As Senior Program Officer for the Environment, Paloma manages all aspects of ICF’s sizable environmental portfolio of grants, agency funds, and special projects in Mexico and Latin America, including high-priority coastal, marine, and terrestrial habitats rich in biodiversity and native species in the Gulf of California, Meso-American Reef and the Eastern Pacific Tropics. Projects under her purview focus on increasing access to clean, potable, safe, and recreational water for all communities and marine life; restoring and stewarding the sustainable management of the biodiversity of wild lands; and strengthening meaningful involvement of communities in the development & implementation of environmental laws, regulations, zoning and policies.

In 2014, Paloma was named Woman of the Year by California State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez for outstanding leadership in environmental conservation and for her work restoring the Tijuana River Valley. In 2016, she was selected as a NOAA Seagrant Knauss Legislative Fellow and spent a year in Washington D.C. working for U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), assisting him in drafting and passing bills to reduce trash in our oceans and improve math and science skills in minorities.

Paloma brings over twelve years of binational/bicultural experience in her coastal and marine conservation work. Prior to ICF, she served as WILDCOAST’s Coastal and Marine Director, leading efforts to conserve 79,642 acres of coastal, marine and island ecosystems in the San Diego-Tijuana border region

Paloma holds a Master’s in Marine Biodiversity & Conservation from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD, a certificate in Nonprofit Management from Brandman University, and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of San Diego, California.

Paloma is an avid bodyboarder. In 2012, she represented Baja California at the Mexican National Surfing Championships and won second place in the bodyboarding division. When not surfing, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two dogs.