Melanie A. Kenderdine resigned Thursday as secretary of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department for personal reasons, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced.
Deputy Cabinet Secretary Erin Taylor will serve as acting secretary, according to the governor’s office.
“Melanie brought national energy expertise to New Mexico, and I’m grateful for her contributions at EMNRD. I wish her well,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement.
Kenderdine joined the administration in May 2024, according to the announcement. Before her appointment, she served as co-founder, principal and executive vice president of the Energy Futures Initiative, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit focused on clean energy transition.
She also held high-level positions at the U.S. Department of Energy during the Obama and Clinton administrations, the governor’s office said.
Taylor was appointed deputy cabinet secretary in April, according to the announcement. She previously held leadership roles at EMNRD supporting the Energy Conservation and Management Division and Mining and Minerals Division.
Before returning to EMNRD, Taylor served at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of State and Community Energy Programs, where she oversaw technical assistance initiatives for governments in all 56 states and territories, the governor’s office said. She also served as state liaison for the federal Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization.
Taylor holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Pennsylvania State University, a postgraduate diploma in sustainable rural development from the University of Aberdeen and a master’s degree in environmental policy and management from the University of Denver, according to the announcement.