Original Article | Mike Easterling | measterling@sfnewmexican.com | February 3, 2025
For more than 20 years, the Arrowhead Center at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces has provided help to entrepreneurs looking to start or grow a business.
And while the institution’s outreach efforts have extended to communities across the state for many years, it wasn’t until last week that it officially expanded to another site as the Arrowhead Center opened an office at the Santa Fe Business Incubator in partnership with the city of Santa Fe.
City and university officials marked the occasion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday at the incubator, 3900 Paseo del Sol. The list of dignitaries included Ammu Devasthali, the chairwoman of the NMSU board of regents; university President Valerio Ferme; Dana Catron, the interim director and CEO of the Arrowhead Center; Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber; Santa Fe economic development director Johanna Nelson; and Marie Longserre, the president and CEO of the business incubator.
All of them seemed exuberant about the potential impact of the new operation, which also will serve as a satellite office of NMSU’s College of Engineering and offer small businesses energy efficiency technical assistance.
Longserre took to the podium first, noting the long-but-informal relationship the business incubator has had with the Arrowhead Center. She said the fact the institution now has a regular presence in Santa Fe will help everyone working on economic development in Northern New Mexico blend their resources.
The Arrowhead Center office, which features approximately 850 square feet of space, will include a small staff led by a program manager, a position that has not been filled yet. A full-time energy efficiency expert from the College of Engineering and a representative of the Santa Fe Green Chamber of Commerce also will work out of the office, which is envisioned as the hub of operations for the Santa Fe Small Business Navigator Program.
That program, which is based on a national model developed by the U.S. Small Business Administration, will offer targeted support for entrepreneurs and small businesses and connect them to the resources and support they need for growth and long-term success, city officials have said.
Nelson, the city’s economic development director, said the opening of the office was made possible in large part by funding the city received from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, commonly known as the stimulus package. The city sought proposals from various entities for the money, and when NMSU officials responded with the idea of expanding the Arrowhead Center to Santa Fe, the project quickly took flight, she said.
Devasthali, the leader of the NMSU regents, said the Arrowhead Center’s expansion into Santa Fe would expand the university’s reach and reflects its mission as a land-grant institution designed to serve the entire state. She said building bridges between NMSU and the city could benefit entrepreneurs.
“This initiative is a shining example of how partnerships … can empower businesses to grow and survive,” she said.
Devasthali said she hopes Santa Fe-area entrepreneurs take advantage of what the new office has to offer.
“This space is for you,” she said. “It is a place where your ideas will take root,” she said.
Webber said he was having trouble putting into words how excited he was about the possibilities for the new initiative.
“My thoughts are so scattered this morning because there are so many good things going on in this room and this incubator,” he said, noting how many small businesses that had been birthed there quickly had outgrown the facility and moved on.
He also heaped praise on the Arrowhead Center for the work it has done since 2004 to promote economic growth across the state.
“It is the gold standard in our state,” he said, noting the institution has been at the forefront of a concerted effort to broaden New Mexico’s economy.
Ferme said he looks forward to a day when NMSU students and graduates will become an integral part of the new Arrowhead Center office. The university’s new presence in Santa Fe should help it establish a better pipeline of students from this part of the state, he said.
Catron noted she is a Santa Fe resident and works remotely for NMSU. She said during an interview after the ribbon-cutting that she looks forward to engaging with a variety of partners in Santa Fe through the new office.
“We love to come into a community and provide support, but we don’t want to reinvent the wheel or duplicate the wheel our partners will be doing,” she said.
Catron said she had been trying for at least 10 years to establish a more formal relationship between NMSU and the business incubator.
“Frankly, it took a long time to show what the impact could be,” she said, adding she views the university’s new foothold in the city as a way to broaden its influence across the northern half of the state.
“It’s not just the city of Santa Fe,” she said. “This is the perfect opportunity for us to get up to Farmington or Los Alamos.”
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New Mexico State University
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