Beverlee McClure picked to lead Adams State University

New Mexico’s former secretary of higher education will be the next president of Colorado’s Adams State University.

Trustees picked Beverlee McClure to lead the school in Alamosa on Thursday after a year-long search to replace David Svaldi, who is leaving after 10 years as president.

McClure will be the first woman to serve as president in its 94-year history.

The Pueblo Chieftain reports she has been CEO of the New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry, an industry lobbying group, for the last nine years. Before that, she served in the cabinet of former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and as president of Clovis Community College in New Mexico and as a provost at St. Johns River Community College in Florida.