Dave Nezzie is a dedicated Program Officer at Waverley Street Foundation, managing a portfolio focused on New Mexico.

A proud member of the Navajo Nation, he has extensive experience in land and agriculture policy, a strong background in government affairs, and a commitment to working with tribal nations. Before joining Waverley, Dave served as the Land & Agriculture Policy Officer at the Thornburg Foundation, where he developed a five-year strategy to promote food and agriculture resiliency in New Mexico and coordinated with stakeholders to advance policy agendas. Previously, he was a field representative for U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, collaborating with federal, state, and local agencies, community leaders, and tribal governments. He advocated for constituents needing assistance with federal agencies and coordinated input on legislative bills, including the 2018 Farm Bill.

Dave is currently pursuing an LL.M. in Agriculture & Food Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law. He holds a J.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Law and completed his undergraduate studies at Arizona State University with degrees in Anthropology and American Indian Studies. In his free time, you can find Dave chasing hot air balloons at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta or backyard farming with his family.

Helga Garcia-Garza has a vision for equity and food justice for underserved Hispanic and Native communities in her Central New Mexico region. Helga’s lived experience as a member of a marginalized Native and Indigenous community, more than  two decades of experience with cooperative organic farming, and her long history as a community organizer and environmental justice activist all inform her work as Executive Director of Agri-cultura Network and La Cosecha CSA. She has worked at ACN member farms, worked on tracking, quality control, and distribution of the network’s produce. For the last 30 years she has been dedicated to community health initiatives on both sides of the US/Mexico region organizing and educating communities on Right to Know Right to Act regarding water, land and air contamination. She bases her work in a from-the-ground-up approach to building an environmental economy, as she believes the nutritional needs of her community are best served by local farmers who grow healthy, culturally appropriate food using organic and sustainable practices. Helga is the New Mexico Food & Ag Policy Council Chair, Castanea Fellow 2020-2021 and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leader Fellow 2018-2021.

“As a Native woman in agriculture, I am guided by our ancestral calendar, and I share this knowledge through an intergenerational process. As a farmer myself, I know first-hand the challenges of farm to market. I have experience and lessons learned through development of farm cooperatives in Brownsville, Texas and in Central Mexico. This inspired my strong commitment to protecting the environment and to building a healthy, sustainable, local economy through agricultural practices.”

Henry Rael has more than 25 years of experience developing innovative enterprises across various sectors, in both private and nonprofit contexts. Since 2013, Henry has served in various roles at the McCune Charitable Foundation of New Mexico, an innovative private family foundation, most recently as Director of Strategy and Initiatives. In his role with the Foundation, Henry was a primary developer of a number of initiatives and enterprises, including the Native American Recovery Fund—which provided more than $4 million in grant funding to Tribes to drive pandemic recovery—and MediaDesk, a for-profit communications firm serving nonprofit organizations. As a community volunteer, Henry also co-founded Agri-Cultura Network Cooperative, a private sector LLC serving small-scale farmers in New Mexico.

Prior to his work in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector, Henry served as Communications Manager at Broadcom Corporation, a Fortune 100 semiconductor company based in Orange County, California. Starting in 2000, he served as the communications lead for the company’s wireless products, helping drive communications efforts that helped the company’s wireless semiconductor revenue and build market leadership in key technologies including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Prior to Broadcom, Henry was an early team member for start-up Innovent Systems, which developed the industry’s first commercial Bluetooth chip. Before joining Innovent, Henry developed new media strategies for Weider Publications (publishers of Shape, Muscle & Fitness, and other titles) and was circulation manager and later VP/GM of Howard Communications, a small publishing company in Los Angeles.

Henry has B.A. degrees in English and Political Science, as well as an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of New Mexico.

As the organization’s first Vice President of Development, JoAnn oversees First Nations’ revenue development strategy, including individual giving and corporate and foundation relations.

Melchor joined First Nations in July 2024 after serving as president and CEO of the New Mexico Foundation in Santa Fe, where she directed programs, services, and activities to foster the foundation’s ability to steward community resources, build partnerships, and develop transformative opportunities for people throughout New Mexico. During her tenure, Melchor established the Native American Relief Fund in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This fund transformed into the Native American Recovery Fund Zone Grant, which continues to address long-term recovery efforts in New Mexico’s Native American communities. Before this position, Melchor served as the Director of Advancement for Keres Children’s Learning Center in Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico, a long-time community partner of First Nations.

Melchor has held leadership roles in philanthropy and nonprofit management at organizations throughout New Mexico, including Southwest Youth Services, American Indian Graduate Center, New Mexico Center for Dispute Resolution, and Futures for Children. Notably, as director of the 21st Century Community Learning Center at the Santo Domingo School, she led the school to national recognition by South Educational Development Laboratories (now American Institutes for Research) as a promising practice site in 2006.

In that same year, Melchor was noted among Up and Coming New Mexico Native Women in New Mexico Woman magazine. Melchor also is a fluent Keres speaker.

Melchor attended the University of New Mexico, completing coursework in sociology and psychology and earning a management certificate from the Anderson School of Management.

She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Groundworks NM, and is a board member of Silver Bullet Productions and New Mexico Humanities Council. She has also served on the board of the New Mexico Community Foundation, New Mexico Wildlife federation, and Native American Training Institute, as well as on multiple taskforces and committees. Throughout her career, whether in professional or volunteer roles, Melchor continues to lead with a passion for community, people, and making the world a better place.

Mike Roque is a seasoned nonprofit professional having spent over 30 years in the sector as an Executive Director, Development Director, and Community Organizer. Mike is President of Adobe Consulting which provides fundraising, development, and strategic planning for nonprofit organizations. Mike also serves on various nonprofit boards, including the Quivira Coalition and Vital Spaces.

Paula Garcia is Executive Director of the New Mexico Acequia Association. During two decades of her service, acequias in New Mexico have built a movement around the principle that water is life, agua es vida. Through her leadership, acequias have strengthened community self-determination through local water governance, have enacted policy reforms protecting rural, agricultural water rights, and have fought for clean water to flow in our rivers. With the NMAA team, she has also established innovative youth and leadership development projects and farm apprenticeships that seek to strengthen the next generation of farmers and ranchers who are caretakers of water, land, livestock, and native and heirloom seeds. With her family, Paula cares for a small ranch and traditional gardens characteristic of the subsistence agriculture of her ancestors. When not living and breathing acequias, Paula can be found hiking, playing classical piano, and cooking a simple meal based on some variation of corn, beans, and chile. Her son is a first year student of the United World College which is dedicated to global peace and sustainability through education.

Department of Interior, Navajo Nation, New Mexico Indian Affairs Department, National Indian Gaming Association, Pueblo of Sandia, American Indian Graduate Center, and Americans for Indian Opportunity.

Steph is also a co-founder of Native Women Lead. Native Women Lead’s mission is to revolutionize systems, inspire innovation, and build coalitions by investing in Native women in business. They do this by co-creating events and assembling their community while honoring their heritage, imagination, and relationships.

Sarah has worked in food and agriculture planning for over a decade with a focus on supporting young and beginning farmers and ranchers. She was the editor of Edible Santa Fe from 2011 to 2017. From 2013 to 2015 she worked for the National Young Farmers Coalition as an organizer and is currently on the board of the Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance and the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union. She is a committed champion of the local food movement and of resilient and regenerative agriculture. In her free time, you can find her feeding pigs, turkeys and cows, checking the compost pile, or possibly weeding a patch of beans at Polk’s Folly Farm where she lives.

*bio coming soon*