Board of Directors

To email any of our board members, click on their name or title below (underlined).

President - Karen Holmes, JD

Karen Holmes is a solo attorney and homeschooling mom to her three boys.  A former participant in the First Born Program, she understands and appreciates the value of our services to Los Alamos County. After completing her law degree from William & Mary Law School in Virginia, Karen and her husband Matt spent a year sailing across the South Pacific from San Francisco to Brisbane, Australia.  Now landlocked, she focuses her energy on providing legal services for families here in Los Alamos and being active in the homeschool community. Karen and her family enjoy camping and exploring the Southwest, and she is currently in the process of writing her first book.

Vice President - Sara Scott, PhD

Sara Scott has lived in Los Alamos for more than 30 years – raising children, working at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and volunteering. She values Los Alamos County’s recreational, cultural, and educational opportunities and served for four years on the Los Alamos County Council from January 2019- December 2022. Sara is retired from LANL and works as private consultant. At LANL she contributed to a broad range of initiatives through technical and leadership positions in the areas of nuclear energy, nuclear nonproliferation, national security, strategic program development, R&D management, facility development, international engagement and promotion of effective collaborations across multiple disciplines and organizations. She received her PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from Iowa State and was a National Science Foundation-NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at the Max-Plank-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany. Family, children, and now grandchildren(!) are a priority for Sara. She is excited about the opportunity to support an organization that fills an important niche and does so much for parents and children in our community. 

Treasurer - Judith Ramirez, M.S.

Judith Ramirez is a stay-at-home mom, part-time homeschooler of her two boys and occasionally participates in bat research expeditions in New Mexico and Arizona. She received her Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from the University of Arizona in the field of Wildlife Biology. In 2011, she moved her young family to Los Alamos and learned that starting a new phase of life in a new place can be isolating and making connections with other young families is all the more important. The First Born and Chit-Chat programs helped Judith and her family make those crucial connections. In addition, with having a son with speech and language impairment, she obtained first-hand knowledge of the importance of early childhood development and intervention. Judith believes that providing families with the necessary tools and resources to help their kids grow is invaluable and is honored to serve on the FBPLA board to empower these young families.

Secretary - Monica Hernandez-Lara

Bio to come soon!



Karen Holmes - President


Sara Scott - Vice President
















Monica Hernandez-Lara - Secretary

Executive Director -
Ellen Specter

Find more information about Ellen on our "Staff" page.


Members-At-Large:

Jack Allison