Executive Committee candidate statements

Chapter Executive Committee:

Mayane Barudin: 

Mayane advocates for inclusive renewable energy policy development and implementation. A proud Indigenous woman and a Tribal member of Kewa Pueblo in New Mexico, Mayane hopes to enable economic prosperity and environmental justice for her community and Indigenous peoples through energy policy reform and statewide solar campaign initiatives. Her work prioritizes environmental and energy justice for historically underserved communities. Mayane started Sovereign Energy as a native-led nonprofit organization to help center Tribal energy sovereignty and Indigenous voices within the renewable energy transition to enable energy reparations and sustainability for Indigenous peoples.

Mayane identified her focus on advocating for the just energy transition after working with the United Nations Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (SPFII) and organizing with local and national non-profits to push a solar transition within Tribal nations and at a state level. She has completed her Master of Science in Environmental Change and Management at the University of Oxford and received her Bachelor’s at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Karl Braithwaite: 

Karl has worked on energy and environment issues all his professional life, starting as an assistant professor in political science at Duke University, followed by 10 years in the United States Senate on the staff of the Environment Subcommittee helping write the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and Superfund.  He spent 21 years at Los Alamos National Laboratory and 10 years at Sandia National Laboratories. He also was Dean of the Muskie School of Public Service in Portland Maine and has taught at a number of universities.

He retired  two years ago and began working with the Sierra Club on energy, climate, and conservation issues and is the chapter Conservation chair.

Consuelo Walker: 

Consuelo Walker has volunteered for Liberation Theology in Guatemala, Santa Rosa de Lima, a catholic volunteer organization for country immigrants into Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She was a lay leader for The Spanish Plan for the Methodist Church for the USA East Coast, based in Virginia, Head of Programs for the Association of Foreign Service Women in Panamá and Kenya, and Chair for Creation Care and Missio Dei committees for Westminster Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe.

She studied psychology in Guatemala plus Teachers College in Guatemala,  earning a bachelor’s degree in Bilingual Teaching in New Mexico, and numerous continuing-education studies for education.

She is founder of a small business for opening markets for small artisans in Santa Fe and is co-director of “El Cuerpo de Paz Guatemalteco,” working side by side with the US Peace Corps in Guatemala. She was a teacher in Guatemala for 7 years and a bilingual teacher in New Mexico for 6 years. Coordinator of “The Ambassadors Self Help Fund” in Nairobi, Kenya, within the Economic Section of the US Embassy for 2 years.

Central New Mexico Group Executive Committee

David Bouquin:

David Bouquin was an intern in the Sierra Club California legislative office and wrote his Environmental Studies senior thesis at UC Santa Cruz about the Senior Club. He has been active in the “Club,” off and on, for 40 years — over 25 of those in New Mexico. He has served as Group and Chapter Conservation chair in the 1990s and 2000s and chapter political chair in California more recently. He has worked professionally in project controls and risk management, program evaluation of education, social and criminal justice programs, teaching from college to the elementary level, medical administration and technical writing. His dad and husband roles are his most valued. He appreciates your vote for CNMG Excom.

Patrick Burton:

Patrick Burton has been a member of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club for five years. He has made active transportation a significant contribution to a sustainable lifestyle. He would like to improve opportunities for more people to bike for transportation as a member of the Central NM group.

Ray Shortridge:

Shortly after retiring as an information technology executive and re-locating to New Mexico, Ray assumed the volunteer Treasurer position for the chapter and served about five years in that capacity. He has also served on the boards of both the Chapter and the Central Group. He regularly hikes in the Bosque with his dog and spouse and delights in watching Sandhill Cranes do their thing.

David Ther

David Ther has been a member of the Sierra Club since 1979 and has served previous terms on the Central Group ExCom.  He is especially
interested in the science of climate change and the implementation of effective local and global strategies for de-carbonizing the economies
of the world.  He is currently the Group Treasurer.  He is an active climber, runner and hiker.

