Both of my parents are retired educators, so my family understands firsthand the importance of secure retirement benefits for educational employees. The New Mexico Educational Retirement Board (NMERB) plays an important role in the lives of our 46,000 retirees and 60,000 active members. They and the Legislature have entrusted NMERB with providing secure retirement benefits to all of New Mexico’s public educational employees and their beneficiaries.

I consider this a sacred trust. Personally, I never want to diminish benefits for our retirees, nor do I like adjusting the plan.

The NMERB Board of Trustees and I have consistently taken a proactive position to ensure that future retirees...

Before delving into the mystery of autoimmune disease, let’s make a few things clear.

First, human beings were not designed to be sick.

Second, illness is not the natural condition for human beings or any native creature on the planet. Every living creature has a “spring, summer, fall and winter” season of life but disease as we have come to know it today should not be considered a normal part of the life cycle.

What is it?

Autoimmune represents a broad spectrum of diseases with over 89 million people affected. At the time of this column there are at least eighty-eight (88) different diagnosis for autoimmune conditions that affect different tissues in the body. Lupus, colitis...

International trade and export opportunities have been a consistent bright spot in the New Mexico economy. Edward Herrera, director of the Office of International Trade at the New Mexico Economic Development Department, would agree.

The longtime trade expert hopes business owners will take advantage of the services his office offers.  Finance New Mexico asked Herrera what small businesses can do to boost their bottom line through exporting.

Finance NM (FNM): You head the Office of International Trade at the EDD. Tell us about that.

Edward Herrera (EH): The Legislature created the Office of International Trade in 1990. There had been the EDD, but no division that addressed specific...

Last month, I joined business and community leaders, policymakers, and academic experts in Washington, D.C. for Infrastructure Week. Over and over again, there was bipartisan consensus on the economic opportunity investment in our transportation, energy, and internet infrastructure would create. But we have yet to see meaningful progress.  That’s a shame, because when we invest in our infrastructure, we invest in our future, we put our state in a more competitive position, and we open the door to job creation in New Mexico. I have learned this from more than 30 years of business and real estate development experience spanning the globe.

Earlier this year, one of my company’s...