The LANL Foundation selected Dr. Gwen Perea Warniment in August 2024 to serve as the organization’s next President and Chief Executive Officer following an extensive national search to identify the Foundation’s next leader.
Dr. Perea Warniment returns to the LANL Foundation after serving as Director of the influential Legislative Education Study Committee, the staff organization responsible for advising public education policy statewide. Previously, she served as Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment at the New Mexico Public Education Department where she directed a budget of more than $100 million, oversaw the statewide literacy initiative, student assessment system, college and career readiness initiatives, and development of strategies to build the educator workforce.
From 2013 to 2019, Perea Warniment served as a program director for the LANL Foundation, establishing and directing programs that have expanded and endured, including the ISEC program, scholarships for educators to gain National Board Certifications, and establishing the Foundation’s Teacher Leader Cadre, which was expanded to a fellowship in 2024.
An accomplished lifelong professional, born-and-raised New Mexican, and advocate of education at all levels, she brings over two decades of experience in education, ranging from teaching at the K-12 and university level to statewide policy and administration.
Perea Warniment holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction and Bilingual STEM Education from New Mexico State University, a Master’s Degree in Education and Reading from New Mexico Highlands University, and Bachelor’s Degrees in English and Spanish from the University of New Mexico.