ACLU-NM - Key Persons
Age Carian joined the ACLU of NM after working at a nonprofit for 6 years. She has over 15 years of experience in administrative work and started her admin journey when she was a young girl, helping behind the scenes at her grandfather's law firm. Age values helping other people above everything else and volunteers whenever she has the time to do so. When she's not working, Age is most likely socializing with friends and family, helping organize or attending community events, or cooking up something delicious in her kitchen.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board Officers Team
- Vice President
Job Titles:
- Policy Staff Member
- Senior Policy Strategist
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board Officers Team
- Secretary
Job Titles:
- Policy Staff Member
- Community Engagement Specialist
Dakota Waterson joined the ACLU of New Mexico as the Reproductive Rights Community Engagement Specialist in 2020. She focuses primarily on protecting and expanding access to reproductive rights for New Mexicans. Dakota also travels around New Mexico teaching students their protected rights while focusing on LGBTQIA+ rights. Dakota believes that all New Mexicans should have equal and accessible access to reproductive healthcare, and deciding when and if someone would like to become a parent should be left to individuals, their families, and their providers, not politicians.
Dakota earned a Bachelor's degree from the University of New Mexico in Political Science and a minor in Anthropology in 2019. In 2019 Dakota worked as a legislative intern at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. While working at Planned Parenthood, she discovered her passion for protecting New Mexican's access to reproductive rights. During her time at UNM, Dakota was a part of the Honor Society for Leadership and Success, UNM Generation Action, and volunteered at the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center.
Dakota grew up in Taos, New Mexico, and has lived in Albuquerque since 2016. When she is not working, Dakota enjoys hiking with her family and dogs and exploring national parks.
Daniel Williams joined the staff of the ACLU-NM as the Policing Policy Advocate in July 2022. He previously served the ACLU-NM as the Communications Organizer working toward the freedom to marry in 2013. A lifelong New Mexican, Daniel grew up in Raton and Albuquerque. He received an undergraduate degree in Politics and Religious Studies from Hendrix College and a Master of Divinity from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Daniel spent the last six years serving as a minister to a progressive, social justice-oriented Presbyterian congregation in Austin, TX.
Daniel's experience as an organizer and advocate began in his teenage years and has covered issues including LGBTQIA+ liberation, economic justice, reproductive freedom, immigrant justice, and more. He is a former board member of More Light Presbyterians and past contributing writer for The Resistance Prays. When not working to create a future marked by justice, liberation, and solidarity, Daniel can be found at the yarn store, at the gym, or listening to yet another audiobook.
Job Titles:
- Grants & Donor Communications Manager
Denali Wilson started at the ACLU-NM as a Soros Justice Advocacy and Kellogg Fellow working to end life without parole as a sentencing option for children in New Mexico. She works to end excessive and extreme punishment and to expand meaningful opportunities for parole from prison.
Denali was born and raised in New Mexico and graduated from University of New Mexico School of Law in 2020. She is a certified mitigation specialist and is the regional legal observer coordinator for the New Mexico National Lawyers Guild.
Job Titles:
- Development Operations Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Legal Staff Member
- Managing Reproductive Rights and Gender Equity Attorney
Ellie Rushforth is an attorney at the ACLU of New Mexico where she has the privilege to work to protect and expand access to reproductive rights for all New Mexicans. Her work is grounded in the belief that reproductive justice is the cornerstone of self-determination and bodily autonomy and that everyone deserves equal and meaningful access to the care they need.
Ellie is a born and raised New Mexican who has worked on social justice issues ranging from reproductive justice and health care access to veteran reentry and immigrant rights. Before joining the ACLU, Ellie was a senior staff attorney at the Southwest Women's Law Center in New Mexico where she worked at the cross-section of economic and reproductive justice. As a staff attorney and Equal Justice Works Veteran Legal Corps fellow at OneJustice in California, she worked to increase access to justice for rural, isolated, and vulnerable communities using innovative pro bono and civil legal services engagement strategies.
