SWLC Officers
Mary Clark
President
Mary is the first sustainability manager at the University of New Mexico, overseeing the Office of Sustainability. Her other areas of expertise include recycling, campus community gardens, and greenhouse gas inventory. Mary is a University of New Mexico graduate with an Economics and European Studies degree.
Sharon Ransom, M.D.
Vice President
Dr. Sharon Ransom, M.D. is a Board-certified Obstetrician/Gynecologist passionate about women’s health and access to reproductive health and wellness. Dr. Ransom recognizes the need to advocate for the health of all women. Sharon has experience working with many communities of women, from rural Indiana to rural Ethiopia. She has worked in the United States, New Zealand, and Ethiopia. Sharon focuses on the basic needs of all communities- healthy women. She knows that racial and gender discrimination in healthcare limits access to providers and results in excess disease and poor health in many communities. Dr. Ransom works to ensure equity in reproductive and sexual health, as well as reproductive justice for all.
Claudia J. Joseph
Secretary
Claudia is an attorney and mediator who has practiced law in Northern New Mexico since 2000. Claudia has had a lifelong interest in helping women and girls personally and professionally. She has provided pro bono advocacy work for various New Mexico and National non-profit organizations in immigration, reproductive rights, ending gun violence, and assisting rape victims. Claudia is committed to utilizing her experiences as a lawyer, mediator, and parent to support equality, economic opportunity, and reproductive rights and stop workplace discrimination against women.
Kristen Kauffman
Treasurer
Kristen is a financial consultant and investment advisor in Albuquerque. Originally from Austin, TX, she graduated from the University of New Mexico with a degree in psychology. She began her career in social work as a family interventionist working with at-risk women who were pregnant or had a child under three years of age. Her experience working with economically disadvantaged mothers and the unique financial obstacles women face led her to shift her career to financial planning, beginning with a firm that specializes in helping recently widowed or divorced women establish independent financial lives. She now runs her practice at Fidelity Investments. Kristen is a mother to three children and three step-children and passionate about advancing women’s rights and economic security.
SWLC Directors
Miranda Aragon
Dr. Aragón is a queer woman of color and native burqueña. She is deeply dedicated to health equity, reproductive justice, and LGBTQ care. She graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and completed a residency in family medicine in Philadelphia. She provides primary care at the UNMH Southeast Heights clinic in the International District and reproductive health care at the UNM Center for Reproductive Health. She is a passionate educator and seeks to translate her experience in community organizing and medicine into positive change in the day-to-day lives of New Mexicans.
Jenifer Getz
Jenifer is a social justice activist committed to women’s issues. She has worked in finance and administration while raising two children in Albuquerque. She specializes in Audits of Not for Profit organizations in New Mexico. She graduated from Parsons School of Design, Emery Aviation College, and CNM. Having formerly worked as a commercial pilot for 20 years, Jenifer still enjoys flying airplanes, skiing, swimming, and spending time with family and friends.
Erika Harding
Erika is an educator, facilitator, health equity and women’s rights activist, leadership coach, and communications consultant (and Director of Amplify Consulting & Communication Solutions). She works with organizations that want to tackle difficult issues (sexism, racism, and all forms of discrimination in the workplace) and learn how to build a stronger, more learning-centered organizational culture. She served as the Chief Replication Officer and Global Replication Director at the ECHO Institute for many years. She has also been a public school teacher, birthing coach (doula)/family resource educator, and small business owner.
Janice D. Pastor, J.D.
Janice is a retired attorney and non-profit activist. She practiced law for twenty-two years before serving eleven years as one of three trustees of a small family trust managing real estate. In the fall of 2015, she joined the ADL New Mexico Region boards and the Jewish Community Foundation of New Mexico. Recently she accepted an invitation to join the ADL Civil Rights Committee. Ms. Paster has served as Chair of the Board of the National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation and the Jewish Federation of New Mexico. She also served as Vice-Chair of the Board of New Mexico Voices for Children.
From 1988 until 1996, Ms. Paster was a New Mexico State Senate member. She is the only woman to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee. She also chaired the Interim Health Care Task Force, leading legislation to update New Mexico’s health law. She is a long-time advocate for reproductive freedom, quality child care, and equality for women and girls in other areas.
Janice earned a BA from Northwestern University and an MA from Tufts University. Ms. Paster also has a JD from the University of New Mexico School of Law.
Sydney Tellez
Sydney has worked within the political and advocacy community for over five years. A graduate of the University of New Mexico, a lifelong New Mexican, and a Chicana, she is passionate about subverting systems of oppression that have worked to marginalize and disenfranchise generations of New Mexicans. Sydney believes that intersectional advocacy and policy are crucial to building and sustaining strong communities in the face of adversity. Her passion for culture and community is intertwined with a strong desire to increase and develop leadership opportunities for young people, especially young people of color. An Emerge New Mexico graduate, Sydney believes in empowering and equipping all women with the tools and support to advocate for their healthcare, quality of life, culture, and civil liberties. In her free time, Sydney enjoys the arts, especially performance art, and uses her multifaceted skills to increase revenue and funds for various community non-profits.
Learn how you can serve on our board of directors or learn more about volunteering with SWLC.
