooking and nutrition classes as a SNAP-ed Program Coordinator, or managing the Salida and Buena Vista farmers' markets. She joined the NMFMA in 2022 and enjoys pulling from her background in child development, nutrition education, and farmers' market management to write GoodFoodNM text message content. Ally lives in Salida, CO, and when she's not working, you'll find her on a family bike ride, soaking in the hot springs, or trying new foods and recipes with her daughter.
Sheena Tallis-Tallman
Sheena is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, and her clans are Honaghaahnii and Bit'ahnii. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Health and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Public Health. Since 2014, she has been a strong advocate for health education and promotion and, more recently, advocating for equitable food systems to NM communities. As the daughter of two loving parents, Sheena aspires to gain the knowledge to carry on their legacy of raising sheep and corn, hoping to inspire her two young daughters to live off the land in harmony, balance, and respect.
Alena Paisano
Bio coming soon
