Kristina Martinez was born and raised in beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she attended public elementary school but unfortunately missed Cooking with Kids by just a few years. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Arizona and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of New Mexico. Kristina has practiced law in Santa Fe for the past decade, and recently started her own firm, Coberly & Martinez, LLLP, where she focuses her practice in the areas of civil rights, general civil litigation, and family law. She serves on the Ethics & Campaign Review Board for the City of Santa Fe as well as the boards of the St. Michael’s High School Foundation and WildEarth Guardians. She loves the Santa Fe community and she loves food – cooking it, eating it, and sharing it. Kristina is excited to cultivate her love of both by serving on the Cooking with Kids board, which she joined in 2016.

Michael has 30+ years of experience working for global professional services firms. Michael was the Managing Director of Client Management Services at Wellington Management Company, LLP, a Boston based asset management firm. Prior to that, he was a member of the international operations group for Deloitte Touché Tohmatsu International in New York and the Director of Professional Networks. Michael worked in Luxembourg, London, and Johannesburg prior to moving to the US.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Accounting from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and was qualified as a Chartered Accountant and CPA.

He enjoys spending time cooking for his family, playing tennis, fly-fishing, walking his dog. He and his family moved to Santa Fe in 2018. Michael is focusing the next stage of his life on offering his expertise to local non-profit organizations.

Active in the food industry with over 40 years’ experience as a Chef, Restaurant executive, and founding partner of a healthy snack food company, Hail Merry, Chef Ali—as she is known by her industry friends—now works as an independent contractor. Graduating from the University of Minnesota with a BS in Food Science and completing further studies at the Culinary Institute of America where she serves as a Fellow, she semi-retired and moved to Santa Fe in 2016. Her culinary focus in the past few years has been to bring simple, healthy foods to everyone. Cooking is not just a passion, it is a way of life. As a mom of three kids (not really kids anymore), she also has a passion for teaching children many things including how to prepare great foods.

Matt has over 20 years of experience in the investment world having worked in venture capital, investment banking, and trading for one of the largest hedge funds in Europe. His work has taken him overseas where he has lived in four different countries on three continents, but Matt now calls Santa Fe home where he is partners on a wealth management team managing investments for families and a few non-profits. In addition to serving on the board of Cooking with Kids, he is also actively involved on the board of the Tibetan Buddhist center Thubten Norbu Ling also located in Santa Fe. Matt also serves on the Alumni Association Executive Board for his alma mater (Kalamazoo College) as well as the President of the Santa Fe chapter of Chaine des Rotisseurs (the world’s oldest food & wine society).

Born in France of American parents, and a graduate of Princeton University with a combined degree in Romance Languages and Art History, Charles Dale has worked with many of the best chefs in the United States and beyond, including Daniel Boulud, Barry Wine, Jean-Paul Lacombe and Georges Mazraff. Charles is an acclaimed chef and author, and a 35-year veteran of the food and restaurant industry. His restaurants have received critical acclaim and international press coverage, with recognition from Food and Wine Magazine, the James Beard Foundation, and Wine Spectator.

In February 2013, Charles opened Bouche Bistro in Santa Fe, which has garnered substantial acclaim and press, including Travel and Leisure Magazine’s “Top Ten French Restaurants in the U.S.” In August of 2017, Charles sold Bouche to NM Fine Dining, a restaurant development group based in Santa Fe. Charles has stayed on with NMFD as Consultant, spearheading the development of two new projects, the Modern Southwestern Maize Restaurant and Trattoria A Mano, which features freshly-made pasta nightly. NM Fine Dining has several new projects in the works, including the revival of the iconic Bobcat Bite, on the outskirts of Santa Fe.

When not developing new dining opportunities for Santa Fe locals, Charles cooks with his wife and children, enjoys an active lifestyle of hiking and yoga, and travels the world seeking new flavors and ideas.

Tim loves to bake and cook with family and friends, so he is happy to be a part of Cooking with Kids, and to help grow the healthy community that takes strong root in cooking and eating healthy food together. During the day, Tim works as an attorney, focusing on estate planning and pro bono representation of non-profit organizations here in town. Originally from Portland, Oregon, he settled in Santa Fe in 2012 with his wife, Clarissa, who was raised here.

Bobbie is the former Superintendent of Santa Fe Public Schools, one of the largest and most diverse school districts in the state of New Mexico, and most recently Española Public Schools, another truly diverse district with its own set of challenges related to economic growth and development, poverty, and substance abuse.

