School Board
ACES Tech School Board Members
Vic Berniklau - Treasurer
Retired as a Senior Executive from the US Dept. of Energy after managing several organizational units in local DOE office, including MIS, Contracts, Facilities Planning and Budgets as well as initiated offices of Strategic Planning and Technology Transfer; With wife and son started two tech-based businesses achieving a level of $2M in annual revenue and 30 employees before turning businesses over to our son who continues their growth. Has BS in Mechanical Engineering, MA in Public Administration and an MBA; Taught at UNM at graduate level in Public Administration and Business Administration.
Jeff Blair
Jeff Blair was born in 1942 and grew up in the suburbs about 35 miles north east of New York City. He earned degrees in Industrial Engineering and an MBA. In 1967 he joined IBM where he lead teams to make the risk assessments of large complex computer system installations at NASA, General Dynamics and other institutions. In the 1980’s and 1990’s he served in various project and program manager roles in IBM’s Healthcare software division. In 1997 he was appointed by Congress to a Health Information Policy committee where he lead a team that made recommendations to Congress to accelerate healthcare’s transition into the information age. These recommendations became Federal law in 2009 with up to $ 45 Billion in funding. Jeff also served as Director of Healthcare Informatics at Lovelace Clinic Foundation in Albuquerque from 2006 to 2012. After retiring in 2012, he served on various public and private boards, committees and councils. He has two children and four grandchildren.
Ruth I. Bouldes - Board Vice President and Secretary
Ms. Ruth Bouldes is a retired Market Area Manager for General Motors Corporation, having held domestic and international positions in marketing, sales, and public relations for General Motors. She has worked as a consultant to General Motors dealerships in Phoenix, AZ and New Mexico, focusing on process improvement and increasing customer satisfaction and retention. She is currently a small business mentor with SCORE, the largest network of free volunteer small business mentors in the nation. Ms. Bouldes holds an MBA in Marketing Management from Fordham University
Johnathan Johnson
During his professional career, Jonathan served in the U.S. Air Force for ten distinguished years and in the IT/Manufacturing/Cyber Security industry for over 20 years. His recognitions include the Air Force Achievement Medal (w/oak Leaf Cluster), the Desert Shield/Storm Service Medal for service during Desert Shield/Storm, two Intel Excellence Awards, an IT Division Recognition Award and a Fab/Sort Manufacturing Department Award. Jonathan is currently a Sr. Customer Success Executive with Okta, whose vision is to accelerate a world where everyone can safely use any technology. Jonathan has also been very active in the Albuquerque/Rio Rancho communities. He’s served the Board of Directors for the Albuquerque Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Inc. which administered a youth leadership program, on the Executive Advisory for the NM Office of African American Affairs, Chairman of the NAACP Veteran's Committee, and has been involved in mentoring projects for Albuquerque youth from middle school to college.
Judy Labovitz
Judy has a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from University of Texas, Austin; a Masters Degree in Library Science from the University of Southern California and a U.S.P.S. Post-masters Fellowship in biomedical information from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. Since retiring from the pharmaceutical industry in 2005, Judy has served on several Boards. She was chair of the Placitas Community Library Board helping raise funds and design of the new Library Building. She was Secretary of the New Mexico Jazz workshop for three years. Currently she is Board Secretary of the Placitas Artist Series.
Samantha Lapin
Samantha Lapin joined POD, Inc. (POD) in 1990 and became its President and CEO in 1994. Established in 1988, POD provided public and private organizations with the design, development, deployment, maintenance, and support of IT systems, custom web software solutions, and network solutions. Her focus was on business development, client relations, and high-level strategy and leadership. In 2006, she merged POD with the engineering firm, RESPEC Inc., where we became RESPEC’s IT business unit.
Since 2019, Samantha has been a volunteer and certified SCORE mentor, helping new and existing businesses with strategies for buying, selling and growing small businesses. She provides tactics for financial management, business development and marketing, tackling government contracting, and creating a corporate culture.
Samantha has a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Arizona (1985), and a M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of New Mexico (1988)
Warren Wilhelm, Ph.D. - Board President
Since graduating from the Harvard Business School with both MBA and doctoral degrees specializing in Organizational Behavior, Warren Wilhelm has had a 40-year career focused on developing leaders. He has been a full-time Professor at the University of Colorado and Babson College, teaching leadership topics in their graduate business schools. He has also been an Adjunct Professor at several other graduate business schools, including Southern Methodist University, the University of Michigan, Thunderbird School of Global Management, and the University of Kuwait. He has taught Leadership Development programs in Italy, Singapore and Mexico.
During his career Warren has also been a senior executive in two large companies, Honeywell and BP. Throughout his career he has been a management consultant, helping companies develop their leadership talent. He is also an expert in organizational development and organizational change. His latest book, Learning Architectures, is in its second printing.
School Board Meeting Information
ACES Tech School Board Policies