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The former director of Denver’s Office of Economic Development, John Huggins, will co-chair Governor-elect John Hickenlooper’s transition team alongside Joe Garcia, Colorado’s next lieutenant governor. The team, dubbed “Partners for Colorado,” already has a website and a mission: to collect names and ideas from people of all political backgrounds around the state to find the best leaders for state agencies and to make government more efficient, writes the Denver Business Journal.
“How you manage those first 100 days has a lot to do with what you can get done in the four years,” Hickenlooper says, adding that his focus in coming years will be on economic development and the state budget. “I want to brand Colorado as a center for innovation, for the companies that start here and choose to grow here,” he adds, explaining that he will look for ways to reduce red tape in order to help small businesses hire people (via The Associated Press).
Garcia, meanwhile, is transitioning out of Colorado State University, where since 2006 he has served as president of the Pueblo campus. Fort Collins campus President Tony Frank has effectively been in control since Garcia stepped aside to campaign with Hickenlooper, notes the Fort Collins Coloradoan.