NAIMI Leadership
NAIMI is under the leadership of Dr. Thomas Bowles (Executive Director), Lalita Rao (CTO), Amy Miller (Public Affairs Director), and Gopal Rao (Consultant). In addition, NAIMI has strong working relationships with nationally recognized leaders in economic and workforce development, clean energy, environment, and education.
Dr. Thomas Bowles,
NAIMI Executive Director
Thomas Bowles has had a distinguished scientific and senior management career at Los Alamos National Laboratory as well as having created programs that have stimulated economic growth.
Bowles’ research leading international collaborations revised our understanding of the Mass of the Universe.
Bowles served as LANL Chief Scientist and Chief Science Officer where he had oversight of a broad range of S&T. His responsibilities included directing $100M in annual discretionary research funds, technology transfer, and serving as LANL's principal science contact with external institutions.
Bowles served as Science Advisor to NM Governor Bill Richardson and worked closely with the national laboratories, universities, and industry to couple S&T advances into growing high-tech jobs. Bowles has been deeply involved in STEM education and workforce development efforts and serves on various national and international Boards.
Bowles has received numerous awards for his scientific and economic and workforce development efforts. Bowles earned his Ph.D. in physics at Princeton University.
Lalita Rao
Chief Technical Officer
Lalita is a recognized expert in technical workforce development, developing and implementing distance learning, and establishing educational standards and programs for all Intel wafer Fab operations. She is skilled in project management, Six Sigma, and management of large, geographically dispersed teams.
She held various technical and managerial positions during her 21-year tenure at Intel, including a recent position as Director of the College of Engineering to support the worldwide chip manufacturing operations. Lalita was the architect in creating and developing this unique College of Engineering program that enabled the development of skilled workforce capabilities across the factories. Lalita pioneered academia/Intel partnerships to enhance the capability of engineers and technicians to meet the stringent technology requirements for high-volume manufacturing. Lalita was also Senior Manager of Intel’s Fab/Sort Manufacturing (FSM) Centers of Excellence for Learning, Performance & Infrastructure Solutions and Technology Transfer Capability for process technology capability readiness and knowledge management.
After leaving Intel, Lalita brought her industry expertise to WESST organization as an Intel Encore Fellow. She established business processes and systems to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and grow client customer base. Lalita is currently (2023) serving as Director, Board Member at Large of the FBI Albuquerque Citizens Academy Alumni Association Board (FBIACAAA).
Lalita has a PhD in Organizational Learning and Instructional Technologies and MA in Instructional Technology from the University of New Mexico. She has several publications as well.
Amy Miller
NAIMI Public Affairs Director
Amy Miller has more than 20 years of experience in the business and nonprofit world in management level positions to provide organizations with services in strategic planning and project management, outreach strategies and government relations, communications planning and issues management.
Miller has significant experience working in the energy and environmental arenas. She facilitated the New Mexico Environment Department’s strategic planning session, developed a business energy efficiency challenge for the City of Albuquerque and is working to build the capacity of the New Mexico Environmental Public Health Network for the NM Association of Grantmakers.
Miller previously served as the External Affairs Director for The Nature Conservancy’s New Mexico Chapter. She previously worked at PNM for 14 years, most recently as the Director of Community and Local Government Engagement.
Miller is a graduate of Leadership New Mexico, Leadership Albuquerque and the University of Idaho Utility Executive Course. She currently chairs the Albuquerque Bernalillo Water Utility Authority Technical Customer Advisory Committee and the City of Albuquerque Energy Council.
Danielle Adams
Chief Administrator
Born and raised in Las Cruces, Adams is currently based in Albuquerque, NM. She brings a diverse skill set as a copywriter, content creator, and grant writer with several years of event and project management experience to her role as chief administrator. As a writer, Adams understands the power and complexity of storytelling, bringing that perspective to NAIMI. She has previously been involved with both TEDxABQ and the NM Breastfeeding Taskforce, elevating their missions through engaging content and marketing campaigns.
