Maria Griego-Raby says her business career has led her in many directions, the latest being an appointment to the UNM Board of Regents.
"The University is critical," Griego-Raby said. "Hopefully, I have something to offer from my business background as well as from a community perspective."
Griego-Raby, who is the oldest of 10 siblings in a family that collectively earned seven UNM degrees, has been an active member of the UNM community since she returned to obtain her master's of business administration in 1986.
"I think I was selected as a regent because of my activity as a University volunteer," Griego-Raby said, noting her work with the Anderson Schools of Management Foundation and as the alumni community representative, past president of the Alumni Association and Clinical Operation Board member for the Health Sciences Center.
"I bring a community perspective," Griego-Raby said. "I have a passion for the University. I think I also have a working knowledge of the University from an alumni's perspective."
She said she also has a stepdaughter attending UNM and her husband graduated from the UNM School of Law.
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Griego-Raby said her current priority is the selection of a new president.
"It is a very large and vastly important task," she said. "We need to find the best possible and most qualified person for president. We need to find a person who will lead, not manage."
Aside from her duties as head of the Presidential Search Committee, Griego-Raby said she is still acquainting herself with the duties of a regent. She said she is becoming familiar with the role of the Commission on Higher Education and what role the governor plays.
"I think the governor has the University as a higher priority, in terms of economic development, to improve where we are at and where we are going," she said. "In that light, I think we'll run parallel with his goals for higher education."
Griego-Raby added that she would also like to actively promote the Health Science Center.
"The Health Science Center does enormous things for the community and country," she said. "We need to make sure every New Mexican knows the story and knows it well. We don't do a very good job of communicating that right now."
Griego-Raby is president of Contract Associates, Inc., a commercial and office furniture company with offices in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Juarez, Mexico. She has been named to the Hispanic Business Top 500 list and was given the 2002 Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce Maxie Anderson Small Business Award.
