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| Affiliation | Republican |
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| Name | Rick O'Donnell |
| Address |
Lakewood, Colorado , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | [Link] |
| Born |
Unknown
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| Contributor | eddy 9_99 |
| Last Modifed | None Entered
Oct 13, 2006 11:21am |
| Tags |
Irish -
|
| Info | Governor's Policy Office Director.
With grit and determination, Rick overcame childhood dyslexia. As a teenager, Rick bagged groceries at the local super market and cleaned kennels at the local veterinarian clinic. After college, he started as a trainee for a Fortune 100 company buying corn and soybeans from farmers throughout the country. Later, Rick's public policy career began as a volunteer at a think tank in Washington, D.C. while he worked a second job at a coffee shop at night to pay the bills. These experiences taught Rick to appreciate the long hours many people put in during a day and to understand what it means to begin on the first rung of the ladder.
Rick's private sector work at the National Policy Forum, the Progress & Freedom Foundation and the Center for the New West focused on economic development and making our community a better place to live, work and raise a family. The commitment and energy he will bring to solving problems in Congress is also the same dedication and energy that made Rick one of the youngest and most accomplished members in the Governor's Cabinet - including being tapped to serve simultaneously in more than one Cabinet post.
Rick with his mother, Mary Lou and
some of his many nieces and nephews.
A Track Record of Accomplishment
With his character and integrity, Rick's been trusted to run important government agencies and to deliver a reform agenda. Rick headed the Colorado Department of Higher Education, which oversees all 29 public institutions of higher education in the state that cumulatively enroll nearly 270,000 students and handle hundreds of millions of dollars in student loans and college savings accounts. Rick's accomplishments include implementing the nation's first higher education voucher, establishing strong performance contracts to hold colleges and universities accountable for improving student learning while reducing costs, and launching the largest effort in state history to expand college access for under-served and under-represented students.
Rick previously headed the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, which oversees more than 500,000 licensed professionals along with the banking, insurance, securities, telecommunications and energy industries. While at the Department, one of his leading accomplishments included the establishment of the Office of Economic Competitiveness and Regulatory Reform. The Office established the first-in-the-nation, award-winning system of Internet-based regulatory review helping small businesses create jobs and afford health insurance for employees by reducing the regulatory burden imposed by government.
Rick advocates Fair Housing Month
When he was director of the Governor's Office of Policy & Initiatives, Rick designed Colorado's nationally top-ranked accountability system for K-12 schools. He developed Read to Achieve to ensure that no student leaves fourth grade without basic literacy skills. Rick's responsibilities also included successfully developing the Governor's agenda to provide $1 billion in tax relief for Colorado families, to upgrade our transportation system, to create more tools to preserve open space, and to expand access to health care for low-income children.
Having overcome dyslexia himself, Rick
is passionate about helping children learn.
A Home Town Son and Compassionate Neighbor
A Colorado native, Rick was born in what is now the 7th Congressional District and his family still calls it home. A life-long resident with deep roots in Jefferson County, Rick currently resides in Lakewood and has served on the Board of Trustees of the Jefferson County Public Library.
As a Big Brother mentor, teacher of religious education to teenagers, or as an English as a second language instructor at a homeless shelter, Rick is committed to sharing his many blessings with others. As a board member for the Seeds of Hope Charitable Trust, Rick raises scholarships for low-income children to attend Catholic schools.
A Community Leader
With John Elway, Phyllis Coors, Dan Ritchie and other civic leaders, Rick started The Fund for Colorado's Future. As president of this non-profit charity, Rick develops initiatives to boost the achievement of disadvantaged children and to help improve low-performing public schools. Each year, Rick leads a literacy drive to provide needy children with more than 60,000 children's books.
As a board member for the Leadership Program of the Rockies, Rick helps train emerging leaders on how to make effective decisions grounded in free market and Constitutional principles. When he served as chairman the Colorado Institute of Technology, Rick worked with the state's leading high tech firms to create jobs and to ensure that Colorado has the skilled work force to fill them. Other public service includes the Commission to Save Open Spaces, Farms and Ranches and the state commission to examine Internet and medical record privacy issues.
A Bridge Builder
Rick understands the importance of reaching out and working with others to accomplish important goals for Colorado. Without ever sacrificing his principles, Rick builds bridges among Republicans, Democrats and Unaffiliated voters to get commonsense things done. From creating a new $75 million scholarship for low-income students to strengthening the accountability of schools to ensure students graduate with a meaningful degree, Rick brings out the best in our community.
Rick will be an open and accessible Congressman
who listens and represents all voters.
A Student of History & Policy
Having overcome his dyslexia, Rick graduated with honors from The Colorado College. He also studied at Boston College and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Today, he is recognized nationally and internationally as a leading thinker and effective advocate of innovative approaches to solving the challenges facing our country. Rick has been awarded a Marshall Memorial Fellowship from the German Marshall Fund of the United States; a Gates Fellowship to the JFK School of Government at Harvard University; a Young Leaders Fellowship with the French-American Foundation; a Slovak Tertio Millennio Seminar on the Free Society Fellowship; and, a Senior Fellow appointment to the UCLA School of Public Affairs. Rick served as a Colorado Voices Columnist for the Denver Post and routinely writes in local and national papers, including the Washington Times, Rocky Mountain News and Investors Business Daily.
A Zest for Life
An avid skier and hiker, especially 14ers (including Long’s Peak at night under a full moon), Rick enjoys all that Colorado has to offer. Whether it’s boxing lessons at the local gym or digitally editing his own DVDs, Rick is a man of many interests and great passion. And with four siblings, nine nieces and nephews, and two-dozen first cousins, Rick knows both the joys and tribulations of family life rooted in an old-fashioned Irish clan.
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