Bill Smith, President and CEO of the Santa Fe Community Foundation, feels like he’s finally come home. Enchanted with Santa Fe since his first visit over two decades ago, Bill knew then that his personal and professional path would lead him here. Prior to joining SFCF, Bill served as the Executive Director of the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) in Washington, D.C., a post he had held since 2010. Previously, Bill was the Vice President for Public Policy at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), where he spearheaded national efforts to end abstinence-only-until-marriage programming and was involved in the creation of new federal programs to support evidence—based interventions aimed at preventing teen pregnancy and STDs, including HIV. Bill has worked in nearly every state in the country in some capacity, as well as having been engaged in significant sexual health promotion efforts abroad.

Bill is currently completing his doctoral degree in Political Philosophy with a focus on American Federalism from the Catholic University of America, where he received his Master’s Degree. He is also Senior Faculty Fellow at the Robert Wood Johnson Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico.

Christa Coggins, Vice President for Community Philanthropy at the Santa Fe Community Foundation, is the principal liaison for fundholders and the Giving Together program. Christa oversees the Foundation’s competitive grants program, grants committees, grants cycles; Foundation programming at the Hub; and is the primary contact for relationships with the nonprofit community. Prior to working at SFCF, Christa spent the previous decade working as a contractor on evaluation and outcomes measurement with health nonprofits in northern New Mexico.

Before coming to New Mexico Christa worked in international AIDS research out of New York City, and International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region. Fluent in Spanish, French and Hassaniya, Christa and her husband raised their children in Santa Fe, she has a graduate degree is in Public Health from University of Michigan and an undergraduate degree from Yale University. Christa is a backyard beekeeper, a yak rancher, a wannabe knitter, and spends her free time with her dogs hiking and skiing. Christa has worked for Santa Fe Community Foundation since 2009.

Kevin Sokol-White, VIce President for Finance & Operations, oversees the recording and reporting of financial information, the monitoring of investment performance, and the building, personnel, and technology operations at the Foundation. In 2017, Kevin retired from a 30-year career in energy and finance and public accounting. His work took him to South America, the Middle East, Africa and the former Soviet republics. After spending his career in the for-profit sector, Kevin feels fortunate to have had the opportunity to join the Foundation early in January of 2019.

Kevin has an undergraduate and graduate degree in Accounting from the University of Mississippi and has been a CPA since 1990. After being a part of the Santa Fe community on a part-time basis for over a decade, Kevin and his husband, Chris, a personal trainer made Santa Fe their permanent home in July 2017. They love their dogs, all kinds of adventure, and international travel and like to spend their spare time staying active in the gym and with spinning, skiing, and hiking.

Yolanda served as the Health Councils and Community Coordinator for the New Mexico Health Equity Partnership from 2013 – 2015, an initiative housed at the Santa Fe Community Foundation. Now, as the Philanthropy HUB Coordinator, Yolanda oversees our professional development programs from support for boards to leadership cohorts and workshops addressing fundraising, communications, finance, and strategic planning.

Yolanda is a longtime community champion who has collaborated with and learned from Strong Families NM, Tewa Women United, El Valle Community Center and Con Alma Health Foundation. She has served as the Program Coordinator for San Miguel County DWI, Director of the San Miguel County Family & Community Health Council and Community Coordinator for the UNM BA/MD summer practicum. Yolanda has co-hosted a radio show addressing women’s issues and social change, Our Opinion – Let’s Talk About It, and has held many volunteer and community advisory roles in northern New Mexico.

A life-long New Mexican, Yolanda grew up in Gallup before relocating closer to her family’s roots in the Mora/Las Vegas area. She spent 36 years there and raised 3 wonderful children. Yolanda serves as a Getaway family for 12 United World College students from around the world and enjoys spending time with her grandchildren at every opportunity.

Chad assists the Director for Development and Commmunications by processing all gifts to the various funds of the Foundation as well as working with various fund-holding organizations on their special events.

Contact Chad if you have questions about contributions made to the Santa Fe community Foundation.

