Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has recently appointed former New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Barbara Vigil as the new secretary of the Child, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD), according to a KRQE report.
Vigil, who served as a Supreme Court Justice for eight years, will assume her new position on Oct. 1.
"This is a huge responsibility that I am prepared to undertake and to succeed. I have to say that the health and wellbeing of our children is critical to our future," Vigil said during a news conference recorded by KRQE.
During her tenure as a district court judge, Vigil ruled on over 16,000 cases and supervised the children's court in the First Judicial District.
She is replacing Secretary Brian Blalock, who is leaving to "support his wife's pursuit of new work opportunities in California," according to the governor's office.
This is Lujan Grisham's third cabinet secretary change in the past two weeks; on July 29, she appointed new secretaries to head the Public Education and Public Safety departments.