SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s governor is seeking a leadership change within the state agency that oversees services for military veterans.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Wednesday that Veterans’ Services Secretary Donnie Quintana would be stepping down effective Sept. 1. A retired Army colonel, Quintana had served as the interim leader of the department for a couple of months before being appointed to the post in January and later confirmed by the state Senate.
The previous secretary, Sonya Smith, had stepped down last fall after two years on the job.
The governor’s office said Quintana decided to step aside to “allow for new leadership to accelerate the work of the agency.” When asked for details, Lujan Grisham's spokeswoman, Caroline Sweeney, said the change was necessary as Quintana “simply wasn’t the right fit to carry out the governor’s vision of a more constituent-centered agency.”
The governor said in a statement that she was launching a broad search for a new secretary and that person will have to deliver when it comes to serving the state's veterans.
Brig. Gen. Jamison Herrera, the deputy adjutant general of the New Mexico National Guard, will serve as acting secretary until a permanent replacement is named, the governor's office said.
It's the latest in a series of departures of department leaders from the Lujan Grisham administration over recent months. Retirements and resignations have spanned the Public Education, Human Services and General Services departments, among others.