Margie Maestas-Flores
Board Member

 

Margarita (Margie) Maestas-Flores is a retired community college business educator who has served on the NMVIC Executive Board since June 2009. She was introduced to the NMVIC through her board work with Rebuilding Together Albuquerque (RTA), a nonprofit organization that provided assistance for the former facilities of the NMVIC.

Originally from Pixley, California, Margie moved to San Jose, where she earned a BS in Business Administration from San Jose State University, followed by an MA in Education from the University of San Francisco.

Her teaching experience with San Jose City College, Foothill College, and Evergreen Valley College included various business and learning/computer lab courses, as well as serving as the Mentor Coordinator and Program Director for Evergreen's ENLACE Program. ENLACE, an instructional, counseling, mentoring program, received numerous awards and accolades for its successful retention and university transfer of Latino/Chicano students in San Jose.

Community involvement has included serving on several organization boards: San Jose American GI Forum, American GI Forum Scholarship Foundation, Martha's Kitchen (meals for the homeless and low-income community), Dia del Maestro Committee, and Rebuilding Together Albuquerque (RTA). Other volunteer service includes Community Homeless Alliance Ministry (CHAM), and numerous organizations related to her educational career. For over twenty-five years, she has participated on election boards in Santa Clara County, Sandoval County, the Village of Corrales, and the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District. Through her involvement with the Warm Hearts Network (WHN) of New Mexico, she and Xochi, her certified pet therapy dog, have volunteered in assisted care facilities, disabled student programs, a health care program for the homeless, and an elementary school program serving homeless children; she also assists with the coordination of WHN, now a program of Animal Humane.

Recognition of Margie's professional and community achievements has resulted in receiving the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers National Serra Award, Santa Clara County NAACP Rosa Parks Award, the San Jose American GI Forum Chairman's Award, and the EVC ENLACE Mentor Advisory Council Award. She was selected as a delegate for the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office Great Teaching Conference.

Margie's father was born in Sapello, New Mexico. In 1985, she and her husband Rodrigo visited for the first time. She fell in love with her father's home state, they returned repeatedly over the next fifteen years, and they moved to New Mexico in 2000.