Cynthia Hall Biography

Cynthia has served as District 1 Commissioner of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission since January 2017, following her election in November 2016, and as Vice-Chair until January, 2019. She was previously an associate general counsel to the PRC, assistant staff counsel in the New Mexico Public Service Commission and Energy and Minerals Department, and associate general counsel, hearing officer, and felony insurance fraud prosecutor in the New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance. She serves on the Committee on Electricity and the Subcommittee on Nuclear Issues–Waste Disposal of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. While on the Commission, Cynthia has advocated for a higher Renewable Portfolio Standard and worked to require consideration of storage as a resource in Integrated Resource Plans and for competitive procurement of renewable resources by utilities.

Before joining the Commission, Cynthia worked in private practice in corporate, real estate, land-use, medical malpractice and tribal law and as an in-house regulatory and corporate attorney at Sandia National Laboratories and the United States Navy. At the outset of her law career, she was law extern for the Honorable Terry J. Hatter, Judge, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and law clerk for the Honorable Oliver Seth, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Prior to her law career, Cynthia worked as a research scientist in industry and academia in environmental toxicology and neurochemistry.

Cynthia is a former Bernalillo County Planning Commissioner and former Vice President of the New Mexico Renewable Energy Association. She founded and led two non-profit organizations to protect open space and improve art and music education in Albuquerque public schools and is a board member of the Dance Theater of the Southwest. She holds a J.D. from Southwestern Law School, an M.S. in Physiology from St. Louis University, and a B.A in Biology from Washington University.