Our Chapter
NMASLA is a statewide professional organization open to landscape architects and their associates, including students in the graduate landscape architecture program at the University of New Mexico.
Brian Griffith, President
Brian is a Landscape Architect working on a wide variety of projects for Dekker. As a native New Mexican, he has gained a broad familiarity and love of both build and natural environment of our state. Brian enjoys navigating the balance in Landscape Architecture between quantifiable elements such as grading, programming, and accessibility with qualitative aspects such as creating place, paying homage to historical contexts, and shaping beautiful places. Professional interests include Green Infrastructure, Low Impact Development, and accessible design. .
Abby Feldman, President Elect
Abby holds a Master in Landscape Architecture from Harvard, where she received the Jacob Weidenman Prize. With over ten years of Experience at leading firms and a five-year recovery project in New Orleans, she has returned to Santa Fe.
Currently a Senior Associate at Surroundings, Abby has been instrumental in advocacy efforts at the State Capitol, renewing licensure for ten years and securing sponsorships.
As President-Elect, she aims to promote landscape architecture in New Mexico, especially among youth, and plans to assist with the NM Landscape Architecture Awards Gala. She also led the Acequia Madre Art Auction re-launch, raising $34,000 for local schools.
Arturo Merino, Outgoing President
Arturo is a Project Manager at Westwind Landscape Construction, Inc. He also teaches "Professional Skills for Landscape Architecture" in the MLA program at the University of New Mexico. Arturo's interests revolve around water conservation and implementing new technologies and workflows to increase accuracy and efficiency.
Kristina Werenko, Trustee
Kristina is an Principal Landscape Architect at MRWM Landscape Architects where she has worked for more than fifteen years. Her passion for landscape architecture’s wonderful fusion of creativity and science, people and places, and past and present has been fueled by a variety of exciting projects for public and private clients including master plans, campus designs, parks, streetscapes, and historic landscape renovations. Kristina has worked on projects throughout the region and beyond, including in the Coachella Valley in California, the Philippines, Colorado, and throughout New Mexico. She delights in seeking out the unique story within each project and finding thoughtful ways to express it in the landscape. Kristina is a graduate of UNM’s MLA program and served as an Associate-At-Large and Secretary for NMASLA from 2010-2016.
Ted Webber
Ted first joined ASLA as a student member in 2014 when he began the University of New Mexico’s Master of Landscape Architecture.
Ted was an active member of the student chapter and served as Student Chair. He was previously a member of the NMASLA Executive Committee as an at-Large Member, serving on the Education, Emerging Professionals, and Public Relations Committees. He was also the Chapter’s Treasurer from 2022-2024. He is a current member of ASLA’s LA CES Administrative Committee.
Thea Swift, Secretary
Thea is a Landscape Designer at Pland Collaborative in Albuquerque, where she is committed to engaging collaboratively with landscapes and communities.
Thea seeks to support the well-being of humans, more-than-humans, and their interdependent ecologies through her professional work, volunteering with the Arid LID Coalition, and exploring New Mexico’s rich urban and wilderness spaces.
Thea received her Bachelor of Arts from Earlham College and her Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of New Mexico. She is a LAF 2024 Olmsted Scholar.
Kenn Bates, Member at Large
Kenn is a practicing Landscape Architect with over 26 years of design and project management experience. Currently a Project Director with Evergreen Design Group, Inc., he oversees projects throughout the company’s Western Region including New Mexico and Colorado.
Kenn is a former Member-at-Large and Past President of the ASLA Florida Chapter where he led a successful Chapter campaign against deregulation in 2011 and served as Chair of ASLA’s Chapter Presidents; Council during 2013-2014.
With a background in themed entertainment and hospitality design, Kenn’s work includes projects in Florida, New York, Texas, and California, as well as around the world in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Peoples Republic China, and Japan.
Whitney Couchoud, Member at Large
Whitney graduated from the Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) program at the University of Texas at Austin. She is passionate about sustainability and dedicated to preserving and reimagining historical and cultural landscapes.
As an active golf player, Whitney became increasingly aware of the sport's impact through design. This led her to focus her academic work on sustainable golf course architecture. She received the Wadsworth Scholarship from the American Golf Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA) and a travel grant from the University of Texas to study sustainable golf courses in Scotland, where she explored innovative approaches to environmentally responsible design in the context of golf’s historic roots.
Emma Heuertz, Member at Large
Emma is originally from Albuquerque and graduated magna cum laude from the University of New Mexico in 2020 with her Bachelor in Environmental Planning and Design. She also graduated with honors for her Master of Landscape Architecture for the University of New Mexico in 2023.
Emma has worked in construction and design fields for several years now, including LEED certification, floral agriculture and design, and has been working in Landscape and Site Design since 2021. She finds passion in creating sustainable, long lasting natural spaces and built spaces that provide beauty to daily life.
Claudia Horn, Member at Large
Claudia Meyer Horn, PLA, LEED AP is a founding principal of Design Office, a small regionally-focused landscape architecture and planning firm based in Santa Fe, NM. Since settling in New Mexico in 2000, she has committed to delivering conscientious landscape and planning projects in the public realm that benefit communities and rehabilitate degraded environments. She believes landscape architects play a pivotal role in creating engaging spaces that bring people outside and help develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for the natural environment. She was educated at the University of Texas at Austin (B.Arch. and B.A.-Plan II) and the University of Pennsylvania (M.L.A.).
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