Donald J.
Mares
BiographyDon Mares is Executive Director of the
Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. In December 2006, Governor
Bill Ritter appointed Mares to serve as executive director of the 1,100
person agency, which fosters economic growth by supporting businesses
and workers.
Prior to his current position, from 2003 to 2006,
Mares served as Denver Auditor, the second highest elected position in
the City and County of Denver. He served as Colorado State Senator and
State Representative from 1989 to 1995, which was preceded by a twelve
year legal career at Mares, Mares and McKendree and Toll and Mares
respectively.
Mares currently serves on the leadership council
for Escuela de Guadalupe, the board of the Latin American Educational
Foundation and the SafeHouse Denver Board of Directors. He is the past
recipient of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s Government Advocate of
the Year Award (2000). In 2005, he was named one of twenty Champions
for Children by the Colorado Children’s Campaign during the group’s 20th
Anniversary celebration.
Mares earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology,
with honors, from Stanford University in 1979 and his law degree from
the University of Pennsylvania in 1982. A Denver native, Mares and his
wife Ruth live on the north side of Sloans Lake with their three
children, Melissa, D.J. and Emily.
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