Dear Partners and Stakeholders,

With a mix of both excitement and sadness, I want to share some news with you:

In April of this year, I notified our Board of Directors that I would be stepping down as Executive Director of the McCune Foundation as of August 31, 2020.

It has been an honor to serve as McCune’s ED and a privilege to support both our team and the community-based work occurring across New Mexico. My life has been forever enhanced by my time with the Foundation and the opportunity to work with the exceptional leaders in our state’s social sector. As we all know, however, everyone’s life brings changes, and it’s time for me to begin a new chapter in my life. This creates the opportunity for new leadership at the Foundation, which will bring new perspective to our work.

To that end, our Board appointed Administrative Director Carla Romero Interim Executive Director as of September 1, 2020. I’ve been working closely with Carla over the last few months to ensure a smooth transition, and I have complete confidence in her ability to continue our mission. While Covid-19 has made this a challenging time for everyone, we’ve worked hard to ensure a stable and smooth transition.

I want to convey my deepest thanks to the McCune leadership team — Allison Hagerman, Henry Rael, Carla Romero, and Ernesto Torres — and Rick Rennie for his management of HDIC. I also want to thank Erin Taylor, our bookkeeper and the many others who have worked with the foundation. The list is long — you know who you are! It has been an honor to work with each of you, co-creating our vision and strategy and continuing to learn as we implement them. I deeply appreciate your commitment, values, innovation, and insight. In closing, I want to thank the Board of Directors for offering me the opportunity of a lifetime and its dedication to the people of New Mexico and the philanthropy established by Marshall and Perrine McCune.

Please join us in welcoming and supporting Carla in her new role, and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact either one of us. Carla and the Board are taking a thoughtful approach to the future work of the Foundation.

Best regards,

Wendy Lewis

Effective March 16, 2020, the McCune Charitable Foundation staff began working remotely to help lessen the potential impacts of the COVID-19 in our communities. We anticipate maintaining remote operations indefinitely, however we will continue to respond to conditions as they evolve. We expect to have a staff member available at the Santa Fe office from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm Monday through Thursday for essential functions and to answer questions. The office number is 505.983.8300. We realize this is a challenging situation for all of us in New Mexico and will do what we can to support our families and communities.