Mayor’s Office Appoints Chief of Staff
Today, Mayor Tim Keller announced the appointment of Terry Brunner as the new Chief of Staff for the City of Albuquerque. In this role, Brunner will oversee the daily operations of the Mayor's Office, managing various areas such as public affairs, constituent services, communications, intergovernmental relations, strategic initiatives, community engagement, and administrative functions. Brunner has been serving as the Director of the City’s Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency since 2022.
Before joining the City of Albuquerque, Terry Brunner was the CEO of Pivotal New Mexico, a non-profit devoted to increasing funding to local non-profit and public projects.
From 2009-2016 he served as President Barack Obama’s appointee in the position of New Mexico State Director for USDA Rural Development where he managed a grant, loan, and loan guarantee portfolio in New Mexico in excess of $1.5 billion meant to improve the economic stability of rural communities. In that capacity, he led the agency as it managed major broadband, community facilities, water and waste water projects during a challenging time of economic stimulus and sequestration/budget cuts. Terry helped increase USDA’s program delivery in direct home loans, home repairs and protected the Agency’s financial interest in more than 100 multi-family properties.
Terry served as New Mexico U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman’s longest-serving State Director and 2006 campaign manager. As a Policy Analyst at the Santa Fe County Commission, he helped create the County’s Health Policy and Planning Commission and the County Open Space, Land, Parks and Trails Advisory Commission and assisted County Commissioner Javier Gonzales during his time as the Vice President of the National Association of Counties. Terry served as a volunteer on the boards of the Quivira Coalition and the Friends of the Valles Caldera; as was an appointed member of the Albuquerque/Bernalillo Library Advisory Board, the Albuquerque Development Commission, the New Mexico Jobs Council and the Bernalillo County Charter Commission. He holds a B.A. from the University of Arizona and a M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of New Mexico. Terry lives in Albuquerque with his wife and two daughters.