Chad is an enrolled member of the Zuni Pueblo of New Mexico. Prior to joining the Foundation, Chad worked at the Institute of American Indian Arts in the Institutional Advancement Department maintaining the school’s donor database. He is passionate about movies, music and travel. Chad has worked at SFCF since 2011.

David Gaussoin provides communications, web site, newsletter, and social media support for the NM Health Equity Partnership. In addition, he serves as support for co-creating strategy, processes, and spaces rooted in equity with partners; facilitating dialogues and workshops; connecting people and ideas; community-driven research; network engagement and external communications. He also supports HIA teams, such as Together for Brothers, the Lobos CO2 Pipeline, Chainbreaker Collective, Indian Health Services team on various issues.

David holds a BBA in Business Marketing from the Anderson School of Business, at the University of New Mexico. He has a background in applied fine arts and arts education. David’s previous experience includes teaching at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the Santa Fe Community College, as well as, producing and selling his own jewelry and fashion internationally. David is a Native of Santa Fe, as well as, a proud member of the Navajo Nation and Picuris Pueblo. David is a strong advocate for the arts. He has worked with the Pueblo Opera Program, Avant Garde, the New Mexico Museum Foundation, and the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts. He enjoys traveling, learning about new cultures, and sharing with others his own cultural background.

David strongly believes in equity and advocacy for grass roots community action - “I believe community members hold the knowledge and answers; they just need to be asked. I do this work because we all have a responsibility to honor our past, present, and future generations, because this is our home.”

Gabriela Gomez joined the Santa Fe Community Foundation in February of 2019 as Director of Development and manages the day-to-day financial resource development & donor strategies of the Foundation. In addition to developing and managing philanthropic relationships, Gabriela works in close collaboration with colleagues on achieving the Foundation’s mission.

She is a first generation New Mexican, Mexican-American with Albuquerque roots and has worked in both the private and nonprofit sector. Prior to joining SFCF, Gabriela worked at the Albuquerque Community Foundation.

Gabriela takes great pride in New Mexico and is excited to now call Santa Fe, home. When not at the office, she likes to spend her free time either exercising, cooking, reading, eating (foodie!) or visiting with loved ones.

Diane serves as Grants Officer for the Foundation, supporting grants and scholarship committees of the Foundation as well as those of fundholders who have their own grant or scholarship programs, processing outgoing grants and scholarships, as well as managing incoming grants from Foundation funders.

Born in Los Angeles, Diane flew the coop early to earn a BS in Natural Resources (Wildlife Management) at The University of Michigan, and then continued her sojourn east to Boston where she practiced her degree with wildlife of a different sort. Living in New Mexico for the past 19 years, her passions include gardening, cooking, and fine dining whenever possible.

Jessi serves as the Grants & Capacity Building Strategist for the New Mexico Health Equity Partnership. With HEP since 2012, she is responsible for co-creating strategy, processes, and spaces rooted in equity with partners; facilitating dialogues and workshops; connecting people and ideas; coordinating community-driven research; and managing HEP’s grant opportunities.

Jessi is a woman of color with family roots in Mexico. Born in California and raised in New Mexico, Jessi is deeply committed to lifelong learning, and values the strengths and creativity of those around her. She is passionate about supporting communities to develop their own solutions on issues affecting them. She works to create intentional spaces for community partners to share their ideas and transform how decisions are made so the processes, and decisions themselves, center the lived experiences of people most impacted. Jessi enjoys utilizing creative engagement strategies, such as art, visuals and play to ensure intentional community building and sharing of narratives.

Jessi holds a Masters in Sociology and a BBA in Marketing & Accounting. Her past professional endeavors include: policy research, technical assistance to nonprofits, and teaching English abroad. When Jessi’s not at HEP, you can find her running long distances in the desert or mountains. For Jessi, her work at HEP and trail running are interrelated. She experiences trail running as a learning exercise— in perseverance, understanding, and connection. Jessi’s other passions include spending time with friends and family, hiking, snowshoeing, skiing, doodling, and adventuring with her husband Brian, and beagles, Bogus Basin and Burčák Bilo.

