Board of Directors
O. Dino Cervantes, Managing Vice President
Cervantes Enterprises, Inc.
Las Cruces, NM
Dino Cervantes is Managing Vice President of Cervantes Enterprises, Inc.,
a food processing organization specializing in the production of chile pepper products,
and General Manager of Cervantes Agribusiness, an agricultural production organization
that focuses on intensive agricultural production in southern New Mexico and northern Mexico.
He is a fourth-generation New Mexico farmer. His organization affiliations include serving as Vice-President of the NM Chile Association, President of the Chile Pepper Task Force, and membership in the Las Cruces Business Forum. He also serves on the New Mexico Chihuahua Commission on Economic Development and the Las Cruces Business Forum, a governor-appointed position.
In 2006, Dino received the Leyendecker Agriculturist of Distinction award from NMSU, and is a member of the NMSU Sam Steel Society, which recognizes outstanding community leaders in the agricultural industry.
Dino received his B.S. in Business Administration from New Mexico State University.
Penelope Douglas, President
Pacific Community Ventures
San Francisco, CA
Before joining PCV, Douglas was senior vice president at
Odwalla, Inc. Her responsibilities included marketing, human resources,
communications, strategic planning, and legal matters. Douglas also served
as the head of the company's crisis response team during their association
with an outbreak of food-borne illness in the fall of 1996, and served as a
central figure during their reemergence efforts.
Previously, Douglas was chief administrative officer at Morrison & Foerster and chair of the Morrison & Foerster Foundation. She was responsible for administration and operations of the firm's thirteen offices worldwide, as well as for the marketing, information resources, education and development, and human resources functions. During her tenure, Morrison & Foerster won the Catalyst Award for the firm's work on the retention and advancement of women. Douglas has also held senior management positions at Ernst & Young and Wells Fargo Bank.
For the last fifteen years, Douglas has been involved with community-based non-profit organizations, serving as chair of Larkin Street Youth Center and founding chair of Juma Ventures, a spin-off that develops businesses providing employment opportunities for disadvantaged youth. She is currently on the board of the Children's Television Education and Resource Center, a developer of school curricula and interactive products aimed at developing pro-social skills in children. Douglas also served on the board of San Francisco's Friends of the Urban Forest, which works to develop the urban forest through tree planting and maintenance, education and job training for youth. In 2007 she received the Community Financial Resource's Center's Robert A. McNeely Trailblazer Award.
As co-founder of the first west coast community venture fund, Douglas is a pioneer and thought leader in the area of community venture capital. She currently serves on the board of directors of the Community Development Venture Capital Association.
Michael Emerson, Senior Director, Business Development
ABS Consulting
Albuquerque, NM
Michael Emerson is an operations executive and technical consultant in the energy, aerospace and defense industries. He has an in-depth working knowledge of New Mexico’s vast and growing technical and scientific resources including its universities, national laboratories, military research and development organizations, and private businesses.
Mr. Emerson is currently a Senior Director of Business Development for ABS Consulting, which is a leading independent global provider of risk management services to commercial and government clients. Mr. Emerson focuses on business development in the public sector.
Mr. Emerson previously partnered with Kristin Martinez on two enterprises, Sound Point and Heliose. Sound Point provides a wide range of consulting and advisory services to assist companies in all phases of development, growth, operation, and exit. Heliose is a bio-tech startup firm focused on licensing, developing and commercializing technologies that can rapidly meet market demand for bio-based feedstocks and products.
Mr. Emerson also served as the Senior Vice-President of the California based engineering firm, ARES Corporation, which specializes in risk analysis and management, facility and equipment design, and system engineering for the aerospace, chemical and energy industries.
Mr. Emerson has a strong commitment to community service in New Mexico. He currently serves as a Board Member for New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority, Kirtland Partnership Committee, as well as several University of New Mexico Boards. He has a Master’s Degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Washington and a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering with Distinction from the University of New Mexico.
Richard H. Harding, Managing Partner
International Venture Fund I
San Francisco, CA
Richard Harding is a Managing Partner with Santa Fe Venture
Partners, which is a General Partner with the Silicon Valley-based venture
capital firm International Venture Fund I. IVF I is a seed and early stage
Venture Capital group with investments in California, Arizona, Utah, Hawaii,
and New Mexico.
Since forming Santa Fe Venture Partners in 1998 and becoming a General Partner with IVF I, Harding has been actively involved in technology commercialization at the University of New Mexico, Sandia National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. He has served on the Board of Directors of Science and Technology Center @ University of New Mexico where he headed the Start-Up Committee. STC@UNM is the technology commercialization arm of the University and the Start-Up committee under Harding's leadership has identified and guided high potential technologies through the start-up phase. In addition, Harding served as an Advisory Board Member for the Los Alamos National Laboratory Technology Commercialization Office where he assisted in the Lab's technology commercialization efforts.
