Our Board

Francisco “Cisco” Guevara is owner and CEO of Los Rios River Runners and a founding member of Amigos Bravos. Raised in Los Alamos and long-time resident of Taos, Cisco has been guiding river trips since the mid 1970s. While Guevara has made a living from the river, he’s also been among its staunch advocates and defenders who is committed to cultural and environmental conservation. Known around Taos as the man who wears the big black weathered cowboy hat, Cisco is also a preeminent storyteller and shares some of the best stories in the world whether he is on a professional storytelling stage or casually telling stories around a campfire along the river Chama during one of Los Rios’ popular multi-day river trips.

Nicola is an Associate Professor in Urban Planning & Public Policy at the University of California, Irvine. She specializes in environmental policy with a focus on water management. Born and raised in Taos, she has a long history with the Río Grande and with Amigos Bravos. Nicola worked with Amigos Bravos as an after-school volunteer, a community liaison for the Coalition for the Valle Vidal, a summer intern and finally as Project Assistant. This work fueled her interest in water policy, specifically on how we make decisions about managing water and what the ramifications are for the environment and society. She sorely misses the Sangre de Cristos, but she’s enjoying exploring the mountains and beaches of Southern California.

Born in Montana, Liliana was raised with a respect and love for nature, specifically the mountains. She is on a continuous quest to capture and preserve the natural beauty of the world in photographs and words. Liliana earned her Bachelor of Arts at the University of North Texas in photojournalism with a minor in social sciences. Her career has focused on working for nonprofits that give a voice to the voiceless and promote a world based on justice and truth. She served as Communications Director for Conservation Voters of New Mexico, Communications and Media Director for CAVU, and currently serves as Director of Communications for Single Space Strategies. She joined the Amigos Bravos Board of Directors in June of 2017.

A native of Albuquerque, Maria spent 14 years in Washington, DC working on issues impacting New Mexico – first as press secretary to now-retired U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and later in the Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior under then-Secretary Sally Jewell. Maria is currently the Government Affairs Director at Western Resource Advocates, where she works closely with policy staff to identify and advance innovative legislative and administrative policy solutions critical to addressing the region’s most pressing conservation challenges. Maria has a degree in political science from the University of New Mexico (Go Lobos!).  After working out ot Western Resource Advocates Denver office for many years, Maria was happy to return to her New Mexico roots to work from their Santa Fe office. Growing up on a small ranch in New Mexico, Maria spent much of her youth outdoors – riding horses, milking cows, and tending to her pet goats and chickens. She looks forward to having chickens and goats in her life again from the home she shares in Albuquerque with her partner Justin and their cat Ernie.

Chris was born and raised in northern New Mexico and spent his childhood roaming arroyos and collecting tadpoles from monsoon-filled potholes. While studying ethics at divinity school he decided to get out of the library and go to work improving the world. Since then, he has been engaged in conservation advocacy with a focus on wildlife, fish, river, and forest policies in both the Pacific Northwest and his home in the high desert. He envisions a New Mexico where healthy, functioning ecosystems with all of their biological components support culturally rich, sustainable human communities–and vice versa. In his “spare” time, Chris moves rocks and dirt, plants for pollinators, runs around soccer fields, and wades up and down New Mexico’s gorgeous waterways.

Dan leads Trout Unlimited’s team in New Mexico, focused on protecting and restoring wild and native trout and the rivers and watersheds they call home. He resides north of Santa Fe with his family on a small acequia property that they are bringing back to life. Dan has a master’s degree in public policy from Oregon State University (go Beavers!) and a background in natural resource management. His early career was spent building and maintaining trails for the US Forest Service and National Park Service in North Carolina and Montana and working on small farms in Oregon’s Rogue Valley. He’s glad to call New Mexico home, and enjoys fishing, trail running, and exploring New Mexico’s open spaces, though most of his time is spent raising two young kids and tending to a big garden.