As a law student, she clerked at the U.S. Attorney's Office in both the civil and criminal divisions, assisted indigent persons facing the death penalty at the Arizona Capital Representation Project, co-founded the National Security Law and Policy Society, and was an articles editor on the Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law.
Ellie earned her law degree from the University of Arizona and her B.A. from the University of New Mexico.
Job Titles:
- Paralegal for Immigrants' Rights Work
Elsa Goossen serves as a Paralegal for immigrants' rights work at the ACLU of New Mexico. She is also pursuing a Master of Public Policy degree at the University of New Mexico. Before moving to Albuquerque in January 2019, Elsa spent a year at Annunciation House in El Paso, TX, managing a hospitality site for people in migration at the U.S.-Mexico border. She also served for two years with Mennonite Voluntary Service in Alamosa, CO, as an education coordinator at the San Luis Valley Immigrant Resource Center. Elsa was born and raised in Kansas and received her BA from Macalester College. She is honored to work with the ACLU and immigrant communities in the Southwest to uphold the civil rights of all people and make New Mexico a more welcoming place.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board Officers Team
- National ACLU Board Representative
Jackie Cronin joined the ACLU of NM with close to ten years of administrative experience, most recently with SWCA Environmental Consultants. Prior to that she worked for five years as Office Administrator and Graphic Designer at Euphoria Lash Studio & Med Spa. She has an Associates of Science degree in Graphic Design from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and has organized more than 120 hours of community service volunteer opportunities through the Walk to End Alzheimer's Make-A-Wish Foundation, PB&J Family Services and Roadrunner Food Bank.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board Officers Team
- Treasurer, Union
Julie Bernard serves as the Director of Philanthropy for the ACLU of New Mexico. She graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Theater from the College of Santa Fe and has over 15 years of professional experience in fundraising, marketing and managing special events for arts organizations, educational institutions, and non-profits.
She began her career in fundraising at the Tony Award-winning Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California. From there she went on to work at the women's college at Tulane University, College of Santa Fe, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, and New Mexico Appleseed. Prior to joining the ACLU, Julie spent 6 years at New Mexico School for the Arts as the founding Development Director.
Julie is a former Board member of Slow Food Santa Fe, has served as a grant review panelist for the New Mexico Arts Commission, and is a graduate of the Leadership Santa Fe program. A lifelong advocate for arts, education, and social justice, Julie is honored to be a part of the ACLU.
Job Titles:
- MANAGer of People Operations
- Manager of People Operations at the ACLU of NM
Kari serves as the Manager of People Operations at the ACLU of NM. She found her way into HR in 2015 while working at a small arts non-profit. Prior to joining the ACLU, she ran a consulting company to support small businesses and non-profits in building out their people operations processes and programs. She holds a B.S. in ecology from The Evergreen State College.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board Officers Team
- President
Job Titles:
- Legal Staff Member
- SENIOR CIVIL LIBERTIES ATTORNEY
Kristin Greer Love (she/her/hers) is the ACLU of New Mexico's Senior Civil Liberties Attorney. She is passionate about working in solidarity with people to attack racism and other systemic injustices and build caring, cooperative communities. Kristin began her legal career as a Skadden Fellow with Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc., a binational workers' rights organization. She later worked as an immigrants' rights attorney with the ACLU of New Mexico, a community college teacher, a researcher and writer, and a law librarian. Kristin was honored to clerk with Federal District Judge Martha Vázquez in Santa Fe.
Kristin earned a BA with honors in History and Law, Letters, and Society from the University of Chicago; a JD from the University of Chicago Law School; and an MS/LIS from the University of Illinois School of Information Sciences. In law school, she worked in the inaugural class of the Federal Criminal Justice Clinic, representing people charged with federal felonies-an experience that cemented her commitment to abolition.
