EMNRD Secretary Melanie Kenderdine named �Woman of the Year� by national energy group

Michelle Lujan Grisham, Governor

Melanie Kenderdine, Cabinet Secretary

Ben Shelton, Deputy Cabinet Secretary

Erin Taylor , Deputy Cabinet Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Sidney Hill

Public Information Officer, EMNRD

sidney.hill@state.nm.us

November 20, 2025

EMNRD Secretary Melanie Kenderdine named “Woman of the Year” by national energy group

SANTA FE – The Women's Council on Energy & the Environment has named Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department Secretary Melanie Kenderdine its 2025 Woman of the Year.

For 40 years, the Women's Council on Energy & the Environment (WCEE) has helped women in energy and environment advance their careers through educational programs and networking events with leaders and experts in the field.

Upon receiving the honor at a dinner on Thursday in Washington, D.C., Kenderdine will join a distinguished list of previous Woman of the Year honorees, including U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, American Public Power Association CEO Sue Kelly and Alice Rivlin, former director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The WCEE Woman of the Year Award honors a woman of recognized stature in the energy and/or environmental fields. The awardee must demonstrate exceptional leadership in her professional life and have an ongoing commitment to serve as an inspirational role model for other women to develop and excel.

“Secretary Kenderdine is being recognized for her extraordinary accomplishments and long history of mentoring and supporting women in the field of energy,” said Julie Abraham, President of the WCEE Board of Directors.

Kenderdine’s efforts to boost women’s careers in energy include establishing the C3E Women in Clean Energy Symposium at MIT that gives cash awards to women at mid-career.

“I have been working in the energy space since 1983 in the federal legislative and executive branches, the private sector, and academia,” Kenderdine said. “Advancing the careers of women in clean energy has been a significant focus of my career. I have now returned to my home state of New Mexico to put my decades of experience to work helping to enable the state’s clean energy transition. My deepest gratitude to WCEE for this honor – it means the world to me.”

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed Kenderdine as Cabinet Secretary of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) in May 2024, and she was confirmed by the state Senate in March 2025 .

Before joining EMNRD, Kenderdine was co-founder, principal and executive vice president of the Energy Futures Initiative, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit dedicated to harnessing the power of technology and policy innovation to accelerate the clean energy transition.

Prior to co-founding the Energy Futures Initiative, Kenderdine held high-level positions at the U.S. Department of Energy in both the Obama and Clinton administrations.

In the Obama administration, Kenderdine helped create Mission Innovation, a 26-country initiative that supports transformational clean energy research, development, and demonstration; North American grid integration and security; and the modernization of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

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The Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department provides resource protection and energy resource development services to the public and other state agencies.

EMNRD Sec. Melanie Kenderdine

Sidney Hill

Public Information Officer

New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD)

Email: sidney.hill@emnrd.nm.gov

Phone: 505-629-2900