New Mexico Appleseed: Our Team
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dale Dekker, Chair
Dekker/Perich/Sabatini
Caroline Garcia, Treasurer
KPMG LLP
Linh Nguyen, Secretary
Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group
Sarah Brown
Retired
Veronica Garcia
Retired
Kara Bobroff
One Generation
Randi McGinn
McGinn, Montoya, Love & Curry
Dawn Nieto-Gouy
Kiva Ventures
Georgie Ortiz
CliftonLarsonAllen
Jennifer Ramo
New Mexico Appleseed
JENNY RAMO
Founder & Executive Director
Jennifer Ramo is the founder and Executive Director of New Mexico Appleseed. An experienced attorney, she designed New Mexico Appleseed’s effective system of change and created Appleseed’s first-in-the-nation programs such as the Hunger-Free Students’ Bill of Rights (prohibited lunch shaming children whose parents owe school meal debt), the Breakfast After the Bell law (requires all high poverty elementary schools to serve breakfast during the school day that has been replicated by over a dozen states and districts) and the Food Access Navigator project on the Navajo Nation (awarded a USDA innovation demonstration grant).
Ms. Ramo’s professional focus is on multi-generational systems involvement and using community voice/qualitative data and quantitative data to improve poverty outcomes. The lens of racial equity in the poverty arena is a natural extension of this work.
Her anti-hunger and homelessness work has received international attention and been highlighted in the New York Times, CNN, USA Today, Le Monde, BBC and Al Jazeera, among others.
Ms. Ramo is a graduate of the Albuquerque Academy, the University of Southern California and Tulane Law School. She was a recipient of the Coro Fellowship.
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DANIEL VALVERDE
Director of Strategy
Daniel Valverde is responsible for bringing awareness about child hunger issues across the state and helps support federal programs, such as school breakfast, school lunch, and after school meals. He helps assist after school programs in receiving free reimbursable meals and snacks using federal funds. He also works on Appleseed’s McKinney-Vento program. His work includes supporting school districts around the state with their McKinney-Vento programs, offering technical assistance, and identifying issues on the ground that require policy changes.
Mr. Valverde was accepted as an Emerson Hunger Fellow with Congressional Hunger Center in Washington D.C., He improved access to SNAP at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Food Security Partnership in Pittsburg Pennsylvania, and then moved on to explore health care providers' role in ending childhood hunger at the Share Our Strength in Washington, DC with the Partner Impact and Advocacy team. Most recently, Daniel was a Child Hunger Outreach Specialist with the Texas Hunger Initiative at Baylor University School of Social Work. Mr. Valverde received his bachelor's degree in anthropology at Eastern New Mexico University, and his master's degree in cultural anthropology and food studies at New Mexico State University.
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JOSEPHINE BENAVIDEZ
Director of Administration
Josephine Benavidez, as Director of Administration, is responsible for all aspects of the accounting for the organization, including maintenance of donor databases, and management of the office and support to staff.
A native to Northern New Mexico Josephine has spent her life raising her family with her husband and giving back to the community she was raised in, something that is deeply important to her. Josephine attended the Santa Fe Community College while raising her family and working full-time obtaining her associate degrees in accounting and business to further compliment her twenty-eight years of experience in the fields of accounting and office management.
She is known for her attention to detail and dedication to her trade. Her ability to adapt and solve problems, often with limited resources working toward team and personal goals is a key character trait she possesses. Her comprehensive bookkeeping, administrative, and office management experience in her career and her latest role as finance and operations manager will contribute to her success in supporting New Mexico Appleseed’s initiatives.