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, UNMRI Board of Directors
Researcher, Sandia National Laboratories

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

Retired Policy Analyst, Metropolitan Applied Research Center
Retired Consultant to Media Companies

Deputy Laboratories Director and Chief Operations Officer, Sandia National Laboratories

President, Principal, Contract Associates, Inc.

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

Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine
Director of the Center for Personalized Medicine
Co-Director, M.D./Ph.D. Program UNM School of Medicine, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center

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

Chair, UNM Board of Regents
President & CEO, SRE Wellness, Inc. (dba Azuca)

Executive Vice President, UNM Health Sciences
Chief Executive Officer, UNM Health System