In 2006, after more than four years as executive director of the New Mexico Water Dialogue, John “retired,” but remains an active member of its Board and maintains its website. He currently serves as well on the board of the Middle Rio Grande Water Assembly, and on the radio board of KUNM.
John’s entire working career has involved public policy – how it gets made, its intended (and unintended) results, and how people can change it. He studied it in graduate school, worked in policy organizations for the federal government, the Navajo Nation, the State of New Mexico, Sandoval County, and – as a consultant – for several Indian tribes and other organizations. He also taught about the policy process for several years as a part-time instructor at the University of New Mexico in the Public Administration program and the Political Science Department.
In the mid 1990s, as a consultant to an environmental NGO in the Philippines and later for the New Mexico Acequia Association, he became increasingly aware of the major role of institutions – the rules, norms, and strategies that people use to structure their interactions – in shaping policy change, particularly in the realm of shared resources. In 2000-01, as a visiting scholar in the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University, he studied and wrote about these themes in relation to water planning and policy. He has since been trying to apply what he has learned over the years to how we can better govern our water resources in New Mexico.