Board of Trustees

David Skagg

David Skaggs holds positions as chair of the board of the Office of Congressional Ethics and vice-chair of the board of the National Endowment for Democracy. He is a senior strategic advisor & independent consultant with Dentons US LLP.

He served as executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education from January 2007 to September 2009 and has served as a member of the U.S. Public Interest Declassification Board, as adjunct professor of law at the University of Colorado, and as was executive director of the Center for Democracy & Citizenship at the Council for Excellence in Government. These positions followed 12 years in Congress (1987-99) as the U.S. Representative from the 2nd Congressional District of Colorado and three terms in the Colorado House (1981-87), the last two terms as minority leader. Skaggs served on the House Appropriations Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. During his time on the Hill, Mr. Skaggs was a leader in efforts to improve the House of Representatives, as a founding co-chairman of the House Bipartisan Retreats and as co-founder of the House Constitutional Forum, a series of seminars dealing with constitutional issues.

After earning a B.A. in philosophy from Wesleyan University, Skaggs received an LL.B. from Yale Law School. He served on active duty in the U. S. Marine Corps from 1968 to 1971, with assignments on Okinawa, Vietnam, and at Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, and with a Marine Reserve unit in Colorado, attaining the rank of Major.