Meow Wolf leader honored by business paper as top exec
Vince Kadlubek, who chairs the Santa Fe Planning Commission and heads the arts collective Meow Wolf, on Tuesday was named New Mexico chief executive of the year by Albuquerque Business First as part of the business publication’s annual “C-Suite” awards.
A panel of New Mexico business executives selected Kadlubek, 35, who “created the business plan for and helped execute the creation” of the collective’s interactive House of Eternal Return exhibit on Siler Road, which attracted 400,000 visitors in its first year of operation after launching in March 2016.
Kadlubek, a Santa Fe native, graduated from Santa Fe High in 2000. The son of public school teachers and a self-described one-time “punk” who had runins with authorities, he called the honor a surprise. “I’m grateful for the recognition, grateful for all the support people in New Mexico have given Meow Wolf and given me.”
Mayor Javier Gonzales appointed Kadlubek to the Planning Commission in 2015 and this year reappointed him for a second two-year term.
He was a founding member of Meow Wolf, which earlier this year received $1.1 million in economic development grant funds from the city and state for an expansion that will anchor its operations in Santa Fe and which raised millions more through private investors. The company also has launched a merchandising business and food truck.
The group plans to remake a former manufacturing plant into a creative production studio. Meow Wolf will contribute $4 million to the construction project and will hire 250 to 300 New Mexico workers on top of the 150 it already employs.
The location of the collective’s next permanent installation will be announced in the next three or four months, Kadlubek said.