Gathered for a luncheon Tuesday at La Plazuela at La Fonda Tuesday in Santa Fe, front row from left, Think New Mexico 2026 Summer Leadership Intern Viviana Ornelas, Board President Roberta Ramo and Intern Marly Fisher. Back row from left, Think New Mexico Field Director Noah Apodaca, Intern Ian Hernandez, Think New Mexico Board Secretary Liddie Martinez, Intern Awlen Salazar and Healthcare Reform Director Lauren Leland. Courtesy/TNM
Gathered Tuesday at La Plazuela at La Fonda in Santa Fe, front row from left, Think New Mexico 2026 Summer Leadership Intern Viviana Ornelas, Board President Roberta Ramo and Intern Marly Fisher. Back row from left, Think New Mexico Intern Ian Hernandez, Think New Mexico Board Secretary Liddie Martinez and Intern Awlen Salazar. Courtesy/TNM
Think New Mexico News:
Each summer Think New Mexico offers four paid Leadership Internship positions to college or graduate students. Interns have the opportunity to meet with Think New Mexico board members and leaders in state government, as well as to assist Think New Mexico’s staff in researching and developing policy proposals.
The 2026 Summer Leadership Interns include:
Marly Fisher grew up in Albuquerque and graduated from Albuquerque Academy in 2023. As a senior in high school, she and three peers spearheaded a successful effort to pass a bill implementing period products in New Mexico’s public schools. She has since interned for Representatives Melanie Stansbury and Gabe Vasquez. Fisher is a senior in the dual degree program between Sciences Po Paris and Columbia, majoring in Political Philosophy and History, and serving as Senior Editor of the Columbia Political Review. She is passionate about improving education in New Mexico.
Ian Hernandez was born and raised in Santa Fe and graduated in the top 1% of his class from the MASTERS Program Early College Charter School. He was a 2023 recipient of the Davis New Mexico Scholarship, which allowed him to attend and graduate from the University of Denver this past June. Hernandez earned his B.A. in Socio-Legal Studies and History and hopes to begin law school in the fall of 2027. As an undergraduate, He interned with U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO). He also worked as a teen journalist for the Santa Fe New Mexican, and as a teacher and tutor for Breakthrough Santa Fe. Hernandez hopes to use his education and life experiences to improve the lives of as many people living in New Mexico and the American Southwest as possible.
Viviana Ornelas is a Santa Fe native who graduated as Valedictorian of her Capital High School class. She received Davis and LANL scholarships to study at the University of Chicago, where she is earning a B.A. in Psychology and Public Policy with a minor in Education and Society. In high school, Viviana led a chapter of the New Mexico Dream Team. As an undergraduate student, she has worked as a research assistant in Dr. Levine’s Cognitive Development Lab where she helped conduct studies to understand the relationship between solving math word problems and spatial skills. Ornelas has also worked as a tutor for the Neighborhood Schools Program in Chicago and a teacher for Breakthrough Santa Fe. She hopes to return to New Mexico to pursue a career in education policy.
Awlen Salazar is a graduate of New Mexico State University (NMSU), where he earned a B.A. in Political Science with minors in Public Administration & Policy and Public Law. He is pursuing a Master of Public Policy at the University of New Mexico. Throughout his time at NMSU, Salazar was a part of the Associated Students of NMSU, where he held roles in the legislative and executive branches as public relations officer and as one of three standing committee chairs for the Senate. At the start of his senior year, Salazar re-chartered the NMSU College Democrats after the club’s two-year hiatus, and he served as President of the club until his graduation in May 2026. Since then, he continues to be involved in the Young Democrats of New Mexico, where he now serves as National Committee Representative. Off campus, Salazar worked closely with nonprofit sector leaders throughout Doña Ana County. In the summer of 2025, he interned for the Doña Ana County Resilience Leaders, where he helped advocate for policies to mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACE’s) and expand access to affordable housing. Salazar also worked with NM Comunidades en Accion y De Fé (NM CAFé) as Social Media Associate.
Think New Mexico is New Mexico’s think tank – a results-oriented think tank whose mission is to improve the lives of all New Mexicans, especially those who lack a strong voice in the political process. It fulfills this mission by educating the public, the media, and policymakers about some of the most serious challenges facing New Mexico and by developing and advocating for enduring, effective, evidence-based solutions.
Its approach is to perform and publish sound, nonpartisan, independent research. Unlike many think tanks, Think New Mexico does not subscribe to any particular ideology. Instead, because New Mexico is at or near the bottom of so many national rankings, its focus is on promoting workable solutions that will lift all New Mexicans up.
Consistent with its nonpartisan approach, Think New Mexico’s board is composed of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. They are statesmen and stateswomen, who have no agenda other than to see New Mexico succeed. They are also the brain trust of this think tank.
Think New Mexico began its operations Jan. 1, 1999. It is a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. In order to maintain its independence, Think New Mexico does not accept state government funding. However, contributions from individuals, businesses, and foundations are encouraged, appreciated, and tax-deductible.
As an independent, statewide, results-oriented think tank, Think New Mexico measures its success based on changes in law or policy that it helps to achieve.
Think New Mexico’s results include:
- Making full-day kindergarten accessible to every child in New Mexico;
- Repealing the state’s regressive tax on food and successfully defeating efforts to reimpose it;
- Creating a Strategic Water Reserve to protect and restore New Mexico’s rivers;
- Establishing New Mexico’s first state-supported Individual Development Accounts to alleviate the state’s persistent poverty;
- Redirecting millions of dollars a year out of the state lottery’s excessive operating costs and into college scholarships
- Reforming title insurance to reduce closing costs for homebuyers and homeowners who refinance their mortgages
- Winning passage of three constitutional amendments to professionalize and streamline New Mexico’s Public Regulation Commission
- Modernizing the state’s regulation of taxis, limos, shuttles, and moving companies
- Creating a one-stop online portal to facilitate business fees and filings
- Establishing a user-friendly health care transparency website where New Mexicans can find the cost and quality of common medical procedures at any hospital in the state
- Enacting the New Mexico Work and Save Act to make voluntary state-sponsored Individual Retirement Accounts accessible to New Mexicans who lack access to retirement savings through their jobs;
- Making the state’s infrastructure spending transparent by revealing the legislative sponsors of every capital project;
- Ending predatory lending by reducing the maximum annual interest rate on small loans from 175% to 36%;
- Repealing the tax on Social Security for middle and lower-income New Mexicans with incomes under $100,000 as individuals or $150,000 as married couples;
- Enhancing the training and transparency of local school boards;
- Leading a campaign to make financial literacy a high school graduation requirement, now in place in 46 districts reaching nearly 48% of New Mexico students; and
- Establishing a $2 billion permanent trust fund for Medicaid.
Think New Mexico is headquarters in the historic Greer House at 505 Don Gaspar in Santa Fe, at the corner of Paseo de Peralta and Don Gaspar, directly across the street from the state Capitol. To learn more, visit thinknewmexico.org.
