Alison Watkins
Samantha D’Anna Photography
LACF News:
After a broad search, Los Alamos Community Foundation (LACF) has announced longtime community resident Alison Watkins as its new executive director. She is scheduled to start in the position on May 27.
Watkins grew up in Los Alamos and re-transplanted from Fort Worth in 2011, was most recently employed as the assistant director of the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce.
“I hope to strengthen the relationships I’ve already built within our community while forming many new ones along the way,” Watkins said.
Watkins replaces Liz Martineau who is moving to the Denver area to be closer to family. Watkins and Martineau will work together for several weeks during the transition.
“Alison has deep roots and is already an active member of our community,” Martineau said. “We are excited for her leadership as the Community Foundation continues to grow, bringing donors together to make a positive impact in the community.”
Watkins brings programming and event planning to the position, having served as Event Manager for the MainStreet and Creative District. She has also worked as an assistant at Los Alamos Public Schools and the Los Alamos Historical Society, and previously supported an academic symposia for the Vietnam Center at Texas Tech University. Her references praise her professionalism and ability to collaborate.
“Giving back to the community has always been important to me,” Watkins said. “My connection to philanthropy in Los Alamos goes back to my earliest memories of helping my mom with the Rae Douglas Christmas Families program when it was headquartered at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in the 1980s. My family was also here during the Cerro Grande Fire – I was in college at the time – and I have vivid memories of the remarkable ways our community came together to support one another. Whether it was collecting high school yearbooks for students who had lost them in the fire or planting seedlings in the Jemez, those moments reflect the resiliency and generosity that make Los Alamos such a special place.”
Watkins’s roots in the community include her husband and her three children, Carter, 21, Hayden, 18 and Austin, 12.
“We are excited to see the impact Alison will make in this new role and look forward to what lies ahead,” Her husband Heath Watkins said.
About the Los Alamos Community Foundation:
Established in 2015, the Los Alamos Community Foundation aims to enhance the local quality of life by inspiring, facilitating, and supporting enduring philanthropy, while building the capacity and success of our local nonprofit organizations. The Los Alamos Community Foundation manages 22 locally endowed funds and has total assets exceeding $2 million. For more information about the Los Alamos Community Foundation or to donate, visit www.losalamoscf.org.