Our Advisory Board

Stagecoach Foundation's Advisory Board consists of film industry professionals, film office commissoner, as well as cultural and artistic leaders from the community, all with extensive experience in their respective fields. The board meets with the goal of assisting our Executive Director to review progress on projects, provide feedback and advice, and assist with coordinating activities. The board's involvement is invaluable in furthering the Foundation's mission and widening our audience to best serve New Mexico and its citizens.

Sarah Jones

Advisory Board Chair

A 9th generation New Mexican who loves investing in the future of her state. As a life long volunteer for the American Red Cross, Arthritis Foundation, and active Rotarian, service is an integral part of her life. She saw the opportunity to host Game of Thrones Live as the perfect branding opportunity and fundraiser for Stagecoach Foundation and, with the help of a great team, manifested the vision. Continuing to look for unique fundraising and exposure opportunities that connect Stagecoach and community, Sarah’s knack for predicting the pulse of what’s next is a valuable asset. Sarah’s spark for storytelling in film and television was lit by her great Uncle, Woody Chambliss, a student of Chekov, Hollywood character actor, and pride of his dusty, West Texas town. She can be seen holding a pineapple in The Eye, a wine glass in Swing Vote, and stood-in for a horse in Wildfire.

George Rivera

Recent Governor of the Pueblo of Pojoaque in northern New Mexico, George Rivera is a man of many talents. He has served his Pueblo since 1992 as Lt. Governor and was appointed and soon elected Governor upon the passing of former longtime Governor Jacob Viarrial. George is also a Native American artist and has been sculpting and teaching art for over 20 years. Rivera is a graduate of the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California, the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico and the Lacoste School of Arts in Lacoste, France. At the latter, he held a teaching assistant position in sculpture and was an apprentice to a Japanese master sculptor during his three-year stay in France. His work is in many international collections.

Ramona Emerson

Ramona Emerson is a Diné writer and filmmaker originally from Tohatchi, New Mexico. She received her degree in Media Arts in 1997 from the University of New Mexico and her MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) in 2015 from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She has worked as a professional videographer, writer and editor for over twenty years and is currently working on her 8th film project, Crossing the Line. She is an Emmy nominee, a Sundance Native Lab Fellow, a Time-Warner Storyteller Fellow, a Tribeca All-Access Grantee and a WGBH Producer Fellow. Ramona just finished her first novel, Shutter the first of a trilogy, and is now working toward publishing and adapting the series into a screenplay. Through her storytelling, Emerson looks at contemporary stories about her people and aims to question and redefine the expectations of Native cultural identity,  highlighting stories that are not a part of mainstream media. She currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico where she and her husband/producer, Kelly Byars, run their production company, Reel Indian Pictures.

Vince Kadlubek

Vince has always loved creating cool spaces and always believed in artists. What started years ago as a bunch of kids messing around in living rooms transformed into an indescribable 20,000 sq ft. immersive art experience. He is a Co-founder and a Director of Meow Wolf, an art collective that has become a remarkable experiential arts company. Vince created the business plan for Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which has seen unprecedented success. He raised a Series A that pushed Meow Wolf towards their newest experiences, Meow Wolf Vegas and Meow Wolf Denver.

In 2021 Vince launched his own consulting agency, Spatial Activations, with many amazing programmers, producers, and creatives across industries.

"I like turtles.”

Jamie Schulze

Originally from Montana, Jamie is an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe and moved to New Mexico 28 years ago and loves the land and the people. Jamie joins SWAIA from the hospitality industry as a former owner of The Bavarian Lodge & Restaurant, in Taos Ski Valley, NM. She is also a certified business and life coach with a leadership training certification. She is excited to join SWAIA’s team and be a part of “bringing Native arts to the world” through collaboration and education.

Dr. Lee Francis

Dr. Francis (Pueblo of Laguna) is the CEO and Founder of Native Realities LLC, an Indigenous Imagination Company, dedicated to unleashing the Indigenous imagination through popular culture, including comic books, graphic novels, games, toys, and collectibles. Founded in 2015, Native Realities has published the largest assortment of Indigenous-centric comic books in the world. Through Native Realities, Dr. Francis also founded the Indigenous Comic Con in 2016 and opened Red Planet Books and Comics, the only Native comic shop in the world, in 2017.

He also serves as the National Director of Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, a 25-year old organization dedicated to promoting the work and words of Native and Indigenous people throughout the world. He has served in this position for the past fifteen years since the passing of Wordcraft Founder, Lee Francis III, in 2003. During his time, Dr. Francis has supported and mentored more than a hundred writers and storytellers, conducted dozens of school-based workshops, and promoted thousands of written works by Native writers and storytellers.

Jennifer LaBar-Tapia

Jennifer LaBar-Tapia has been with the Santa Fe Film Office since its inception in 2016 and is responsible for planning, organizing, and coordinating productions for film, television, commercials, photo shoots, videos, documentaries, web, animations, gaming, and all other creative projects that fall under the Film Office duties in the City and County of Santa Fe. She ensures compliance with City and County policies and works closely with all levels of production personnel, Federal, Native, State, City, and County Agencies.

Jennifer moved to Santa Fe in 1993, embracing the Santa Fe lifestyle. After eight years in the hospitality industry she turned to local government where she was hired to create the Constituent Services Department, working directly with all five County Commissioners and handling all constituent requests throughout the County. She moved on to run the County Manager’s Office and then to the Film Office where she now serves as the Santa Fe Film Commissioner. All of these positions have set up Jennifer to lead Santa Fe into its status as a desired production location.

Elias Gallegos

Born and raised in Santa Fe, NM. Studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, West. Soon after got his first break as a company member of the South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, CA as the lead actor in Face to Face. ( a musical about a show of acceptance and intolerance). In the years to follow Mr. Gallegos experienced some success with magazine and commercial work in LA where he was able to exercise his adrenaline fueled alter ego as a Driver for MotorTrend Magazine. In the early days of his career he had some co-star appearances on shows like ER and Back on Tops. His pursuits of the Silver Screen led him to what seemed like an unlikely place at the time, his home state of New Mexico. With a slew of appearances on several Lifetime Original Series shooting in New Mexico he began contemplating moving back to NM. Six weeks later Elias booked a staring role in an Independent Film titled Trafficante, shooting in Las Cruses, NM. He was cast a star crossed lover that was forced to face off with a ruthless Cartel Family. Although his first love is the Theatre Mr. Gallegos is actively pursuing a budding career as a Producer.