Weiser appoints first cabinet members, names business leaders to transition committee

Gov.-elect Phil Weiser just completed a busy week, naming several top officials to his administration and appointing multiple business leaders to his transition committee as he prepares for his Jan. 12 inauguration.

Arguably, the highest-profile pick was the Democratic attorney general’s selection of Senate Minority Leader Cleave Simpson of Alamosa to be his Commissioner of Agriculture. The choice of the Republican to be Weiser’s first named cabinet member — along with the choice of former Fort Collins Mayor Jeni Arndt as his rural advancement director — seemed to signal that Weiser will reach across the political spectrum to build his team, despite his landslide victory over Republican Victor Marx that was part of a Democratic election wave.

“Communities across Colorado face a range of challenges, and I’m committed to working with diverse leaders to solve our biggest problems,” Weiser said in news release this week. “As governor, I will assure that Coloradans from all walks of life have a seat at the table — because that’s the only way we will be ready on day one to make state government work better and build a brighter future for all Coloradans.”

Searching for signs of moderation in Weiser appointments

Capitol observers, particularly business leaders, are watching closely to see if Weiser will govern from the middle, despite what are expected to be significant pressures to move Colorado, which is facing a decline in economic competitiveness, further to the left.

Democrats won supermajorities in both the House and the Senate for the first time in memory, and House Democrats elected a slate of unabashed progressives, including some of the biggest labor and environmental advocates in the chamber, as leaders last week. Meanwhile, voters passed Amendment 87, an initiative to establish a progressive income-tax system that will boost the current 4.4% rates on small and large businesses to as much as 8.4% on those earning $1 million or more, which may lead to employer hiring freezes or relocations.

While the state’s agriculture commissioner deals with only one sector of Colorado businesses — albeit a major sector of this state’s economy — Weiser’s choice of Simpson seemed to signal an openness toward moderates and leaders with business experience. The same can be said of his choice of Arndt, a moderate Democrat, and the elevation of her role to a Cabinet-level position after rural Coloradans had accused Polis repeatedly of ignoring the needs of farmers, ranchers and other landowners and employers.

“On our family farm in the San Luis Valley, the water we have each spring shapes what we can grow that year. Farmers and ranchers across Colorado make decisions like that every day,” said Simpson, also the general manager of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, in a news release. “If confirmed, I’ll bring their experience to the governor’s cabinet and work with producers to keep land in agriculture for the next generation.”

Biz leaders to advise on other key Weiser appointees

While Simpson will head one of the state’s 21 cabinet-level agencies, Weiser will have his work cut out to fill the other 20 as well in the next two months. And to help him with that task, he named more than 200 state leaders on Thursday to serve as members of his transition committee, which will identify and recommend executive director candidates.

Among the members, who will be divided by their area of expertise to focus on certain cabinet-level posts, is Colorado Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Loren Furman. The Colorado Chamber has spearheaded legislative efforts at regulatory reform — a subject on which Weiser has said he plans to dig even more deeply — over the past two years, leading to laws that will require more frequent and thorough review of existing rules and will mandate audits of two major regulation-generating state divisions.

Some other prominent business leaders named to Weiser’s transition team include:

• J.J. Ament, president/CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce;
• Fiona Arnold and Stephanie Copeland, former executive directors of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade who now operate a real estate development company and a real estate investment firm, respectively;
• Joe O’Dea, the CEO of CEI Constructors Inc. and the 2022 Republican U.S. Senate nominee;
• Noel Ginsburg, founder of Intertech Plastics and CareerWise USA; and,
• Alice Jackson Yake, former president of Xcel Energy Colorado and current vice president at energy-technology firm Breakthrough Energy.

Important budget appointments

Weiser also named former Senate Majority Leader Dominick Moreno to direct his Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting, which plays a key role in developing the state budget and fiscal policies for the administration. Meanwhile, Colorado Treasurer-elect Jeff Bridges this week named the current OSPB director, Mark Ferrandino, as his deputy treasurer, overseeing day-to-day operations of the office whose roles in state policy Bridges has vowed to expand.

Simpson’s pending appointment will set off a chain reaction in which the Senate Republican Caucus will have to choose a new leader as part of its new super-minority status. Sen. Lisa Frizell of Castle Rock, who served during the 2026 session as assistant minority leader, is expected to be elevated to the role at a Saturday caucus meeting.

House Speaker-designate Jennifer Bacon also made a key appointment this week, naming Rep. Lorena Garcia, D-Adams County, to the powerful Joint Budget Committee to fill the position of Rep. Emily Sirota, who was elected to the Senate last week. Garcia, like other House leaders, has been an outspoken progressive, sponsoring unsuccessful bills this year to roll back business tax incentives and require companies to list emissions totals on their websites and cosponsoring a 2025 effort to limit the use of surveillance data in setting prices and wages.

Garcia will serve with returning Rep. Kyle Brown of Louisville as the Democratic House members of the JBC, while Rep. Rick Taggart of Grand Junction once again will represent House Republicans. Senate Democrats voted last week to return Sen. Judy Amabile of Boulder to the panel and to appoint Sirota to replace Bridges, and Senate Democrats are expected on Saturday to return Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer of Brighton to be the sixth member of the committee.