Land chief takes job at non-profit
Ariz. commissioner will join Sonoran Institute as its CEO
by Craig Harris – Nov. 21, 2012 10:18 PM The Republic | azcentral.com
Arizona Land Commissioner Maria Baier, who has worked for two Republican governors and served on the Phoenix City Council, will leave state government to become chief executive of the Sonoran Institute.
“I’m really excited about it,” Baier said of her new job. “They do great work. They really try very hard to bring diverse interests together on land issues that affect the western United States.”
Baier’s last day with the state agency, which is responsible for managing millions of acres of Arizona trust land, is Nov. 29. She becomes the Sonoran Institute’s CEO on Dec. 3.
“Maria was our top choice, and we are thrilled she has accepted our offer,” said Bill Mitchell, chairman of the institute’s board. “We are very excited about the enthusiasm, vitality and vision that she brings to our organization for the future.”
The Sonoran Institute is a Tucson-based non-profit organization involved in public-policy decisions affecting land issues in western North America. For the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2011, the institute reported having 53 employees, nearly $2.1 million in net assets and $6 million in revenue.
Baier will replace Luther Propst, who founded the organization in 1991 and has led the Sonoran Institute since its inception.
Baier, 51, quipped that Sonoran’s CEO job opens only every two decades and that it was something she couldn’t turn down.
John Shepard, senior adviser for the institute, said Baier brings expertise in land management and public policy from her roles in state government and on the Phoenix council, where she served before becoming land commissioner.
Shepard said the group expects Baier to expand the organization in intermountain states.
Baier said she will divide her time in her new job between the Sonoran Institute’s Phoenix and Tucson offices and will travel to other offices in Montana, Colorado and Mexico.
Shepard declined to disclose Baier’s salary.
Propst was paid $120,640 a year, according to the group’s most recent financial records.
Baier, who lives in Phoenix, was appointed land commissioner in 2009 by Gov. Jan Brewer.
During Baier’s tenure at the Arizona State Land Department, the agency earned $560 million in revenue through leasing and sales of 25,000 acres of trust land.
Proceeds from the sales and leasing benefit schools.
Baier, who also worked for then-Gov. Fife Symington, said she was proud that the Land Department had started solar leases and wind farms while she ran the agency.
“Even in a bad economy, we generated a lot of money for the beneficiaries of the trust,” she said.
The governor called Baier a “wonderful asset” to her administration.
Brewer must now appoint a new commissioner.
Matthew Benson, a spokesman for the governor, said that if the governor does not appoint a replacement for Baier by Nov. 29, Deputy Commissioner Vanessa Hickman will become the acting commissioner.
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