Each member of our Board of Directors has a deep personal commitment to Los Alamos. Together, they lead the Los Alamos Community Foundation using their expertise, their knowledge of our community, and their passionate belief in the power of philanthropy to change lives.
The Board establishes policy, sets priorities and makes final decisions to authorize grants. All Directors are volunteers who serve without pay for three-year terms. Steve Laurent, our Executive Director, has operational responsibilities and works to implement Board policy.
Chair
Linda Daly moved to Los Alamos in 1992 when she joined the University of New Mexico Los Alamos as its Community Education director. In 1999, she was hired by The Family YMCA Board of Directors as its Chief Executive Officer. After nearly 20 years, Linda retired from the Y in October 2018.
Prior her to CEO position, Linda served on The Family YMCA Board of Directors. She is a past president of the UNM-LA Advisory Board where she served for two terms. She is a graduate of Leadership Los Alamos and Leadership New Mexico. Linda chaired the New Mexico Alliance of YMCAs for over 12 years. Additionally, she served on the national Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council for the YMCA of the USA and is past President of the national Asian Pacific Islander Leadership Network for YUSA.
Linda graduated from the University of Hawaii where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and in Communications.
Vice-Chair
As a community member of Los Alamos for over 30 years, Pat Soran has been involved in many non‐profit organizations. In 1996 he co-founded the Los Alamos Lunch Buddies Program and after getting 125 adult volunteers, Pat turned the program over to Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Northern New Mexico. In 1997 Pat founded the Diane Soran Foundation and spent several years restoring and refurbishing the Tot Lot parks and play areas of Los Alamos. Under Pat’s directorship, the Diane Soran Foundation also provided scholarships to graduating Los Alamos High School seniors. From 1999 to 2009 Pat served on the board of directors and was president of the Crisis Center of Northern New Mexico. In 2014, Pat and his wife Ann Hayes were co‐chairpersons of the Northern New Mexico United Way campaign. In addition to being a member of the Founder’s Society of the Los Alamos Community Foundation, Pat serves on the UNM-LA Advisory Board and is an active 20-year member of the Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos, managing the community’s annual 4th of July fireworks display for many years. Pat is a recipient of the Jim West “Spirit of the West” award from Los Alamos Assets in Action.
Pat’s educational background includes Ph.D. and Master of Science degrees in nuclear engineering from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Pat retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1999 after enjoying a career that included several technical managerial positions. He is also a retired US Navy captain. In his retirement, Pat enjoys watching his grandchildren grow up, woodworking, and playing golf.
Board Member
Cindy Rooney moved to Los Alamos in 1998 with her husband and two daughters. She serves as treasurer of the United Way of Northern New Mexico Board and is a member of the Los Alamos Commerce and Economic Development Corporation Board.
Cindy is the past Chancellor for the University of New Mexico Los Alamos. She has been involved in higher education for more than 25 years, previously teaching at the College of William and Mary, Xavier University, and UNM-Albuquerque before coming to UNM-LA. Cindy received a Ph.D. in Accounting, with a minor in Organizational Behavior, from the University of Tennessee.
Secretary
Diana Martinez located to Los Alamos with her family in 1991 from Springfield, Il., following her husband’s four-year stint with the Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety. Having young children, she worked at home as a freelance writer placing articles, short pieces, and poems in Family Circle, Christian Parenting Today, New Mexico Magazine, New Frontiers of New Mexico and local periodicals. In 1998, she began a 25-year career with The Family YMCA eventually serving as a Senior Program Director and Development Director with a focus on grant writing.
She served on the Los Alamos County and LAPS Schools Trinity property development advisory committee for the two years prior to the 2014 Smith’s Food and Drug Store opening. She was a 2006 graduate of Leadership Los Alamos, and a recipient of their 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award. Diana placed second in the Southwest Writers Workshop Juvenile Novel contest in 1994, has taught writing classes at UNM-LA, and served on grant review committees. Now retired, she is dabbling once again in writing and historical family research. Diana has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri.
Board Member
Elizabeth Allen is an experienced attorney and judge with a broad legal background. She earned her law degree from Pepperdine School of Law and has practiced in Idaho and New Mexico as a prosecutor, defense attorney, and solo practitioner. Her areas of practice included special education law, real estate, estate planning, business formation, child protection, appeals, and criminal defense.
