The University of New Mexico

NEWS RELEASE

 


Contact: Susan McKinsey, 277-1989

March 2, 2006

UNM Announces Finalists for University Counsel
(note biographical additions)

Three finalists for the position of University Counsel of the University of New Mexico have been selected and will come to campus for interviews during the week of March 20, 2006. The finalists are Patrick Apodaca, Kirk Miller and Jo Ann Stringfield.

The University Counsel works directly with the president and the board of regents as the senior legal officer of the university and is charged with providing legal advice on a wide range of complex institutional issues, managing a large legal department and overseeing the work of outside counsel. The finalists were selected by a 10-member search committee from a national search process that began last summer.

Patrick Apodaca has practiced law for more than 27 years in both the private and public sectors, advising boards of directors and senior management on a broad range of corporate matters. His concentrations include business and real property transactions and contracts. He has been a member of the Albuquerque law firm of Keleher & McLeod, P.A. since 1986. He has served on the firm's executive committee, participating in the organization's management, budgeting, personnel matters, policy formulation and strategic planning. Apodaca's public sector experience includes service as associate counsel to President Jimmy Carter, independent counsel for the City of Albuquerque , and member of the State of New Mexico Investment Council . He is a member of the American Law Institute and is named in The Best Lawyers in America . Apodaca received a J.D. from Harvard University and a B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University ( School of Foreign Service .)

Kirk Miller has 25 years combined private law practice, public company and not-for-profit health care industry experience. He has been with the San Francisco office of Quinn, Emanuel, Urquhard, Oliver and Hedges since 2004, practicing primarily in the areas of employment and financial fraud litigation. For the previous nine years, Miller served as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary at Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals , the nation's largest nonprofit, tax exempt organization, with annual revenues of $25 billion and 130,000 employees. He was a member of the senior management team, reported to the chairman and CEO, advised both management and the board of directors, and led a department of 65 lawyers. Prior to joining Kaiser, Miller was with American Medical International, Inc., also as general counsel. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of California , Riverside and of Syracuse University College of Law.

Jo Ann Stringfield currently is interim Senior Associate University Counsel at the University of New Mexico , serving as lead attorney for the Research and Technology Law group. Prior to coming to UNM, Stringfield had as distinguished career as an Air Force judge advocate (JAG), attaining the permanent rank of colonel. As a supervisory and litigation attorney, she was assigned to 13 locations, including Korea and England . She represented the interests of the Air Force and the Department of Defense in federal civil and criminal courts, courts-martial, state utility commissions, the Government Accounting Office, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and in British Crown Court . Among her many awards are the Air Force General Counsel's Award, the Air Force Legion of Merit, and five Air Force Meritorious Service Medals. Stringfield earned her B.A. from Boston University in 1974, her J.D. from Willamette University College of Law in Salem , Oregon in 1981, and her LL.M. in Government Procurement from The George Washington University in Washington , D.C. in 2001.

The schedule for open forums for the candidates is being developed and will be released as soon as it is available.

 


The University of New Mexico is the state's largest university, serving more than 32,000 students. UNM is home to the state's only schools of law, medicine, pharmacy and architecture and operates New Mexico's only academic health center. UNM is noted for comprehensive undergraduate programs and research that benefits the state and the nation.

www.unm.edu