EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE | PROGRAM COMMITTEE | COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE

program COMMITTEE

The BPP Program Committee works closely with Synergos staff on the design and execution of learning events such as Learning Communities and Thematic  Meetings.  The Program Committee has also been instrumental in helping Synergos staff study and determine the four programmatic foci of the BPP. 

Program Committee members biographies and contact information:

EUSEBIO MARTIN ALONSO CISNEROS is an industrial engineer.  He is a businessman in the hotel industry in Cd. Juarez, Mexico.  He is the owner of Hotel Vista del Sol and a representative on the National Business Chamber of Commerce, The Tourism and Services Board and serves as board member to the Fundación del Empresariado Chihuahuense A.C. (FECHAC) on whose board he has served since 1995.  His service on the FECHAC board includes participation on the Program and Works Committee.  He is a member of the Rotary Club Paso del Norte.  He has been an Electoral Councilman and also serves as the Vice-President of Tourism for the National Chamber of Commerce and the coordinator of Public Relations of the Rotary Club.  Contact Eusebio Martin Alonso Cisneros at villasoll@terra.com.mx

STEPHANIE JOHNSON-BURICK (Committee Co-chair) is a sixth-generation from Mesilla, New Mexico. Her great-great-great -grandfather was Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain, a pioneer in the Mesilla Valley and a very instrumen­tal figure in the town of Mesilla, as well as in the founding of New Mexico State University, then known as Las Cruces College. Her great-grandfather was the first mayor of Mesilla and her great-grandmother was the first postmistress of Mesilla. Stephanie had the opportunity to travel while growing up and going to school she now has returned to Las Cruces and Mesilla, where her roots are.  She is committed to serving the residents of the community and of southern New Mexico. Prior to Stephanie’s employment with The Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico, she was a human resources specialist at New Mexico State University, where she also served in admissions, and was a human resources administrator/training coordinator with Doña Ana County. Her professional experience also includes human resources, training and recruitment for companies in Arizona and Nevada, including Nestle (formerly Ralston) Purina and Caesars and Harvey’s resorts and casinos.  Stephanie earned bachelor degrees in Criminal Justice and Psychology from New Mexico State University and has a Master of Education along with her teaching license.  She is also very active in community and civic organizations. Contact Stephanie Johnson-Burick at sburick@cfsnm.org

MIROSLAVA DE LA GARZA was born in the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas in 1968.  She is mother to three young men of ages 16, 11 and 9.  She has been the Executive Director of the Fundación Comunitaria de Matamoros since February of 2005.  She is an attorney graduated in 1989.  She served as a volunteer in the municipal judicial courts in Matamoros, Tamaulipas.  Her professional experience includes Director of Operations in the private sector.  As the Executive Director of a growing Mexican border community foundation she is charged with the responsibility of outreach and partnership building between local and regional private and public sector entities.  Contact Mirolsava de la Garza at miroslava@fcmatamoros.org

LINETTA GILBERT is well known and highly regarded in the community development field and the community foundation world. For ten years she worked as a program officer at the Greater New Orleans Foundation (GNOF), and from 1995 to 2000 she served as Vice President for Programs.  She was the lead on two Ford Foundation initiatives, the Rural Development Community Foundation Initiative and the Community Development Partnership work.  At GNOF she provided strategic direction and developed a grant portfolio for community initiatives in affordable housing, community development, workforce development, violence prevention, youth development, and rural development.  She worked closely with donors and potential donors to show them the value of community philanthropy in the New Orleans region.   Linetta has played a leadership role in community development, both in advancing faith-based community work and in her role as a board member for the Neighborhood Funders Group, where among other accomplishments she was instrumental in launching the Rural Funders Working Group. She is an experienced, strategic grantmaker with a deep commitment to building community leadership and civic capacity.  She is currently a Senior Program Officer in the Community and Resource Development Unit at the Ford Foundation in New York.  Contact Linetta Gilbert at M.Jean@fordfound.org

MARCY KELLEY was appointed Deputy Vice President for Programs at the Inter-American Foundation in August, 2003.  Previous to this position, she had been the Country Director for Peace Corps in Ecuador since February 1998, managing one of the largest programs in the world.  During the previous decade, she was a consultant in rural development and microfinance programs for women, based six years in West Africa, two years in Washington DC and one year in Costa Rica.  From 1984 to 1988, she was the regional director for a women in business project in Central America for a U.S. nongovernmental organization,  where she managed a portfolio of women’s credit programs in El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica. She was also a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic.  Marcy holds a master’s degree in Public Administration and Women’s Studies from George Washington University and an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of New Hampshire.   Contact Marcy Kelley at mkelley@iaf.gov

ROBERT STARK was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He worked as a high school teacher and community organizer in the inner cities, and particularly the immigrant communities of Cleveland and Chicago, while he did his college and M.A., Ph.d graduate studies. He then spent 15 years working on sustainable development and peace issues in Central American and the Caribbean before returning to New Mexico in 1996. He began working with the New Mexico Community Foundation as a consultant on sustainable development issues, and then he was hired in 1997 as Senior Program Director to set up NMCF’s Rural Livelihoods and Strengthening New Mexico Families statewide initiatives. He was asked by the NMCF board to become the Executive Director at the end of 1999. 1999. Since then NMCF has developed a Growing Our Future, Together strategy, which includes the NMCF Border Philanthropy Partnership.  Robert resides at the parish where he was ordained and also continues to work there as a Catholic priest.  Contact Robert Stark at rstark@nmcf.org

YOLANDA WALTHER-MEADE (Committee Co-chair) is an active philanthropist and community catalyst in both the Tijuana and San Diego communities.    She sits on the board of the University of San Diego (USD) since 1989 , is board member at the International Community Foundation, since 1996, and member of the Board of Governors of The University Club, since 2001. She is on the Advisory Board of The Mainly Mozart Festival since 1994 and the Center for US-Mexican Studies at UCSD since 1997. She is a trustee at the Children’s Hospital of San Diego, since June 2004.  Yolanda is also Vice President and Founder of the Fundación Internacional de la Comunidad, AC since 2000, the first community foundation in Baja California, a board member of the Club de Niños y Niñas, AC. since 2003, Vice President of Special Events and member of ARCS (Achievement, Rewards for College Scientists) since 1992 , San Diego Natural History Museum since 2006  and is a Lady of the Order of The Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem since 1990. Previously, she was President and Founder of the Ladies of Charity, San Diego Chapter (1983) (now the Ladies Guild for St. Vincent de Paul Village), as well as National Vice President in the US., she has served on the Boards of the Mercy Hospital Foundation (1988-1994), The Burnham Institute (1996-2002),  Francis Parker School Mother’s Club (1987-89), L.E.A.D San Diego, (Leadership, Education, Awareness, Development) (1993-1995).  The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center (1997-2003) and on the Advisory Board of the San Diego Opera (1990-1993).  Ms. Walther-Meade’s efforts have been recognized by numerous organizations, including being named 1989 Women of Dedication by the Salvation Army Auxiliary, 1992 Women in Leadership and 1995 Women in Volunteerism by Country Friends.  She was named 1994 Sustainer of the Year by the Junior League of San Diego.  In 2004, received the  Outstanding Development Volunteer Award on National Philanthropy Day given by (AFP) Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Community Leadership Award from Project Concern International and the San Diego/Tijuana Citizen of the Year.  She also received the 2006 Legacy Family by the American Heart Association and the 2006 Living Legacy by the Women's International Center. Ms. Walther-Meade is the mother of five accomplished adults on their own right and grandmother of five.  Contact Yolanda Walther-Meade at ywalthermeade@hotmail.com