Economic Forum celebrates incoming, outgoing leaders

The song “Higher” by Eminem is on Emily Howard’s “Pump Me Up” playlist. She listened to it on her way to Wednesday’s Economic Forum meeting, the final event she attended as a general member.

Come January, she’ll step into the role of executive director.

Howard on Wednesday participated in a Q&A with the outgoing executive director Kathie Winograd, answering a mix of serious and fun questions. She envisions an Economic Forum where nobody wants to miss a meeting.

“I want every CEO to be here on Wednesdays,” Howard said.

Some of her ideas include bringing back smaller groups, like women CEOs and young leadership, and strengthening connections with educational institutions, like Albuquerque Public Schools and universities.

“That's one of the reasons I was attracted to this job opportunity, because I think that I am good at bringing people together, and I hope that I'll continue to do that,” Howard said.

Her personal vision, she said in response to a question from Winograd, is to help build a brighter future for New Mexico. She wants her two young daughters to live in a well-rounded community.

“I would love for them to be able to tell their friends they're from Albuquerque and be really proud of that,” Howard said.

She had a quick answer to Winograd’s superpower question, saying she’d like to be invisible.

“I'm super curious and nosy, maybe, is the better word. So I would love to listen to conversations with people not knowing that I’m listening,” Howard joked, eliciting laughs from the audience.

If she could create a new phone app, she’d have something that would remind her to live in the moment, Howard said.

“Stop thinking about the future,” she said. “Stop worrying about what can happen tomorrow. Stop worrying about what you did yesterday and just focus on now.”

The final question Winograd asked was what question Howard wished she’d been asked. Howard said she’d like to answer the question of what gets her out of bed in the morning.

“I’m a very antsy person. I like to do things,” Howard said. “So I think what gets me out of bed every day is being able to have coffee and tea with my husband and catch up on the news and plan our day, help my girls get ready for school, go to a client meeting, work on a project. I just like to be busy. Getting out of bed, that’s my motivation — I get to do something cool today.”

Howard wasn’t the only leader celebrated at Wednesday’s meeting.

Economic Forum is traditionally held at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in December, and IPCC president and CEO Mike Canfield at the meeting gave updates on work the center is doing, like opening the La Montañita Co-op and the Indian Pueblo Kitchen at the Sunport.

It was Canfield’s last time hosting the Economic Forum as the leader of IPCC, as he plans to retire in March. Having served as CEO for more than a decade and being involved with IPCC for the past three decades, Canfield said it’s been a privilege working with the 19 pueblos of New Mexico.

“It was an honor in my life,” Canfield said, tearing up as attendees gave him a standing ovation.