Our Board of Directors and Staff - Los Alamos Community Foundation

Each member of our Board of Directors has a deep personal commitment to Los Alamos. Together, they lead the Los Alamos Community Foundation using their expertise, their knowledge of our community, and their passionate belief in the power of philanthropy to change lives.

The Board establishes policy, sets priorities and makes final decisions to authorize grants. All Directors are volunteers who serve without pay for three-year terms. Steve Laurent, our Executive Director, has operational responsibilities and works to implement Board policy.

David Izraelevitz has been involved in many community organizations in Los Alamos since moving here with his family over 20 years ago, including the Los Alamos Lunch Buddies program at Barranca Mesa Elementary School, the MathCounts team at Los Alamos Middle School, the Los Alamos Employees’ Scholarship Fund, the J.R. Oppenheimer Memorial Committee, and past president of the Los Alamos Jewish Center and the Jewish Community Council of Northern New Mexico. David is a founding board member of Los Alamos Community Foundation and currently serves as President and Chair of the board.

David served as a member of the Los Alamos County Planning and Zoning Commission from 2004-2009 and was a member of the Los Alamos County Charter Review Committee until his appointment to the Los Alamos County Council in July 2011. He has since been re-elected twice and has served two terms as Council Chair.

After telecommuting from Los Alamos for 10 years, David joined Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2005, where he retired as Research Engineer and Team Leader. He received a B.S. degree, Magna Cum Laude, in computer and systems engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and S.M., E.E., and Sc.D. degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Linda Daly moved to Los Alamos in 1992 when she joined the University of New Mexico Los Alamos as its Community Education director. In 1999, she was hired by The Family YMCA Board of Directors as its Chief Executive Officer. After nearly 20 years, Linda retired from the Y in October 2018.

Prior her to CEO position, Linda served on The Family YMCA Board of Directors. She is a past president of the UNM-LA Advisory Board where she served for two terms. She is a graduate of Leadership Los Alamos and Leadership New Mexico. Linda chaired the New Mexico Alliance of YMCAs for over 12 years. Additionally, she served on the national Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council for the YMCA of the USA and is past President of the national Asian Pacific Islander Leadership Network for YUSA.

Linda graduated from the University of Hawaii where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and in Communications.

Cindy Rooney moved to Los Alamos in 1998 with her husband and two daughters. She serves as treasurer of the United Way of Northern New Mexico Board and is a member of the Los Alamos Commerce and Economic Development Corporation Board.

Cindy is the Chief Executive Officer for the University of New Mexico Los Alamos. She has been involved in higher education for more than 25 years, previously teaching at the College of William and Mary, Xavier University, and UNM-Albuquerque before coming to UNM-LA. Cindy received a Ph.D. in Accounting, with a minor in Organizational Behavior, from the University of Tennessee.

As a community member of Los Alamos for over 30 years, Pat Soran has been involved in many non‐profit organizations. In 1996 he co-founded the Los Alamos Lunch Buddies Program and after getting 125 adult volunteers, Pat turned the program over to Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Northern New Mexico. In 1997 Pat founded the Diane Soran Foundation and spent several years restoring and refurbishing the Tot Lot parks and play areas of Los Alamos. Under Pat’s directorship, the Diane Soran Foundation also provided scholarships to graduating Los Alamos High School seniors. From 1999 to 2009 Pat served on the board of directors and was president of the Crisis Center of Northern New Mexico. In 2014, Pat and his wife Ann Hayes were co‐chairpersons of the Northern New Mexico United Way campaign. In addition to being a member of the Founder’s Society of the Los Alamos Community Foundation, Pat serves on the UNM-LA Advisory Board and is an active 20-year member of the Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos, managing the community’s annual 4th of July fireworks display for many years. Pat is a recipient of the Jim West “Spirit of the West” award from Los Alamos Assets in Action.

Pat’s educational background includes Ph.D. and Master of Science degrees in nuclear engineering from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Pat retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1999 after enjoying a career that included several technical managerial positions. He is also a retired US Navy captain. In his retirement, Pat enjoys watching his grandchildren grow up, woodworking, and playing golf.

John Benner joined Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1993, and moved to Los Alamos in 1995. He has held a variety of leadership positions at the Laboratory including Associate Director for Weapon Engineering and Experiments and Executive Officer for Weapon Programs. John left the Laboratory and Los Alamos briefly during 2017-2019 while he was the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of MSTS the management and operating contractor for the Nevada National Security Site before returning to LANL and an assignment in Washington DC at NNSA Headquarters. John is currently the Associate Laboratory Director for Weapon Production and leads the plutonium pit production activities at the Laboratory.

He has a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University. John was recently inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Alumni of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering there in 2023. He is the recipient of several Defense Programs Awards of Excellence.

John and his wife Kelly have raised their three sons in White Rock. Their sons attended Los Alamos Public Schools, participated in Little League, Church Youth groups, and Boy Scouts. They enjoy being part of the White Rock and Los Alamos Community.

Diana Martinez located to Los Alamos with her family in 1991 from Springfield, Il., following her husband’s four-year stint with the Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety. Having young children, she worked at home as a freelance writer placing articles, short pieces, and poems in Family Circle, Christian Parenting Today, New Mexico Magazine, New Frontiers of New Mexico and local periodicals. In 1998, she began a 25-year career with The Family YMCA eventually serving as a Senior Program Director and Development Director with a focus on grant writing.

She served on the Los Alamos County and LAPS Schools Trinity property development advisory committee for the two years prior to the 2014 Smith’s Food and Drug Store opening. She was a 2006 graduate of Leadership Los Alamos, and a recipient of their 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award. Diana placed second in the Southwest Writers Workshop Juvenile Novel contest in 1994, has taught writing classes at UNM-LA, and served on grant review committees. Now retired, she is dabbling once again in writing and historical family research. Diana has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri.

Charlie McMillan moved to Los Alamos in 2006 where he held various leadership positions at Los Alamos National Laboratory before becoming Director in 2011. He retired from the Lab in 2018 and serves on the boards of several start-ups. During his tenure at the Lab, he was actively engaged with the Northern New Mexico community working to strengthen it through education, business, and employment opportunities.

He has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics from Columbia Union College and a PhD in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a recipient of the Secretary of Energy’s Exceptional Service Award and the NNSA Administrator’s Distinguished Service Gold Award. He and his wife Janet enjoy life in the Los Alamos community.

Steve Laurent returned to Los Alamos after six years in Park City, Utah where he served with a nonprofit providing affordable housing for the local workforce. From 2008 to 2016 Steve lived in Los Alamos where he spent his professional life as an attorney at Los Alamos National Bank, Santa Fe County and LA Mesa Law Firm. He also squeezed in a summer doing preservation work at Bandelier National Monument. Prior to living in Los Alamos, Steve practiced real estate law in Grand Rapids, Michigan and worked in historic preservation and grants management for Arizona State Parks.

Steve and his wife Anne live on Barranca Mesa and can often be seen there walking their dog, Moose. Both of their children are graduates of Los Alamos High School and are currently attending college. Outside of work, Steve has a love for history and architecture. He holds a law degree from Michigan State University, and a master’s in history from Arizona State University.