Board of Directors, Advisors, Staff

Board of Directors
 

Elizabeth Crittenden Palacios, Chair – Taos, NM
Nonprofit and philanthropic executive.

Holly Azzari, Vice President and Volunteer Coordinator – Arroyo Seco, NM
Retired legislative aide and political campaign coordinator in Los Angeles.

Betty Brownlee, Secretary – Taos, NM
Retired Development Professional and Non-Profit Consultant.

Tim Hlavin, Treasurer – Denver, CO
Finance and Strategic Planning Professional. Currently Director, Integrated Logistics Solutions at Tallgrass Energy.

Robert Berquist – Boulder, CO
Retired Electronic Engineer, Business Owner, Rocky Mountain Region Manufacturer's Representative.

Richard Coffman – Boston, MA & Taos, NM
Institutional asset management executive and team founder/leader at a global investment firm.

Thomas M. Doerk – La Veta, CO
Retired lawyer, commercial banker and non-profit executive.

Dustin Leavitt – Tucson, AZ
Artist and writer. Former university professor and exhibitions designer for The Center for Creative Photography.

Tim Newton – Cody, WY
Founder and Curator, American Masters at the Salmagundi Club. Chairman/CEO Emeritus of Salmagundi. Publisher Emeritus, Western Art & Architecture magazine.

Keith Ohnmeis – Wilson, WY
Financial adviser with Pingora Partners, LLC.

Ilona Spruce – Taos Pueblo, NM
Director of Tourism for Taos Pueblo.

Terry Winchell – Jackson, WY
Business owner, Fighting Bear Enterprises; published author; past Chairman, Center for the Arts of Jackson, Wyoming; experienced fundraiser.

National Advisory Council

Maron Hindman, Chair – Littleton, CO
Former Vice Chair, Hindman Auctions

Susan Bales – Manhattan Beach, CA
Chairman of the Board of Directors & Senior Advisor at Frameworks Institute

Max Berry – New York, NY
Former Chair, Smithsonian National Board of Trustees, Archives of American Art

Caroline Jean Fernald, PhD – Cambridge, MA
Executive Director, Harvard Museums of Science & Culture, Harvard University

Christopher Forbes – New York, NY
Vice Chairman, Forbes Inc.; Chairman, American Friends of the Louvre

Eric Garland – Altadena, CA
Cofounder & Managing Partner, Smash Capital

Michael Grauer – Oklahoma City, OK
Former McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture/Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

Kate Hlavin – Denver, CO
Curator, Coors Western Art Exhibit and Sale

Lenore Macdonald - Glencoe, IL
Retired attorney and non-profit board member

James R. Parks – Los Angeles, CA
Executive Director, CBIZ

Byron Price – Norman, OK
Former Director, Charles M. Russell Center, University of Oklahoma School of Visual Arts

Richard Rinehart – Taos, NM
Former President & Chairman, The Couse Foundation

Thomas Brent Smith – Norman, OK
Wylodean and Bill Saxon Director, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma

Marie Watkins, PhD – Greenville, SC
Professor Emerita of Art History, Furman University
 

National Advisory Council Emeritus

 

George Engdahl
Former Board Member, The Couse Foundation

Carl Jones
Former President & Chairman, The Couse Foundation

†Virginia Couse Leavitt
Co-founder and former Secretary of the Board of Directors, The Couse Foundation

Alan J. Olson
Co-founder and former President and Chairman, The Couse Foundation

†Dean A. Porter, PhD
Former Director, Snite Museum of Art at The University of Notre Dame

Hispano Advisory Council
 

Jacob Cisneros, Chair
Daniel Barela
Charlie Carrillo
David Fernandez
Lisa Garza
Victor Goler
Brandon Maldonado
Alicia Romero

Indigenous Advisory Council

Ilona Spruce, Chair
Nocona Burgess
Susan Folwell
Jessa Rae Growing Thunder
Chelsea Herr
Jocelyn Martinez
Yellowbird Samora
Dawning Pollen Shorty
John Suazo
Ryan Suazo

Board Committee Members

(other than current members of the board of directors)

Kristin Bender
J. Gillette Burns, Assistant Treasurer
Kate Hlavin
John Mockovciak
Richard Rinehart
Stan Riveles, Feasibility Task Force Chair

Permanent Staff 

Davison Packard Koenig
Executive Director & Curator – Valdez, NM
Formerly the Curator of Exhibits at the Arizona State Museum in Tucson, AZ, the largest and oldest anthropology museum in the Southwest. MFA in Museum Exhibition Planning and Design; BA in the Anthropology of Art.

Marissa M. Hendriks
Director, Lunder Research Center, & Virginia Couse Leavitt Archivist Chair – Taos, NM
Former manuscripts cataloging librarian and digital projects manager at the University of Pennsylvania’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library. BA in Medieval Studies and English, post-baccalaureate work in Ancient Greek and Classical Latin, and Master’s in Library and Information Science.

Regina McAskill Scherffius
Director of Operations & Communication – Taos, NM
Former government public affairs manager and corporate communication director. Book and publications editor, aspiring novelist and screenwriter. Bachelor of Journalism in news and public affairs.

Rachel E. Daley
Collections & Donor Relations Manager – Taos, NM
Former Senior Auction Coordinator, Cataloger and Works on Paper Specialist at several auction houses. BA in Art History from the College of William & Mary, and MA in Art Business from the Sotheby’s Institute of Art.

Anne Devine
Administration & Finance Manager – Arroyo Hondo, NM

Jake Cisneros
Site Coordinator – Taos, NM
Born and raised in Taos. Former Taos County employee. Worked in the Tech Industry and Fine Art establishments in Seattle, San Francisco, and Denver. Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in film photography.

Larry Lemm
Visitor Experience Coordinator – Costilla, NM
Former Almond Farmer, Technical Editor for Videomaker Magazine, Tour Manager and founder of The Bobolink Music Festival in California. Dropped out of famed party school Chico State as a senior to do Phish tour in the mid '90s.

Lucas McDaniel
Collections & Archives Specialist – Taos, NM
Master's in Museum Studies from the University of New Mexico, with a background in collections management and preventative conservation. Former Collections Intern with the National Council for Preservation Education at Whiskeytown, NRA. MFA from Otis College of Art and Design.