Walker Stapleton

Walker Stapleton (born April 15, 1974) is serving in his second term as Colorado's State Treasurer. He was elected on November 2, 2010 after defeating incumbent Cary Kennedy with 50.73% of the vote and reelected on November 4, 2014, defeating former Congresswoman Betsy Markey by 5%. .
Currently Treasurer Stapleton is the only two-term Republican elected official serving in a statewide elected office in Colorado.
The duties of the Colorado State Treasurer’s office include investing Colorado’s tax dollars, overseeing the unclaimed property division, which distributes property back to its lawful owners, and serving on the board of the Public Employee Retirement Association (PERA).
In 2014, Treasurer Stapleton was named one of America's top 24 rising political stars by the Aspen Institute. He received the Aspen Institute's prestigious Rodel Fellowship, a program designed to bring together elected officials who have demonstrated an outstanding ability to work responsibly across partisan divisions and bring greater civility to public discourse.
In 2015, Walker Stapleton was selected as a Hunt-Kean Leadership Fellow. The Hunt-Kean fellowship for education leadership brings together 16 of the top Statewide elected officials from around the country. The fellows discuss education reform issues with some of the leading foundations and entrepreneurs in education.
Treasurer Stapleton serves on the Harvard Business School Alumni Board as one of about 70 graduates appointed to provide expertise and input to the School's leaders.
Treasurer Stapleton is a Metro Regional Council Member of the El Pomar Foundation which gives grants to non-profits that provide basic services such as food and shelter to people in need.
Other than serving as an advocate for the Colorado pension members and taxpayers, Treasurer Stapleton wrote the law to allow County Treasurers to invest in US Treasuries after the S&P downgrade of the United States' credit rating, which has saved millions of dollars in lost revenue. He has also changed the way Colorado issues debt, making it more transparent and saving Coloradan's millions of dollars in the process.

Treasurer Stapleton is from Colorado. His family has been active in Colorado since the early 1900s. Before being sworn in as Colorado’s 43rd State Treasurer, Treasurer Stapleton served as CEO and CFO of various private and publicly traded companies.

Walker graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts, and he holds a graduate degree in business economics from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is the son of diplomat Craig Roberts Stapleton. His great-grandfather Benjamin F. Stapleton, was a politician who served five terms as mayor of Denver. However, recently allegations by minority groups have raised the claim that Benjamin Stapleton was a member of the KKK. In 2015, a Denver group wanted to rename Denver's Stapleton neighborhood, claiming it has racist connotations. The people behind the movement say the name Stapleton is for former Denver Mayor Benjamin Stapleton, who served in the 1920s. They call him a Klansman. The group Black Lives Matter 5280 wants people to know that for some, the name is uncomfortable, and harkens back to a time when Denver’s rumored KKK Klansman former mayor Benjamin Stapleton ran the city. “Maybe this is our confederate flag for Colorado or for Denver. It reminds of us of a past, of a time where people were more obviously or directly oppressed,” said Bianca Pullen, a spokeswoman for the group. They posted the thousands of flyers that turned up on the doorsteps and front porches of neighbors, and ask anyone offended by the name to sign a petition.

His mother, Dorothy Walker Stapleton, is a first cousin of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, making him a second cousin of former U.S. President George W. Bush.

Walker, his wife Jenna, son Craig, and daughters Colette and Olivia live in Arapahoe county. Treasurer Stapleton's community efforts include serving on the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver. His wife Jenna is on the Board of Advisors of ACE Scholarships. Together, on a volunteer basis, they are involved in many other Colorado charities.