Since law school, she has volunteered with arts, criminal defense, and immigrants' rights organizations. She served on the board of Centro Sávila, a mental health organization, and now serves on the New Mexico State Bar Committee on Diversity. Kristin lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her son and their dog and cat.
Job Titles:
- Legal Staff Member
- Litigation Manager
Lalita Moskowitz started her legal career with ACLU of New Mexico as an Equal Justice Works Fellow working to address the unique challenges facing women in New Mexico's prisons and jails, including sexual abuse and access to appropriate healthcare. Before she graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 2018, Lalita worked at ACLU for two years as a law clerk for reproductive rights. Before law school, Lalita was a field organizer for Planned Parenthood of New Mexico and served as team leader for AmeriCorps NCCC. Lalita received her Bachelor of Arts from Connecticut College in 2012.
Lalita currently as adjunct professor at the UNM School of Law, where she teaches a class on prisoners' rights. She is also a board member for NMCAN.
Lalita is passionate about gender equality, fighting for those forgotten behind bars, and dismantling the prison industrial complex. She also loves jigsaw puzzles, big hats, and houseplants.
Leonardo Castañeda Mercado is a border and immigration policy advocate at the ACLU of New Mexico. Prior to that, he worked in the affiliate's Communications Department as an investigative reporter with a focus on immigration and border rights.
Before joining the ACLU of New Mexico, Leonardo worked as a reporter at The Mercury News and East Bay Times in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he covered the disparate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color, economic inequality, and the way large landowners had shaped the development of Silicon Valley. He previously worked at inewsource, a nonprofit investigative news organization in San Diego, Calif. There he reported on government accountability and campaign finance and was the lead data reporter on a collaborative project mapping the construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Originally from Mexico City, he grew up in San Diego and graduated from San Diego State University with degrees in journalism and economics.
Job Titles:
- Communications Director
- Communications Staff Member
- in 2022 As Communications Director
Maria Archuleta joined the ACLU of New Mexico in 2022 as communications director where she works to forward social justice through targeted communications strategies.
Prior to joining ACLU-NM, Maria was communications director at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. While there she expanded communications efforts to forward the organization's goals in education equity, affordable healthcare, paid sick leave, fair lending, food and cash security, and other issues that have a disproportionate impact on low-income New Mexicans.
Maria is no stranger to the ACLU and spent years at the organization working on the gamut of ACLU priorities. At the ACLU National Headquarters, she focused on bringing media attention to multiple civil rights issues, including immigrants' rights, voting rights, and women's rights. At the ACLU of Northern California, she worked in communications and later as field director.
She also worked at Open Society Foundations where she oversaw communications work for the group's work in the United States, including drug policy, criminal justice reform, immigrants' rights, black male achievement, and other issues.
Maria grew up with 360-degree views of the Jemez and Sangre de Cristo mountains in the beautiful valley of Española. She currently lives in Albuquerque with her son, spouse, and two very fluffy orange tabbies.
She has a BA in Spanish and Mass Communications from the University of California, Berkeley and an MFA in Creative Writing from the New School for Social Research.
Job Titles:
- Legal Director
- Legal Staff Member
Maria Martinez Sanchez was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She attended New Mexico State University where she received a Bachelor's of Social Work and a Bachelor's of Arts in Government. After college, Maria worked as a licensed social worker before attending the University of New Mexico School of Law.
During law school, Maria worked at Enlace Comunitario, a non-profit in Albuquerque that focuses on decreasing gender inequity and intimate partner violence in the Latinx community. She started her legal career at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty where she worked to improve the working conditions of New Mexico's agricultural workers. She was part of the legal team that successfully challenged New Mexico's antiquated law that excluded agricultural works from the protections of workers' compensation, changing that law for the better for all farm, dairy, and ranch workers in the state. She joined the ACLU of New Mexico in 2008 and has litigated a wide range of civil and constitutional rights cases.
Maria is on the board of the Center of Southwest Culture and is a former ten-year member and past president of the board of Encuentro, an Albuquerque-based non-profit that engages with Latinx immigrants to build skills for economic and social justice.
