Board of Directors
& Advisory Council
NM-NEW Board of Directors
Paula Getz
Founder
Paula has recently started a new chapter in her life as Founder of NM-NEW – engaging people aged 50 to 70+ who wish to remain active in the community.
Paula retired from Sun/Oracle in August 2021 after almost 40 years in the computer services industry, managing and leading global project & risk management teams. She was able to return home to New Mexico in 2005 and worked remotely while traveling across the world.
She is trained in project and risk management with Six Sigma and ITIL process certifications. She was awarded a 2003 Silicon Valley YWCA Tribute to Women in Industry (TWIN) award and a 2018 NM Technology Council, Women in Technology award.
Throughout her life Paula has been a volunteer, mentor and an advocate for under- represented communities. In addition to her day job at Oracle, she was in leadership of OPEN (Oracle’s global LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group) for 6 years. She was awarded the Albuquerque Business First, Diverse Business Leaders award in 2018.
Paula is a Vice Chair on the UNM Anderson School of Management Alumni Council and Board member at All Faiths Children Advocacy Center where she is Chair of the Audit/Compliance Committee.
Paula is a native New Mexican, born & raised in Santa Fe, one of seven children. She earned her B.A. in Business Computer Systems from the UNM Anderson Business School. She lives in Los Ranchos with her wife and two dogs and close to her large extended family.
Larry Alei
President of the Board
Larry Alei recently retired from the New Mexico Association of Grantmakers (NMAG) where he served as Operations Manager and Director of the Encore Fellowship Program.
Before joining NMAG, Larry served as Interim Director of the Center for Nonprofit Excellence and Encore Fellowship Program Director, at the United Way of Central New Mexico. Prior to that, he held a variety of business and management positions at Intel Corp. for 26 years.
Larry has a long track record of community service, including stints on the UNM Anderson Schools’ foundation board and on the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement of New Mexico. He has also served as a governor’s appointee on the State of New Mexico Technology Research Collaborative, and as president of his church’s board of directors.
Larry is a father of two who enjoys the outdoors. He is also an A/V professional who provides services for concerts, fundraisers, weddings, and other events.
Jesus Ontiveros
Treasurer of the Board
Jesus Ontiveros recently retired as a Senior Manager of Division Business Operations at Sandia National Laboratories after 20+ years, 17 of those in Leadership roles and the last 6 as Senior Manager. Prior to joining Sandia, Jesus worked for several large companies including Siemens, Bank of America, Motorola and Honeywell.
Jesus holds a BBA from UNM and a MA in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University. He as served and continues to serve on several Boards in New Mexico.
Jesus is a first generation American, married for almost 45 years and the proud father of four and grandfather of six.
Pam Hurd-Knief
Member of the Board
Pam, a native of Central Pennsylvania (PA), moved to Albuquerque in 1993. In PA she was employed as a senior policy director for the PA Department of Welfare (17 years), as the founding Executive Director for the Kellogg Foundation-funded Council for Public Education, and as a contracted grant maker for the Pew Charitable Trusts and the HJ Heinz Foundation through the PA Council on Community Foundations. Following her move to New Mexico, Pam served as the first Director of Development for both the Albuquerque Civic Light Opera and later the Adelante Development Center.
From 1998 to 2017, Pam was a member of University of New Mexico (UNM) fundraising team as a frontline fundraiser, Director of Major Gifts and Associate Vice President for Development. Following her retirement from UNM, she served as the part time Planned Giving Associate for: the American Society of Radtiation Technologists, the MIND Resource Network (MIND Institute) and WESST.
She holds a BS in economics from Juniata College, an MSW from Penn State University, an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MA in Philanthropy & Development from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. She was a W. K. Kellogg Leadership Fellow. Pam is one of 6,000 professional fundraisers to hold the Certified Fundraiser Certificate (CFRE). Pam has authored over 30 articles and white papers on a wide range of philanthropic and fundraising topics.
Since her 1993 move to New Mexico, Pam has served on 20+ non-profit Boards in New Mexico.
Pam was named the New Mexico Professional Fundraiser of the Year in 2007, a New Mexico Business Journal Woman of Influence in 2009, a YWCA Woman on the Move in 2011 and a recipient of the Albuquerque Museum Foundation Wertheim Award in 2021.
NM-NEW Advisory Council
Dale Dekker
Dekker Perich & Sabatini Architects
Vanessa Hawker
Deputy Director of Legislative Education Study Committee
Stuart Rose
Entrepreneur and Founder of The Enhance Fund,
FatPipe, and The BioScience Center
Alexis Kerschner Tappan
2540 Group
DeAnza Valencia
Associate State Director of Advocacy, AARP NM
Tim Nisly
Real Estate Entrepreneur, Investor, Innovator
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