Nominees for 2024

Incoming officers start a five year rotation entering with the position of Secretary, then Treasurer, Vice President, President, and finally Past President. This rotation assures the continuity of the Executive Committee. Additionally, the Executive Committee Vice-president acts as the Society Liason on the NMGS Foundation Board (see below). Positions on the Foundation Board do not rotate, and the Board is not required to add a new member every year.

Every year, a ballot with one candidate for each position is presented to membership. Current members have the option to affirmatively vote for each candidate, can decline to vote for particular candidates, or can choose another member as a write-in candidate.

New Mexico Geological Society — Officer Nominees

President – Kevin Hobbs

Kevin Hobbs is a Field Geologist at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. Previous professional experience includes four years as Assistant Professor of Geology at the University of New Mexico - Valencia Campus (2016-2020), three semesters as a Visiting Instructor of Geology at the University of the South (2014-2015), two years as an environmental geologist with Southern Company Services (2006-2008), and one glorious summer as a GSA GeoCorps intern in Denali National Park. He earned degrees in geology from the University of New Mexico (Ph.D., 2016), the University of Idaho (M.S., 2010), and the University of the South (B.S., 2006). Since moving to New Mexico in 2010, Kevin has conducted research on sedimentology and paleoclimatology in Cretaceous and Paleogene fluvial deposits in the San Juan Basin and on paleoenvironmental records in Pliocene intertrappean deposits on the Taos Plateau. With the Bureau, he is currently focusing on geologic mapping and hazards assessments in the southern San Juan Basin.

In his first semester (Fall 2010) as a UNM graduate student, Kevin received a scholarship to attend the NMGS Fall Field Conference. That Four Corners conference not only introduced Kevin to the landscapes and units he would later study, but also showed him what the NMGS really was. He has attended as many Fall Field Conferences and Spring Meetings as possible ever since. While advising research students at UNM-Valencia, Kevin encouraged their participation at NMGS Spring Meetings, and he seeks to encourage more NMGS participation from two-year college students in the future. Kevin is a teacher at heart. In addition to having taught many geology and environmental sciences courses at the college level, he participates in educational outreach through Master Naturalist classes and K-12 school visits. For ten years, he was an instructor with geology summer field camps in Montana, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico.

Vice-President – Johanna Blake

Dr. Johanna Blake is a Research Hydrologist with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in the New Mexico Water Science Center. She earned a B.S. in Earth and Planetary Sciences from the University of New Mexico (UNM), and a M.S. and PhD in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Lehigh University. Dr. Blake was a post-doctoral fellow with the EPSCoR program at UNM where she studied uranium geochemistry on tribal lands. While with the USGS, she has continued to work on uranium geochemistry issues, works on geochemical questions in the northwestern part of New Mexico (NM) following the Gold King Mine spill, source water questions related to the Fort Stanton-Snowy River cave system near Captain, NM, and oil and gas questions in the southeastern part of NM. In addition, she is part of a group of USGS scientists evaluating water quality related to wildfires in the western U.S. Dr. Blake has lived and worked in NM for over 13 years and collaborates with scientists and staff from UNM, the NM Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, New Mexico Tech, New Mexico Environment Department, Navajo Nation EPA, NASA, the Bureau of Land Management, and USEPA. She is an adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UNM and has served on undergraduate and graduate student committees at UNM and New Mexico Tech.

Treasurer – Bonnie Frey

Bonnie Frey is a geochemist at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, where she is the laboratory manager of the Analytical Laboratory. Bonnie first NMGS fall field conference was the 2003 Zuni Plateau conference. Since then she has led two field conferences (2016, Belen with Shannon Williams, and May 2022, Mt. Taylor with Shari Kelley) and one spring meeting (2017) with Ginger McLemore. She organized three student / professional mixers during the NMGS spring meeting (2017-2019). She received the NMGS honorary membership award in May 2022.

Bonnie holds an English degree from Goshen College, which was followed by 10 years working for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, then a New York Times regional paper. She received geology degree (B.S.) from the University of South Florida in 1997. She arrived at New Mexico Tech two years later to pursue a master’s degree, studying the geochemistry of Central Arizona’s Iron King Formation with her advisor, Kent Condie, and graduating in 2002 (M.S.). She has since specialized contaminant transport and water quality studies in New Mexico. She is a co-lead on a USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative with Virginia McLemore to test protocols for determining critical mineral resources in mine waste and is a co-PI on a project with Navajo Tech to identify wells on the Navajo Nation that are suitable for filtration systems and to provide workforce development for the next generation of Indigenous water resource scientists. In 2022, she was appointed a commissioner of the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission representing the NMBGMR.

Secretary – Susan Hoines

Susan spent her formative years in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.  She has an MS in Hydrology, New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology (1993); a BS in Hydrology, University of Arizona (1990), and a BS in Geological Engineering, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (1987).  She worked for the New Mexico Environment Department for five years (1993-1998) before filling a position within the Hydrology Bureau at the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer (NMOSE).  She retired from the NMOSE Hydrology Bureau in 2019.  She has been happily retired ever since, traveling with her husband on his vacations, and/or with her sister on trips across the USA and beyond.  Susan’s husband is Peter Burck, a lifetime member of NMGS,  a hydrologist in the US Bureau of Land Management.

