Mary Hogan is Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter’s legislative director. Photo: Eric Weber
Mary Kay Hogan’s (JD ’96) fondest memory of her time at the University of Denver was sharing a house with fellow law students Bob Stubblefield (JD ’96) and Chris Eng (JD ’96).
“It was like living with Felix and Oscar from [the TV show] ‘The Odd Couple,’” she says.
Turns out, living with two people on each end of the personality spectrum was good training for her current job.
Today she’s Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter’s legislative director, the point person between the executive branch and the general assembly, where she sees and works with opposites—Democrats and Republicans—nearly every day.
But she jokes about what lessons she may have learned from her living arrangement: “Living with Bob and Chris would have prepared me to teach kindergarten more than lobby the state house.”
Laughs aside, the governor was obviously impressed enough with her diplomatic skills to offer her the job last November.
After DU, Hogan wasted no time making her mark on Colorado’s legal landscape. She’s been lobbying the Colorado legislature since 1999, she started her own lobbying firm and she’s served as a staff attorney with the Office of Legislative Legal Services,
where she worked on tax, transportation and land use legislation.
She says she met the governor when he was the Denver district attorney; she helped his campaign in 2006 with events and policy issues.
On a typical day, you’ll find Hogan at the capitol in meetings, talking with representatives and lobbyists and reporting to policy teams and the governor.
The toughest part of the job? From a personal standpoint she says it’s being away from her family—husband Matt Hogan (JD ’88) and kids Kassidy, 8, and Connor, 5.
“I’m fortunate to have a very supportive husband who helps make this all work,” she says. “We try to raise our kids with a strong appreciation for public service, and I feel this job helps me lead by example.”