BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Caroline Garcia, Chair
TXNM Energy
Dale Dekker, Chair Emeritus
Dekker/Perich/Sabatini
Linh Nguyen, Secretary
Lumina Foundation
Lori Addison
Beck Total Office Interiors
Kara Bobroff
One Generation
Leslie Cervantes
NMSU, Retired
Veronica Garcia
Santa Fe Public Schools
David Kistin
Sandia Labs
Randi McGinn
McGinn, Montoya, Love & Curry
Jennifer Ramo
New Mexico Appleseed
New Mexico Appleseed: Our Team
JENNY RAMO
Founder & Executive Director
Jennifer Ramo is the founder and Executive Director of New Mexico Appleseed. An experienced attorney, she designed New Mexico Appleseed’s effective system of change and created Appleseed’s first-in-the-nation programs such as the Hunger-Free Students’ Bill of Rights (prohibited lunch shaming children whose parents owe school meal debt), the Breakfast After the Bell law (requires all high poverty elementary schools to serve breakfast during the school day that has been replicated by over a dozen states and districts) and the Food Access Navigator project on the Navajo Nation (awarded a USDA innovation demonstration grant).
Ms. Ramo’s professional focus is on multi-generational systems involvement and using community voice/qualitative data and quantitative data to improve poverty outcomes. The lens of racial equity in the poverty arena is a natural extension of this work.
Her anti-hunger and homelessness work has received international attention and been highlighted in the New York Times, CNN, USA Today, Le Monde, BBC and Al Jazeera, among others.
Ms. Ramo is a graduate of the Albuquerque Academy, the University of Southern California and Tulane Law School. She was a recipient of the Coro Fellowship. She also holds a Certificate of Behavioral Economics from Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.
Email Jenny Ramo >
DANIEL VALVERDE
Deputy Director
Daniel Valverde is responsible for bringing awareness about child hunger issues across the state and helps support federal programs, such as school breakfast, school lunch, and after school meals. He helps assist after school programs in receiving free reimbursable meals and snacks using federal funds. He also works on Appleseed’s McKinney-Vento program. His work includes supporting school districts around the state with their McKinney-Vento programs, offering technical assistance, and identifying issues on the ground that require policy changes.
Mr. Valverde was accepted as an Emerson Hunger Fellow with Congressional Hunger Center in Washington D.C., He improved access to SNAP at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Food Security Partnership in Pittsburg Pennsylvania, and then moved on to explore health care providers' role in ending childhood hunger at the Share Our Strength in Washington, DC with the Partner Impact and Advocacy team. Most recently, Daniel was a Child Hunger Outreach Specialist with the Texas Hunger Initiative at Baylor University School of Social Work. Mr. Valverde received his bachelor's degree in anthropology at Eastern New Mexico University, and his master's degree in cultural anthropology and food studies at New Mexico State University.
Email Daniel Valverde >
KIM McNULTY
Director of Finance
Kim brings 25+ years of non-profit experience to New Mexico Appleseed in the areas of accounting, taxes, payroll, and consulting. Her consulting experience includes assisting hundreds of non-profit organizations with audits, regulatory compliance, applying for and maintaining tax-exempt status, governance, and establishing and maintaining effective internal controls. Kim’s passion for working with non-profits was the driving factor in co-founding a CPA firm in Albuquerque specifically to provide services to non-profit organizations. Kim left the CPA firm in 2015 and moved to San Diego to provide her two daughters with additional opportunities to explore their passions. Kim moved back to Albuquerque in April 2025.
The position with New Mexico Appleseed allows Kim to not only make use of her years of accounting-related experience but also contribute to the administrative and fundraising aspects of New Mexico Appleseed. Kim looks forward to contributing her experience wherever it will benefit New Mexico Appleseed, as well as working with other staff and volunteers in furthering its mission.