MEET OUR BOARDS
Get to know our board of directors and tax board
Richard Holdridge
Chairman of the Board
Richard Holdridge is a retired Air Force officer from Deming whose military service focused on satellite program acquisition, including oversight of manufacturing, planning and operation U.S. Department of Defense satellite programs. He graduated from the U.S Air Force Academy with a BS degree Astronautical Engineering and later earned a MS degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Dayton, and a PhD in Astronautical Engineering from Stanford University.
Howie Morales
Board Member
Howie Morales is the Lieutenant Governor of the State of New Mexico. Raised in Silver City, New Mexico, he has been an aggressive leader and has advocated state-wide policies in public education and welfare, health care, rural and tribal economic development, and veterans’ and senior citizens’ services. Lieutenant Governor Morales attended Western New Mexico University and later earned a PhD degree in education from New Mexico State University.
Davin Lopez
Board Member
Davin Lopez has been President and CEO of the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance (MVEDA) since 2009. Prior to that he was Vice President of the New Mexico Partnership, the private economic development and business attraction arm of the State of New Mexico for six years. Mr. Lopez holds an MBA from Yale University and a BA in Economics from the University of California, San Diego. He also serves in the boards of Quality NM and Arrowhead Center Inc.
Rebecca Latham
Board Member
Rebecca Latham is the former Cabinet Secretary of the State of New Mexico Tourism Department. Ms. Latham is a passionate tourism professional who has applied her great personal experience in government, advertising and marketing to the enhancement of New Mexico’s hospitality industry very well since 2006. She was instrumental in the development and successful implementation of the New Mexico True campaign.
Nathan LaFont
Board Member
Nathan LaFont, a resident of Sierra County, is General Manager of Elephant Butte Inn and RV Resort. He has been associated with the hospitality industry all his life and has served and continues to serve on many tourism and economic development boards and committees wherein he champions the economic and educational benefits of the space industry.
Laura Conniff
Board Member
Laura Mathers Conniff of Las Cruces is the Qualifying Broker for Mathers Realty, Inc. and an owner of Leveldale Farms and Conniff Cattle Company. Ms. Conniff was a member of the NMSU Board of Regents for eleven years and its Chair for three. Currently she serves on the boards of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, El Paso Branch, and of First American Bank. A business graduate of NMSU she also served on the NMSU Business Advisory Council.
Michelle Coons
Board Member
Michelle Coons is the President of First National Bank of Santa Fe and First National Rio Grande, both of which are part of Strategic Growth Bancorp, a regional bank holding company focused on ongoing growth throughout the Southwest. Currently, A graduate of UNM’s Robert O. Anderson School of Management, Ms. Coons is the Board Chair for the UNM Foundation, immediate past chair of Acción NM, Albuquerque Economic Development, and UNM Hospital.
Read More about Spaceport Governance
Learn more about the governance of Spaceport America including board meeting minutes archives, access to the Sunshine Portal, and our business plan.
