Sandra Engel: is a graduate Executive Coach who comes to the field with a background in the areas of law and leadership. She has recently retired from the bench as a criminal judge in Albuquerque, New Mexico where she served her community for over 16 years. She is also a licensed and active attorney, previously serving as an Assistant District Attorney for over ten years and has practiced law in the civil and criminal areas for over 25 years. During that time, she has served as supervisor over divisions/teams, and most recently served as Chief Judge of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, managing a courthouse, and leading a C-Suite with over 350 employees. She has performed as a trainer, evaluator, and resource director for several court and community programs.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing, and a Juris Doctor degree, both from the University of Alabama. She most recently completed her training with Coaching Out of the Box, an executive coaching program that is accredited and certified by the International Coaching Federation (ICF). She also received her certification from ICF as an Associate Certified Coach.
She is a Certified Diversity coach, a member of ICF International and her local chapter, ICFNM, and serves on their board. She is involved in both the local coaching community and legal community in a variety of roles. She specializes in leadership/executive coaching, working with many business leaders and executives.
Barbara J. Vigil: served on the New Mexico state judiciary for twenty-one years. For twelve years, she served as a District Court Judge in n the First Judicial District and for over nine years as a Justice on the New Mexico Supreme Court. Barbara stepped down from the Supreme Court on June 30, 2021. In August 2021 Barbara was appointed to serve as Cabinet Secretary of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department. On May 1, she left that role to pursue other interests.
As a District Court Judge, Barbara presided over the children and family court docket for over 10 years resolving over 16,000 cases. In 2010 she was chosen by her peers to serve for two years as Chief Judge of the First Judicial District Court. During her last two years on the trial court bench, she presided over the civil docket. In 2012, Barbara was elected as a Justice on the New Mexico Supreme Court, where she served as an Associate Justice, Chief Justice from 2014-2016 and as Senior Justice. Throughout her judicial career Barbara strived to improve court processes and procedures for children and families. She worked with community stakeholders to garner state and federal funding for programs designed to help children throughout the state. Barbara has served on numerous boards, commissions, and committees, including the Tribal State Judicial Consortium, the Children’s Court Improvement Commission, and the New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners. Barbara was born in Albuquerque and grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from New Mexico State University and a juris doctorate from the University of New Mexico School of Law. Barbara enjoys travelling abroad and using her free time to support youth and court improvements. Barbara travels extensively abroad. She maintains a lifelong commitment to public service and does all she can to improve the lives of children and families.
Judge Shammara H. Henderson: was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2020 by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. Born and raised in Albuquerque, NM, she graduated from Valley High School. She received a bachelor’s degree from American University in Washington, D.C., where she received a full ride with the highly competitive Frederick Douglass Scholarship. She received her J.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Law where she received the W.E. Bondurant Scholarship and University of New Mexico Graduate Fellowship.
After graduating from law school, she clerked for Justice Charles W. Daniels at the New Mexico Supreme Court. She started her career as a litigator with the Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office. She later became the Associate General Counsel for the Office of Governor. In 2011, Judge Henderson joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico. She successfully tried criminal and civil cases in the United States District Court and appealed criminal cases in the Tenth Circuit. She developed and presented training and outreach programs across the state for law enforcement as well as community organizations and churches. In 2017, Judge Henderson co-founded her own law firm Henderson & Grohman, PC, which joined Freedman, Boyd, Hollander, Goldberg, Urias, & Ward, PA in October of 2018 where she represented clients in criminal, civil, and administrative matters in both state and federal courts at the trial and appellate level.
Judge Henderson enjoys spending time with friends and family, traveling, barre, yoga, and rollershaking as well as community service.
Judge Brett R. Loveless: Presiding Criminal Judge for the Second Judicial District Court (Bernalillo County) handling an exclusive docket of felony level criminal cases. Judge Loveless took the bench in 2012.
Prior to that was a prosecutor in the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office for approximately 12 years
Practiced civil law for approximately five years, doing both plaintiff's work and civil defense.
1995 graduate of UNM School of Law.
