Rooted in Integrity

Eileen has built a career on taking action and achieving impact that others thought was not possible. Combining a unique blend of visioning, strategizing, planning, fundraising, facilitation, coalition building, doing rather than talking, and quiet observation, she loves bringing her skillset and proven methodologies to individuals, nonprofits, groups invested in social change, and small businesses. 

Here is a sampling of what Eileen has achieved:

• Brought over 25,000 New Mexico kids from over 100 schools outdoors through multi-day, standards-aligned programming
• Created the country’s first statewide shared vision and strategy, rooted in systems change, to support equitable daily access to the outdoors and environmental learning for all students through the coordination of hundreds of individuals representing over 100 entities across New Mexico
• Has worked at all staff levels of a nonprofit from admin up to Executive Director, served on a variety of nonprofit boards and working groups, and has implemented shared leadership at several nonprofits
• Built one of the largest capacity outdoor learning networks in the country that served over 150 organizations that supported over 285,000 New Mexican youth annually through tripling the budget, increasing staff capacity fourfold, and offering inclusive, monthly programming, leadership training, and professional development
• 100% success rate of bill passage on the first year of introduction of 6 bills at the New Mexico Legislature (the average bill passage rate is 15-20%) including the establishment of the Outdoor Learning Program at the New Mexico Public Education Department, through community-centered advocacy
• Created the first fellowship program of its kind in the country bringing together interconnected interests in environmental justice, outdoor learning, local food systems, and climate justice
• Coordinated the move of the New Mexico Climate Masters from the New Mexico Environment Department to the Santa Fe Watershed Association after Governor Martinez dissolved all climate education programs offered by the state, which has allowed the program to keep growing and going strong since 2012
• Co-founded Teaching Outdoors to All Learners (TOTAL) NM and the national Queer Environmental Educators Network
• Co-created and implemented New Mexico’s first pipeline of outdoor and environmental learning programs, the Santa Fe Outdoor Education Collaboration
• Has implemented multiple shared leadership models including TOTAL NM’s current structure of a minimally viable governing board and actions teams

None of these accomplishments was achieved alone and Eileen has a strong track record of bringing people together around a shared idea and across differences to be able to attain larger scale change with longer-lasting impact. Bringing over 20 years of nonprofit experience, including serving as staff at all levels including Executive Director and as a board member for a variety of nonprofits, Eileen enjoys helping nonprofits create and practice new ways of being. She has worked for over 15 years in collaboration with others to change systems for education, the outdoors, and conservation to be more authentically inclusive, equitable, and just for all and has facilitated dozens of conversations specifically about equity, justice, and liberation since 2016.

Eileen can also be found publishing on substack under The Cynical Environmentalist about saving the planet while having justice and liberation for all.