Ernie C'DeBaca is President and CEO of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, and was named a 2020 Top CEO by Albuquerque Business First. Before joining the chamber, he served as Vice President of Governmental Affairs at New Mexico's largest utility company, experience that gave him a strong grounding in advocating for business interests before government bodies.
At the chamber, C'DeBaca has focused on listening to staff and positioning them to make the most of their skills, and under his leadership the organization established its first Employee Resource Group and expanded its 22,000-square-foot campus to include computer labs and conference space. He built the chamber's Procurement Series program, which in 2021 alone helped generate seven contracts worth $2.3 million and created 15 jobs, and he launched the Southwest 8(a) Contractors Association to support minority and disadvantaged businesses.
C'DeBaca also led the Create New Mexico coalition to finalist status in the $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge, securing $500,000 to help develop the state's creative technology industries, and oversees the chamber's Convention and Tourism Department, believed to be the only such department run by a Hispanic chamber nationally. He frequently speaks about wanting to elevate New Mexico's competitiveness while keeping skilled talent in the state and attracting more of it.
