NM human resources director takes Biden administration job
Governor praises aide’s energy, problem-solving ability
SANTA FE — Pam Coleman, top human resources official for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham over the past twoplus years, has stepped down to take a new job with President Joe Biden’s administration.
The top-ranking job with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget represents a return of sorts to Washington, D.C., for Coleman, who also worked for exPresident Barack Obama’s administration before being appointed director of the State Personnel Office by Lujan Grisham in January 2019.
In her Jan. 27 resignation letter to the governor, Coleman, 55, said she would take a “mutual passion for public service” to the Biden administration.
Specifically, she will serve as head of the federal budget office’s Office of Performance and Personnel Management, according to The Washington Post.
As director of the State Personnel Office for the past two years, Coleman worked — at Lujan Grisham’s direction — to undo a state government human resources consolidation order implemented during former Gov. Susana Martinez’s final years in office.
She also implemented a new parental paid leave policy for state employees and took over a key role overseeing the state’s census outreach efforts after another Lujan Grisham Cabinet secretary departed.
In a statement, Lujan Grisham called Coleman a valuable member of her team and said she would take energy and a problem-solving ability to the Biden administration.
“State government is a great place to
work, and Pam helped make it even better, helping to implement new leave, and fitness and wellness policies and working with important labor partners, among other important projects,” Lujan Grisham said.
Ricky Serna, a former deputy secretary at the Department of Workforce Solutions and the Higher Education Department, is serving as acting state personnel director, a Lujan Grisham spokesman said Monday.
Meanwhile, Coleman’s departure marks the latest turnover in Lujan Grisham’s Cabinet. While some turnover in a governor’s tenure is not unusual, at least six agency heads have now either been fired or have left since Lujan Grisham took office in 2019.