Our Board of Directors

Board President

Beki is a third-generation thespian and an award-winning actress and costume designer. She has experience in all aspects of live theatre - onstage and off, both technical and dramatic. She is also a board member for the Santa Fe Trail School for the Performing Arts in Raton and produces, directs, and acts in theatrical plays produced by that group, with an emphasis on their Youth Theatre productions. As a full-time employee for the Department of Veterans Affairs working from her home in Raton, Beki offers a wealth of Project Management skills along with her theatrical achievements and expertise.

Board Vice-President

Mr. Gibson contracted with the City of Raton to provide grant writing and other economic development services. He currently leads projects in Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. His engagements have led to more than $1 Million in grant funds awarded to municipal clients and small businesses. He has deep experience with creating strategic plans, conducting feasibility studies, and working with local stakeholders and leaders to align resources, increase local capacity, and implement catalytic projects. Mr. Gibson was born in Cortez, Colorado and now lives in northern Utah.

Board Treasurer

Vaughn Vialpando is a Raton native who has recently relocated from Denver, CO. He holds a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Phoenix. He has over 25 years of commercial finance/banking experience with the past twelve years working with the US Small Business Administration. This opportunity has allowed him to work on several commercial loan projects within the state of New Mexico and Colorado. Vaughn was the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for a nonprofit in New Mexico where he was responsible for financial reporting to the Board of Directors and the US Small Business Administration.

Board Secretary

Lisa arrived in Raton in November of 2022 after many years of city life. She has acquired a variety of skills working in the retail, hospitality, marketing, graphic design, printing, publishing, software development, cybersecurity, instructional design, e-learning, and higher education fields. She has participated in the production of short films in a variety of roles.

Lisa earned a Bachelor’s degree in Technical Communication with a minor in Art from Metropolitan State University of Denver, a Master’s degree in Information and Learning Technologies from University of Colorado Denver, and an Education Specialist in Educational Technology degree from Boise State University. She completed online Graduate Certificates in User Experience Design at Kent State University, and in Educational Technology Integration and Online Teaching at Boise State University.

Executive Director
Film Liaison for the City of Raton

Community-based Media has been an intrinsic part of Ann’s life ever since she attended Antioch College to become a documentary filmmaker. Discovering the importance of community media under pioneers in the field, she learned that teaching people to express their own voice was more important than merely documenting them. Ann started her career at Manhattan Neighborhood Network as a Production Assistant and was promoted to Director of Production and Education. Later Ann guided the Open Media Foundation's media efforts with Denver Open Media and its user-driven tools that minimized staffing and operations costs for twelve years. At Brookline Interactive Group and the Public VR Lab, she managed station operations, educational programming for adults and youth, community outreach, grant-writing, reporting, and project management. Now she is working with Better City as an adviser to assist communities with engagement, grants, and innovative plans so they can become sustainable, profitable, and great places to live, work and play.

Youth Media has been her passion, mentoring hundreds of youth over the last twenty years. Since 2020, Ann has been volunteering for El Raton Media Works to bring economic and workforce development to Raton, including mentoring local youth filmmakers and working with the community to engage them in the economy of filmmaking. She is also the 2019 recipient of the Dirk Koning - George Stoney Award for Humanistic Communication and the 2021 Hats Off Award from Steps to Success for her dedication to Steps to Success programming and efforts towards improving educational outcomes for low-income students living in Brookline.

Jose Lopez is an award-winning, senior-level, broadcast engineer with broad-ranged experience in major national television and cable operations. Starting his career at HBO, he learned the foundations of engineering. Then moving on to Time Warner Cable, he developed his skills in management and systems integration as he became a key-player in the world’s first 150+ channel on-demand and pay-per-view system.

At Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN), Jose led the construction of their new headquarters in midtown Manhattan working alongside the general contractor to ensure MNN’s build-out was completed on-spec and on-schedule. While at MNN, Jose also managed a digital upgrade for Master Control, four channels and three studios, created a prototype of a digital video cart system, and established the first inter-borough, bidirectional fiber link between five cable stations.

Jose was involved in several innovations during his time at CNN, including their migration from SD to HD, the redesign and installation of the UN studio, their first virtual studio, and the world’s first live broadcast of a hologram interview. He also received numerous Peabody awards for his contributions to major news programs at CNN. After he moved to Colorado and began working for Comcast, he assisted in their migration to a custom Evertz Microsystems playout solution, and received numerous achievement awards, and received a US patent for developing the Dynamic Power Factor Correction on Cross Referenced Network Identified Devices.

Most recently, he completed two studios for the World Economic Forum in New York City and San Francisco.

Elizabeth Holloway is an award-winning filmmaker with over twenty years of experience in the Video Production field.

After graduating from film school in Denver, Colorado in 2007, she started her career in commercial advertising for Ford Motor Company. In 2010, she began filming and editing feature-length documentaries for the PeaceJam Foundation's Nobel Legacy Film Series, which highlights the stories of Nobel Peace Prize laureates from around the globe. Notable titles in the series include The Dalai Lama- Scientist, Desmond Tutu: Children of the Light, and Rigoberta Menchu: Daughter of the Maya. In addition to the NLFS, Elizabeth worked on marketing for the foundation’s Billion Acts Campaign which was launched in partnership with Google in 2015. During that time she designed a billboard displayed in Time Square and assisted with coordinating events, including a livestream event with Anderson Cooper, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and The Dalai Lama in remembrance of Nelson Mandela.

Elizabeth has also worked on a variety of other videos, both feature-length movies as well as thousands of short format videos, including several web series. She has produced a monthly networking video event in Denver, hosted a public tv show, filmed live events, and participated in many 48-hour film festivals.

In 2020, she relocated to the Colorado/New Mexico border and founded her own company Holloway Video LLC with the goal of creating engaging videos in the area and developing the region into a film hub. Since then she’s worked alongside ERMW and other organizations in the region to realize this goal.

Jessica has worked in post-secondary education administration for over a decade and is experienced as both a Campus & Corporate Director. She most recently served as the Economic Development Director for the City of Raton where her ability to navigate politics as well as interpersonal relationships has been a key asset in the town's ongoing economic recovery. As a professional, Jessica has helped many businesses attain success. As a Raton native, she is dedicated to the development of northern New Mexico and is utilizing her expertise to making El Raton Media Works a reality.