Staff
Vanessa Johnson, Interim Executive Director
Vanessa holds a B.A. in International Relations and French from the University of Southern California, and a M.A. in Latin American and Border Studies from the University of Texas at El Paso. A 2003 graduate of Leadership El Paso, she has worked extensively with nonprofits in the region, both as staff and as a board member. She is an advocate for immigration reform and the abolition of immigration detention, having served as a volunteer with Advocate Visitors with Immigrants in Detention (AVID) in the Chihuahuan Desert since 2020. Her other professional work is as the music director and organist at First Presbyterian Church, where she additionally enjoys teaching music at the church’s preschool. She lives in the Rio Grande neighborhood of central El Paso, where she and her husband are raising two young children.
Board of Directors
E. Anthony Martinez is a fifth generation El Pasoan with roots in Chihuahua, Zacatecas, and Durango. He has a passion for universal human rights and a rule of law guaranteeing those rights. Anthony is an attorney practicing in El Paso.
El Paso resident since 1963, graduated from UTEP, retired video production specialist at local tv stations, Martin Recording, Inc, El Paso Natural Gas, and the El Paso Independent School District.
Collin King has a passion for social justice and education. Collin currently volunteers with National Model United Nations as a member of conference staff, and has volunteered with this organization since 2014 bringing a rigorous educational simulation to more than 2,000 international students each year. Collin earned his Bachelor of Arts in Government from New Mexico State University in 2012. Collin currently serves as the store manager for the NMSU Bookstore.
Dr. Todd A. Curry is an Associate Professor of Political Science at University of Texas at El Paso. His primary interests lie in judicial representation and indigenous peoples and the law.
Cynthia Renteria is a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), Department of History. Her research focuses on historical memory in the El Paso, Texas borderland. She has experience in public policy and advocacy on issues including Immigration, Binational Affairs, Historic Preservation, and Heritage Tourism.
Eva M. Moya, PhD, LMSW is a borderlander, raised in Ciudad Juarez and El Paso. She is an Associate professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Michael Groves is a native El Pasoan who has practiced law locally since 2014. He attended the University of Texas at Austin for his undergraduate degree, and the University of Houston for law school. In Houston, he worked with the Texas Innocence Network, representing individuals on death row. After graduating, Michael returned to El Paso.
Michael has practiced immigration law for over five years, both in private practice and as an attorney for Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, representing asylum seekers from across the world. He is a lifelong member of the United Methodist Church, and is excited to assist in the Church’s mission to care for our neighbors.
Rick Snow retired from the US Army in 2003 and has been actively working with migrant ministries in the El Paso area since 2014. He is a devoted husband, father and grandfather. Rick is an active member of his Methodist church and believes: ” Everyone has the right to be treated with respect and with dignity, regardless of their race, color, or what country they were born in.”
An avid biker and runner, Nema and her husband Donnie share all aspects of ministry within the New Mexico Annual Conference and have one daughter, Lila Rodriguez-LeCuyer who lives with her husband Joey in Dallas, Tx.
Rev. Dr. Pamela Rowley is the current El Paso District Superintendent. Her prior appointments have included Senior pastor of St. John’s UMC in Albuquerque, NM, University UMC, Las Cruces, NM; St. Paul’s UMC, El Paso, Texas; and Associate pastor of St. Paul UMC, Abilene, Texas; and St. Luke’s UMC, Highland Ranch, Colorado.
Dr. Rowley has served in many leadership positions in the New Mexico Conference, including the El Paso District Committee on Ordained Ministry. She serves currently as the Chair of the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, member of the Executive Committee, the Chair of the Order of Elders, and a member of the Council on Finance and Administration. The ordained clergy of the New Mexico Conference elected her as a delegate to the upcoming General and Jurisdictional Conferences of the UMC. The Certified Lay Ministry (CLM) was started with Pam’s leadership and grew to be one of the largest, if not the largest number of CLMs of an annual conference. One of the joys of ministry for Pam is having the opportunity to work with the laity.
Rev. Rowley received a Doctor of Ministry degree from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Austin, Texas in 2018; the Master of Theology degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in 2003 and fulfilled UMC coursework through Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. Pam has been married to R. Douglas Rowley, MD since February 4, 1995. Together they have three children: Carolyn, Sean, and Lyndsay. The couple enjoys reading, walks, music, traveling, cooking, their puppy Bella, and watching “the news.”