The SWAIA Team

lEADERSHIP TEAM

  • EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

    NORTHERN CHEYENNE / SISSETON WAHPETON OYATE

    Originally from Montana, Jamie R. Schulze (Northern Cheyenne/ Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate) brings a wealth of diverse experiences to her role as a business leader. Having relocated to New Mexico 30 years ago, she has developed a deep appreciation for the land and its people. With a background in the hospitality industry as a former owner of The Bavarian Lodge & Restaurant in Taos Ski Valley, NM, Jamie understands the intricacies of managing successful enterprises and delivering exceptional customer experiences.

    Beyond her entrepreneurial ventures, Jamie is a certified business and life coach with a leadership training certification, demonstrating her commitment to personal and professional
    development. Her passion for uplifting others and fostering growth aligns perfectly with her new role at SWAIA (Southwestern Association for Indian Arts) as the Executive Director.

  • ARTIST SERVICES

    SAN ILDEFONSO PUEBLO

    Ramona Perea is from San Ildefonso Pueblo. She has been in education majority of her life along with many other positions like administrative, event planning , coaching, athletic director etc.. She has three beautiful children and one amazingly cute grandson. She plans to work diligently with SWAIA to deliver excellent assistance to artists and to help make the Santa Fe Indian Markets a success!

  • FINANCE AND DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR

    MVSKOKE (CREEK) NATION

    Born and raised in southeastern Oklahoma, Carmen Wiley is a citizen of the Mvskoke (Creek) Nation and a proud graduate of Sequoyah High School, a boarding school run by the Cherokee Nation. After high school, she attended Brown University where she was an Ethnic Studies concentrator with an emphasis in Indigenous Food Sovereignty.

    Grateful for the values instilled in her by her mother, an artist and educator, and her father, an attorney dedicated to serving tribal communities throughout Indian Country, Carmen leads with a community-focused mindset, a service-driven heart, and a deep appreciation for the transformative power of the arts.

    Carmen joins the SWAIA team with a background in hospitality and retail management where she specialized in people development, project management, and operational process improvement. She is delighted to work for SWAIA and looks forward to contributing to the organization’s continued success.

  • VOLUNTEER & MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR

    My name is Z Nez, born and raised in Southern California this is my first time living away from the Golden State. During a trip in May I came to Santa Fe to visit friends and to see Santa Fe, I fell in love with this magical place. While in town I went to Native Treasures put on by MIAC and got the opportunity to meet many of the artists there.

    Being in the area, meeting the wonderful people here, and being in the middle of everything made me sad to leave. When given the opportunity to come back and volunteer for Indian Market I ran right over!

    For the past 8 years I had worked for Nordstrom my first year as a sales associate and then a Department Manager for 7 years. Before that I had restaurant, coffee bar, and other retailer experience, all as an associate and as a manager.

    I have gained incredible knowledge about people, business and community. While retail is very different than what my new role is at SWAIA, I am able to take my organizational skills, communication skills, and people management experience and apply what I have learned to continue the incredible work that SWAIA does. I love hearing from others and believe that we can all learn from each other. I am grateful and very lucky to have this opportunity with SWAIA and everyone involved.

  • DATA SYSTEMS ASSOCIATE

    YUP’IK

    Cingarkaq Devine is an Alaska Native Yup’ik from the small village of Atmautluak, Alaska that sits on the Pitmiktakik River. She spent her youth living the subsistence lifestyle with summers spent at her family fish camp on the Kuskokwim River, processing salmon and picking berries on the tundra. Fall was spent harvesting moose meat and winters were spent ice fishing and trading traditional foods with family and friends along the coast.

    Learning English at the age of 8, she was introduced to the traditional school system in Bethel before moving on to the Mt. Edgecumbe boarding school in Sitka. She spent time traveling around the globe and studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alaska before making her move down to Santa Fe. She is currently finishing her Engineering degree at the Northern New Mexico College in Engineering Technology.