Adams has organized successful events with hundreds of attendees, speakers, and sponsors, and brings that same detail-oriented, outcome-driven focus to supporting NAIMI's clean energy economy objectives in NM. In 2018, she founded Arrow & Ink Communications where she offers her expertise to entrepreneurs, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations. In both professional and personal endeavors, Dani is deeply invested in contributing to and uplifting the people, places, and projects that make New Mexico wonderful.
Gopal Rao
Advanced Manufacturing and Business Development Consultant
Gopal Rao is currently a Technology and Manufacturing Engineering Consultant, advising industry and academia on advanced manufacturing. He has also been working very closely with the MUSEIC/FUMEC and US-Mexico teams to develop the Binational Intelligent Manufacturing Initiative.
Rao was previously SEMATECH’s Senior Director of Business Development for U.S. Operations and simultaneously held the position of Managing Director at Sematech, Taiwan to oversee Asia Paci c region. At Sematech, Rao was responsible for strategic membership growth and integrated marketing & technology initiatives.
Prior to joining SEMATECH, Rao served as Director of High-Volume Manufacturing Research at Intel, where he led a strategic portfolio of advanced manufacturing projects in partnership with universities. A 24-year veteran of Intel, Gopal progressed through a variety of assignments in senior engineering and management roles and is the recipient of the Intel Achievement Award for reducing cycle times for fab qualifications and accelerating product time to market.
Rao holds Masters degrees in Physics and Solid State Materials. He has authored two technical books, along with many other publications to his credit.
Jeanne Bowles
Publications Support
Jeanne Bowles has over 30 years of experience at Los Alamos National Laboratory in publications. Her work included word processing, layouts, graphics, and photos. Her efforts were recognized by a Distinguished Performance award and numerous commendations. She is an avid photographer and has sold her work and had it published.
NAIMI Board of Directors
NAIMI has a Board of Directors that includes Jami Grindatto, Paul Hommert, Marvin Maslow, Fred Mondragon, and Amy Miller.
Jami Grindatto
NAIMI Board of Directors
Jami Grindatto is the CEO and President of Optihealth, Inc., a premier supported living and community services provider.
Grindatto served from 2014 to 2017 as the President & CEO for the Sandoval Economic
Alliance and was responsible to recruit economic-base companies and grow the local economy by assisting companies in creating new jobs.
Previously, Grindatto was at Intel for 20 years, where he was Intel’s Talent Enabling Director. His team was responsible to market and attract new talent for Intel’s needs and deliver new skills and capabilities to fuel innovative growth.
Jami also led the Software Architecture Design that automates Intel’s newest factories worldwide, was Director of the Americas for Intel Solution Services for Sales and Marketing, and directed Corporate Affairs in the Southwestern U.S..
Grindatto is a member of regional and national executive boards, including co-founder and chairman emeritus for Innovate+Educate, a national industry collaborative of F500 companies to drive innovation in the U.S. workforce and education. Jami earned a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of New Mexico.
Paul Hommert
NAIMI Board of Directors
Paul Hommert is the former Director of Sandia National Laboratories, which has an operating revenue of about $3.0 billion, and approximately 11,000 employees. Sandia is the nation’s largest National Laboratory.
Dr. Hommert began his career with Sandia in energy research, and from the mid to late 1990s, he was director of Engineering Sciences. Dr. Hommert was a leader in helping the Department of Energy put in place the Stockpile Stewardship Program to support the nation’s nuclear deterrent without nuclear testing. From 2003 to 2006,
Dr. Hommert led the Applied Physics Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory with responsibility for the nuclear weapons program. In 2010, Dr. Hommert became the 13th Director of Sandia National Laboratories and President of Sandia Corporation with oversight of nuclear weapons, nonproliferation, homeland security, advanced conventional military developments, support for the Intelligence community, and energy research.