Prior to moving to Santa Fe, Harding was a senior executive and member of Managing Committee with Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, CA., the nation's leading provider of financing to emerging, high growth technology and life sciences companies. At SVB he worked with dozens of start-up ventures to develop successful commercial companies. During his 28 year corporate and banking career, he held senior positions with First Interstate Bank and American Express International Banking Corp. with assignments in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia. Over the course of his career, he launched five successful new business entities within these corporate environments.
Harding received his BA from the University of Montana, his graduate degree in International Management from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird Campus), and an MBA from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
Owen Lopez, Executive Director
McCune Charitable Foundation
Santa Fe, NM
Owen Lopez has been the Executive Director of the McCune
Charitable Foundation since 1993. The foundation distributes approximately
$8M annually to nonprofit organizations in New Mexico. Mr. Lopez was
formerly a senior partner with the Hinkle, Cox, Eaton, and Coffield &
Hensley Law Firm in Santa Fe and was educated at Stanford University and
Notre Dame Law School.
Beverlee McClure, President & CEO
New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry
Albuquerque, NM
Dr. Beverlee J. McClure is the president and CEO of the New Mexico Association of
Commerce and Industry (ACI). ACI is the statewide business advocate who aggressively
lobbies the state’s legislative, executive, and judicial branches year-round
to enact laws and policies that improve the state’s business climate.
In this capacity, Dr. McClure is working to facilitate positive change in the laws
and regulations that govern business and industry.
Previously, Dr. McClure served as the state’s first cabinet secretary of higher education, a position she held for almost two years. In this position, she created the department and championed such causes as $100 million endowment in the College Affordability Fund to help with meet the financial needs of low-income students. She also worked to implement performance-based funding, and to increase the amount spent for deferred maintenance at our institutions.
Dr. McClure came to the state ten years ago as the president of Clovis Community College and was the youngest sitting college president in the nation. She led Clovis Community College to become a Title V Hispanic-Serving Institution, have record enrollment increases, secure the largest private donation in the college’s history, and create the Cultural Arts Series. While serving as president, she was appointed by Governor Bill Richardson to serve on the State Board of Education that governed K-12 (no longer in existence), and as the vice-chair of the Governor’s Task Force on Higher Education, and the Chair of the Governor’s Education Transition Team.
In addition to being a member of the New Mexico Women’s Forum and the New Mexico Amigos, she is a founding member and vice-president of the New Mexico Heart Gallery Foundation. She also serves on the board of New Mexico First.
T. Greg Merrion, President
Merrion Oil & Gas
Farmington, NM
T. Greg Merrion is the President of Merrion Oil &
Gas, a second generation, family-owned independent producer based in
Farmington, NM. Merrion Oil & Gas is the 24th largest producer of
natural gas in New Mexico, and also has operations in Colorado, Utah and
Wyoming. Prior to coming to work for Merrion Oil & Gas in 1985, T.
Greg worked as a production engineer for Superior Oil and Mobil.
T. Greg has a Petroleum Engineering degree from Colorado School of Mines and a Masters degree in Business from New Mexico State University. He is a past president of the Independent Petroleum Association of NM and a past chairman of the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association. He is a graduate of Leadership San Juan and Leadership New Mexico, and currently serves on the Farmington Planning and Zoning Commission and the San Juan College Foundation Board. He's also a member of the New Mexico Amigos and a Director on the Petroleum Technology Transfer Board.
T. Greg and his wife Susan have four children. His hobbies include snowboarding, golfing, running, and working crossword puzzles.
Mark Pinsky, President & Chief Executive Officer
Opportunity Finance
Philadelphia, PA
Since 1995, Mark has been the chief executive of Opportunity Finance Network,
the leading U.S. network of community development financial institutions (CDFIs).
His organization is widely recognized as the voice of the CDFI industry in the U.S.
Department of Treasury. As chief executive, Mark has created many new and
successful business models including the Equity Equivalent Investment product,
the CDFI Assessment and ratings System (CARS) and the Opportunity Mortgage Network.
Mark is a highly respected national speaker and has written numerous articles on CDFIs, Community Development Capital, Sustainable Homeownership, and Federal Reserve financing.
He serves as Chairman of the international CDFI Project and is currently a board member of the Bank of America National Community Advisory Council and the Wachovia Community Development Entity.
Mark graduated with a B.A. in Education from Oberlin College, Oberlin Ohio.