Jeff Bingaman (b.1943) served as US senator from New Mexico from 1982–2013. He graduated from Harvard University with a BA in government in 1965 and then went on to Stanford Law School, earning a JD in 1968. As a member of the New Mexico bar, Senator Bingaman practiced law with his wife, Anne Kovacovich Bingaman, whom he met in law school. He served as counsel to the New Mexico Constitutional Convention of 1969 and from 1968–1974 was a member of the US Army Reserve.
Jeff Bingaman was elected New Mexico Attorney General in 1978. In 1982, he won election to the United States Senate, and in 2006, was re-elected to serve a fifth term.
Senator Bingaman was the Deputy Democratic Whip and served on a variety of senate committees and subcommittees: the Finance Committee and its Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure; the Subcommittee on International Trade and Global Competitiveness; the Subcommittee on Health Care, Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee; the Subcommittee on International Trade and Global Competitiveness; the Subcommittee on Health Care; and the Joint Economic Committee. The subject of his Compton lecture relates to his long pro-environmental record. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Senator Bingaman was one of the Senate’s leaving advocates for protecting the US natural resources and for promoting sound energy policy. In 2013, he began a new appointment at Stanford University as leader of the Steyer-Taylor Center Initiative on Renewable Portfolio Standards.
