Our Team

Sherry Watson is recognized as one of the nation’s top experts in the world of grant money. Sherry has over 25 years of experience in the grant industry and has generated over $130 million in grant money and counting. Sherry Watson has designed and launched several successful organizations and corporations focused on social and economic value creation and strategic planning. Sherry utilizes her expertise in business planning, strategic planning and grant writing in her consulting work with entrepreneurs. She works with organizations and corporations in all phases. Her clients range from small start-up entities to business ventures to large corporations. Sherry’s nationally recognized focus is blurring the lines between sectors.

Linda Gonzales has spent the past 30 years working in the nonprofit sector at the local and national level. She spent the bulk of her time in the independent living movement – a civil rights and empowerment movement for people with all types of disabilities.

She began her career as a peer counselor with Master’s level credentials at a center for independent living (CIL) in West Los Angeles. She moved on to work at a CIL in Santa Fe, doing outreach and counseling to people with disabilities living in the nine northern counties of New Mexico. After several years she moved into the position of Director and led the CIL for another eight years. During that time she wrote several successful proposals and initiated new services and programs including new offices in Las Cruces, Albuquerque, Las Vegas (NM) and Raton.

Linda was a founding board member of the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL) a national membership organization of rural (CILs). She served as Secretary/Treasurer, President and later as the first Executive Director.

In 1994 she left her employment to start her own consulting business doing training, presentations, workshops on a wide variety of topics including transitioning into the workforce, American Disability Act (ADA) training, organizational development, board training, peer mentoring, and health and wellness. During this time she was appointed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala to serve on the Advisory Committee to the Director of the CDC Center on Environmental Health.

In 2001 Linda became the Executive Director of APRIL and led that organization to national recognition in several areas – including peer mentoring programs, involving youth with disabilities in the IL movement and in bringing transportation options to rural communities. She became nationally known for her efforts to bring the disability perspective into rural policy development. She has served on many state and national boards and advisory committees, has contributed articles to several publications, has presented at local, state and national conferences and other events.

In 2009, Linda brought her lifetime of experience in grant writing and organizational development to the team at the Power of Grant Money and is assisting in launching new nonprofits across the country.

Amongst her special honors have been winning the President’s Award of the National Council On Independent Living, being invited to the White House to meet with President Bill Clinton and having an APRIL award for outstanding rural youth named in her honor. Linda has muscular dystrophy and lives with her husband, Jerry and yellow lab, Lincoln in Santa Fe, New Mexico.