Brian Shields, Executive Director

Brian has been with Amigos Bravos since its inception – serving as a founding member of the Board of Directors, as Projects Director from 1991-1996, and as Executive Director since 1996. Prior to his work with Amigos Bravos, Brian served as a Wilderness Resource Guide throughout Northern New Mexico. Brian was born and raised in Barcelona, Spain, is of Spanish, British, and German-Jewish descent, and has resided in New Mexico for the past 31 years.

Sawnie Morris, Assistant to the Director

Sawnie works on a contractual basis to assist the Executive Director in all aspects of organizational development, with an emphasis on human resource tasks and social justice concerns. She was the founding executive director (1989-1996) and subsequently served on the board of directors (1997-2002). Sawnie’s family on her mother’s side is from the Lower Río Grande Valley in Texas. Her grandfather, after whom she is named, was an attorney who spent his life working in the area of international and domestic water rights in relation to the Río Grande. As a result, her relationship to the Río Grande contains both the profound mythological sense of a river one acquires in childhood, and a more practical appreciation of the complexity of water politics. Sawnie has made Taos, New Mexico her home since 1983.

Rachel Conn, Clean Water Circuit Rider & Policy Analyst

As Circuit Rider, Rachel provides hands-on support to impacted communities and watershed groups, reviews and comments on state and federal water policy issues, conducts Clean Water Act trainings, and leads our water quality and river otter reintroduction programs. Rachel previously served as Project Director for the Costilla County Committee for Environmental Soundness (San Luis, CO) and as an Environmental Analyst with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (Boston, MA). She holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Biology from Colorado College.

Linda Gomez, Membership and Database Coordinator

The new Database and Membership Coordinator, Linda Gomez, is responsible for cultivating, assessing, and managing an active and engaged membership base, maintaining accurate membership and financial records, and assisting the Community Outreach Coordinator in planning and coordinating outreach activities and events. Linda brings a wealth of advocacy experience to Amigos Bravos, including activism within the American Indian Movement (AIM), five years employment as Legal Assistant and Office Manager for the Western Environmental Law Center (Taos), and advocacy work as the Program Manager for all Native American Programs in the Taos Municipal Schools, over an additional five year span. She was a political science major at UCLA and received a Legal Assistance Training Certificate from TVI at the University of New Mexico.

Originally from Oklahoma, Linda Gomez is a member of the Cheyenne-Arapahoe Tribe, and is married to Daniel Gomez of Taos Pueblo, where she has resided for most of the past thirty years. She is the mother of four children (three boys and one girl), and seven grandchildren.

Carol Hardison, Bookkeeper

A native of North Carolina, Carol moved to Taos in 1990 and has been Amigos Bravos’ accountant on a contractual basis since 1994. She received a bachelor’s degree in business administration (accounting) from the University of Georgia. Carol has 10 other clients, but considers Amigos Bravos her “baby” and creative challenge. She also is a single mother of four even greater challenges – Snowflower, Fawn, Lake, and Brook Romero of Taos Pueblo.

Michael Jensen, Grants and Communication

Michael does grant tracking and reporting, proposal development, and other writing for Amigos Bravos. He came to Amigos Bravos from the Alliance for Transportation Research Institute at UNM, writing certification documents and providing research and analysis for the North Central Regional Transit District. Prior to that, he was Outreach Coordinator for the College of Fine Arts and, for five years, Program Coordinator for the US-Japan Center, both also at UNM. Before moving to Albuquerque in 1990, he did proposal work for international development management firms in Washington, DC. He has lived and worked in Norway (a small fruit farm), Germany, and Brazil (where he and his wife volunteered on a number of community-based social and economic projects). He has a B.A. in American Studies from UC Santa Cruz.

Lucy Sanchez, Albuquerque Projects Director

Lucy leads the organization’s environmental justice and youth projects in Albuquerque and the surrounding area. Prior to joining Amigos Bravos this year, she served as Vice President for the Albuquerque Educational Assistants Association Local 4129 and has 21 years of union organizing and membership development experience. Born in Hatch, NM, Lucy has lived in Albuquerque’s South Valley since the age of six. In 2002, Lucy received a Brindis a la Mujer Hispana for her work on behalf of the Hispanic community.

Kenneth Seal, IT and Database Manager

Ken is responsible for managing, updating, troubleshooting, and maintaining all forms of technology used at Amigos Bravos’ two offices. His focus is on ensuring that our technology allows us to communicate in the most effective ways possible within the organization as well as to our members, the media, the public, and decision-makers. Ken is also responsible for maintaining a secure document backup and retrieval system for the organization’s records and he has primary responsibility for the organization’s membership database, including maintenance of accurate membership and financial records, and the production of accurate reports. Ken will be further developing, cultivating, assessing, and managing an active and engaged membership base via individual and business membership solicitation, direct mail campaigns, special appeals, and web-based action alerts. He has a B.S. in Microbiology from Texas Tech University.

Betsy Wolf, Administration and Publications

Betsy has been with Amigos Bravos since 1996. She oversees the administrative functions of the organization, serves as editor of our website and publications, and is the institutional memory that keeps Amigos Bravos together. Prior to joining Amigos Bravos, she served for 10 years as Administrative Secretary for the Harwood Foundation of the University of New Mexico. A lover of horses, Betsy was educated in France, is a native of New York, and has lived in New Mexico for 32 years.