Officers

Spring 2017 OFFICERS

Dakota Marquez

President

sunny19@nmsu.edu

Dakota was born and raised in the Rio Rancho and Albuquerque area and attended V. Sue Cleveland High School. She graduated in 2012 and began her college career as a graphic design major. She enjoyed it, but then took an introductory accounting class and decided that accounting was a better career path for her. She graduated in May of 2016 with her Bachelors of Accountancy, and is pursuing her Masters of Accountancy with a graduation date of May 2017. After graduation she plans to obtain her CPA license.

This is Dakota’s forth semester being involved with Beta Alpha Psi, and second semester as an officer. She enjoys the opportunities the organization has provided her including networking with professionals, building relationships with other accounting students and professors, as well as allowing her to practice as a leader. She hopes to inspire other accounting students to partake in these opportunities as well. She intends to remain a member of Beta Alpha Psi until she graduates, and continue to be involved in the organization as a professional.

Shawna A. Garcia

VP of Service

sgarcia1@nmsu.edu

Shawna is a senior in the Accelerated Master’s Program and will be graduating this semester with her Bachelor’s degree. She was born in Las Cruces, NM and has been here most of her life, except for when she lived in Arlington, VA for her 7th grade year. Shawna began taking classes in 2010 when she was a sophomore at Onate High School in the Dual Credit Program. She started attending NMSU in the Fall semester of 2013 as an Accounting major. In her sophomore year she auditioned for NMSU’s Dancers Unlimited and was a member for 3 semesters, but this semester will be a guest choreographer. She looks forward to her first group piece being in their end-of-semester show. Shehas also been an altar server at her church for 13 years and is currently the only altar server ranked as a Bishop’s Knight.

Shawna has been in Beta Alpha Psi for 3 years and was the Secretary last semester. She joined Beta Alpha Psi after some members presented to her Accounting 222 class and spoke about the opportunity to network with professionals. Previous officers encouraged her to take opportunities to gain confidence presenting in front of audiences, having conversations with professionals, and presenting herself in a professional manner. It is for this reason that Shawna’s goal for the semester is to encourage other members in the same way, in the hopes that she can help everyone in the chapter become the successful professionals they aim to be. She looks forward to providing the chapter with a diverse amount of opportunities to give back to the community, something she is very passionate about.

Rebekah Rosa

VP of Professional Development

bekarosa@nmsu.edu

Rebekah grew up in Bayard, New Mexico, taking duel-credit classes in high school at Western New Mexico University, before enrolling at New Mexico State University in 2013. She originally was a management major, but switched to accounting after taking ACC 221 and finding that she loved the logic and intricacy of accounting. She graduated with a Bachelor’s of Accountancy in December 2016, and is currently in the Master’s of Accountancy program this spring. In 2016 she had a summer internship at Sandia National Laboratories, and will serve as an audit intern at the Albuquerque office of KPMG in summer of 2017.

Rebekah joined Beta Alpha Psi after a none-too-small amount of prodding from friends and encouragements from professionals; though she was initially reluctant, she now considers becoming a member one of the most important decisions of her college career. She pledged in Fall 2015, and has by now spent four semesters alongside friends and professionals building a network and developing herself professionally. She hopes that by serving as an officer, she can give back to the organization and pay forward all the time and care that was invested in her personal and professional growth to members, pledges, and interested students to continue BAP’s legacy of enriching accounting student experiences at NMSU!

Christina Solaequi

VP of Fundraising

csolae@nmsu.edu

Christina is a first-year graduate student who is working on her Masters of Accountancy. She plans on graduating by the end of 2017. Before she graduates, however, she will have an internship at REDW’s Audit department in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Christina is quite busy focusing on her Accounting career and to become the best CPA she can be. Despite that though, she tries her best to not abandon the other aspects of her life that demand her attention, such as her fiancé who she is marrying in May, and her 5-year-old Australian Shepherd, Reno. When Christina has some spare time, she likes playing video games and studying Korean (of which she has conversational proficiency). Christina isn’t scary or intimidating, so feel free to talk to her anytime during meetings or whenever you see her!

Elizabeth Gomez

Director of Hospitality

laegomez@nmsu.edu

Elizabeth Gomez grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico and began attending NMSU in 2012. She entered as a General Business Major, but was encouraged by a professor consider accounting as a major. In thanks her teacher and her interest in the accounting profession she graduated with her Bachelor of Accountancy and Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing. She is currently a candidate for her Master of Accountancy in Spring 2017. Upon completion of her Macc she plans to sit for the CPA and will join CliftonLarsonAllen this fall.

When she’s not studying, Elizabeth is actively involved in Lion’s Club and Beta Alpha Psi. Through Lion’s Club she has had the opportunity to help the community and serve the people of Las Cruces through volunteer work. Through BAP (pledge class of Fall 2016), she has had the honor to recently join and benefit from the support system and professional skills that can’t be taught in the classroom. As an officer, she hopes to pay forward the same Hospitality and guidance she received when she was a new member not too long ago.

Ashley Cannon

Treasurer

acannon@nmsu.edu

Ashley was born and raised in the Roswell, NM and graduated for Roswell High School in 2014. She began her college career as an accounting major and became intrigued with the profession when introduced to BAP her freshman year. She will graduate in May of 2018 with her Bachelors of Accountancy, and is pursuing her Masters of Accountancy with a graduation date of December 2018. After graduation she plans to obtain her CPA license. She has had two internship with Heads Up Landscaping Company in Albuquerque, NM.

This is Ashley’s sixth semester being involved with Beta Alpha Psi, and first semester as a member and officer. She would like to give back to the organization as much as she has gotten out of it and she also hopes to come back to be involved as a professional.

Ashleigh Laumbach

Secretary

ash101@nmsu.edu

Ashleigh was born and raised in Clovis, New Mexico. She attended Clovis High School and graduated in 2013. She began her college career at New Mexico State as a Fashion Merchandising and Marketing major. This changed shortly after her introductory accounting courses, and soon switched her major to accounting. Ashleigh graduated with her Bachelors of Accountancy in December of 2016. She plans to pursue her Masters of Accountancy at NMSU, with an expected completion date of December 2017. Ashleigh’s goal is to complete her CPA exams by the beginning of 2018.

Ashleigh has been an active member of Beta Alpha Psi for one year. She joined Beta Alpha Psi to help develop crucial soft skills needed in any professional environment. By joining the Delta Lambda Chapter, she has grown both personally and professionally. She plans to focus on reaching out to other accounting students to join the chapter, so they too can discover the opportunities within the accounting field.

Paloma Galindo

Public Relations Director

coniif@nmsu.edu

Paloma was born in El Paso, TX and she has lived there all her life. She graduated Franklin High School in 2013 where she took duel credit classes to get ahead in her bachelor’s degree. Paloma started her education at New Mexico State University in fall of 2013 majoring in accounting. She hopes to graduate in May of 2017 and start the master’s program here at NMSU the following fall. After graduation she plans to pursue a career in public accounting as a CPA.

This is Paloma’s second semester being involved with Beta Alpha Psi, last semester as a pledge, and this spring semester as the Public Relations Director. Paloma looks forward to working with all the new members, and hopes to help others reach their desired goals this semester.