Memoirs of a lifelong public servant and distinguished insurance agent in New Mexico from 1968 to 2017.

Order from Your INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLER

Booksellers Order from INGRAM CONTENT GROUP

Also PURCHASE BOOK & eBOOK ON AMAZON

Jamie Koch, lifelong Santa Fean, known by many as a major Powerbroker in the state of New Mexico according to the New Mexico Business Weekly, has been an often behind-the-scenes voice for fiscal responsibility and prudent planning as well as being an unselfish public servant in New Mexico politics since 1968. In this book is a collection of his candid, recorded conversations with key people who have helped shape New Mexico over the years. It provides a unique look at New Mexico political history from 1967 to 2015 through conversations with those directly involved. Topics of these conversations include the state’s first subdivision regulation, the Open Meetings Act, the severance tax permanent fund, the Terrero Superfund cleanup, the founding of the New Mexico Mutual Casualty Company, Project SEARCH and Koch’s thirteen years as regent of the University of New Mexico.

Forty-two significant individuals are interviewed including former governor Bill Richardson; United States Senator Martin Heinrich; Senior Editor of the Albuquerque Journal Kent Walz; former House Speaker Raymond Sanchez; Paul Roth, MD, chancellor, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, and dean of the School of Medicine; Chaouki Abdallah, past interim president of the University of New Mexico and past provost; former CEO of the University of New Mexico Hospital Steve McKernan, former State Superintendent of Insurance Chris Krahling; and Bill King, son of former governor Bruce King. Jamie Koch graduated from the University of New Mexico and began his career with Daniels Insurance, a statewide independent insurance agency established in 1937, opening the Santa Fe office in 1973 and serving as president from 1991 until 2014. In 2017 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Independent Insurance Agents of New Mexico. Jamie is past chairman of the New Mexico Game and Fish Commission, past Natural Resource Trustee officer, past chair of the New Mexico Democratic Party, and past president of the University of New Mexico Board of Regents as well as a past New Mexico legislator. Jamie was finance chairman for former governors Bruce King and Bill Richardson. Among the many honors he has received is the William S. Dixon First Amendment Freedom Award from the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government. United States Senator Martin Heinrich refers to Jamie’s environment stewardship in New Mexico as “legendary.” As stated about him in an editorial in the Albuquerque Journal, “It all adds up to many hours, days, weeks, months and years of putting the greater good of New Mexico first.”

Hardcover:
6 X 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-217-4
446 pp.,$40.00

Softcover:
6 X 9
ISBN: 978-1-63293-216-7
446 pp.,$30.00

eBook:
ISBN: 978-1-61139-541-9
pp.,$7.99