Susan has a lifetime membership to NMGS.  Her first fall field conference was the 2002 White Sands Fall field conference.  She has attended every fall field conference since 2002.  She is a real fan, if not a faithful member of NMGS.

Past-President – Brian Hampton (ex officio)

Brian Hampton is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at New Mexico State University (NMSU) and earned degrees in geological sciences from Purdue University (PhD-2006), Louisiana State University (MS-2002), and Pacific University (BS-1997). His research interests center on the interplay between erosion and sedimentation in depositional systems with particular emphasis on field-based studies that examine the tectonic evolution, stratigraphic history, and provenance of sedimentary basins in divergent- and convergent-margin tectonic settings. Hampton is the faculty director of the Basin Research Lab at NMSU which applies the skill sets of sedimentology, stratigraphy, structure, petrology, geochronology, geochemistry, and geologic mapping to better understand the exhumation history of mountain belts as preserved in sedimentary basins. Brian joined the NMGS in 2014, right after arriving to New Mexico, and he is a regular attendee of the Fall Field Conferences and Spring Meetings.

New Mexico Geological Foundation — Nominees for Board of Directors

Director – Frank C. Ramos

Frank Ramos is an isotope geochemist and Professor of Geological Sciences at New Mexico State University. He has a B.S. from Stanford University and M.S. and PhD. degrees from UCLA. His PhD. research focused on young basalts erupted throughout the western US, including basalts in the Zuni- Bandera volcanic field and from the Rift Grande rift of New Mexico. He continues to work on New Mexico basalts and at Valles caldera. Frank has been at New Mexico State for eleven years and focuses on addressing scientific problems using a wide range of stable and radiogenic isotopes of rhyolitic and basaltic volcanic systems, ore systems, and biological systems. He is in charge of the Johnson Mass Spectrometry Laboratory at New Mexico State University and is a lifetime member of the NMGS.

Director – John Shomaker

John Shomaker is President and a Principal Hydrogeologist of John Shomaker & Associates, Inc., in Albuquerque. He has over 55 years of professional experience in geological and hydrogeological studies in New Mexico and surrounding states. John holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in geology from the University of New Mexico, an M.A. from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in hydrogeology from the University of Birmingham, England. He worked as a hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, and as a geologist for the (then) New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources before starting the consulting firm in 1973. Shomaker & Associates specializes in ground-water data collection and sampling, ground-water flow modeling, drilling technology and field supervision of drilling projects, water-rights issues, and environmental studies.

Director – Bob Newcomer

Bob Newcomer is currently a Principal Consultant and owner of Toltec Mesa Resources LLC.  He has over 40 years of professional experience as an environmental and water resources consultant. He holds a B.S. in Geology from Northern Arizona University, an M.S. in Geology from New Mexico State University and completed additional graduate work in hydrogeology at the University of Arizona and geochemistry at Pennsylvania State University. He is a registered geologist in Arizona, California and Texas and a Certified Professional Geologist by the American Institute of Professional Geologists.  He is also a lifetime member of the NMGS and a previous member of the NMGS Executive Committee.

Director – Kate Zeigler

Dr. Kate Zeigler is owner and senior geologist at Zeigler Geologic Consulting, LLC, a small woman-owned business located in Albuquerque. Born in Montana and raised in Texas, she came to New Mexico in 1999 to continue her studies of geology. She earned her Bachelors from Rice University and her M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico. Once finished with school, Kate went on to become a consulting geologist working on understanding groundwater resources for agricultural producers and rural communities, in addition to performing mitigation paleontology services and stratigraphic analyses for Permian Basin operators. She was named an NMGS Honorary Member in 2012 and previously served on the NMGS Executive Committee. In addition, she serves on the executive boards of the New Mexico Water Dialogue, El Llano Estacado RC&D Council, and the New Mexico Chapter of the American Institute of Professional Geologists.

Director – James B Cearley III

James Cearley has a BS in Geology from the University of Texas at El Paso (1978) and retired from Chevron in 2013 after 35 years of service. He held numerous technical and management positions at nine different locations. He retired as General Manager of Deepwater Exploration in the Gulf of Mexico where he managed an active and successful exploration drilling program. Prior assignments included Gulf of Mexico Shelf Exploration Manager in New Orleans, Deepwater Product & Services Manager for Chevron Exploration Technology Company in New Orleans, Research Geology Manager for Chevron Exploration Technology Company in La Habra, CA, and Development Geology, Earth Science Team leader for Midcontinent Business Unit in Houston. He also served as the Sponsorship Chairman for the GCAGS Annual Convention in 2005 and the Sponsorship Chairman for the 2011 AAPG Annual Convention and received the AAPG Certificate of Merit for fundraising results. Upon retirement, James joined the UTEP College of Science Advisory board and currently serves as the Chairman and leads the Alumni Outreach Team. 

Director –Johanna Blake (see above)

The NMGS Vice-president represents the Society on the Foundation’s board.