A longtime communications professional, Dana’s diverse communications career includes work within the financial and defense electronics industries, nonprofits, magazines and education. Since joining CWA, Dana’s passions and skills have been focused on working with healthcare, early childhood and education clients from around the state. An eagle-eyed editor and proofreader, her commitment to ensuring her clients receive the best quality of work is unmatched. She admits to being a night owl, avoiding 7am meetings like the plague (but will attend if enticed with enough good coffee). Dana is proud mom of a USAF airman (who recently married the love of his life and fellow airman – is airwoman a word?), and equally proud of her extended step family, which includes four kids, 13 grandkids and several bonus grandkids. Reading (a good murder mystery is always fun), bowling (had high average in her league this year) and camping and kayaking under New Mexico’s big skies are just a few of her favorite activities. A true animal lover, Dana currently has one feline and three canines roaming her home.

CWA Strategic would not be the smooth-running operation it is without our talented administrative assistant, Danielle Sena (fondly known as Dani). Dani came to us from Hewlett-Packard, where she served as an IT Tech Support person. (Those skills were one of the many reasons she was a “must hire!”) Dani and her husband have an elementary-school aged son, with whom she enjoys weekend adventures to different parts of New Mexico to explore national parks, monuments and natural geographic formations. Dani also loves to paint (oils and acrylics, mostly) and watch professional MMA fights.

Our newest staff member, Lucas Baca is a proud native of the very first Las Vegas (New Mexico, NOT Nevada) in the U.S.! He moved to Albuquerque to attend UNM where he became the first person in his immediate family to earn a degree – a BA in Strategic Communication with a minor in Political Science. During four short years, Lucas has gained awesome experience, which he brings to CWA with amazing enthusiasm. He appreciates the firm focus on quality-of-life issues and believes that the most fulfilling and rewarding work is when you are making a difference, helping others. Lucas is a huge movie buff with a particular taste for Quentin Tarantino films. He’s also a bigtime sports junkie, especially a diehard Los Angeles Lakers fan. (RIP Kobe.) In his spare time, he’s either watching sports or spending time with his girlfriend, chihuahua pup and two cats.

Maita is CWA’s resident number-cruncher and contract mastermind, overseeing clients’ budgets, business overhead and cash flow projections, maintaining the agency’s commitment to being good stewards of our clients’ budgets and contracts. With a history of working her financial magic for restaurants, an equipment management company and a national animation firm, Maita’s skills are both invaluable and feared by her math-deficient co-workers (who shall remain unnamed). She is a true lover of Halloween and hosts a major spook party that is not for the faint-of-heart. She’s an avid volleyball player, gourmet home chef and is interested in all things bugs…yes, bugs.

CWA’s president brings more than 41 years of communications and marketing experience to the agency. As the agency’s head honcho (or honcha?), Patti diligently works to ensure every client receives the care and personal attention CWA has cultivated for 29 years. Under her leadership, CWA has become one of New Mexico’s most established and trusted strategic communications agencies. Patti’s vast experience includes working as a crime reporter, managing multi-million-dollar marketing and communications campaigns in the United States and Canada, nonprofit marketing and communicating large infrastructure projects to hundreds – and thousands – of stakeholders. When she’s not on the phone working with and advocating for clients, she can be found building partnerships between public and private enterprises and looking for new opportunities.  In her so-called “off” time, Patti reads countless nonfiction and fiction books, tries her hand at creative (sometimes edible, sometimes not) cooking, and enjoys spending time with her husband and 20-year-old cat and four dogs (the cat rules).