New Mexico Business Expansion Gets White-Glove Service
Economic development organizations regularly court companies to locate their enterprises in their municipalities. But New Mexico’s “white glove service” helps the state stand out from the competition, driving more than $2 billion in investments in 2025.
To effectively attract and retain businesses, the New Mexico Partnership acts as a single point of contact for companies seeking to relocate, expand or invest in the state.
“We are the team that helps the companies that want to relocate to New Mexico,” says Melinda Allen, president and CEO of the New Mexico Partnership. “Our ‘white glove service’ helps them through every step of the site selection process. From understanding the local workforce, connecting them to state and local incentives, introducing them to permitting and so on. There are 50 to 100 business decisions that need to be made before a company chooses a new location, and we become a single point of contact for the company to make finding those answers as easy as possible.”
The Partnership collaborates with Economic Development New Mexico, in addition to regional economic development organizations, local resources and educational institutions that help simplify the site location process.
Secure and Seamless
It’s a long way from a company’s initial investigation to headline announcements. Allen says projects typically take 16 to 18 months before information is made public. Individuals leading a site search who reach out to the Partnership are first assigned a confidential ID.
“Every project we work with has strict confidentiality rules,” Allen says.
The site search outlines everything the requestor might need, including whether they’re looking for an existing building or a new build on a greenfield site, whether they have restrictions on how close or far they can be from infrastructure or what utilities the project will require.
“We send out those requirements to all our local economic development organizations (EDOs) and teams. If they have available sites that match the requirements, the EDOs respond back with the details,” Allen says.
Site selectors may also inquire about workforce data or proximity to specific suppliers within a designated radius of the proposed location.
“We help gather all that info,” Allen says. “We put all the requests together with info from the state, such as incentives and permits, and present it to the company with all the details about how you can be successful in New Mexico and all the communities where we have sites ready for you.”
Scaling Up
This concierge-level service is bringing thousands of jobs to the state, including exciting startup companies. For instance, clean-energy innovator Pacific Fusion was supported by UP.Abundance and local stakeholders when selecting Albuquerque for its $1 billion research and manufacturing campus.
Brian Adams is the co-founder and managing partner of UP.Abundance, a multistage venture capital fund focused on deep-tech companies looking to scale – specifically in New Mexico.
“We meet these companies, talk about New Mexico and what it can offer, and when they get serious, the New Mexico Partnership is where we route them to when they’re looking for a site,” Adams says. “The New Mexico Partnership has become a key collaborator in this whole ecosystem for us. Whether a startup wants to generate clean energy, test or deploy systems, or manufacture at scale, we do all three and much more here. We have as much renewable energy potential as any state in the country, we have the testing facilities, and we have incentives built for companies to grow. When a founder needs space, workforce and competitive incentives, we rely on the Partnership to show startups what New Mexico can do.”
The Partnership works directly with companies as well as foreign trade offices and venture groups like UP.Abundance looking to bring their portfolio companies to the state.
“We provide that level of service and connection we believe is hard to duplicate anywhere else. We want companies to feel like they can embrace our communities and get the information they need and can trust us when they’re selecting a site. We want to make the process as easy a lift as possible so they can make a good business decision,” Allen says. “There’s so much interest; New Mexico is on the cusp of being the next top location. We’re excited to see that level of interest across a wide variety of industries.”
Adams also says he sees the state’s trajectory reaching new heights, thanks in part to the work the New Mexico Partnership conducts.
“The Partnership is going to help unlock the kind of growth for startups they wouldn’t be able to access elsewhere,” he says. “Local sites, supply chain vendors, regional economic development groups, incentives, workforce – we’re lucky the team knows how to navigate all that. They have this incredible wealth of knowledge and can move really fast.”
Get to Know New Mexico
Want to learn more about living and working in New Mexico? Check out the latest edition of Livability New Mexico Economic Development.