Northern New Mexico Group Executive Committee:

John Buchser:

My family arrived in NM in the early ’60s.  I had the pleasure of growing up in Embudo, and later in the Española Valley. Sierra Club activist Norma McCallan, after years of arm-twisting, talked me into being involved in the Sierra Club after I graduated from NM Tech.
What I most enjoy about NM is the outdoors.  Our family told folks for years that it was a terrible, dry place — we wanted to protect it for our own enjoyment! But the secret is out — it is a great place to live.I want to help keep it a wonderful place.  It requires an active community to do that.  We have expanded the geographic diversity of representation on the Northern Group of our executive committee, leading to a better understanding of the regional challenges.
I am proud of the many areas that our activists have been engaged in.  Our political acumen and technical knowledge is substantial.
A lot of what we deal with is reactive but to be expected — Californians have realized this is a great place to live!  So Santa Fe has particularly pressed for housing, and LANL’s expansion continues the risk of industrial and radioactive pollution to anyone downstream.I appreciate the support of our members and look forward to guiding the Northern Group as we look forward to the release in 2021 of the 9th edition of our hiking book.

Richard Mark Glover:

Richard Mark Glover is an award-winning author and journalist. He served on the Lone Star Excomm before moving to New Mexico in 2019. He co-led Two Rivers Camp in Texas and is now building FM 96.1 Chama Radio. He is married with 4 children.

Susan Martin:

Born in Southern California,  I got here as soon as I could. Product of the University of California — BA UCSD, JD/MBA Berkeley, and a fused ankle from UC San Francisco. Counsel, Energy and Commerce Committee,  US House of Representatives; attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council; planner director, Environmental Improvement Division of the New Mexico Department of Health. Member, Santa Fe Planning Commission; fan, NM United.

Shannon Romeling:

Shannon has been a volunteer on the Rio Grande Chapter Executive Committee since 2018, and secretary of the Northern Group Chapter of the Sierra Club since 2019. She is the chapter delegate to the national Council for Club Leaders, a group that brings Chapter resolutions to the Sierra Club Board of Directors. For her full time job, Shannon has been working on water quality projects in NM for 9 years as a part of Amigos Bravos. One of her first projects was to work with the Sierra Club Water Sentinels Team and she continues that work, organizing volunteers and sampling water pollution regularly, as well as upon request of concerned citizens. Amigos Bravos is a non-profit whose mission is to protect and restore the waters of New Mexico. Shannon completed her Master’s in Biology at Missouri State University in 2012 and wrote her thesis on the effects of wind turbine-caused mortality on the future of the federally endangered Indiana bat.

Pajarito Group:

Iris Chung:

Iris Chung moved from Pennsylvania in 2013 to join the Pajarito Group after one Sierra Club hike on which she fell in love with the wild beauty of the Jemez Mountains.  She worked with the Group on efforts including the campaign to ban the single-use plastic bag, opening the Valles Caldera to public access as a National Park Preserve, and on regional watershed issues. She is an attorney that has volunteered at Santa Fe Legal Aid and has an interest in promoting local community efforts to expand social services.

Jessie Emerson:

Jessie Emerson, a nurse and energetic activist, comes from the Northern Group, where she helped lead the effort to ban single-use plastic shopping bags in Santa Fe. Having trained at Findhorn, she has a passion for the interconnectivity of life, and to those ends, helps manage a seed library in Alcalde. She is a new member of the Los Alamos Zero Waste Team and recently selected for the Environmental Sustainability Board.

Jody Benson:

Jody Benson has worked with the Group on multiple efforts including: the County Comprehensive Plan and the campaign for a merchant-imposed charge for single-use plastic shopping bags. She edits the Pajarito Page of the Sierran, and as a member of Los Alamos County’s Zero Waste Team, she liaises with the schools. Her current focus is to help LANL and Los Alamos County address the multiple environmental and cultural impacts from the huge expansion of LANL’s nuclear-weapons trigger factory.

Southern New Mexico Group:

Kurt Anderson

Kurt Anderson is a retired NMSU Professor of Astronomy whose current activities center on water planning and conservation, hydrology, and riparian restoration. He serves on the board of a Mutual Domestic Water Company, the Doña Ana Soil and Water Conservation District, and is a member of the NM Produced Water Research Consortium. A Sierra Club member for 54 years.Cheryll Blevins: 

I’m a native of Doña Ana County and have been active in the Sierra Club for many years.  I care deeply for Southern New Mexico’s environment and conservation issues.