Job Titles:
- STAFF ATTORNEY
- Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Mexico
Max Brooks is a staff attorney at the ACLU of Mexico specializing in immigrants' rights. Prior to joining the ACLU, Max spent three years in El Paso with Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, including as a legal fellow assisting asylum-seekers in expedited removal, a detained removal defense staff attorney, and a contract attorney and consultant. Max worked previously as an associate at a leading civil rights law firm in Maine. During his time in Maine, Max helped found and launch the Southern Maine Workers Center's Workers Rights Legal Clinic. Max also clerked for two years for the Honorable Judge Nancy Torresen at the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine.
Before beginning his legal career, Max worked as a teacher and a journalist in Chicago. He enjoys biking, spending time with his dog Jazzy, and getting lost in books, movies, and music. Max is passionate about liberation and working in community to deconstruct racist, oppressive border systems.
Job Titles:
- Policy Staff Member
- Director of Public Policy
- District Director for Congresswoman Xochitl Torres Small
Nayomi Valdez joined the ACLU after serving as District Director for Congresswoman Xochitl Torres Small. In those two years, she worked to ensure that stakeholders at every level had access to their government and that constituents received the service to which they are entitled.
As a grassroots organizer, Nayomi worked to raise awareness around food justice, education, immigration, and reproductive rights. From there she went on to manage and work on various campaigns at the local, state, and federal level. She takes pride in having helped to elect leaders that represent and uplift our most marginalized communities and working to address the issues we all face through policy and legislation.
Nayomi is a native New Mexican whose family settled in the Loma Parda valley hundreds of years ago, where they still farm today. She has migrated between Albuquerque and Las Cruces her whole life and has deep ties to both communities. She currently resides in Las Cruces with her two daughters, her partner, and their three dogs; Stout, Mila, and Zia.
Nayomi holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications with a minor in Philosophy from the University of New Mexico.
Job Titles:
- Director of Finance and Operations
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art As Director of Operations
Noah Bartlett serves as Director of Finance and Operations at the ACLU of New Mexico, with a career spanning over 20 years in the nonprofit sector. Prior to working for the ACLU, Noah dedicated the past 15 years to working in arts and cultural institutions in San Francisco, California.
Noah served as an operations director for the California College of the Arts, where he played a key role in establishing initiatives such as The American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment steering committee and the Academic Operations Committee. These initiatives aimed to promote sustainability, accessibility, and equity within the College. Noah steadily advanced within the organization and assumed director, senior director, and chief positions, ultimately overseeing operations in both San Francisco and Oakland. He was responsible for financial management, personnel, and capital planning, with oversight of multimillion-dollar operating and capital budgets.
In 2016, Noah joined the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art as director of operations during its transformative multimillion-dollar expansion. He played a vital role in ensuring the successful completion of the LEED Gold project and effectively scaled the museum's operations. Noah assumed the position of chief administrative officer, where he had direct oversight of critical aspects of the museum's operations, including technology, visitor experience, retail, food and beverage, and security. He was directly responsible for 40% of the museum's $70 million operating budget.
In addition to his finance and administration responsibilities within the museum, Noah led community and government relations, and partnered with City and State agencies to address a wide range of issues. He also served as Chair of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Streets and Planning Committee for the Yerba Buena Community Benefits District-a nonprofit dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for residents, businesses, and workers in downtown San Francisco's arts and cultural district.
Noah pursued studies in Film and New Media at the California College of the Arts and earned a Bachelor of Sciences degree from the University of California, Berkeley, with a focus on environmental justice issues, including food insecurity, urban ecology, and renewable energy policy. Currently, he is an Executive MBA candidate at the University of California's Haas School of Business and actively volunteers as a Canine Socializer with the Santa Fe Animal Shelter.
