NMWJP Board of Directors and Staff

Angie Vachio, Ph.D., President
Angie is the Executive Director of PB & J Family Services, Inc., a non-profit social services agency that serves families with significant challenges, including those with incarcerated parents. A child advocate, Angie currently serves on the NM Sentencing Commission, as a commissioner on the NM Commission on the Status of Women, and is an early childhood advisor to the NM Children’s Cabinet. Angie is the President of the UNM Alumni Association. She is a frequent lecturer on women’s issues, the effects of violence on children, and the impact of parental incarceration on children. She recently authored a chapter on this topic in the Atlas of American Children, published by the American Pediatric Society.

Susan R. Reif, L.I.S.W., Vice-President
Susan has worked for the Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Pastoral Outreach Office, Albuquerque since 2000. She develops implements and directs a mentor reintegration program to assist men and women coming out of prison. This includes: recruiting, training and supervising mentors; interviewing and screening mentee candidates; planning, organizing and facilitating group activities between mentors, mentees and family members; crisis intervention; referrals; networking with the New Mexico Corrections Department and community agencies. She has spent twenty years working with young people and families, first as an elementary teacher and then as a director of youth programs and pastoral associate. In 1997,she received a masters degree in social work and then worked as a medical social worker for three years.

Gloria Griffin Mallory, Ph.D., Secretary/Treasurer
Gloria has been the President of the Menaul School in Albuquerque since 2003. Prior to that position she worked as a consultant for education issues, was an interim director of Good Shepherd Episcopal-Dallas and Director of Cathedral Operation for the Cathedral Church of St. John in Albuquerque. She was Headmistress of Manzano Day School for ten years and Director of the Urban Observatory at the University of New Mexico from 1974-1982. Gloria speaks frequently on Independent school operations and women’s issues. She is active in the community and has served as Chairman for the United Way of New Mexico, Presidents of the: Albuquerque Community Foundation, YWCA board, and UNM Alumni Association.

Deborah Lopez, BSW
Deborah is a social worker for the New Mexico Public Defender Department in Las Cruces. She has worked as a social worker for 26 years within the Criminal Justice System. Deborah developed Life Skills Programs for incarcerated detainees at the Las Cruces Detention Center and currently works to place felony offenders with substance abuse problems in Drug and Alcohol Treatment programs.

Kathleen O’Malley, Ph.D.
Kathleen is a psychotherapist in private practice in Albuquerque, specializing in sexual abuse and trauma. She is an active member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, an organization committed to documenting human rights violations in areas of conflict. Working with trauma survivors, she has traveled to Iraq and Occupied Palestine. For 15 years, Kathleen was the Director of Training and Assistant Director of Counseling and Psychological Services at Montana State University.

David Schmidt, M.A.
David is the State Director of the New Mexico Council on Crime and Delinquency. This private non-profit citizen action advocacy agency is dedicated to creating positive change in the criminal and juvenile justice system by employing specialized advocacy techniques. He is Chair of the following committees: Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee; Coalition for Juvenile Justice, Western Regional Chair and National Steering Committee; Carrie Tingley Crippled Children’s Hospital, Advisory Board of Directors. David is an active Board member for numerous organizations. David has consulted, lectured, and provided training in 49 states for 30 years.

Elizabeth Simpson, Esq.
Elizabeth has been the Executive Director of Human Rights Advocacy, Inc./The Crossroads since 1999. Human Rights Advocacy, Inc. is a non-profit corporation providing transitional services for homeless women with co-occurring disorders. She is responsible for program development, fund raising, and oversight of the Crossroads program. Elizabeth worked for fifteen years as an attorney in the area of civil rights and governmental liability, is author of numerous articles and columns regarding civil rights and government liability issues, and has been a frequent speaker on Civil Rights, Federal Practice and Procedure, and Prisoner Issues. Elizabeth continues to serve on the Civil Pro Bono Selection Committee, Committee of the United States District Court (Purpose is to screen cases filed pro se, primarily prison and employment cases and locate attorneys to represent plaintiffs in meritorious cases).

Phyllis H. Subin, Esq.
Phyllis is the owner/director of Phyllis H. Subin, Esq., LLC, a nationally recognized justice systems leadership, development, and consulting firm that works with a broad variety of juvenile and criminal justice systems’ stakeholders and that specializes in improving indigent defense representation delivery systems. A former law professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law and adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, Phyllis has practiced law for over thirty years in New Mexico and Pennsylvania. For six years she served as New Mexico’s Chief Public Defender directing this state’s largest statewide law firm, serving in the Governor’s criminal justice cabinet, and serving on numerous policy councils and task forces. Phyllis is a member of the New Mexico Coalition for Justice, and was appointed by New Mexico’s current Governor to the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee where she chairs the Gender Subcommittee. Phyllis was a founding board member of the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women, and she has worked with a broad range of community groups on battered women’s self-defense issues, as well as juvenile and criminal justice systemic concerns. Her current work takes her across the country providing training programs, leadership and consulting services for a broad variety of clients including the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Defender Leadership Institute, and many others.