Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has asked Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet to take over the Senate seat being vacated by Ken Salazar, President-elect Obama’s pick to run the Interior Department. An official announcement from Ritter is expected tomorrow, according to several media reports.
From Bennet’s official bio:
He worked for six years prior to his tenure at the City of Denver as Managing Director for the Anschutz Investment Company in Denver, where he had direct responsibility for the investment of over $500 million. He led the reorganizations of four distressed companies including Forcenergy (which later merged with Denver-based Forest Oil), Regal Cinemas, United Artists and Edwards Theaters, which together required the restructuring of over $3 billion in debt. Bennet also managed, on behalf of Anschutz, the consolidation of the three theater chains into Regal Entertainment Group, the largest motion picture exhibitor in the world. Prior to moving to Denver, Bennet served as Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General in the Clinton Administration.
Bennet earned his bachelor’s degree in history with honors from Wesleyan University and his law degree from Yale Law School, where he was the Editor-in-Chief of The Yale Law Journal.
Bennet served as the chief of staff to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper for two years before being tapped to take over as superintendent in 2005. He is also a former Coro Foundation Public Affairs fellow, served as a personal assistant to Ohio Governor Richard F. Celeste, and clerked for Judge Francis D. Murnaghan on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. He worked for a brief time at the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, D.C.
Read more on Bennet from the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News.
