From the Chair
Diverse, entrepreneurial and innovative are the defining characteristics of UNM Rainforest Innovations’ Board of Directors. Members of the Board are researchers, inventors, academics, administrators, business executives, lawyers and community leaders, with local, national and international ties. Our board guides UNM Rainforest Innovations in its mission to support the University of New Mexico and its partners as the source for innovation management and commercial development in six strategic areas of service to the University:
- Compliance with the Bayh-Dole Act (IP prosecution, maintenance and commercialization)
- Support for economic development (marketing/licensing/start-up companies)
- Support of UNM faculty and staff commercialization (recruitment support, commercialization outreach education and faculty retention)
- Academic impact through support for UNM research (CDAs, MTAs, IIAs and research agreements)
- Academic impact through support for UNM education (student interns, outreach, Joseph L. Cecchi VentureLab)
- Income generation from technology transfer
The UNM Rainforest Innovations Board of Directors deals with these strategic UNM Rainforest Innovations areas and applies specific expertise, drawn from our members’ backgrounds, as needed.
Chair, UNM Rainforest Innovations Board of Directors
Board Officers
Ms. Sandra Begay
Chair, UNM Rainforest Innovations Board of Directors
Director, Environmental Health Department, City of Albuquerque

Vice Chair, UNM Rainforest Innovations Board of Directors
President & CEO, Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce

Vice Chair, UNM Rainforest Innovations Board of Directors
Provost & Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, UNM

Secretary and Treasurer, UNM Rainforest Innovations Board of Directors
Executive Vice President & Deputy Laboratory Director, Sandia National Laboratories, Retired

CEO & Chief Economic Development Officer, UNM Rainforest Innovations
Board Members

Jim and Ellen King Dean of Engineering and Computing, Department of Engineering and Distinguished Professor, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, UNM

Founder, Fisher Leadership Strategy Execution
Mr. David W. Gibson
Senior Director, Environmental, Safety, Health, and Quality Directorate, Argonne National Laboratories

President, Principal, Contract Associates, Inc.

Director, Directed Energy Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico

Executive Vice Chancellor
Vice Chancellor for Research, Health Sciences Center, UNM

Vice President for Research, Professor, Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, and Founding Director and Member, Center for Biomedical Engineering, The University of New Mexico

President, Gregg L. Mayer & Co., Inc.

CEO and Founder, McGill Executive Consulting LLC

Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Molecular Medicine
University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center

Chancellor for Health Sciences, Health Sciences Center, UNM
Dean, School of Medicine, UNM

Partner, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.

President, Albuquerque Economic Development, Inc.