Meet the Staff

Development

Julie Cook, Director of Development
jcook@sandiaprep.org • 505.338.3022
Julie has worked as a fundraising and nonprofit professional for sixteen years. She has raised funds for higher education and independent education. She is past president of the New Mexico Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and a former board member of Special Olympics New Mexico.

Roxanna Caird, Associate Director of Development
rcaird@sandiaprep.org • 505.338.3029
Roxanna has worked in fundraising for nonprofit independent schools since 1994. Prior to joining the Development team at Sandia Prep in 1999, she worked at Manzano Day School. She is a member of the board of A Child’s Garden preschool.

Pam Dorner, Development Assistant
pdorner@sandiaprep.org • 505.338.3058
Pam has been a member of the Sandia Prep family for more than two years. Her primary responsibilities include managing the school’s advancement database, gift processing and reporting plus helping with fundraising and events. Pam is a Prep parent who spends the majority of her free time attending her son’s football, hockey, basketball and soccer games, but still manages to squeeze in time for marathon training.

Alumni

Melissa Besante Dineen ’97, Alumni Affairs Coordinator
mdineen@sandiaprep.org • 505.338.3021
Melissa joined the SPS Development staff in March 2007. The SPS graduate serves as the alumni representative for more than 2,600 SPS alumni living and working around the globe. Melissa has an extensive communication and marketing background – previously working at Northwest Federal Credit Union in Herndon, Virginia and the Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau after starting her career at Sandia Prep as Marketing Assistant from 2000-2003. Melissa believes that every time the School’s alumni invest their energy, expertise and resources on behalf of Sandia Prep, they not only add value to their SPS experience but also help the school achieve its goals.

Marketing

Celeste A. Walther, APR, Director of Marketing
cwalther@sandiaprep.org • 505.338.3010
Celeste has nearly twenty years experience in marketing and nonprofit communications with targeted experience in education. She has provided strategic counseling to nonprofits, museums, foundations and corporations and was awarded Accreditation in Public Relations in 1999. Before coming to Sandia Prep, she served as Senior Counselor for The Garrity Group Public Relations, Director of Marketing for Special Olympics New Mexico and Public Relations Manager for Florida’s most attended museum, Fort Lauderdale’s Museum of Discovery and Science. She is past president of the New Mexico Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (NMPRSA) and the Atlantic Florida Chapter of Women In Communications and former chair of the ARCA Foundation. Her work has been honored by the New Mexico Advertising Federation and NMPRSA, having earned a total of six Cumbre Awards.

Natalie Spencer, Marketing Assistant
nspencer@sandiaprep.org • 505.338.3044
Natalie began working in the SPS Marketing department as an intern in August 2007 while finishing her undergraduate degrees and later joined the department as a full-time staff member in May 2008. Spencer is a former Presidential Scholar, New Mexico Public Relations Society of America Scholarship recipient and Communication and Journalism Department Convocation speaker at the University of New Mexico.