SIC financial adviser under fire for Earthstone/Growstone investments

Leonard Lee Rawson

Capitol Report New Mexico - State Investment Council (SIC) board member Leonard Lee Rawson is ticked off at the manager of an investment firm and next month the company may see its contract with the SIC terminated. “In my eyes, [Brian Birk] has lost all credibility with the council,” Rawson told Capitol Report New Mexico by phone Tuesday afternoon (March 28). Birk is the managing partner of Sun Mountain Capital, an investment firm based in Santa Fe that acts as the SIC’s in-state venture capital adviser. Rawson and other council members brought up concerns about Sun Mountain investing $2.5 million in state venture capital money in Growstone, a company that’s a spinoff of Earthstone International, a company that received some $11 million in SIC money during the administration of then-Gov. Bill Richardson. New Mexico Watchdog has investigated the company, raising sharp questions about its financial stability, political connections and whether the state has much chance of recovering any of that money.Rawson made a motion to terminate the contract between Sun Mountain and the SIC during Tuesday’s monthly meeting of the council, which was attended by Gov. Susana Martinez. Read More News New Mexico

SIC financial adviser under fire for Earthstone/Growstone investments