New Mexico’s top energy official resigns amid family health crisis as state leadership scrambles to fill the role

Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico

This article was originally posted by Source New Mexico.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday morning announced that New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department Secretary Melanie Kenderdine is resigning “for personal reasons,” effective immediately.

Kenderdine has held the position since May of 2024. At the time, Lujan Grisham praised Kenderdine’s reputation as “a strategic thinker in the realm of energy policy” and said she expected Kenderdine to play a large role in “helping New Mexico shape our clean-energy future.”

Source NM reached Kenderdine briefly on Friday morning, who said her husband was in poor health. In an email to EMNRD staff, she wrote that her resignation would be effective on Jan. 5, but that Friday would be her last day in the office.

“I’ve enjoyed my time leading EMNRD and appreciate the opportunity the governor has given me. I must, however, attend to serious personal matters — my husband’s health needs — that require levels of attention I cannot give while working full time,” she wrote.

In a May statement, Kenderdine said she was “honored” to join the governor’s administration and wanted to see New Mexico emerge as “a national leader in the country’s journey to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.”

Kenderdine, an alumna of Albuquerque’s Manzano High School and the University of New Mexico, was co-founder and executive vice president of Energy Futures Initiative, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit focused on transitioning to renewable energy. In November, the national Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment named her the “2025 Woman of the Year” for her “long history of mentoring and supporting women in the field of energy.”

Kenderdine previously served in the U.S. Department of Energy, where she oversaw a 26-country initiative to support clean energy research and shaped the Strategic Petroleum Reserve oil exchange, under Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

“Melanie brought national energy expertise to New Mexico, and I’m grateful for her contributions at EMNRD,” Lujan Grisham said.

Deputy Cabinet Secretary Erin Taylor will serve as acting cabinet secretary, according to a news release.

Taylor has been deputy cabinet secretary since April and previously held leadership roles with EMNRD’s Energy Conservation and Management Division, as well as its Mining and Minerals Division. Before that, she worked for the U.S. Department of Energy and oversaw programs that offered technical assistance for energy programs in every U.S. state and territory.

Joshua Bowling is a senior reporter for Source New Mexico. He's reported in New Mexico, where he broke stories of lavish spending at Western New Mexico University and more, since 2022.