Our Team
Bijiibah Begaye
Executive Director. As Cooperative Catalyst’s Executive Director, Bijiibah helps to build generative partnerships, develop new co-op curriculum and training, and is leading the organization’s work to organize and expand CCNM’s cooperative development and ecosystem-building efforts in communities across the Southwest.
A true believer in supporting community at every stage of development, prior to joining the leadership team at CCNM, Bijiibah served as the Executive Director of Tse Ko Community Development Corporation and as a Program Director for the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension. She has extensive experience in youth and community development, working on the Cayuga and Onondaga Nation, the Tonaneesdizi Chapter of Navajo, and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. In Mongolia, she also served as a researcher for the Asia Foundation.
In addition to her work experience, Bijiibah’s biggest influences come from being raised in Coalmine Mesa on the Navajo Nation, where her family has managed Staggered Hearts Ranch for over 40 years. You can reach Bijiibah by emailing bijiibah(at)cooperativecatalyst.coop.
Kandis Quam
Marketing and Research Specialist. Kandis is an artist from the Pueblo of Zuni and a founding member-owner of the Ancestral Rich Treasures of Zuni Cooperative (ARTZ). Kandis attended New Mexico State University, where she graduated with a Bachelor's in Cultural Anthropology and a minor in American Indian Studies. Kandis assists the team with cooperative development clients and manages CCNM’s social media, marketing, and research efforts. In collaboration with several organizations from across North America, Kandis is deeply engaged on CCNM’s behalf with a two-year-long research project aimed at implementing best practices for cooperative development in Indigenous communities.
Eva Seidelman
Senior Legal & Cooperative Development Consultant. Eva has provided legal and other advice and training to cooperatives throughout New Mexico as part of her positions with CCNM and Chestnut Law Offices, P.A. since the summer of 2018. She moved to Albuquerque from Washington, D.C., where she worked as a community economic development attorney, advising low-income housing, marketing, and worker-owned cooperatives for more than four years. She sat on the advisory council of Cooperation DC, a worker cooperative resource and development organization and has organized and presented at several cooperative trainings. She has worked and volunteered for various worker rights and community-based organizations for more than a decade. You can reach Eva by emailing eva@coopcatalystnm.org.
Advisory Board
Peter Chestnut
Senior Advisor. Peter is the owner-attorney of Chestnut Law, PA. He serves as general counsel for several Pueblos and has advised cooperatives for more than 40 years. He helped to found La Montanita Cooperative and has continued to advise La Montanita in various capacities since its founding. Mr. Chestnut has provided legal counsel to the Agri-Cultura Network and has served as the New Mexico counsel to the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union’s cooperative development project.
Breanna Gallegos-Robinson
Advisor. Breanna Gallegos-Robinson (she/her/hers) is a program specialist at the University of New Mexico Health Science Center’s Project ECHO. With her past work in the education and nonprofit sector, and her PhD studies in Organization, Information, and Learning Sciences, Breanna specializes in behavioral and relationship theories in leadership, with a particular focus on diversity and inclusion in organizational culture. She strives to work alongside organizations that have a history of supporting local projects and local people through volunteerism, engagement, and leadership. Breanna previously served as a business manager for CCNM’s fiscal sponsor, the Rio Grande Community Development Corporation, where she focused on working with CCNM to provide accounting support and grants and contract administration. She is excited to work alongside the dedicated team at CCNM to help them further explore strategies to increase organizational capacity, development, and sustainability.
Robin Seydel
Senior Advisor. Robin helped to found La Montanita Cooperative and served as its Membership/Community Development Director from 1985 to 2017. Robin helped to conceive and establish the La Montanita Fund, that utilizes investments from co-op members to make affordable loans to businesses with limited access to capital around the state. Her cooperative community development duties have also included leading the development of a lending fund in coordination with New Mexico’s Nusenda Credit Union and other funders.