I am honored to join the Santa Fe Community Foundation team as the Director of Dollars4Schools. As a native Santa Fean and graduate of Santa Fe Public Schools myself, I bring a personal and local perspective to Dollars4Schools, a program that is genuinely dear to my heart. My background in public relations and the arts, and my prior experience in public relations and as the Statewide Director of New Mexico’s Centennial, has provided me with unique opportunities to work closely with many with New Mexico educators and students. I look forward to continuing my work with the dedicated teachers right here in Santa Fe. As a parent of two children, I am especially aware of the obstacles teachers and students encounter, and I look forward to this opportunity to provide a funding resource to Santa Fe’s educators. Dollars4Schools is an amazing program, and I enthusiastically take the lead in its path forward – making a difference in public school classrooms every day in Santa Fe.

Sean is a highly adept communications and marketing professional, creative consultant, and professional fundraiser. He also has over a decade of experience as a professional musician, bandleader, and composer. Prior to joining the philanthropy team at the Santa Fe Community Foundation, Sean seeded the Marketing and Communications Department for New Mexico School for the Arts, codifying and implementing the school’s brand identity and key messaging, as well as managing all marketing, public relations, and advertising activities. He worked closely with President and Co-founder, Cindy Montoya to develop and execute marketing and fundraising plans and external affairs initiatives. His efforts supported the institution in raising millions of dollars from both public and private resources.

In 2019, Sean co-founded Mesa Creative Solutions, a consulting agency that provides professional marketing and communications, web development, and creative services to businesses, nonprofit organizations, artists, and creators.

Sean holds a Bachelor of Music from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. He remains active in the New Mexico music scene performing frequently with pianist, composer, and producer John Rangel. In 2018, Sean’s Miami-based group, Kairos Sextet, released its debut album Transition to critical acclaim on GRAMMY Award-winning bandleader Dafnis Prieto’s Dafnison Music label. His wife Emma, Co-founder of Mesa Creative Solutions, serves as the Executive Director of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale and is a professionally trained vocalist.

Rachel Kutcher is Project Director for Santa Fe Baby Fund, for which she coordinates grantmaking and advocacy for early childhood issues. She is also Project Director for Expanding Opportunity for Young Families, for which she coordinates a collaborative of partners working to engage young parents, organizations, and agencies to better align programs, systems, and policies to support young parents in their pursuit of educational and career development goals, as well as their goals and priorities for their children and families.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Rachel worked in community health and equity in both the nonprofit and governmental sectors in New Mexico. She has an extensive background in nonprofit resource development and grant writing, as well as coordinating multi-sector community collaboratives. She also brings a strong interest in and experience with multigenerational family support models and using human centered design to engage community and frontline staff in human services innovation and policy change. Rachel has a bachelor’s degree in Human Development from Cornell University and a Master of Public Policy degree from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at University of Minnesota. In her free time, Rachel enjoys swimming, hiking, cooking, and learning to throw and handbuild pottery.

Adam Latham works as the Finance Associate at SFCF, processing vendor and grant payments. He and his wife Diane have just moved to Santa Fe from Boise, Idaho, to be closer to family and to enjoy the cultural richness of Northern New Mexico. For the past 20 years he has worked in a variety of Accounting roles (Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and Payroll) for non-profit arts organizations. He is excited to join the Finance team at SFCF and to contribute to the Foundation’s mission. In their down time, he and his wife are looking forward to visiting the many galleries, museums and restaurants in Santa Fe.

Cecily Martin serves as Philanthropy Associate. Originally from Chicago, Cecily fell in love with New Mexico at age 11 on a family trip and moved to Santa Fe in 2002 to attend St. John’s College. After graduating, she moved back to Chicago where she received a master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Roosevelt University. Cecily moved back to Santa Fe in 2013 to raise her family in New Mexico. Prior to her work at the Santa Fe Community Foundation, Cecily worked in human resources, admissions, and hospitality sales. In her free time, Cecily enjoys cycling, cooking, spending time with her kids and friends, and playing Scrabble.

