Meet the UNM Retiree Association Board

The UNMRA Board is proud to serve you. 

Take a minute to get to know us.

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Breda Bova
President
Les McFadden
Past President
Program and Events Committee
Alfred Matheson
Past President
Legislative Committee
Breda has worked at UNM for the last 34 years.  She was an Assist Professor in the COE Department
of Secondary and Adult Education, chair of Educational Leadership, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs and Community Outreach.  In 2005 moved to Advisor and Chief of Staff for the President and has worked for the five UNM Presidents.
Leslie is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences. He retired after a 35-year career during which his research focused on the study of the development and evolution of, and impacts of climate change, on the landscapes of aridlands of our planet.Alfred joined the faculty in 1983 and retired in 2019 after having taught as a professor in the law school and serving as a Director of Africana Studies and Co-Dean of the School of Law.
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Tim Backes
Past President
Program and Events Chair

Kevin Malloy
Past President

Becky Adams
President Elect
Secretary

Tim moved to NM from UCLA in 1999. He worked at UNM for 23 years as Senior Business Manager for the Student Union Building and Associate Director of UNM Dining Services. Since retirement Tim has stayed active with UNM Retiree Association and various other volunteer activities and organizations in both New Mexico and Merida, Yucatán.

After serving on active duty on the US Air Force, Kevin came to UNM in 1989 and served as Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and a member of the Center for High Technology Materials. He was Associate Director of CHTM, and Associate Dean for Research in the School of Engineering.  He became a Professor of Physics in 2009, Associate Dean for Research in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Interim Associate Vice President for Research until he retired in 2016.

Becky served as the UNM Director for Online Course Development and Faculty Support, and taught for the College of Education & Human Sciences and the Organization, Information, & Learning Sciences for 17 years.  She retired from UNM in 2018.  She continues to teach Instructional Technology for Pre-service Teachers for COEHS.
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Dawn Martinez
Treasurer &
Communications and Development

Janet Brierley
Benefits & Legislative

 Viola Florez
Legislative Chair

Dawn served as the Associate Athletics Director for Compliance and as an academic advisor in the Athletics Department where she worked for 15 years. She retired from UNM in 2016 after 25 years of service.

Janet joined the Faculty of the Medical School in 1994 and retired in 2018. She is Professor Emerita in the Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine, where she was Director of Medical Student Education and Medical Director of Advanced Practice Providers.

Vi served as Professor and Dean in the College of Education at the University of New Mexico.  During her twenty-five years at UNM, she served as Dean for eleven years.  Her professional career experiences include serving as a P-20 educator and administrator in higher education, as well as holding office as a public executive for higher education.

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Walter Gerstle
Legislative Committee

Gene Henley

Mark Reynolds
Program and Events Committee

Walter is Professor Emeritus of UNM Civil Engineering. He is Treasurer for the nonprofits New Mexico Solar Energy Society and 350NM.org, former president of the UNM 21 Club and treasurer of the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra. Gerstle is Past President of both the New Mexico Society of Professional Engineers, the New Mexico Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Gene’s Lobo roots date back to 1975. After graduation, he spent seven years consulting startups and turnaround businesses before transitioning to public service with the State of New Mexico for 15 years.  Gene returned to UNM in 2000 earning an MPA and served as the Director of Operations and Advisement until his retirement in 2023. He also served on the UNM Staff Council, including a term as President.

Mark retired as Associate Director for the University of New Mexico IT department where he oversaw the
25,000 phone lines for UNM, UH, HSC, Research Park and all the branch campuses. He has been in Higher Education for 40 years, 20 years at UNM as a voice, data, security subject matter expert.  He moved to NM in 1960 and is an Air Force Veteran after joining  5 days after high school.

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Walter Miller

Eliseo Torres
Legislative Committee

John Trotter
Benefits Committee Co-Chair

Walt was the Associate Vice President for Student Life at UNM, after being employed at UNM for 47 years.  He was the student body president during the mid-60s at William Patterson College and subsequently began his career at UNM as the director for the Student Union recently retiring after 25 years.

 Cheo served as Vice President for Student Affairs/Full Professor since 1996.  He continues to teach classes on traditional medicine corss-listed with eight academic departments and regularly lecturs and gives presentation on the history and lore of traditional medicine, curanderismo.

John joined the faculty of the School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy, in 1978.  He retired as professor of Cell Biology and Physiology in 2004 and as Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs a few years later.  

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Jaime Rickman
UNM Support and Administrator
Jamie serves as a highly valued UNM support administrator for the UNM Retirees Association.  She works as the Unit Administrator with UNM HR Administration.