    She loves to spend her free time making pottery, doing yoga, and camping with her husband, 2 children and her husky Kiska. She has fallen in love with New Mexico and connecting with the inspiring Indigenous folks here in Indian Country. Art is woven into our way of life as Indigenous people, sometimes for survival but also to thrive and connect with nature and our ancestors.

    After experiencing Indian Market and modeling her best friends Iñupiaq fashion designs, SWAIA became a favorite event and a time of gathering with new and old friends. When the opportunity to become a member of the SWAIA team, Cingarkaq was thrilled and has felt right at home. She is building a digital environment where we at SWAIA can become more efficient with what we do so we can better serve our people.

  • OFFICE COORDINATOR

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  • HR/ FINANCE DIRECTOR

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Board Members

  • JoAnn Chase, a Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Indian, was born and raised on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in central North Dakota. After a stellar academic career that included undergraduate work at Boston University, a legislative fellowship with Congresswoman Barbara Boxer and law school and law review editorial board at the University of New Mexico School of Law, she had a distinguished law career devoted to legal advocacy to promote and protect the rights of tribal nations and their citizens.

    JoAnn served as the Executive Director for the National Congress of American Indians, the oldest and largest national Indian organization. During her tenure, the organization’s membership and budget tripled and NCAI enjoyed unprecedented visibility and viability. JoAnn left NCAI to become Executive Director of the National Network of Grantmakers, an organization dedicated to moving more philanthropic dollars to economic and social justice initiatives. After her tenure there, she started The Chase Group where she puts together strategic funding partnerships with foundations, major donors and others to advance equity and social justice. (Source: The Praxis Project)

  • TREASURER

    Tom Teegarden has over three decades business management experience in the public and private sectors with an emphasis on leadership and assembling high-performance teams for tribally owned enterprises. He is presently Vice President for High Water Mark, a Native woman-owned environmental consulting firm.

    He brings experience in contracting, business and community planning, development, fundraising, budgets, operations and volunteer management to the SWAIA board. Throughout his career, whether in the startup or mature phase, he has helped organizations become bigger, better and more financially stable.

    Tom’s interests range from competitive cycling to traditional Native music, and he is a member of multiple Native drum groups. He holds a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the University of Colorado.

  • Andrea R. Hanley (Navajo) is the chief curator at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her career has been guided and dedicated to the work of contemporary Native American artists and the Native American fine art field.

    She started her career at the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., as both special assistant to the director and exhibition developer/project manager. She was the fine arts coordinator/curator for the city of Tempe, the executive director of ATATL, Inc., a national service organization for Native American arts.

    She was the founding manager of the Berlin Gallery at the Heard Museum and the membership and program manager for the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. She currently serves on the Santa Fe arts commission. She is on the UCross Foundation national advisory council, and the Native American advisory board for New York based arts organization, Voices in Contemporary Art (VoCA.)

    Hanley is on the Board of Directors for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, Santa Fe Indian Market. She sits on the Native American advised fund committee for the Santa Fe Community Foundation and is on the board of directors for Santa Fe based arts space Axle Contemporary.

  • BOARD SECRETARY

    JoAnn Chase, a Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Indian, was born and raised on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in central North Dakota. After a stellar academic career that included undergraduate work at Boston University, a legislative fellowship with Congresswoman Barbara Boxer and law school and law review editorial board at the University of New Mexico School of Law, she had a distinguished law career devoted to legal advocacy to promote and protect the rights of tribal nations and their citizens.

