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 and preserve land, not only for us and our children to experience and enjoy, but for its own sake.
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.
Sara’s professional background includes the legal and healthcare fields, most recently establishing a communications and marketing department for a behavioral healthcare organization serving rural communities across New Mexico. She is passionate about public land conservation, stewardship, and increasing equitable access to the outdoors. With a strong belief in the expansive power of visual storytelling, Sara is excited to help New Mexico Wild connect with a broader audience in her role as Communications Coordinator.
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.
Mollie grew up in North Dakota as an indoor child. She started to venture outside to urban green spaces when she moved to Minnesota to attend Macalester College where she received her BA in History and German Studies. After college, she began to discover the magic of wilderness and has been making up for lost time ever since, spending her free time exploring canyons, waterfalls, rivers, lakes, and peaks. Professionally, Mollie has worked in informal education and program management at museums and educational institutions. She’s excited to user her experience to support New Mexico Wild’s work to protect and restore wildlands.
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.u003cbr /u003enDevon 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.
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.
Nathan first joined New Mexico Wild 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.
Tricia Snyder claims El Paso, TX as home and credits growing up along the often dry banks of the Rio Grande as the catalyst for her interest in water resources. She received a BS in Geography, with a focus on the human-environment connection, from New Mexico State University and started her career in Las Cruces working to protect and restore the southwest borderlands. In 2015 she moved to central Washington to pursue a MS in Cultural and Environmental Resource Management, completing her thesis on the Upper Klamath Basin. She spent four years working in community based salmon recovery in the Yakima Basin. In 2021, she returned to New Mexico to fulfill a career goal of working on her home river. She joined New Mexico Wild in 2022 as the organization’s first Senior Water Policy Analyst and is excited to bring her passion for climate resilient water systems that center equity for all the plant, wildlife, and human communities that depend on them.
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 New Mexico Wild a diverse skill set in nonprofit administration and management.
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 u0026amp; 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.
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.