Annmarie McLaughlin works closely with SFCF’s leadership and a deeply engaged programmatic team to steward the organization’s community leadership work in our priority areas of interest: cultural vibrancy, economic security and opportunity, educational success and career pathways, health and wellbeing, and sustainable agriculture and stewardship of resources. Her work addresses keeping this work aligned with the Foundation’s broad strategic goals and assessing the impact of this activity. Annmarie holds a BFA from New York University. Her lifelong professional development pursuits include mediation, work with the Alternatives to Violence Project, narrative healing, anti-racism, and community leadership. She currently serves as the Board Chair for the New Mexico Association of Grantmakers. Annmarie loves living on Santa Fe's dynamic southside and spends her free time with her adult sons, cooking (and eating!), listening to audio books, and floating on New Mexico’s rivers. She has been with the Santa Fe Community Foundation since 2005.

Joannie Romero serves as Philanthropy Associate and is the lead support for catalyzing philanthropy for Native American communities in the state of New Mexico for the Santa Fe Community Foundation. She is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Cochiti. Joannie is also the founder of Corn Pollen Consulting, a Santa Fe based LLC that provides culturally-responsive strategies for Indigenous Communities.

Joannie’s academic portfolio began at the University of New Mexico where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Native American Studies while serving her community as a Keres Language teacher and administrator. In 2017, Joannie earned a Master of Jurisprudence in Indian Law Degree from the University of Tulsa, College of Law. Joannie is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Educational Leadership from the University of New Mexico, Native American Leadership in Education program.

Joannie also serves on the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, a Minnesota-based nonprofit whose vision is to promote Indigenous cultural sovereignty by leading in the pursuit of understanding and addressing the ongoing trauma created by the US Indian Boarding School policy. In her free time, Joannie enjoys spending time with her family, fishing, traveling, sewing, cooking, and preserving Pueblo ways of life.

Charles Rountree, Controller, serves as the assistant to the Vice President for Finance and Operations. His responsibilities include investment reconciliations, payroll, vendor payments and reporting. Charles also provides financial reporting support for MoGro and Impact Investing.

After graduating from Georgia State University with a degree in Accounting, he began his career in Atlanta working with the Peasant Restaurants. Charles returned to his hometown of Birmingham to assist his family in opening and operating a restaurant. He then worked for several years with Cobbs Allen Insurance.

Charles and his husband moved to Santa Fe in 2014. Charles is active in the community as a volunteer, primarily with the Santa Fe Opera and the Church of the Holy Faith. He is an enthusiastic bicyclist, an avid reader and a lousy gardener.

Ellen Stevens, Finance and Accounting Manager, works with the Controller and CFO and is responsible for much of the day to day bookkeeping of the Foundation. Prior to working at SFCF, Ellen spent over a decade as the Director of Finance and Operations for Upaya Zen Center, a Buddhist retreat center in Santa Fe. She’s thrilled to be able to put her many years of nonprofit experience to work at the Foundation.

Ellen has graduate degrees in Accounting from UNM’s Anderson School of Business and Liberal Arts from St. John’s College and a BA in English Literature from SUNY Geneseo. Ellen and her husband, Rian, a wildlands firefighter live in Eldorado with their daughter, Pippi. Some of Ellen’s favorite pastimes include hiking, yoga and travelling with her family.

Jane Yates joined SFCF in March 2017. Jane provides support to the three Vice Presidents of SFCF, manages the organization’s general administrative activities, and provides support for HUB programs, including oversight of planning and scheduling for community meeting space services. Jane grew up in Georgia where she also received a Bachelor’s Degree from Kennesaw State University in Accounting and an Associate’s Degree in Library Science. After college she moved to Los Angeles where she spent 12 years developing her career and raising her daughter. She moved to Santa Fe 20 years ago. She has worked with various accounting and investment firms throughout the community and in Albuquerque. Jane volunteers with Literacy Volunteers of Santa Fe and enjoys hiking and spending time at home. She is a dedicated employee who strives to maintain organization throughout the Foundation.