Gordon Riggle
Chair of the Board of Advisors

Gordon has broad leadership experience in government, business, and the military. Drawing on that background, he taught leadership and strategy classes at CU and designed and lead the first course in the university’s then new leadership minor. He received the university’s Marinus Smith Teaching Award for his positive impact on undergraduate students.

Prior to moving to Colorado, Gordon served in the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Administration. The Office of Administration provides round-the-clock support to all agencies within the Executive Office of the President. Before that appointment, he worked as a Professional Staff Member of the United States Senate. He also served on the Presidential Transition Team as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense.

During his military career, he was a Captain in the United States Navy, commanding the destroyer USS KINKAID in the Pacific and a “Swift” patrol boat in Vietnam. In shore assignments, he was Military Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and served in various long-range planning roles.

Following his White House service Gordon did strategic planning and advanced business development with Ball Aerospace, first in Washington, D.C. and later in their Boulder headquarters.

Gordon is active in civic and non-profit organizations. He was elected to three terms as a member of the Boulder City Council. He is a member of the Community Affairs Council of the Boulder Chamber and a former board member of Boulder Tomorrow and Historic Boulder.

His education includes a Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard University and a Bachelor in Philosophy degree from Lafayette College. He is a graduate of the Program for Senior Executives at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Naval War College.

Gordon and his wife Marietta live in Boulder. They were foster parents for infants and toddlers in Boulder County for ten years.