Elected Los Alamos Municipal Judge in 2019, Elizabeth also teaches Business Law at UNM–Los Alamos and volunteers with the Juvenile Justice Advisory Board and several youth sports organizations. She mentors judges throughout New Mexico and frequently speaks at judicial conferences. Elizabeth is a mother of three (ages 15, 12, and 9) and enjoys playing string bass in the Los Alamos Symphony.
Board Member
Matt Jackson brings over 20 years of expertise at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), where he currently serves as the Division Leader for the Materials Science and Technology
Division. His prior leadership roles include Group Leader for the Nuclear Materials Science Group and various positions within the Associate Directorate for Weapons Production. A mechanical engineer by training, Matt has 17 years of hands-on experience in research, development, and manufacturing at LANL’s Chemistry and Metallurgy Research and TA-55 Plutonium Facilities.
Matt has extensive experience leading multidisciplinary teams of varied sizes and compositions, fostering collaboration across diverse technical fields to achieve complex goals. Recognized as an expert in molten salt systems, he authored the “Molten Salt Chemistry of Plutonium” chapter in the Plutonium Handbook and has championed empirical research in this field. He has also led multiple international technical collaborations as the U.S. representative and contributed to advancing technology development at sites worldwide.
Deeply rooted in the Los Alamos community, Matt is a graduate of Los Alamos High School and has two children currently enrolled in the local school system. His wife, Megan, a former elementary school teacher of 20 years, now serves as the Los Alamos Program Specialist for Big Brothers Big Sisters. Matt is passionate about the outdoors, enjoying mountain biking, trail running, skiing, snowboarding, and backpacking.
With his professional expertise, leadership experience, and commitment to community, Matt is dedicated to contributing to the mission and vision of the Los Alamos Community Foundation.
Board Member
Steve Lynne moved to New Mexico in 1994 and then to Los Alamos in 1996. He holds a Master’s Degree in Accounting. Prior to coming to Los Alamos County, Steve worked with public accounting firms in Florida and New Mexico, with an emphasis in auditing local government clients.
Since joining Los Alamos County in February 1996, Steve spent the first 14 years with the County’s Finance division rising to Chief Financial Officer in 2000. In 2010, he was promoted to Administrative Services Director/Chief Financial Officer responsible for the performance of the Information Technology, Finance, Procurement and Materials Management, and Risk Management divisions. In February 2011 he was appointed to one of two Acting Assistant County Administrator positions to assist in the operational oversight of all departments and overall coordination of several of the County’s major projects. Steve later was promoted to Deputy Manager, and in that position, Steve had oversight of the Administrative Services Department, as well as the Community Services Department. In July 2021, Steve was appointed as County Manager.
Steve and his wife Suzanne raised their kids here in Los Alamos. Steve recently retired after 28 years of service to Los Alamos County. He and Suzanne love Los Alamos, have no plans to leave, and are looking forward to being retired together here.
Executive Director
Liz Martineau brings 37 years of service to the Los Alamos community to the LACF. She previously taught school, provided outreach through the Bradbury Science Museum, served as the Executive Director of the Los Alamos Historical Society, served on numerous nonprofit boards and managed the Los Alamos Ambassador Program. Her broad work experience gives her a unique perspective regarding the opportunities and challenges facing local organizations.
Liz raised two daughters in Los Alamos. She is a fiber artist who enjoys camping and hiking. She and her husband, Gordon McDonough, also own a traveling math museum that seeks to inspire and excite people about the beauty and adventures of mathematics. Along with her Education degree from Kansas State University, she has a master’s degree in Instructional Leadership.
Program Manager
Brandi Weiss has a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Sociology from New Mexico State University and a passion for community health and wellness. Brandi was raised in Los Alamos, graduating from LAHS in 2019, and is returning home to help make a difference in the community that raised her. She has a vested interest in the health and wellness of our community, dedicating countless hours of her graduate studies to write a thesis on Los Alamos High School adolescent risky behavior.
In her prior role, served as a Program Specialist at the NMSU Center of Innovation for Behavioral Health and Wellness. She also was the President of the College of Health, Education, and Social Transformation Student Ambassadors, VP/Treasurer for Alpha Kappa Delta Sociology Honors Society, and was the Treasurer for the Sociology Graduate Student Organization. She continues to be an active member of the National Speech and Debate Association by judging tournaments, and helping coach Informative Speaking for the Hilltalkers. In her free time, she loves to read and spend time with friends.