003. Monique Jacobson: Voice of Children Everywhere.

Voice of a Lion

Monique Jacobson is a bold, strategic thinker and change agent. In a 20-year executive career, spanning both the private and public sectors, she has had a significant and measurable impact in every position she has held. She is a natural leader with keen intuition and a strong demonstrated history of results driven by data-based decision making. She is currently the founder of Monique & Associates, a consulting, coaching and training company focused on igniting meaningful change. After graduating with honors from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Monique spent 11 years at PepsiCo as one of the youngest directors in the company’s history. During this time, she led innovation for Gatorade, including overseeing the $500 Million new product launch of Gatorade G2. She was then handpicked to start and lead the Accessible Health and Wellness business unit, the first social enterprise undertaking for PepsiCo. This division was tasked with finding sustainable business models to address nutrient poverty. At the time Monique left PepsiCo, she was the General Manager of the $1.8B Quaker Breakfast portfolio. In 2011, Monique was appointed by the Governor of New Mexico, serving first as the Cabinet Secretary for the New Mexico Tourism Department and subsequently as the Cabinet Secretary for the Children Youth and Families Department (CYFD). As the head of the Tourism Department, Monique engineered and executed a complete overhaul of the department, which led to a turnaround of the industry and a record-breaking number of tourists and dollars coming into the state. Her development and launch of the iconic New Mexico True campaign has been transformational for the tourism industry in New Mexico. As Cabinet Secretary of CYFD, Monique was responsible for four major divisions: Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice, Early Childhood Services and Children’s Behavioral Health. In this position, she led a department with over 2,000 employees and 32 offices throughout the state, including three 24-hour secure facilities for incarcerated youth. She implemented numerous reforms within the agency, established vocational education programs at facilities for incarcerated youth, worked with the legislature to secure nearly $100 million in increased funding for the agency, and created the first ever Child Wellness Center in the state. Monique was born in Taos, NM and has also lived and worked in Philadelphia and Chicago. She has a passion for changing the world, helping people realize their full potential and watching her sons play music and baseball. She currently lives in Albuquerque, NM with her husband and three children