FOUNDER

Irene Oliver Lewis has 47 years in the creative industry fields of arts/culture integration; humanities; theatre arts—producer, director, actor, storyteller, creative dramatist, playwright; arts advocate, arts educator/administrator; and community historian.

As a performing artist/director/producer she has toured throughout the Southwest, United States, and internationally in Scotland, Japan, Korea, London, and Mexico.

She was a founder or co-founder of Court Youth Center/Alma d’arte Charter High School: Film Las Cruces; Las Cruces International Marachi Festival; Pachanga; Dia de los muertos festivities in Mesilla; and through the NM Creative Industries Consortium helped research and wrote legislation that lead to the passage of HB8, the creation of the Creative Industries Department in the NM’s Economic Development Department. 

She was named a Distinguished Alumna, College of Arts and Sciences from NMSU (BIS in Theatre and Journalism and MA in Speech Communications/Readers Theatre); a receipt of the NM Governor’s Award in the Arts; and 2020 Las Cruces Distinguished Resident from the Las Cruces Sun News.

Currently she is involved in historic preservation projects with Mesquite Street Amigos, a grassroots group of neighbors who live in the Las Cruces original townsite now known as the Mesquite Street Neighborhood.

FOUNDER

Denisse Carter holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Spanish, and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a concentration in Intelligence and National Security Studies (INSS) from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).

With a career spanning over 16 years in Economic Development, Denisse started her professional journey at the Institute for Policy and Economic Development (IPED) at UTEP, as a Research Assistant working in conjunction with the Housing Authority of El Paso, to implement the Hope VI grant. She joined the private sector serving as the Director of Research and Knowledge (D.O.R.K.) conducting economic research and contributing to industry attraction efforts at the El Paso Regional Economic Development Corporation (El Paso REDCo) which later became the Borderplex Alliance.

She spent 11 years as a public servant at the City of El Paso, Texas in the Economic and International Development Department, serving multiple roles.  She was responsible for negotiating and drafting a multitude of incentive agreements, instituting and overseeing the contract compliance division within the Department, and later helping with the creation and implementation of the Small Business Assistance division, where she provided bilingual technical assistance, hosted informational round tables in Spanish, and was the primary point of contact for ARPA funding assistance.  

Denisse is a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) a prestigious designation that only 1,200 professionals hold nationwide. The CEcD designation establishes an industry benchmark of excellence and signifies the world's most knowledgeable and dedicated individuals in the field of economic development. It sets the gold standard for professionals who are steadfastly committed to fostering innovation, attracting investment, and driving economic growth and prosperity within their communities and around the world.

Denisse currently serves as the Economic Development Administrator at Doña Ana County, in Las Cruces New Mexico. Where she provides professional level assistance to the Community Development Department in implementing, administering and creating economic development initiatives and maintaining incentive program activities.