Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
From the Office of the Land Commisioner:
SANTA FE – Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard has appointed four key staff to assist in executing a bold agenda for the land office.
The new hires include General Counsel and three Assistant Commissioners for Mineral Resources, Commercial Resources, and Communications.
On the job for just a month, Commissioner Garcia Richard has begun to implement her key initiatives, including issuing an Executive Order to ban killing contests on state trust land, requesting land office budget increases to create an Office of Renewable Energy, pushing House Bill 398 to raise the royalty rate that the land office receives on future oil and gas leases, and becoming the first Commissioner in history to publicly and proudly support HJR 1, a constitutional amendment to fund early childhood education initiatives.
“As Commissioner and with the assistance of the talented new staff we have hired, as well as the staff that has been here for years, the land office will push a bold agenda. We are just getting started on leveraging the mandate of this office to raise more money for the beneficiaries of our state trust lands. Ari, Jordan, Craig and Angie have the experience we need to assure success,” Garcia Richard said of the new hires.
Ari Biernoff will serve as General Counsel for the land office, a position charged with identifying and overseeing legal issues in all departments.
Biernoff was previously a senior litigator with the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office under Attorneys General Hector Balderas and Gary King, managing innovative litigation programs to preserve public access to state trust lands, protect natural resources and public health, and recover damages from industries that have harmed New Mexicans.
Prior to that, he clerked for Justice Patricio Serna of the New Mexico Supreme Court and Judge Henry Kennedy of United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Before returning home to New Mexico, Biernoff also worked as Senior Counsel at the New York City Law Department and in private practice in New York.
He received his B.A. in history from Stanford University and his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Jordan Kessler has been appointed Assistant Commissioner for Mineral Resources. She will lead the department, which handles oil, gas and mineral leases.
Kessler has worked with oil and gas regulations and policy since 2012. Prior to joining the State Land Office, Jordan worked in private practice where she specialized in oil and gas state and federal regulatory law. She served as lead counsel in technical hearings and rulemakings, coordinated regulatory and compliance issues, and litigated claims under CERCLA and NEPA as well as other state and federal statutes governing environmental matters. Kessler regularly worked with state, federal, and tribal agencies to permit rights-of-way, easements, business licenses, and injection matters. Kessler was recognized by Chambers USA as “Associates to Watch” in 2016-2018 and by Southwest Super Lawyers as a “Rising Star” in 2015 and 2018.
Kessler received her B.A. in international relations and French from Tufts University and her J.D. from the University of New Mexico. Prior to her legal career, Kessler worked for the Legislative Finance Committee.
Craig Johnson, a long-time employee of the land office, has been hired as the Assistant Commissioner for Commercial Resources. The Commercial Division handles rights of way leases, telecommunication, renewable energy projects and all business development on state trust land.
Johnson was most recently the Director of the Commercial Resources Division in the land office. In addition to extensive public sector experience, he has worked in the private sector and in academia. Johnson worked as a budget analyst and a program evaluator at the Legislative Finance Committee and as a senior fiscal analyst at the Legislative Education Study Committee. Johnson served as the senior economist for the State Land Office before advancing to the position of Assistant Director for Strategic Planning and Development. Johnson has a B.A. in science and economics as well as an M.B.A. from the University of New Mexico.
Angie Poss has been appointed Assistant Commissioner of Communications, tasked with working with the press and public about activities of the land office.
Poss recently served as the Communications and Political Director for Deb Haaland’s successful election to the U.S. Congress. Prior to the Haaland campaign, she worked in various capacities to advance social justice policy with Equality New Mexico, the state’s largest and oldest LGBTQ+ advocacy organization. Poss brings a long history of successful communication and policy experience to the land office including as a graduate assistant project coordinator for the University of New Mexico’s office of the Chief Information Officer, social media director for the State Senate Majority Leader’s Office, Campaign Manager for former State Sen. Michael Sanchez, and as a policy analyst for the State Senate Education Committee. She received her B.A. in political science and public communication from the University of New Mexico.
Oil, gas, and mineral production, ranching and farming, and commercial development on State Trust Lands support public schools, seven universities, New Mexico Military Institute, New Mexico School for the Deaf, New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, three hospitals, correctional facilities, water conservation projects, and public building construction and repair. In fiscal year 2018, the State Land Office collected $852 million from lease payments, oil and gas lease sale earnings, rights-of-way, permits, interest, fees, and oil, gas, and mineral royalties.
