Board Officers
Gregg Henry
Board Chair
Gregg Henry laid his first adobe in the early 1980s, which began a long interest in the medium, its properties, and care. By the late 80s he was working with Pat Taylor and other local adoberos in southern New Mexico, and volunteered with Churches: Symbols of Community, predecessor of Cornerstones Community Partnerships, on the Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria project in Dona Ana. Gregg designed and built primarily custom residential structures using various mediums, and maintains a broad interest in historical renovation, restoration, and community. He has conducted research and co-authored articles regarding rising damp and salt attack, and participated in a National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) grant. Gregg was a founder of Mesilla Valley Preservation and was Board Chair of Southwest Environmental Center. Wenda and Gregg finally relocated to northern New Mexico in 2021, built their new adobe home, and haven’t looked back.
diantha mcjilton
Vice Chair
Garron Yepa
Secretary
Garron Yepa (Diné/Walatowa) is a design professional working with Atkin Olshin Schade Architects in Santa Fe. He has worked in tribal communities for much of his career with the intent of including culturally relevant design in his design practice. Garron is a board member of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society and continues to promote increased Native enrollment in architecture, planning, and preservation programs. Garron has a B.A. in Engineering and Native American Studies from Dartmouth College and a Master of Architecture from the University of New Mexico.
Loretta Valencia
Treasurer
Loretta (Lori) Valencia was raised in Santa Fe, where she graduated from St. Catherine’s Indian School. She attended New Mexico State University with a BA and MA in Accounting. Her career in Public Accounting has connected her to many stellar Santa Fe residents, companies, and non-profits. Cornerstones drew in Lori with their commitment to maintaining the traditional structures and history of New Mexico. Her family’s ranching, agriculture, and historic way of life, like so many other New Mexicans, are in sync with Cornerstone’s mission. Lori is married to Harold Valencia, and they have two grown sons, Phillip and Marcus.
Board Members
Lawrence Quintana
Lawrence Quintana lives and works on the family ranch located in Canoncito de Manuelitas located north of Las Vegas, New Mexico . Lawrence retired in 2021 after working as the Human Resources Director at Alta Vista Regional Hospital and 25 years in New Mexico State Government focusing on Employee Relations. Lawrence is a military veteran having served 4 years in the United States Navy and served an Officer in the United States Army. Lawrence continues to give back to his community by serving on three non profit boards. ● Member of the Cornerstones Community Partnership ● Chair of Las Vegas Citizens Committee for Historic Preservation ● Chair of Luna Community College Foundation. Lawrence attended New Mexico Highlands University receiving a Bachelor of Arts in History in 1986 and a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership 2012. Hobbies consist of horseback riding, riding motorcycles, camping and working on the restoration of adobe buildings.
Nick Martinez
I am a small business owner; I run a small company that was established in 1943. I have consulted, worked on, contributed or donated to some of the most historically significant buildings in Northern New Mexico.
I have been a member of the Back Country Horsemen of America for over 20 years. I first joined the Pecos, NM chapter, and in 1997 was a founding member in forming the Santa Fe chapter. I have served on the Back Country Horsemen of New Mexico board for 12 years which included serving as Vice Chairman of the BCHNM board. I served on the BCHA national board of directors for 14 years. I chaired the Volunteer Hours committee for 9 years, compiling volunteer hours from states and affiliates for the national summary presented at the National Board Meetings. As the chairman of this committee, the committee was able to streamline and simplify the collection of data, which has produced more states reporting their volunteer hours to the national level. I served as treasurer on the national board for two years. As treasurer, we streamlined the budget process at the national meetings. I was also one of the original members of the Executive Committee.
I am a member of the Rio Grande Mule and Donkey Association, and a member of the Northern New Mexico Horsemen Association. I was awarded from this organization a lifetime membership in recognition for many years of service, support and donations to that organization. I worked with the Continental Divide Trail for several years. Lastly, I belong to the Sangre de Christo Bee Keepers, a local organization in Santa Fe and surrounding area.
I have worked with Cornerstones Foundation on several projects; re-roofing the chapel La Corriada in Mora and a re-roofing project in the Chimayo Plaza.
I restored my family compound in Mora, NM, gutting the buildings completely, restoring, modernizing and upgrading the structures to habitable living conditions. For the restoration of this project, I received several awards, and this project was a personally rewarding endeavor.
Gary Sanchez
Gary worked as a State Farm Agent in Silicon Valley for 45 years, helping people and communities recover from unexpected losses of life and property.
With family ties to the Village of Duran, NM., non-profit board experience, community experience, and a desire to preserve its culture through adobe and rock structure restoration, Gary worked with community leaders to initiate the Village of Duran to be awarded a Historic District designation by the State of New Mexico in 2021.
Gary’s philosophy of community volunteerism and historic cultural preservation fits neatly with the objectives and philosophy of Cornerstones.
gayla bechtol
Gayla is the founder of GBA, Gayla Bechtol Architects, a design-centered architecture/urban design and historic preservation practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Ms. Bechtol received her Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University Graduate School of Design and her Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Southern California. She initiated and co-lead the Santa Fe Railyard R/ UDAT. She served as 2017 AIA Santa Fe President and co-organized the well-received AIA NM Biennial Conference in Santa Fe, NM, showcasing the Santa Fe Railyard and the R/UDAT.
She is a founding Board member of the Railyard Stewards, the organization created to care for the park, and the people who use it. She co-created the International Folk Art Market Free Community Celebration in the Railyard in 2011-2013, using the Railyard as processional space and creating opportunities for Santa Feans to welcome artists from all over the world.
She is Vice-President of Friends of Architecture Santa Fe, an organization that seeks to expand discussion around architecture and urban design in Santa Fe. She recently joined Cornerstones Partnership helping communities in New Mexico to preserve, restore, and increase knowledge of their earthen building
Eric Liefeld
Eric Liefeld is a native of southern New Mexico where he gained a life-long admiration for southwestern architecture and traditional adobe technology. He has participated the expansion of his own historic adobe home as well as the stabilization and restoration of multiple historic adobe homes in and around Mesilla, New Mexico. As a founder of Mesilla Valley Preservation, Inc. Eric conducted research and helped increase awareness of the importance of preservation in the Mesilla Valley. He spearheaded and advised the complex multi-year rehabilitation of the historic Nestor Armijo House in Las Cruces using cutting edge engineering technology and traditional building materials.
Together with other Mesilla Valley Preservation professionals, Eric has studied the impacts of salt attack in adobe and earthen structures. This work resulted in a generous grant from the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training to develop a field test kit for evaluating salt attack and salt weathering in adobe and earthen structures (https://home.nps.gov/articles/000/field-kit-and-methodology-for-detecting-measuring-and-remediating-salt-attack-salt-weathering-in-adobe-and-earthen-structures.htm). Eric has published and presented extensively on salt attack at EarthUSA conferences and through Adobe in Action podcasts (https://www.adobeinaction.org/mud-talks/2022/02/16/mud-talks-15-3-capillary-action-permeability-salt-attack). He authored an 8-part video series titled “Salts of the Earth” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntPbiZOnpGg&list=PLvgl2IZAqBt65yvVr0O4E0KJiXr2qHi-O).
