Board of Trustees
Stephen Wall, JD
Board Chair
Stephen Wall is an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation. Stephen was born in Roswell, New Mexico and was raised on and near the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in southern New Mexico. After graduating…
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Robert "Bob" Bidal, MBA
Board Vice Chair
Bob Bidal is the Chief Credit Officer and an Executive Vice President for Century Bank in Santa Fe. He has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Arizona and an M.B.A. in Financial…
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Ann Filemyr, PhD
President of SWC, Ex Officio Member
Ann Filemyr, Ph.D. is the fourth President of Southwestern College following four and a half years of service as the Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean. She also serves as the Director of the…
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Katherine Ninos, MA, LPCC
Executive Vice President of SWC and Board Secretary
Katherine is Executive Vice President and Director of The New Earth Institute at Southwestern College. She received her B.A. in Psychology at Alfred University, New York, and her M.A. in Transformational Counseling and Education at…
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Robert D. Waterman, EdD, LPCC
Board Member & President Emeritus of Southwestern College
Dr. Robert Waterman has been a spiritual teacher for over 45 years, teaching classes in the United States, Canada, France, Germany and Switzerland. He is a licensed mental health counselor in New Mexico, a minister…
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Miguel Angel Acosta
Board Member
Miguel Angel Acosta was born in Chicago but made in Mexico. He is Currently Co-Director of Earth Care, a multi-generational community leadership and learning organization in Santa Fe. He has been the Director of El…
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Allison Frank, MBA
CFO Southwestern College, Board Treasurer
Allison Frank has been the Chief Financial Officer of Southwestern College since 2016. She received her Master of Business Administration from the University of New Mexico, and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of…
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Elijah Chong, MA
Board Member
Elijah Chong is a graduate alumni of Southwestern College with a Masters in Art Therapy/Counseling and a Bachelors of Environmental Design from Texas A&M University. Elijah is currently on staff at The Life Link in…
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Paul Macks, MA
Board Member
Paul Macks is a retired not-for-profit administrator. Paul has a BS in Communications from Temple University, a MA in Communications from Ohio University and a Post Master Certificate in Healthcare Administration from Saint Joseph’s University.…
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Jess Clark
Board Member
Jess Clark is the Director of Sexual Violence Prevention for the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs, a consultant for Catharsis Productions, a transgender education consultant, and the host of Both/And: A Sexual Violence…
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Krishna Madappa
Trustee Emeritus
Krishna Madappa is a Holistic Consultant, educator, clinician, researcher, storyteller, shaman and Ayurvedic specialist residing in Taos, New Mexico. Born and raised in the Andaman Islands of India and educated both in India and USA…
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Jennifer Albright Knash, DAT, ATRL-BC, LPC/AODA, CCTP
Program Chair for Art Therapy/Counseling Program
Jennifer Albright Knash is the Chair of the Art Therapy/Counseling program. She received her Doctorate of Art Therapy at Mount Mary University where she completed research regarding trauma repair in the framework of the Neurosequential…
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