LOCAL COLUMN
OPINION: Investment isn't the enemy, it's the ladder NM needs
I want to share some personal perspective on a conversation I keep seeing in this community 鈥� and in New Mexico broadly 鈥� about business, investment and outside capital.
I've spent my career as a company founder and medical device venture capitalist. I've helped bring multiple medical devices to market 鈥� devices that are in hospitals and clinics right now, catching diseases earlier, reducing surgical complications, keeping people alive who otherwise might not be. None of that happened because someone sat in a committee room and voted against things. It happened because investors took risks, founders worked 80-hour weeks, regulators engaged constructively and communities said, "Yes, we want innovation here."
I know what it takes to build something. And I know 鈥� from hard personal experience 鈥� how rare and precious it is when investment actually shows up in a place like New Mexico.
New Mexico consistently ranks among the poorest states in the nation. Our median household income sits well below the national average. We rank near the bottom in child poverty, economic mobility and private-sector job creation. We are heavily dependent on federal spending 鈥� Kirtland Air Force Base, White Sands Missile Range, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories 鈥� which means our economy is one political cycle away from serious disruption. Vast stretches of our state 鈥� Gallup, Espa帽ola, Tucumcari 鈥� face generational poverty with few economic ladders in sight.
This is not a criticism of New Mexicans. It is a description of what happens when a state doesn't build a culture and policy environment that welcomes business formation and outside investment.
When a medical device company forms, it doesn't just create a product 鈥� it creates engineering jobs, manufacturing jobs, regulatory affairs jobs, sales jobs. It generates tax revenue. It attracts other companies who want to be near talent. It gives young people a reason to stay and build careers locally rather than move to Austin, Texas, or Denver.
When I helped bring a cardiac monitoring device to market, I wasn't just thinking about the balance sheet. I was thinking about the cardiologist in a rural hospital who would now have a tool she didn't have before 鈥� and the patient in a small town who would get a diagnosis that previously required a trip to a major city. Investment and innovation translate directly into human well-being.
However, New Mexico has developed a habit 鈥� particularly in certain communities 鈥� of reflexive opposition to business and investment. Every outside investor is presumed to be a predator. Every corporate entity is assumed to have hidden motives. The default posture is suspicion and obstruction.
But that history cannot be the only lens through which we evaluate every proposal, forever. Because the cost of reflexive opposition is paid by the people of New Mexico 鈥� year after year 鈥� in the form of jobs that go to other states, investments redirected to Arizona or Texas, and young people who leave because there's nothing here for them.
Theodore Roosevelt spoke about "the man in the arena" 鈥� the one who strives, fails and tries again. His point was simple: It is easy to criticize. What is hard 鈥� what actually matters 鈥� is doing the work and building something.
New Mexico needs more people in the arena. We need founders, investors and people willing to risk capital and try to build something here. And we need communities that say, "We have high standards and we want you here."
The families across this state deserve the jobs, infrastructure and opportunity that investment creates. They deserve to live in a state where things get built.
Where to start?
A practical beginning would be proactive outreach combined with meaningful policy reform. New Mexico should send economic development teams to knock on the doors of petrochemical firms in Houston, inviting them to build environmentally friendly, value-added petrochemical facilities in our state 鈥� facilities that turn raw resources into higher-margin products while meeting strong environmental standards. At the same time, we must reduce the cost, burden and uncertainty of permitting by implementing clear timelines and accountability, similar to what Pennsylvania has done by guaranteeing permitting deadlines or having the state pay fines for late performance. These steps would send a powerful signal that New Mexico is open for responsible business and serious about turning natural advantages into broad-based opportunity.
John Lonergan is a long-time resident of Santa Fe, and has worked to improve education, incomes and healthcare in the state.