Dr. Hommert earned a BS degree cum laude in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and MS and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Purdue University. In 2013, Dr. Hommert was named Laboratory Director of the Year by the Federal Laboratory Consortium for his support of Sandia’s technology transfer activities. In August of 2015 Dr. Hommert was named a Distinguished Fellow of the Council on Competitiveness. Dr. Hommert retired as Sandia Director in July 20
Marvin Maslow
NIAMI Board of Directors
Marvin Maslow built, funded, managed and managed over 20 companies and 4 IPOs and raised approximately $200 M for early-stage start-ups.
Following a successful career in building businesses in Commercial Arts, including the 200-employee Coleman, LiPuma & Maslow Inc. package and product design company, Maslow
segued into growing and managing young Science and Technology businesses. Maslow’s interest in the new invention of HDTV led him and his key scientists to commercialize Projectavision Inc. The company quickly rose to the top performance of all securities in the U.S. within 18 months of its IPO on Nasdaq in 1990 with a market value approaching $1 billion.
Maslow then set his sights on building and growing companies based on technologies created at Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories. The first company pioneered the micro fuel cell industry.
Maslow created a publicly traded technology incubator that was named Manhattan Scientifics Inc. (for the Manhattan Project) and
achieved an early-stage $1.0 billion valuation.
Manhattan Scientifics (MSI) acquired the exclusive license and funded Metallicum Inc., an early Russian nano metals enterprise that licensed this nanotechnology to a very
large medical metals private company.
Maslow invested in Imagion Biosystems, iBX.AX, an R&D effort that could significantly improve advance early stage cancer detection.
Maslow turned the R&D effort into a commercialized company, which has launched its first IPO. The company goal is to seek regulatory approval and bring product to market.
Fred Mondragon
NAIMI Board of Directors
Fred Mondragon has over forty years of experience in the public and private sectors, including over 15 years in hospital and public administration and 25 years with the private sector. Mondragon served as CEO of the University of New Mexico Hospital, as Regional Administrator of the Presbyterian hospital system, and as Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Albuquerque. Mondragon also worked for two national system integration companies, TRW and Northrop Grumman, as Director of Economic Development for the City of Albuquerque, as Cabinet Secretary for Economic Development under Governor Bill Richardson, and as interim Executive Director of Spaceport America.
Mondragon served in the New Mexico Legislature for three terms and was a member of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee. He was also the Science Advisor to the Governor of New Mexico and served as Founding Chairman of the Governor’s Science and Technology Commission, which established the Centers of Technical Excellence at New Mexico's three research universities. Currently Mondragon serves as Honorary Consul for Spain, teaches Entrepreneurship at the UNM Anderson School and serves on several non-profit boards.
Mondragon holds a BS degree in Biology and English Literature from the University of New Mexico and a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) from The George Washington University.
Mondragon also serves as the NAIMI Economic Development Director.
Amy Miller
NAIMI Board of Directors
Amy Miller has more than 20 years of experience in the business and nonprofit world in management level positions to provide organizations with services in strategic planning and project management, outreach strategies and government relations, communications planning and issues management.
Amy has significant experience working in the energy and environmental arenas. She facilitated the New Mexico Environment Department’s strategic planning session, developed a business energy efficiency challenge for the City of Albuquerque and is working to build the capacity of the New Mexico Environmental Public Health Network for the NM Association of Grantmakers.
Amy previously served as the External Affairs Director for The Nature Conservancy’s New Mexico Chapter. She previously worked at PNM for 14 years, most recently as the Director of Community and Local Government Engagement.
Amy is a graduate of Leadership New Mexico, Leadership Albuquerque and the University of Idaho Utility Executive Course. She currently chairs the Albuquerque Bernalillo Water Utility Authority Technical Customer Advisory Committee and the City of Albuquerque Energy Council.
Miller also serves as the NAIMI Public Affairs Director.