Prior to becoming Superintendent of Santa Fe Public Schools, Bobbie served as an elementary and middle school teacher, elementary principal, director of curriculum and instruction, as well as associate superintendent for instruction, and deputy superintendent for operations. Since retiring for a second time from Española Public Schools, Bobbie has returned to work for the Coalition of Educational Leaders (NMCEL) and Cooperative Educational Services (CES) as the facilitator for the Aspiring Superintendents Academy and conducts professional services and training in several areas related to public education. She coaches five first-year principals and serves on the board of a small non-profit organization, in addition to service on the Cooking with Kids Board of Directors. She also served on the Santa Fe Children's Museum Board of Trustees and is the President for the New Mexico Retired Superintendents' Association (NMRSA).

Bobbie is a native of Lubbock, Texas and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education with certifications in secondary reading and language arts. She has a master’s degree in Educational Administration from the University of New Mexico and has participated in school district leadership training through the Panasonic Foundation and Stanford University. Bobbie comes from a family of educators, has five grandchildren that inspire her daily to continue her work in public education, and loves a great debate on just about any topic related to education.

Bobbie has a long history with Cooking with Kids and is honored to serve on the Board of Directors.

After receiving his MA and PhD degrees in Neuroscience from Princeton and the University of Massachusetts, Alan served for three years as an NIH post-doctoral research fellow and instructor in Pediatric Neurology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. He joined the faculty at Pitzer College in Claremont CA in 1985 where he later served for twelve years as Dean of Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, overseeing the development of Pitzer’s Firestone Center for Restoration Ecology in Dominical, Costa Rica, the Ferré/Marquet Vaccine Research Center in Gaborone, Botswana and the Robert Redford Conservancy for Southern California Sustainability in Claremont, CA. Alan has been the recipient of a number of research grants from NIH and NSF and has authored numerous research papers on the epigenetic, metabolic and neurobiological bases of obesity. After retiring from Pitzer in 2016, Alan moved to his home in Santa Fe where he enthusiastically enrolled in the Culinary Arts Program at Santa Fe Community College, from which he will be graduating this May.

Mary Anne is the retired owner of woman’s clothing stores in Houston. Prior to that, she developed an interest in the non-profit world working for the National Girl Scout Organization in Boston, Chicago and St. Louis. In 1995, Mary Anne and her husband, Bruce, moved to Santa Fe and became actively involved in the non profit world. She is currently on the Santa Fe Community Foundation Board and was previously on the Board of Futures for Children and the Santa Fe Festival Ballet, where she helped negotiate the merger with Aspen ballet, now the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet.

Mary Anne enjoys gardening, photography and cooking together with her husband.

Mr. Lustig was the founder and managing member of Galapagos Financial Partners, LLC (“Galapagos”), a business planning firm with offices in Gaithersburg, MD and La Jolla, CA. Galapagos focused on closely-held businesses in the US from acquisitions, financing, business development, management and divestment.

For 32 years, Mr. Lustig, as an attorney and CPA, lectured throughout the US in various business tax areas for the ABA, AICPA, industry associations
and business and professional firms.

Following retirement in 2013, Mr. Lustig and his wife, Jessie Groothuis, a retired neonatologist, moved to Santa Fe and each has served on a few NFPs in Santa Fe and elsewhere in the US.

Patrick Mares is Santa Fe’s shining example of a local success story. Born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico and a graduate of the Santa Fe Community College culinary program, he brings to the table depths of knowledge about local flavors, culinary history and New Mexico culture. Patrick has worked in many of the local fine dining establishments in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, including but not limited to, Sandiago’s at the Tram, The Old House, Bishops Lodge, The Inn of the Anasazi and The Red Sage. Patrick’s culinary passion is the fusion of formal culinary techniques with local and seasonal ingredients and flavors.

In addition to being a Co-Lead Chef Instructor at his Alma Mater, the Santa Fe Community College, he also teaches at The Santa Fe School of Cooking. He loves working with the students and getting the opportunity to help shape and impart his knowledge and experience into the culinary potential of these bright individuals.

Linda Myers earned her degree in Home Economics Education from New Mexico State University and taught culinary arts for 26 years, bringing the National Restaurant Association’s curriculum, ProStart, to the schools she served. Linda’s culinary students competed on the state and national levels, and she was selected ProStart teacher of the year by the New Mexico Restaurant Association. Recently retired from Santa Fe Public Schools, she is very excited to serve on the Cooking with Kids Board of Directors, especially because her children (now adults) participated in Cooking with Kids as elementary students!