Kyle Lee to step down from CNM Ingenuity after 10 years

Kyle Lee is stepping down from CNM Ingenuity after 10 years at the helm of the Central New Mexico Community College workforce and economic development arm, closing a run that helped make the organization a major player in Albuquerque’s training pipeline. CNM said Lee joined the nonprofit in 2015 and will leave later this summer, with a national search for his replacement set to begin soon.

His departure lands at a moment when Bernalillo County employers are still trying to fill jobs that require faster, more targeted training. CNM said Lee helped expand Ingenuity statewide and pushed its offerings into nearly 20 in-demand tech fields, while also broadening into commercial truck driving, advanced manufacturing, healthcare and electrical linework. The organization now spans technology, skilled trades, film and digital media, healthcare support roles, human services and professional development, a much wider footprint than the coding-focused operation Lee inherited.

One of the clearest measures of that change is Deep Dive Coding. Founded in 2013 and acquired by CNM Ingenuity in 2014, the program has produced nearly 400 graduates, according to CNM. Those graduates have earned an average starting salary of $48,000 in the Albuquerque area and have started 24 businesses, giving the program a direct local impact on wages and entrepreneurship. Lee also oversaw the launch of FUSE Makerspace and the Ingenuity Venture Fund, both designed to support entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses and the broader New Mexico economy.

The most ambitious bet under Lee came in quantum training. CNM received $862,000 in federal funding in April 2024 to establish a quantum science lab and develop the Quantum Technician Bootcamp, and the first cohort was scheduled to begin Sept. 29, 2024. CNM said entry-level technicians in that field were expected to earn $65,000 to $85,000 a year, and later described the initiative as the first quantum learning lab at a community college in the nation. Sandia National Laboratories later called the bootcamp a 10-week, 400-hour program.

Lee’s tenure also intersected with a wider public push on workforce development. New Mexico’s Workforce GRO program was created in 2023 with a $60 million, three-year investment, and in fiscal 2025 it served more than 6,200 students across 224 programs with a 94% completion rate and an average participant age of 35. In Albuquerque, Job Training Albuquerque said CNM Ingenuity administers the program and that from January 2020 through March 2025 it helped skill up more than 2,725 employees, create more than 1,225 jobs and add $58.7 million in annual wage-earning power. For a region that relies on CNM to move adult learners and career changers into work, the next leader will inherit an organization with far broader reach, and bigger expectations, than it had a decade ago.