Gulch Staff

Jordan first came to Cottonwood Gulch In 2007, as a road cook for the Prairie Trek. He quickly recognized Cottonwood Gulch as an organization full of intelligent, curious, and quirky people, and since then his love for the Gulch has only grown. Jordan has held multiple roles within the organization and was honored to step into the role of Executive Director in 2020. Outside of the Gulch, he has served as the Conservation Program Manager for Rocky Mountain Youth Corps in Albuquerque, worked on an urban organic farm in Wisconsin, and trained in outdoor skills at the National Outdoor Leadership School. He keeps bees, tends a garden, loves to write, and spends plenty of time exploring New Mexico’s abundant public lands. Jordan holds a BA from Pomona College, and a Masters degree in Geography and Environmental Studies (if you’d like to have a conversation about how different people and communities think about “nature”–quite relevant to the Gulch experience–Jordan is a willing participant) from the University of New Mexico. He lives in Albuquerque with his wife, Ellen, who teaches third grade and takes her students outside whenever possible, and their lovely daughter.

Lezle Williams was born in Dayton, Ohio, but has been living in the west ever since college graduation. She has an an MFA from Miami University and is an accomplished artist and former gallery owner. Her passions are animals, traveling, art, reading, and film. She has been keeping Cottonwood Gulch organized since 2008. When not talking with trekkers, parents, and staff, she sometimes joins us at Basecamp to teach trekkers how to create relief prints or to work in clay. 

Tim started in education when, as a student from The UK, he was a counselor at a YMCA camp on Vancouver Island, Canada. It was a transformative experience and the beginning of a life committed to mentoring young people from around the world. For fifteen years Tim worked with the United World College movement in Canada, China and northern New Mexico, serving both as an administrator and teacher of International Baccalaureate Theatre. For the last fifteen years Tim has served as a consultant at Philmont Scout Ranch, where he oversees the training of 120+ historical interpreters. He holds a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from New Mexico Highlands University and teaching licenses in both New Mexico and British Columbia. Tim loves to cook, hike, garden, read and act. He is married to Melissa (for thirty years, this October) and they have three children: Ruaidhri (Rory), Rex and Harriet and three dogs: Otto, Farley Mowat and Millie.

,Naina Panthaki was born and raised in Albuquerque, receiving her BS in Elementary Education, with a focus in Math and Science, from UNM. She has been a local Albuquerque teacher for the last seven years teaching math, science, gardening, and engineering classes in Title I schools. Naina started working with the Gulch as a classroom teacher taking her students on regular outdoor adventures, growing the program each year. For the last three years, she worked with the Students in Wilderness Initiative (SIWI) Program taking her 8th-grade students deeper into a year long wilderness experience. Starting in 2018, Naina worked with the Gulch’s summer treks, specifically the Paleo Trek, as program staff, cook, and group leader. She has one fabulous daughter, Layla who is a middle schooler and avid Gulch summer trekker. Both Naina and her daughter love to sing, dance, laugh loudly, and spend time in nature.

Juan M. Muñoz Jiménez was born in Dayton, Ohio, half-raised in the Midwest and half in his native home of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Kayaking in Puerto Rico with his father was his first real introduction to the outdoors. He created and led many adventures with the Outdoor Resource Center of Wright State University in graduate school, ranging from ice climbing and rock climbing to kayaking and snorkeling. Juan’s love for the outdoors brought him to the southwest after completing his MBA in marketing and international business. He spends his free time volunteering with Latino Outdoors Albuquerque Chapter or participating in general outdoor tomfoolery.

Olivia grew up in Denver and the southern coast of Spain. She was always encouraged to go outside and spent her childhood playing in the foothills of the Rockies and in the cork forests and beaches of Andalucía. A lover of all animals, Olivia has continued to enjoy exploring the outdoors through backpacking, climbing, cycling, scuba, and swimming in any body of (clean) water she can find! After graduating from the University of New Mexico with a degree in Environmental Planning and Design, Olivia accepted an apprenticeship with Yjastros, the American Flamenco Repertory Company. She worked with several farms during this time, developing a love for local food systems. She became a corps member of the company in 2018, performing throughout New Mexico, and the same year, joined the collective Spanish Broom Flamenco- an independent artistic collaborative focused on Flamenco performance. Her love for the outdoors motivated her to continue searching for a way to bring working with the environment into her daily life. In 2020, she was accepted as 2020 Exploring Equitable Education Outdoors Fellow. Through this work, she was introduced to Cottonwood Gulch and was given the opportunity to apply for a position later in the year. She joined the Gulch in September of 2020, and is so excited to work with kids outdoors!

Excited to return to her home state of New Mexico, Marissa joins Cottonwood Gulch having spent the last four years exploring the North Cascades and Olympic mountains of Washington state while working for the National Park Service as a Park Ranger. Marissa holds a masters degree in Environmental Education, Non-Profit Management & Northwest Natural History from Western Washington University and the North Cascades Institute. She is excited to continue her quest of life long learning by blending her love for ecology, natural history and photography in hopes to instill curiosity and wonder for the natural world in students. When not working as a field educator, Marissa is likely eating pizza, out climbing mountains or cruising around the desert on her bike.

Tanner grew up in the forests and tidelands of the Pacific Northwest and spent most of his early years stumbling through nettles and scraping his knees on the rocky shores of the Oregon Coast. He worked with food in various capacities for many years, as a cook, server, farmer, and garden educator before deciding to go back to school. At Western Washington University, Tanner took part in a residency-based M.Ed program in North Cascades National Park, where he also earned certificates in Northwest Natural History and Nonprofit Administration and Management. He spends his free time undertaking big kitchen projects, making brooms, birding, hiking, gardening, and generally poking around in riparian areas. 

Julie loves to wonder.  She wonders, what makes this rock pink? Where do the porcupines sleep? How fast would you need to drive to reach the sunset? This innate sense of wonder makes her an intrinsic educator, more interested in asking questions than finding answers.

Born to Vietnamese immigrant parents in Orange County, CA (home of Little Saigon!), Julie was discouraged from playing outside. Growing up in a concrete jungle of many cultures- cultures underserved by the outdoor recreation community- Julie did not hike, camp, or participate in other outdoor activities like most of her peers in the outdoor industry. Her curiosity eventually led her to discover wilderness for herself through poorly planned, but passionate, outdoor excursions. She struggled with the right gear, the right words, the right trails, and now, here she is- a confident and competent wild woman. Julie has earned her place in the outdoors. Julie is determined to make space for kids like her- the overlooked and unrepresented. She believes strongly that the outdoors should be the most accessible right and is fighting to make it so.

Andrew was born in Papua New Guinea but called Pennsylvania home for about 15 years before falling in love with the Northwoods of Wisconsin, where he spent a few years leading canoe trips, running a high ropes course, and eating cheese curds. He’s now beyond excited to call New Mexico home! His educational background in engineering has equipped him with a broad set of skills to repair, maintain, and optimize all of the operational systems at Cottonwood Gulch. When he’s not fixing Gulch trucks, Andrew loves repairing and riding motorcycles, restoring old machinery, exploring the desert on his bicycle, and collecting way more books than he could ever read in a lifetime.