Mayane identified her focus on advocating for the just energy transition after working with the United Nations Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (SPFII). From her experience working with her Pueblo and Tribal Nations, Mayane recognized the opportunity that energy sovereignty could bring to the socioeconomic well-being of Indigenous communities. A testament to this commitment is evident in the passage of New Mexico’s 2021 Community Solar Act, where Mayane led the consultation process with Tribal Nations, resulting in robust support from Tribal leadership and legislation that completely opened up the solar market for Tribes.

Mayane has experience working within the private energy sector and with multiple non-profit organizations. Through professional experience, Mayane has developed expertise in strategizing legislative campaigns and regulatory intervention throughout the region, clean energy project development and finance, coalition building, and stakeholder engagement.

She has completed her Master of Science in Environmental Change and Management at the University of Oxford and received her Bachelor’s at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

My name is Marissa Naranjo, and I’m from the Pueblos of Santa Clara, Kewa, and Cochiti in New Mexico. Thank you so much for your support of Sovereign Energy and our team. I’m so excited this new year to have transitioned from Board Secretary to our Director of Policy and Planning, a shift that advances the organization’s launch into supporting the leadership of Southwest Tribes and Pueblos development of renewable energy projects and our advocacy toward a regenerative energy future. 

I’m so excited to apply the experience I’ve gained working with Pueblos and Tribes across the Southwest and Pacific Northwest supporting government-to-government legislative, administrative, and legal efforts at the local, state, and federal levels on environmental and cultural resource preservation campaigns to our work with Sovereign Energy. 

Previously serving the All Pueblo Council of Governors, a consortium of the 23 Pueblos of New Mexico and Texas, I had the honor of managing collective Pueblo advocacy efforts on the protection of sacred cultural landscapes like the Chaco Canyon and Bears Ears regions and lead the organization’s state and federal legislative and policy agenda. Most recently with High Watermark LLC, a Pueblo woman-owned environmental engineering company, I supported strategic climate resiliency planning, Tribal federal grant writing, and provided technical policy and regulatory support to Tribes on environmental and cultural resource preservation projects, including exciting land acquisition endeavors. In addition to my work with Sovereign Energy, I serve the Albuquerque Commission on American Indian and Alaskan Native Affairs as the Tribal Environmental Commissioner and am a member of the New Mexico Economic Sustainability Advisory Council. 

Our communities have long respected and caretaked the sources of energy we all rely on and I look forward to continuing to uplift the commitment, expertise, and ingenuity of our Tribal communities in building and implementing climate and energy solutions that advance authentic Tribal sovereignty and the well being of our communities for generations to come. 

Mr. Lewis attended Stanford University and studied in the Civil & Environmental Engineering Program. He is an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Community and has served as the Chairman of the Gila River Indian Community Utility Authority and a Corporate Board Member of Gila River Telecommunications, Inc. (GRTI). John believes in the power of Indian Country and is dedicated to supporting Tribes in the energy transition.