Board of Directors

Garrett Thornburg

Chairman of the Board

Garrett Thornburg is a recognized leader in innovative, actively managed, disciplined investment strategies and is chairman of Thornburg Investment Management, Inc., which he founded in 1982. Headquartered in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Thornburg Investment Management is an employee-owned investment firm that manages eight equity mutual funds, one alternate mutual fund, and eleven fixed-income funds for individual and institutional clients.

Before forming Thornburg Investment Management, Mr. Thornburg was a limited partner of Bear, Stearns & Co. and a founding member of that firm’s public finance department. He was also chief financial officer of New York State’s Urban Development Corporation, and served as financial advisor to the State of New Mexico’s Board of Finance.

He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Investment Company Institute and serves on the Board of Directors of the New Mexico School for the Arts – Art Institute. He is also chairman of the Thornburg Foundation and personally leads the company’s philanthropic efforts. Active in New Mexico philanthropy, in 2010 he received the Philanthropist of the Year award from the Journal Santa Fe, and in 2013 he was awarded the New Mexico Distinguished Public Service Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a former board member of the National Dance Institute of New Mexico, the Santa Fe Institute, and the Santa Fe Community Foundation. Mr. Thornburg received his BA from Williams College and his MBA from Harvard University.

Blair C. Naylor

Vice President/Treasurer

Blair Naylor is the founder and Managing Member of Palace Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor and family office based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Prior to forming Palace Capital in 2002, Blair was a financial advisor with both Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney.

She began her career in investments at Bear Stearns & Co. in 1987. Blair has been an active community volunteer since moving to Santa Fe in 1988, serving on the boards and/or the investment committees of several local non-profit organizations. Since 1987 she has also served as a trustee of her family’s charitable foundation. Blair has been an active member of the Institute for Private Investors (a New York-based network of global family offices), New Mexico Association of Grantmakers, and Leadership New Mexico. Blair currently serves as a Director of Century Bank, a community bank based in Santa Fe.

A native of Louisiana, Blair earned her Bachelor of Arts from Tulane University in 1987. She lives in Santa Fe with her husband, Trey, and their two children.

Alon Kasha

Director

Alon Kasha brings his diverse background to the Thornburg Foundation. Alon’s personal relationship with Garrett Thornburg began over thirty years ago where they met in New Mexico while working jointly on a municipal bond deal. 

Alon is a co-Founding Partner of A+B Kasha, a real estate, development, and design company based in Paris, France since 2004. Previous to this, Alon worked in various capacities in investment and private banking at several firms including Lazard Frères and Bessemer Trust. Alon is also a founding member of the Association François-Xavier Bagnoud, a foundation dedicated in great part to breaking the cycle of extreme poverty worldwide. The Foundation was created in 1989. Alon received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics and French from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 

Lloyd Thornburg

Director

Lloyd Thornburg is the founder of Team Phaedo, a yacht racing team that competes internationally with both a 66 ft. Gunboat catamaran and a MOD 70 trimaran. In 2015 the team set four sailing world records, three in one week. The team has also set numerous race records, often breaking existing records by several hours. In August 2001 he earned his Bachelors of Art with honors from the Art Center College of Design in Pasedena, California. He received his Masters degree in Liberal Arts from St. Johns College in Annapolis, Maryland in 2005.

Fred Nathan

Secretary

Fred Nathan is the Founder and Executive Director of Think New Mexico, the state’s independent, statewide, results oriented think tank. 

Think New Mexico is best known for its successful campaigns to make full-day kindergarten accessible to every child and to repeal the state’s antiquated and regressive tax on food. Think New Mexico has also led successful initiatives to create a Strategic River Reserve to protect and restore New Mexico’s rivers, and to redirect millions of dollars a year out of the state lottery’s excessive operating costs and into full tuition scholarships. 

Prior to founding Think New Mexico, Fred served as Special Counsel to New Mexico Attorney General Tom Udall from 1991-1998. In that capacity, he was in charge of New Mexico’s successful $1.25 billion lawsuit against the tobacco industry. As Special Counsel, Fred also worked on several successful legislative initiatives. 

Fred is a former trustee of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts and is a Phi Beta Kappa and Cum Laude graduate of Williams as well as a Coro Foundation Fellow. Fred lives in Santa Fe with his wife, Arlyn, and their three children.

Brian Boyd

Director

Brian Boyd is an experienced and active private equity investor, board member, business founder and retired CEO, family asset manager, family trust management, owner and manager of diverse ranching operations, and private foundation Trustee. 

Headquartered in Aspen, CO, Brian is Co-Trustee of a private family directed foundation focused on environmental stewardship incorporating ranch and farmland conservation, preservation and sustainability of wild life corridors and advancement of social equity and educational access with priority to land-based communities.

Elliott Thornburg

Director

Elliott Thornburg is a soon-to-be graduate of Claremont McKenna College where he will receive his B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) alongside a minor in Leadership Studies.

 

Non-profits seeking to be considered for grants should directly contact the policy officer related to their field of work. Grant applications must first be reviewed and approved by staff, before consideration by the Executive Director, and later final approval by the Foundation board of directors. Please do not contact board members regarding any potential grant application.

Officers

Garrett Thornburg, Chair
Blair C. Naylor, Vice President/Treasurer
Fred Nathan, Secretary 
Allan Oliver, Executive Director