Welcome to Our Board: Leaders Committed to New Mexico's Young People
By Meriah Heredia-Griego, PhD | Board Chair, Future Focused Education
There is something that happens when the right people step into the right room at the right time. The energy shifts. The conversation deepens. The possibilities expand.
Before they were attorneys, policy chiefs, hospital executives and health care workers, they were just kids, sitting in a classroom, trying to figure out where they fit. Now, they’re Future Focused Education’s (FFE) newest board members and they are drawing on their “then” and reimagining the “now” for young people across New Mexico.
Dr. Kim Lanoy-Sandoval and the entire FFE team work every single day to reimagine what learning can look like for young people across New Mexico — particularly those who have been historically left out of systems that were not built with them in mind. From paid healthcare internships, to educator professional development, policy advocacy, and youth civic infrastructure grants, Kim and her team are doing ambitious, urgent, community-rooted work.
The board's role is to ensure our work can go further, last longer, and grow smarter. Our board, including 5 new members, bring exactly the experience, relationships, and perspective needed to do that.
THEN:
Capital High School, Class of 2024
Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) leader, dance team captain, first-generation college-bound
NOW:
Nursing student and nurse tech intern,
UNM College of Nursing & UNM Hospital’s Surgical Unit
Aranza Chavez
"It's more important than ever that adults believe in their students. That they know their students are capable of more."
Aranza Chavez is the first young person to serve on FFE’s Board of Directors. That’s no small thing - and it says just as much about where Future Focused is headed as it does about her talent, ambition, and drive. She came to Future Focused through the X3 healthcare internship program, where it changed her future: from shadowing nurses in pediatrics to triaging patients on her own, she went from curious to certain about her path forward.
Born in Española and raised in Santa Fe by parents who immigrated from Chihuahua, Mexico, Aranza is a first-generation college student currently pursuing her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at UNM. She was accepted into UNM's highly competitive freshman direct-entry College of Nursing program, one of only 95 students in her cohort. Now, she wants the next first-generation kid to know they belong. She represents the young people who are living proof that FFE's work is changing lives, and brings the most important perspective of all: the experience of someone who has navigated challenging systems firsthand, and who is ready to help make them better for the students of today.
THEN:
A hoop-shooting kid growing up in Albuquerque’s International District
NOW:
Executive Director, ACLU of New Mexico
Leon F. Howard III
Leon Howard has spent more than fifteen years fighting for civil rights and liberties across New Mexico. This year, he argued a case before the state Supreme Court that successfully overturned a decades-old precedent affecting students’ rights.
It started with educators who saw more than his circumstances and grew into his deep expertise in civil rights litigation, institutional accountability, and racial equity. Leon is a powerful asset as Future Focused continues its work ensuring every young person in New Mexico — regardless of zip code, race, or background — is treated with dignity and has access to transformative opportunities.
THEN:
A public school kid in Albuquerque, who noticed everything the adults assumed he didn’t
NOW:
Chief Legislative Officer, New Mexico Voice for Children
Jacob Vigil
Jacob Vigil has made the kid he once was proud, dedicating his career to expanding opportunity for children and families. He has co-led a statewide BIPOC Prenatal to Three coalition, helped pass the ballot initiative establishing permanent state funding for early childhood programs, and shaped legislative strategy across issues from Early Childhood Education and immigration to paid sick leave and COVID relief. He now serves as Chief Legislative Officer at NM Voices for Children.
Jacob's policy fluency and deep relationships with legislators, advocates, and funders position him as an invaluable connector between FFE's on-the-ground programs and the systems-level change New Mexico's youth deserve.
THEN:
A future teacher
NOW:
Executive Director of Government Relations, Presbyterian Healthcare Services
Michael Weinberg, Ed.D.
Michael Weinberg has spent nearly three decades working nearly every angle of education there is. From a teacher, literacy coach, school principal, state budget analyst, to a foundation officer, he reached the same conclusion each time: young people learn best when their education connects to their lives in realistic, meaningful ways.
Michael holds a doctorate in educational leadership from UNM, a master's from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a bachelor's from Dartmouth. He is one of the state's most sophisticated cross-sector leaders, bringing deep knowledge of policy, philanthropy, and systems change that will strengthen FFE's strategic thinking and its relationships with government, healthcare, and education.
THEN:
A New Jersey teen who hadn’t yet found his love for New Mexico
NOW:
President & CEO, New Mexico Chamber of Commerce Foundation
Rob Leming
Rob Leming’s path began in New Jersey; his career spans political campaigns, utility relations, and now workforce development, bringing him all the way to New Mexico. He’s raised more than five million dollars across New Mexico's political landscape, building public-private partnerships that translate into real results for students. Under his leadership at New Mexico Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the Be Pro Be Proud career and technical education engagement program has reached more than 5,000 students across 80 schools in under nine months.
Rob's experience in fundraising, stakeholder engagement, and workforce development are built on the belief that “school” and “life” were never supposed to be separate categories. He will be an asset as Future Focused deepens its X3 internship and work-based learning programs and expands its reach across the state.
A Catalytic Moment
Like our newest board members, Future Focused Education has never stood still. We have grown, learned, stumbled, adapted, and have come back stronger for it. And somewhere in each of their stories they identified something important: education.
We are at a transition in New Mexico and across the country — the stakes around education, opportunity, and equity have never felt more urgent. This moment calls for a board that brings not just expertise, but vision. That is what these five people bring. Their arrival is not just an addition to our governance structure — it is a signal of what this organization is becoming and what we believe is possible for New Mexico's young people.
I am honored to be part of this work. Serving as Board Chair alongside Dr. Kim Lanoy-Sandoval and this extraordinary team is one of the great privileges of my professional life. And on behalf of the entire board of directors, I want to say this directly to our five newest members: thank you for saying yes to Future Focused Education, and thank you for saying yes to the young people of New Mexico.
Take a second and think about your own “then” and “now” and ask yourself: What would you change about your education? Consider this an invitation to reflect and to get involved. It takes all kinds of people and partnerships to ensure New Mexico's young people get what they deserve: an education system that is world-class in quality, first-class in care, and genuinely centered on them. An education system that heals communities rather than sorting them. One that sees young people as assets, as leaders, as the point of the whole endeavor.
Our best work is yet to come.