Dr. Gwen Perea Warniment is the President and CEO of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation. As the largest non-profit focused entirely on education in New Mexico, the LANL Foundation centers education to enrich the lives and economic opportunities of residents of 18 Native American tribal nations and seven Northern New Mexico counties along the North Central Rio Grande River corridor.  Prior to this, Gwen served as the Executive Director of the influential Legislative Education Study Committee, the staff organization responsible for advising public education policy statewide. Previously, she served as Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment at the New Mexico Public Education Department where she directed a budget of more than $100 million, oversaw the statewide literacy initiative, student assessment system, college and career readiness initiatives, and development of strategies to build the educator workforce.

A lifelong New Mexican, Perea Warniment holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction and Bilingual STEM Education from New Mexico State University, a Master’s degree in Education and Reading from New Mexico Highlands University, and Bachelor’s degrees in English and Spanish from the University of New Mexico.