Outstanding Women of Valencia County:

Denise Vigil

Published March 13, 2025 - 5:00 a.m. Modified March 13, 2025 - 12:27 p.m.

Denise Vigil was first elected sheriff in 2018, and is currently serving her second term in office.

She is a high school graduate, and completed some college courses. She has two sons, Anthony and Paul; two grandchildren, Peyton and Christian; daughter-in-law, Anastasia; and mother, Kathy.

Vigil is the council chairwoman for the New Mexico Sheriff’s Professional Standards Accreditation Council, a member of New Mexico Sheriff’s Association, and a member of the Western States Sheriffs Association.

How do you achieve work-life balance?

“Work life balance has been difficult, while I do take time for myself I am on call 24/7. I really do not know how to ignore a phone call from my staff or the public. I still find I am able to continue whatever I am doing in my personal time and take care of issues which may arise.

“I contribute this to my amazing staff, we all know we have to work as a team for this agency to keep moving forward, and the minor disruptions usually don’t take away from enjoying our time away from the office.”

What is the biggest challenge and most rewarding aspect of your profession?

“The biggest challenge is keeping up with the constant financial needs to keep deputies. We are so close to the metro area, we end up losing good, trained deputies to larger agencies.

The most rewarding lately has been being able to hire enough deputies to offer specialized units. We have a traffic unit, our SWAT team is constantly growing, we also opened up a new position in the detective division and dedicated one to specifically work on sex offenders. We also added a K-9 to our staff, and will soon be looking into putting our CRIT together again.

“The reward in the end is watching these deputies excited to be part of these units and eager to learn more of what this career has to offer. When you are able to create these units in a mid size agency it’s an accomplishment and that in itself is the reward.”

What advice do you have for aspiring women looking to advance their careers?

“My advice for women looking to advance in this career, I commend them for wanting to be part of this at all. History has always presented this as a ‘man’s job,’ but I do believe we have shown ourselves to be essential to the career.

“I would say to any woman stay strong and motivated in your path. Let your moral compass guide and keep your integrity at the forefront, with that you can achieve anything.”

How do you stay motivated and inspired as a leader?

“My motivation is watching the growth of the agency, the deputies who are excited to start their career and ultimately knowing I am part of this. My command staff contributed to my inspiration as a leader; I rely heavily on them to keep the wheels turning and see their interest and continued motivation to meet the goals of shaping a respected agency.

“After I officially retire, I will have 25 years of the best career on earth, my inspiration is having walked all paths (patrol, detective, detective sergeant and, finally, sheriff) to where I currently am right now.”

If you could say one thing to your younger self or give them one piece of advice what would it be?

“I would have said, ‘I wish I would have broken out of my shell a lot sooner, had more confidence in myself to start this career when I was younger.’”

What legacy do you want to leave?

“What I want to leave behind is the deputies know I have always had their best interest at heart. I want them to know their voice and opinions do matter as in the past we didn’t have those options in my early career.

“I also want the public to know I took this position they elected me to do seriously and, although I am not perfect, I feel I have done my job the best I could and I hope we will be looked at as making a positive impact.

“I would love for my grandkids to brag a little about their nana one day but, in all seriousness, I remain humble enough to know that no one can do this alone, as I have always said it takes a team to make this work, so my legacy would be ‘I lead a great team.’”