Cabinet Secretary Kari Armijo has been with HSD for more than two decades. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed Kari Armijo to her cabinet in October 2023. She was named Acting Secretary for the New Mexico Human Services Department in January 2023. Armijo was the Deputy Secretary for the department from 2020 – 2023. She spent 20 years with the New Mexico Medicaid program and left as the Deputy Director of the program where she served as the Affordable Care Act Implementation Director.
As Deputy Secretary, she also oversaw the Child Support Enforcement Division, Information Technology Division, multiple IT projects including the Medicaid Management Information System Replacement (MMISR) project, and several initiatives and priorities related to Medicaid reimbursement policy.
Ms. Armijo worked for nearly 20 years with the New Mexico Medicaid program charged with directing and coordinating Medicaid policy and program operations, including eligibility and enrollment, benefit package design, and provider rate-setting. Ms. Armijo was the Affordable Care Act Implementation Director, a role she enjoyed since passage of the federal law in 2010. Ms. Armijo served for three years as the Special Projects Director for the New Mexico Medicaid program, and she previously held positions directing Medicaid child/adolescent health and school-based health center programs.