    JoAnn served as the Executive Director for the National Congress of American Indians, the oldest and largest national Indian organization. During her tenure, the organization’s membership and budget tripled and NCAI enjoyed unprecedented visibility and viability. JoAnn left NCAI to become Executive Director of the National Network of Grantmakers, an organization dedicated to moving more philanthropic dollars to economic and social justice initiatives. After her tenure there, she started The Chase Group where she puts together strategic funding partnerships with foundations, major donors and others to advance equity and social justice. (Source: The Praxis Project)

  • Leslie Wheelock is an enrolled member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. Leslie joined the SWAIA Board of Directors in 2024. She currently provides legal and consulting services to Native-owned businesses. She also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) where she participates on the Advancement and Repatriation Committees. She is also a Trustee for The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, serving on the Arts and Governance Committees. She is also a corporate board member of the Oneida ESC Group. Leslie co-chairs the National Congress of American Indians Repatriation Committee and participates with several Cornell University and Law School alumni organizations.

     

    As an Obama appointee, Leslie was the Principal Advisor to the Secretary and Director of the Office of Tribal Relations at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  Leslie has held positions as the Director of Economic Policy at the National Congress of American Indians; Corporate Counsel for the NANA/AKIMA government contracting operations; and Director of Cultural and Intellectual Property for the opening of the NMAI in Washington, DC.

     

     Prior to her move into public and non-profit service, Leslie served more than 20 years in C-Suite legal and management roles in international technology and telecommunications corporations.

     

    Leslie is a member of the New York, Connecticut and Washington, DC Bars. Her JD and MBA are from Cornell University Law School and the Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management.

  • Randall (Randy) Chitto is an acclaimed clay artist whose works are in numerous museum collections, including The Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, The Denver Art Museum and The National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC, among many others. His work are also shown at the Santa Fe Indian Market (SWAIA), Heard Indian Market and other select exhibitions.

    Randy grew up in Chicago, Illinois, moving there with his family from the Choctaw reservation in Mississippi.

    Randy is a past winner of the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts Fellowship and a Dubin Fellow at The School of Advance Research, formerly The School or American Research. Randy has accumulated many other awards and distinctions in his career.
    His studio, The Red Clay Studio is located in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

    In 1980, Randy enrolled at The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe. His main interest at the time was painting, but it was there he found clay. Otellie Loloma was his first instructor in a medium he had previously not worked with. He continued his study in clay with instructor Ralph Pardington, a mentor and friend.
    Under Mr. Pardington developed his unique style.

    He also took painting classes with the renowned artist and instructor Linda Lomahaftewa at IAIA. In 1983 , he graduated with both a two- and three- Dimensional Degree in Studio Art.
    Randy is married to his bride of 36 years, Jackie Carpio, whom he met in Mrs. Loloma’s clay class. Randy and Jackie have two boys, Hollis and Dillon. Hollis is an acclaimed, award-winning artist and Dillon is an accomplished playwright.

    Randy has served on many boards for several non-profits organizations in Santa Fe and along with Jackie co-founded the Santa Fe Indian Center.

  • Russell Sanchez (b. 1963) continues to be one of the master innovators in Pueblo pottery. He creates each piece perfectly hand-coiled, stone polished, then etched, inlaid, designed, and fired with traditional Native American pottery methods. Russell learned to make pottery from his great-aunt, noted potter and pottery matriarch Rose Gonzales (1900-1989.) He started making pottery at the early age of 12 years old on the San Ildefonso Pueblo.

    Russell has received numerous awards and recognition for his pottery throughout his career. Including such distinctions as ‘Best of Division’ at both the Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard Indian Market. In 2007 Native Peoples Magazine presented Russell’s art in the feature article of the Fall issue. In 2011, Russell was awarded the exclusive ‘Tony Da Award’ for Pottery in Santa Fe. Russell was recently a recipient of the ‘New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in Art 2017. In 2019 he won “Best of Pottery” at Santa Fe Indian Market. At the same time, he was involved in a major exhibition of historic San Ildefonso pottery at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe, NM. His work remains on a continued path of excellence and creativity.

  • Elias Gallegos, is a film actor, and producer. Born and raised in Santa Fe, NM. He is also the Film & Media Director for renowned author and filmmaker George RR Martin.

