Chuck Wellborn

I was raised in Albuquerque, got undergraduate and law degrees at the University of New Mexico. Finding I didn’t know enough to do the kind of legal work I found interesting, I got an LL.M degree in corporation law from NYU.

I practiced law for about 30 years, mostly doing corporate transactions and advising startup companies as a partner at the state's largest law firm. But boredom and my long-time interest in promoting technology-based economic development in New Mexico led me to leave the law firm to take a position at the University of New Mexico creating and heading a new organization to patent and market faculty inventions at the UNM. The organization is now known as UNM Rainforest Innovations.

In 2000, after five challenging years, we had a solid organization and growing licensing and startup activity. And though I have remained on the board to the present, I was ready for a new gig.

Community affairs and public policy have always interested me. I’ve been president of the State Bar of New Mexico and Chairman of Albuquerque’s Economic Forum, composed of representatives of the major business, education and local government organizations. I also led the creation of the New Mexico Tax Research Institute and the reorganization and re-launching of the New Mexico Small Business Investment Corporation. I also have served as an officer or board member of other business, economic development, arts and public policy organizations.

When I left UNM I thought if I went back to law, I would have spent my working career with a fairly thin slice of the population. So I took a job with the McCune Charitable Foundation, a Santa Fe-based foundation that provides millions of dollars in grants each year to a variety of organizations, public and private, around our state.

At McCune, my job was primarily in economic development, and I handled other projects too, from business incubators, to public policy research, to assisting local food producers.

I gave up the McCune job after ten years, to do more reading, travel, cycling and becoming a decent guitar player. We moved to a downtown condo and we enjoy hiking in the nearby Rio Grande bosque. I've also taken hundreds of photos of the incredible sunsets from our ninth-floor balcony.

I also do occasional blogs and posts on Facebook and Instagram.

I still serve on a few boards, including the New Mexico Tax Research Institute, UNM Rainforest Innovations and the Impact Investments Committee of the Albuquerque Community Foundation.