Despite his many commitments, Noah prioritizes deepening his lifelong appreciation for New Mexico's unique culture and environment. When he is not immersed in ensuring the financial health of the ACLU, you can find him exploring the scenic outdoors, engaging in woodworking, or in search of the perfect sopaipilla.
Noah Bartlett was born in Albuquerque and raised in both Santa Fe, New Mexico and Oakland, California.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board Officers Team
- Treasurer, Foundation
Peter Simonson is Executive Director for the ACLU of New Mexico, a post he has held since 2000. Under Peter's leadership, the ACLU-NM has posted some of its most important victories, winning the freedom to marry for same-sex couples, banning the practice of civil asset forfeiture in the state, and defeating an Albuquerque ordinance that threatened to limit abortion access throughout New Mexico. Also during his tenure, the ACLU-NM grew from a staff of 4 to 18 and opened a second office near the US-Mexico border devoted to immigrant and border affairs.
Prior to the ACLU, Peter worked for two different immigrant rights organizations in Albuquerque. He earned his Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of Michigan and worked for several years in sustainable development and ethnographic research in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Legal Staff Member
- Senior Indigenous Justice Staff Attorney
Preston Sanchez is an attorney and advocate working to create greater social equity for New Mexico's culturally-diverse people. Currently, Preston is leading ACLU-NM's litigation and policy work aimed at challenging the disparate and discriminatory treatment of New Mexico's indigenous peoples.
Preston (Jemez/Laguna Pueblos & Diné) began his legal career at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, where he worked primarily on Yazzie/Martinez v. State, a landmark lawsuit brought against the State of New Mexico for failing to provide public school students a sufficient opportunity to succeed academically. At trial, in 2017, Preston, along with a team of attorneys, proved that major systemic failures have denied Native American, low-income and English-learner students the opportunity to prepare adequately for college and the workforce, resulting in a favorable decision by the First Judicial District Court that public education in New Mexico is unconstitutional. In light of the Yazzie/Martinez court ruling, Preston, in 2018, helped build a coalition of education and school leaders to advocate for greater funding and resources to transform the system of public education statewide. Preston continues to work with the Yazzie litigation team to implement the court's rulings.
In 2012, Preston founded the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project at the University of New Mexico's School of Law. The Marshall Brennan Project empowers high-school students from culturally diverse and high poverty schools to become advocates for themselves by learning about the social impact of constitutional law and the skills of argumentation.
Preston grew up in the South Valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is a Bulldog from Albuquerque High ('03). Preston serves as a board member of the ‘Dukes Up' organization.
Job Titles:
- Communications Staff Member
- Senior Digital Media Strategist
Job Titles:
- Legal Staff Member
- Senior Staff Attorney
- Senior Immigrant Rights Staff Attorney
Rebecca Sheff is a senior staff attorney at the ACLU of New Mexico specializing in immigrants' rights. Prior to joining the ACLU, Rebecca spent three years in El Paso as a staff attorney with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, with a focus on immigration, border rights, and civil rights matters. Rebecca worked previously for Human Rights First in their Washington, DC office on foreign policy matters including refugee protection, rule of law issues, and threats to civic space. She was then selected for a fellowship with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, where she advocated and litigated in international forums on behalf of human rights defenders targeted for their work. She clerked for the Honorable Roy W. McLeese III at the D.C. Court of Appeals. Rebecca received a B.A. in Political Science at Macalester College and earned her J.D. at New York University School of Law.
Prior to her career as an attorney, Rebecca worked in Zimbabwe for a civil society organization combating election-related violence and providing services for survivors of torture and police brutality. Rebecca also worked for a human rights organization in Burundi, where she managed the launch of the first LGBTQ+ community center in the region and facilitated access to direct services, capacity-building, and advocacy initiatives to decriminalize same-sex relationships. Rebecca is passionate about access to justice, accountability, and organizing with folks who are most directly affected by state violence and abuses of power.
Job Titles:
- Policy Staff Member
- Community Engagement Specialist