NMFMA Board and Staff
Board of directors
Jedrek Lamb
Board Chair
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
Board Secretary
Manager, Los Alamos Farmers' Market, El Rito
Cindy has served on the NMFMA board of directors for three terms, and has managed the Los Alamos Farmers' Market for the past nine years. She also helped start the Pojoaque Farmers' Market and managed that market for five years. Cindy has been involved in farming for 20 years.
Todd Taylor
Board Treasurer
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
Board Member
Rosales Produce
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
Board Member
Molino de la Isla Organics
As an eighth 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
Board Member
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
Board Member
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
Board Member
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
Board Member
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
Board Member
Director of Operations, Roadrunner Food Bank
Denise Miller
Executive Director
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
Value Chain Coordinator
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
Membership Coordinator
Catherine is a Santa Fe native with deep roots in the community, serving on several boards in the area. Over the past 12 years, she has focused on land health and conservation. Some of her work includes overseeing a grass bank and grass-fed beef operation, and managing grants for land restoration projects in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. For the Navajo Nation, Catherine coordinated Chapter members and managed an annual conference focused on growing and selling food. She lives in Agua Fría Village in the cultures and traditions with which she grew up.
Sarah Thompson
Double Up Food Bucks Program Manager
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
Double Up Food Bucks Outreach Ambassador
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
FreshRx Program Coordinator
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
Communications Administrator
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
Food Systems Initiatives Director
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
Market Manager Liaison and Food Safety Training Coordinator
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
Director of Finance
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 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 NMFMA community.
Joann Jarvis-Olivas
Data Entry and Administrative Assistant
Joann completed her undergraduate in economics and paralegal studies in Seattle, WA, before calling NM home in 2007. After many years as a litigation paralegal, she decided last year that it was time for a change. She is currently studying accounting at Santa Fe Community College. Cooking and gardening have never come naturally to this city dweller, but the environment and sustainability have been lifelong concerns. She appreciates the economic and environmental benefits of supporting local farms and is excited to be a part of the NMFMA’s work. In her free time Joann loves to walk, read, go bowling, and watch movies.