  • Chris Youngblood is a Santa Clara Pueblo potter who has won numerous awards at Santa Fe Indian Market including Best of Classification in 2014. Chris’s family has been participating in Santa Fe Indian Market since its inception.

    Chris aims to continue his family’s tradition and insure the survival of traditional techniques.

    Russell has received numerous awards and recognition for his pottery throughout his career. Including such distinctions as ‘Best of Division’ at both the Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard Indian Market. In 2007 Native Peoples Magazine presented Russell’s art in the feature article of the Fall issue. In 2011, Russell was awarded the exclusive ‘Tony Da Award’ for Pottery in Santa Fe. Russell was recently a recipient of the ‘New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in Art 2017. In 2019 he won “Best of Pottery” at Santa Fe Indian Market. At the same time, he was involved in a major exhibition of historic San Ildefonso pottery at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe, NM. His work remains on a continued path of excellence and creativity.

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Strategic Partners

  • CONSULTANT

    POJOAQUE PUEBLO

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  • PRESS RELATIONS

    The METTA agency is a boutique PR consultancy located in Santa Fe, New Mexico specializing in art and culture. 

    Audrey R. has over 18 years of active collaboration with artists and businesses —publicizing creative visions and making editorial connections within local and international markets.

  • MARKETING & DIGITAL STRATEGY

    NAVAJO-OWNED AGENCY

    HODZA.mgmt is a Native woman-owned management and marketing solutions company based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Our company specializes in crafting refined strategies, utilizing scalable systems to generate potent solutions.

    Our CEO, Sheyenne Sky, is a Diné entrepreneur based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with advanced degrees from the Fashion Institute of Technology and Harvard University. She founded HODZA.mgmt in 2020, channeling her passion and expertise in Native Art, Business and Culture into the creation of our company.

    Our mission is to provide innovative, scalable, and sustainable growth strategies that not only support business goals but also honor the cultural heritage of those that we serve.

  • MUSICAL PERFORMANCE CURATOR

    Goiyo Perez is a Songwriter and Musician whose roots extend to the San Fransisco Bay Area music scene. As a Berklee College of Music alumni, Goiyo has utilized the artistic and technical training to spread out into many creative fields including music production, Film Scoring, Sound Design, and Videography. Since moving to New Mexico in 2012, he has established a music publishing and production company (Basic Radio Music), and an audio visual / videography company (Halcyon Vision and Sound). Goiyo has been curating the performances on the outdoor stages at the Santa Fe Indian Market since 2019.

  • FIRST NATION-OWNED BUSINESS

    Since its inception in 2017, VIFW has led Native fashion, becoming the first Indigenous Fashion Week globally. Held at the iconic Queen Elizabeth Theatre, VIFW has showcased over 40 visionary designers, establishing itself as an international platform for Native fashion. VIFW is driven by a mission to support community, culture, and mentorship, nurturing the next generation of Native creatives.

    "We are excited to collaborate with SWAIA Fashion Week as it extends our mission to empower and inspire Native fashion communities," said a representative of VIFW. "This partnership will allow us to learn from and share with the Santa Fe fashion community while strengthening connections across borders."

    Joleen’s work extends beyond the runway. She has launched mentorship programs, produced Indigenous-focused fashion shows, and collaborated with organizations to support Indigenous youth and amplify Indigenous voices in the global fashion industry. Her commitment to art, culture, and community drives her leadership at SWAIA Native Fashion Week, bringing creativity, connection, and celebration to this global stage.

swaia is a tight-knit community. Get involved today!

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  • Beyond attending Santa Fe Indian Market, there are many ways to support SWAIA’s mission of uplifting Native artists and communities. You can become a member, gaining exclusive access to artist previews and special events; donate to help fund artist awards, youth mentorship programs, and year-round initiatives; or sponsor an event, aligning your brand with the world’s premier Native arts organization. Signing up for our Newsletters or use our Artist Directory to learn more about our artists. Every contribution helps sustain and grow SWAIA’s impact on Native arts and culture.