| J. Marlan Walker Founder and Chairman of the Board |
J Marlan Walker is the Founder and Chairman of Las Gaviotas Foundation. Marlan has a long and storied career as a high school language teacher in Henderson, NV, focusing primarily on Spanish and Latin, and has been traveling to Mexico since the early 1950s when he studied at the Americas University in Mexico City, Mexico.Throughout his life he has traveled extensively throughout Latin America, and it was during these adventures that he started his philanthropic activities, first in Mexico, and later in Peru and Guatemala. |
| Dean Walker Board Member |
Dean has spent many years traveling and living in countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Argentina, and Peru, first living in Mexico as a high school student. Dean currently lives in Henderson, NV, is a CPA, and works as a partner at a regional accounting firm. |
| Brian Walker Board Member |
Brian currently works at Sally Beauty Holdings as Chief Human Resources Officer. Brian has a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish and an MBA, both from Brigham Young University. He has lived and worked in six countries, including Argentina, Mexico, Indonesia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, and the United States. Brian was born in Henderson, Nevada and moved to Monterrey, Mexico at age 4 with his family for three years. These were formative years for Brian, not only in helping shape his life’s passions and career, but also because they cemented a love and passion for Latin cultures, Mexican in particular, and for culture and development in general. One of his earliest memories is when at about age 5 his father asked him to pick his favorite toy to take to an original Las Gaviotas project in El Barrancon, Mexico to give to some children there who had no toys. He picked his yellow Tonka truck and enjoyed playing with the local kids that day before willingly leaving it behind. He has carried this passion for giving and helping others his whole life, and feels the Las Gaviotas Foundation is a perfect opportunity to apply this passion. Brian and his wife Deanne have four children. They reside in Flower Mound, Texas. |
| Christian Walker Board Member |
Christian is a grandson of J. Marlan Walker, and works as a Finance Director for a large multinational energy company. Christian is a licensed CPA, earning a BS in Accounting from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Georgetown University. Christian has developed a love of Latin America since his childhood, when he would accompany his father on business trips to Mexico, and continues to enjoy visiting and experiencing Latin American culture. Christian and his wife have three children, and currently reside in Houston, TX. |
| Marlan D. Walker Board Member |
Marlan D. Walker is J. Marlan Walker’s oldest grandson and joined Las Gaviotas as a board member in 2013. He is a registered patent attorney, working for a pharmaceutical company specializing in women’s health in Boca Raton, Florida. Interested in Meso-American archeology, he has traveled numerous times to Latin America. His first foray in volunteer work in Latin America was as a Boy Scout. He collected clothing and toiletries for an orphanage in Ensenada, Mexico for his Eagle Scout project. He and his wife, along with their five children live in Parkland, Florida. |
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K.Cameron Johnson Board Member
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Cameron is a grandson of J. Marlan Walker and became a board member of Las Gaviotas in 2014. He is a licensed attorney in New Mexico and Arizona whose practice focuses on defending public and private entities in civil litigation. He earned his B.A. in Portuguese from Brigham Young University and his J.D. from Arizona State University. Through his travels to Mexico, Peru and Guatemala, he has developed a love and appreciation for the culture and people of Latin American. He and his wife currently have two children and reside in Albuquerque, New Mexico. |