Our Leadership

Melanie A. Kenderdine was appointed Cabinet Secretary of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) in May 2024. She brings a wealth of experience in energy policy, technology, and innovation to her role, with a focus on advancing New Mexico’s leadership in clean energy and resource management.

Prior to joining EMNRD, Kenderdine co-founded and served as principal and executive vice president of the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the clean energy transition through technological and policy innovations.

Kenderdine also held prominent roles at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) during both the Obama and Clinton administrations. In the Obama administration, she was instrumental in launching Mission Innovation, a 26-country initiative supporting transformative clean energy research and development. She also focused on North American grid integration, energy security, and modernizing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. As director of DOE’s Office of Energy Policy and Systems Analysis, Kenderdine led the management and analysis for the Quadrennial Energy Review, a comprehensive roadmap for U.S. energy policy.

During the Clinton administration, Kenderdine was a key architect of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve oil exchange of 2000, helped establish the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve, and facilitated the largest land transfer back to Native Americans in the lower 48 states, returning Naval Oil Shale Reserve No. 2 to the Ute tribe in Utah.