John Mierzwa
President
John Mierzwa is CEO and Cofounder of Ingenuity Software Labs. He is the Founder of Deep Dive Coding Bootcamps, a software development bootcamp in Albuquerque, later acquired by Central New Mexico Community College. John is also leading the DART Initiative (Senate Bill 87), an effort to create local software jobs and reverse brain drain by promoting New Mexico as the best value in the U.S. for software development. John was Director at the CNM STEMulus Center in Downtown Albuquerque from inception. He helped forge partnerships with businesses, government agencies and foundations to build opportunities for low-income residents, people of color and others to learn to code and get high-paying jobs in New Mexico.
Previously, John was VP of Sales and Operations for a $218M revenue company in Las Vegas, NM, as well as CEO and Founder of a language services company. He serves on the boards of Workforce Connection of Central New Mexico, Technology Leadership High School, Future Focused Education, Computer Science Alliance, and the New Mexico Technology Council. John holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management. He grew up in Alameda and enjoys hiking in the Sandia Mountains, wildlife, golf, travel, dogs, food, reading, helping startups, and spending time with family and friends.
Previously, John was VP of Sales and Operations for a $218M revenue company in Las Vegas, NM, as well as CEO and Founder of a language services company. He serves on the boards of Workforce Connection of Central New Mexico, Technology Leadership High School, Future Focused Education, Computer Science Alliance, and the New Mexico Technology Council. John holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management. He grew up in Alameda and enjoys hiking in the Sandia Mountains, wildlife, golf, travel, dogs, food, reading, helping startups, and spending time with family and friends.
Dr. Paola Peacock
Vice President
Paola is the eldest daughter of Mexican immigrant parents. In 2015, Paola co-founded Technology Leadership High School together with Kara Cortazzo and Tony Monfiletto from the New Mexico Center for School Leadership. Most recently Paola serves as a K-12 Education Program Officer at the Walton Foundation (WFF) where she is responsible for leading strategic investments in Puerto Rico that catalyze community-driven education, meeting the needs of the most vulnerable youth and supporting effective policy.additionally, Paola makes sound and impactful investments that serve the policy needs of immigrant families, English Learners, and families living in poverty in California, Texas and nationally.
Prior to WFF, Paola lead consulting engagements with Achieve Mission serving dozens of national nonprofits such as the NACA Inspired Schools Network, Health Leadership High School, Harlem Children’s Zone, Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, Louisiana Public Health Institute, National Council on Crime and Delinquency among others. Paola has deep experience designing, coaching, and implementing effective practices to improve human capital in educational and health settings. Paola built the foundation of her career in global public health, holding a number of epidemiology and national health systems-related positions in more than ten countries across Africa and Latin America, including as Pediatric Program Coordinator with the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative in Lesotho. Paola earned her doctorate from Harvard University in Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.) where she currently serves as Elected Director of the Harvard Alumni Association Board of Directors. She received her MSc from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and her BA in Sociology from Dartmouth College. She is fluent in Spanish, French and Italian. Paola lives in Albuquerque with her two sons, Diego and Francisco.
Prior to WFF, Paola lead consulting engagements with Achieve Mission serving dozens of national nonprofits such as the NACA Inspired Schools Network, Health Leadership High School, Harlem Children’s Zone, Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, Louisiana Public Health Institute, National Council on Crime and Delinquency among others. Paola has deep experience designing, coaching, and implementing effective practices to improve human capital in educational and health settings. Paola built the foundation of her career in global public health, holding a number of epidemiology and national health systems-related positions in more than ten countries across Africa and Latin America, including as Pediatric Program Coordinator with the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative in Lesotho. Paola earned her doctorate from Harvard University in Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.) where she currently serves as Elected Director of the Harvard Alumni Association Board of Directors. She received her MSc from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and her BA in Sociology from Dartmouth College. She is fluent in Spanish, French and Italian. Paola lives in Albuquerque with her two sons, Diego and Francisco.
Oscar Quinonez
Member
Oscar is a Tech professional with 15yrs experience in Tech having worked for a variety of companies in the Bay Area (Apple, Facebook, HP, Salesforce) and New Mexico (Honeywell, Applied Research Associates). Oscar has a B.S. Mechanical engineering from the University of New Mexico and an MBA in International Management from Thunderbird. Oscar has worked as an operations supply chain expert and enjoys the business of engineering. Oscar has managed supplier relationships to drive execution of engineering projects he’s been a part of with some of these companies, working to balance engineering and product requirements with cost requirements. Oscar was born and raised in Albuquerque New Mexico as a child of Immigrants. He attended Public School in the International District and is excited to return to New Mexico and make an impact with his community.
John Duran, J.D.
Member
John is a partner at the law firm or Duran and McDonald, LLC. John’s primary areas of practice are in children’s law, criminal defense and personal injury. Prior to forming Duran and McDonald, John had his own practice focusing on civil litigation and representing children in the areas of abuse and neglect. He graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2000 and subsequently went on to graduate from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, CA. John is from Albuquerque and went to a public school in the Southeast Heights.
Joey Diaz
Member
Joey Diaz is a Criminal Justice Systems Data Analyst in the Criminal Justice Reform Office within Bernalillo County Government. He is currently leading the development of creating a data analysis program within the criminal justice system. He is working towards innovating data collection and analysis within the criminal justice system in collaboration with the Bernalillo County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.
Joey graduated from the University of New Mexico with a B.S. of Mathematics with a concentration in Mathematics Education and has a background in education having spent several years teaching high school and college level mathematics.
Joey grew up in Albuquerque and graduated from West Mesa High School. After high school, Joey enlisted in the United States Air Force and served 4 years at home and abroad. In his downtime, Joey enjoys reading, playing his drums, and putting great effort into keeping his dogs entertained.
Governing Board Meetings: Due to COVID Pandemic Board Meetings will be conducted through Zoom. The Zoom link can be found at the top of the Board Meeting Agenda.
Dates: 7/20, 8/11, 9/8, 10/13, 11/10, 12/8, 1/12, 2/9, 3/9, 4/20, 5/11, 6/8
Financial Transparency
The Sunshine Portal Transparency Act requires that Technology Leadership High School submits information to the New Mexico Public Education Department to be made available on the Sunshine Portal. Tech is in compliance with this provision and the information is available on the Sunshine Portal.