Patty Salazar was appointed by Colorado Governor Jared Polis as Executive Director for the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA). As DORA’s Executive Di- rector, she leads a Department of roughly 600 employees with a $120 million budget, and provides support to DORA’s 10 distinct divisions, as well as the Colorado Office of Policy, Research and Regulatory Reform (COPRRR), the Broadband De- ployment Board, and the communications, legislative and operational services located within the Executive Director’s Office.
In 2018, Executive Director Salazar was appointed as the State Bank and Financial Services Commissioner and oversaw two separate financial divisions at DORA — the Division of Banking and the Division of Financial Services. The Division of Banking is responsible for the regulation of state chartered commercial banks, trust companies, and state licensed money transmitters as well as the enforcement of the Public Deposit Protection Act. The Division of Financial Services, where Patty previously served as the Commissioner in 2015, regulates state chartered credit unions and savings and loan associations, and certain financial activities of state life care institutions.
In 2016, she served as DORA’s Deputy Executive Director, where she directly supervised the agency’s collective legislative efforts, performance and strategic planning, and external affairs for the Executive Director’s Office as well as provided direction to its regulatory divisions. Additionally, she oversaw COPRRR which is responsible for providing legislative and administrative recommendations for least burdensome regulations while still ensuring consumer protection for regulatory programs across the state.
She came to DORA from the California Department of Business Oversight where she served as a deputy commissioner responsible for policy development, performance planning, statewide outreach and managing the department’s consumer services office. Previously she served at a financial services trade association advocating for legislative and regulatory issues regarding financial services and consumer protection. Prior to joining the trade association, she served as a consultant to the organization as well as other clients on community relations and strategies related to local, state and federal legislation.