vailsymposium

John Hickenlooper is a lifetime entrepreneur who ran as a “dark horse” to become Mayor of Denver in 2003. In eight years, he had streamlined the total workforce by seven percent, the first such reduction in Denver’s history. In 2005, TIME Magazine named him as one of the five top big-city mayors in America. He added “author” to his resume with the publication of his memoir, “The Opposite of Woe: My Life in Beer and Politics.”

When he was inaugurated Governor of Colorado in 2011, having run on his history of collaboration for community good, he became the first Denver mayor to be elected governor in 150 years. He also became the first geologist to become a governor in the history of the nation and the first brewer since Sam Adams in 1792. Again, he recruited talent from all quarters and redefined the relationship between a state government and its business and civic communities.

Former Governor Hickenlooper applied his passion to create good government on a national level as well. His 2015 “Chair’s Initiative” at the National Governors Association, focusing on hiring, appropriate creation and implementation of regulations, and continuous improvement, was a bipartisan success. He is a great believer that governors, far more than Congress, can revive American democracy.