Funder Panel

Marsie Silvestro brings four decades of expertise to her roles as an intuitive and dynamic Executive Director, Board and Staff Trainer, Group Retreat Facilitator and Mentor. Her leadership experience spans work on both the local and national levels. She is proficient in the Appreciative Inquiry Strategic Model which focuses on identifying an organization's strengths through individual and group interviewing progresses that honors what has been done, creates transformative collective dreaming and creating effective solution based and accomplishable work plans that will move an agency toward growth and a new pathways toward a successful mission.

Marsie believes that no matter what someone’s position is in an agency or the community, all are needed to steer towards a future that elevates the voices and needs of those they serve, as well as ensures that staff and board members feel heard, listened to, included, and appreciated as a thread in the web of service and safety.

Diane Hamamoto is the Director of Grants & Community Impact at the Santa Fe Community Foundation. In this position, there are two primary goals: deploying money to nonprofits as quickly and efficiently as possible through our grants processes (donor-advised, competitive, emergency grants),and building strong relationships with our area nonprofits by listening, learning, and sharing information.

Prior to joining the community foundation in 2010, Diane worked for 27 years mainly in the corporate legal area, and law firm administration. She attended the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources in the early ‘80s – hence the decision to move to Boston and work in the much more lucrative legal field.  

 Outside of the office, you will find Diane playing in the kitchen or outside in the garden, growing and learning the medicinal qualities of plants.

Linda Candelaria-Dodd brings extensive experience innonprofit leadership, fundraising, and community impact across New Mexico. She previously served as Executive Director/CEO of United Way of Eddy County, Resource Development Manager at Carlsbad Lifehouse, and Program Director of the Carlsbad Literacy Program, where she led fundraising, grant writing, and strategic partnerships. Raised in rural northern New Mexico, Linda has dedicated her career to strengthening rural communities and improving opportunities for vulnerable populations. Her experience working with nonprofits and community organizations throughout New Mexico gives her a practical understanding of the funding landscape and the realities organizations face in pursuing sustainable support.

Louis Jeantete has more than 19 years of experience supporting communities through nonprofit leadership as a grantmaker, fundraiser, trainer, facilitator, consultant, and civic leader in New Mexico.

In April 2024, Louis was named Executive Director of The Encantado Foundation after serving as the Foundation's Program Manager, where he designed and managed the selection process for its signature charitable grantmaking programs.

Louis holds an interdisciplinary Master of Science in Nonprofit/NGO Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Policy & Practice.

He is currently an Albuquerque Workforce Leadership Academy Fellow through The Aspen Institute's Economic Opportunities Program, the City of Albuquerque, and Central New Mexico Community College (CNM).

Louis has served on the boards of the Taos Pueblo Foundation, Taos Milagro Rotary Club, and Rocky Mountain Youth Corps. He also served as President of the Taos Milagro Rotary Club from 2020 to 2021.

He is currently pursuing a Certificate in Nonprofit Executive Leadership through the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy's Fundraising School and Indiana University's Executive Education program at the Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

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Michelle Gutiérrez is a senior program officer for the W. K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan. In this role, she works in the foundation’s priority place of New Mexico to support thriving children, working families, and equitable communities.

Gutiérrez identifies and cultivates opportunities for effecting positive systemic change within communities and executes programming efforts that are aligned with Kellogg Foundation’s goals. She works closely with colleagues across the organization to ensure integration and coordination of efforts, with a particular focus on health equity.

Gutiérrez is well versed in the field of philanthropy and non-profit leadership, programming and governance. Gutiérrez has experience in local and international non-profit/NGO administration and financial management. She’s managed multi-million dollar budgets working with cross-national stakeholders, serving in communities of color.

Prior to joining the foundation, Gutiérrez was director of strategy and grant making at the Notah Begay III Foundation in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico, where she oversaw the overall grant making process, managing national and local grants targeting Native American communities. Prior to her director role, Gutiérrez served as a program officer and led a national grant making portfolio which awarded more than $4.5M in grants to 127 Native-led organizations and Native nations in 15 states focused on Native American children’s health. Additionally, she was a program officer at the Con Alma Health Foundation in Santa Fe, New Mexico and the administrator and country director for Volontariato Internazionale Dello Sviluppo in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Gutiérrez has served in a variety of volunteer roles within her local and regional philanthropic sector, including as a Blueprint for Changemakers steering committee member with ChangeLab Solutions and a NM Nonprofit Landscape Study steering committee member with the New Mexico Association of Grant makers. She has also participated in leadership development programs, including the NM Women of Color Leadership Cohort led by the Santa Fe Community Foundation and as a Terrance Keenan Institute fellow with Grant makers in Health.

Gutiérrez holds a bachelor’s degree in government and Italian Language and literature from Smith College of Northampton, Massachusetts and a master’s degree in international cooperation and development from the University of Pavia in Pavia, Italy. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Indigenous Health from the University of North Dakota. She is fluent in Italian and conversational in Spanish.

Henry Rael has more creative ideas than you can shake a stick at. He brings almost twenty years of entrepreneurial experience across a broad range of industries and more than ten years’ experience in grassroots community and enterprise development to the Foundation. He began his work at the McCune Charitable Foundation as Program Officer in July 2012. His responsibilities include reviewing programs, strategizing with grantees and ensuring consistent communication from the Foundation.

He has two great kids, a beautiful wife and a small farm in the South Valley. Born and raised in Albuquerque,  he cherishes his deep roots in New Mexico, with his children being the 14th generation of his family in the state.

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