BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OFFICERS
Kathryn Ugoretz | President
Dan Nickelson | Vice President
Dan Nickelson was Director of Government Relations for the Cleveland Clinic from 1984-2004 and consulted with the organization through 2018. During that period he translated Washington politics to physicians and staff, and represented Cleveland Clinic in its dealing with Congress and the Executive Branch of the federal government. Additionally, he helped create the government relations program for the North American Society of Electrophysiology [NASPE], now known as the Heart Rhythm Society. Prior to his employment with the Cleveland Clinic he was employed in six different agencies of the federal government, the last being the Health Care Financing Administration, now lovingly known as CMS. He began his public service as a member of the first Peace Corps group to Ethiopia in 1962, where he taught chemistry, physics and biology. When on the east coast he served as a member and president of the Board of Governors for Friends of Wilderness Battlefield and the HCA community hospital in Fredericksburg, VA. Here he is a member of One Door and NAME (National Alliance for Mental Illness). Mr. Nickelson has a wife and two sons (one surviving), two grandchildren.
Emily Smith | Secretary
Emily M. Smith, MA, has over 35+ years in developing, managing & delivering customized organizational excellence and workplace effectiveness contract training programs for federal, state, and local government agencies and higher education institutions, with the main emphasis on leadership development, strategic planning, change management and diversity/inclusion. Since moving to Santa Fe in 1996, she taught related topics for the Santa Fe Community College and the University of New Mexico/Continuing Education. She retired from SFCC in 2011 as an administrator of in-house leadership development certificate programs and as the co-chair of the President’s Diversity Advisory Committee.
Marcel Legendre | Treasurer
MEMBERS
Tonja Abeyta
Sam Baca
Sam is a native of Santa Fe and has worked in the Santa Fe area for most of his professional career. He holds a Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Michigan. He worked as school social worker in the Santa Fe Public Schools, and later organized and led the steering committee that founded Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Santa Fe in 1980. He served as the agency’s first Executive Director for 8 years. He also spent 15 years working as Program Director for Cornerstones Community Partnerships, a nationally acclaimed Santa Fe-based program that helped organize community-based preservation projects to preserve buildings of cultural and historic significance, most notably adobe churches of northern New Mexico. Later he went on to work for the New Mexico Behavioral Health Collaborative as the lead for the Cross Agency Team for Local Collaboratives, grassroots community groups of behavioral health stakeholders that advise the state on behavioral health policy and planning. Sam was recently Program Director for the Santa Fe Farmers Market Institute, the non-profit arm of the Santa Fe Farmers Market. In this position, he ran several programs to support the vendors of the Market and to do outreach to promote the Market and educate the community on the benefits of healthy, local food.
Joel Baca
Sunil Sakhalkar
Ann Yalman
EX-OFFICIO
Edward Archuleta | Executive Director
Edward oversees all aspects of St. Elizabeth’s multifaceted operations. A Santa Fe native, Edward has served in various capacities with St. E’s over the years – as a volunteer, board member, intern, case manager and now Executive Director. Prior to working with St. E’s, Edward served as Project Manager with 1000 Friends of New Mexico, assistant to New Mexico Secretary of State Stephanie Gonzales, as a Realtor and with various government agencies. He has also served on numerous civic and non-profit boards.
