Posts Tagged ‘Secretary of Economic Development’

Release courtesy of the Governor’s Office

June 15, 2010

Gilbert Gallegos (505) 476-2217

Governor Bill Richardson today announced that Rick Homans will become the permanent Executive

Rick Homans

Director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority as of July 1. Homans will step down from his position as Secretary of the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department.

Governor Richardson also announced that he has appointed Duffy Rodriguez to become the new Secretary of the Taxation and Revenue Department. Rodriguez has 30 years of government experience, most recently serving a dual role as Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Finance & Administration and Chief Financial Officer for the NM Department of Health.

“Spaceport America will soon be moving from a major construction project to an operational spaceport, launching humans into sub-orbit, and Rick has the project background, knowledge of the issues, and relationships with the many government and business partners,” Governor Richardson said. “This appointment assures we have the continuity we need to ensure the success of Spaceport America.”

The Board of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority met today in Truth or Consequences and voted unanimously to hire Homans. He will be based in Las Cruces.

Homans served as the first chairman of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority from 2005 to 2007, and was briefly its executive director in 2007. Homans served as Secretary of Economic Development from 2003 through 2007, and Secretary of Taxation and Revenue from 2008 through the present. Governor Richardson appointed Homans in April to serve as Interim Executive Director and as Chairman of the Board, in addition to his job as Secretary of TRD.

Governor Richardson said Rodriguez’s vast experience in government will allow her to hit the ground running at the Taxation & Revenue Department.

Rodriguez, a graduate of Smith College, has served in state government and worked for or with every Governor since Governor Jerry Apodaca. Her experience includes leading management and performance analyses of state agencies for Governor Garrey Carruthers and serving as the State Budget Director under Governor Gary Johnson. She also worked for the House Appropriations and Finance Committee as well as serving twice as a principal analyst with the bipartisan Legislative Finance Committee. She has a strong finance and budget background, is well versed with the revenue forecasting process and is very familiar with all of the operations of Taxation & Revenue Department from her previous legislative and executive work.

Release Courtesy of NMSU Communications & Marketing Services

Photo Courtesy of NMSU

Bulldozers are rolling through a chunk of desert owned by New Mexico State University. The heavy equipment is building a new road and laying utilities to better connect NMSU’s Arrowhead Business and Research Park with the rest of campus. The project is also expected to help attract new investments, new clients and eventually thousands of high-paying jobs to the park.

The road will extend south for approximately one mile from the intersection of Payne and Wells streets to Sam Steel Way, which runs parallel to Interstate 10. Construction is scheduled to be complete in March 2010.

The project represents nearly $2 million in investments, including a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. Other money for the project came from the state of New Mexico, local road funds, the New Mexico Department of Transportation and NMSU.

“The road will really open up the whole park,” said Kevin Boberg, Arrowhead Center’s CEO. “We can’t do any other development without the utility backbone the road delivers.”

The business and research park is located on the south end of NMSU’s Las Cruces campus between Interstates 10 and 25. The first 11 acres of the 257-acre park are already in development. The most recently completed building, Spaceplex 2, is home to General Dynamics and opened last summer.  The next building scheduled for construction will be nearly 8,000 square feet and be broken into smaller, 1,700-square-foot pads for businesses intending to establish themselves before jumping into larger spaces.

Other plans for the research park include working with the Las Cruces Public School District to construct an early college high school where high school students could take college-level courses for credit.

“Without the infrastructure, we wouldn’t be in a position to take advantage of these opportunities,” said Vickie Galindo, Arrowhead Center’s director of workforce innovation and business development. “We would not have been able to make this happen without the EDA and help from New Mexico Secretary of Economic Development Fred Mondragon.”