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Colorado Republican Headquarters
5950 S. Willow Drive, Suite 302
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
Office: 303.758.3333
For general inquiries contact: matt@cologop.org   

Colorado Republican Committee Officers

Dick Wadhams
State Party Chairman
303-758-3333

Dick Wadhams was elected Colorado Republican State Chairman in March 2007 and reelected in March, 2009. During the 2008 campaign he also served as campaign manager for Senate candidate Bob Schaffer.

He worked from 1981 to 1989 for Colorado U.S. Senator Bill Armstrong.

He managed the statewide Colorado campaigns of U.S. Senator Hank Brown in 1990 and U.S. Senator Wayne Allard in 1996 and 2002. He was campaign manager for Governor Bill Owens in 1998 when Owens became the first Republican governor of Colorado in 24 years.

Wadhams was campaign manager for U.S. Senator John Thune of South Dakota in 2004 when Thune defeated Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle which was the first time in 52 years a sitting Senate Democratic leader was defeated for reelection.

He also helped Montana U.S. Senator Conrad Burns in his successful reelection campaigns in 1994 and 2000. He served as Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator George Allen of Virginia in 2005- 2006.

Wadhams was born and raised in rural southeastern Colorado where he was a Republican county chairman at age 19 in 1975-1976 and he is a graduate of the University of Southern Colorado in Pueblo.

Lilly Nuñez
RNC National Committeewoman

Lilly Nuñez has been involved in Colorado Republican politics for many years. She went to work for United States Senator Bill Armstrong in February 1979, after he was elected to the United States Senate. She worked for Senator Armstrong in his Denver office for 6 ½ years.

In July 1985, she received a Presidential appointment from President Ronald Reagan as the Special Assistant to the Regional Administrator of the U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

She was reappointed by President George H. W. Bush.

Lilly worked for the SBA for seven years and was the Acting Regional Administrator when she left her position in January 1993 with the change of administrations.

Lilly has served the Republican Party in various positions. She was elected Secretary of the Colorado Republican Party and served from 1995 to 1997. She was elected State Chairman of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly (RNHA) and served from 1995 to 1999. She was Vice Chairman of the 5^th Congressional District; and Precinct Committeewoman and District Captain in Douglas County for the past 10 years.

Currently, Lilly serves at the Republican National Committee (RNC) as National Committeewoman for Colorado.  She was elected in 2000 and reelected in 2004 and 2008.

She and her husband, former State Representative Joe Nuñez, live in Douglas County. They have four grown children and 10 beautiful grandchildren.

Mark Hillman
RNC National Committeeman

Mark Hillman is a Colorado native, a farmer, "recovering journalist" and a former Majority Leader of the Colorado Senate. He believes that personal responsibility, limited government and individual liberty are essential foundations of a government that respects the people. Mark served as Colorado's acting State Treasurer from June 2005 to March 2006. Previously, he was elected to two terms in the Colorado State Senate, representing the state's largest legislative district covering 12 counties and more than 21,000 square miles. Mark was elected to leadership posts for five of his seven years in the Senate, including both Majority Leader and Minority Leader. Mark's dynamic, common sense leadership earned recognition from state and national organizations.

During his service in the Colorado Senate, Mark focused on protecting the rights of private property owners against government takings, halting frivolous lawsuits and demanding personal responsibility, promoting economic opportunities in rural Colorado, and empowering parents through educational choice and accountability. Mark also enjoys communicating these commonsense principles through the media.

Leondray Gholston
State Party Vice-Chairman
Leondray@cologop.org

Leondray Gholston was born on December 28, 1973 in Casa Grande, AZ. He grew up in a rural community near the city of Coolidge. As a young child he worked on his grandparents’ farm learning the nobility of hard work and the necessity of perseverance.

In the summer of 1988 his mother moved the family to Phoenix in the hopes of finding greater opportunities for her and her two children. He attended and was graduated from Camelback High in 1992. The previous summer Leondray enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve. He had a change of heart and opted for active duty in the U.S. Navy in the fall of ‘92. After completing “Boot Camp” and class “A” school for cryptology, he married his wife and best friend in 1993. Leondray went on to serve nearly 10 years in the Navy ending at Buckley AFB in late 2001.

After exiting the Navy, Leondray, his wife, and their seven children decided to make Aurora their permanent home. Leondray took a position with Raytheon as a multi-disciplined engineer and remains there to the present. He also began working in grass roots politics and learning about the political process. He joined the Colorado Black Republicans in 2002 and was appointed Vice President in 2003. Also in 2003 he was Deputy Campaign Manager to Ryan Frazier in his bid for City Council of Aurora. In 2004 he was elected President of the Colorado Black Republican Forum. In 2005 he served as Deputy Campaign Manager to Bob Fitzgerald for Aurora City Council. During 2006 he served on the founding Board of Directors for the National Black Republican Association. In 2007 he managed the successful reelection campaign for the Hon. Ryan Frazier City of Aurora. In the spring of 2008 he lost his bid for National Committeeman. Also during that year he co-managed and served as chief strategist for Sueyuna Duthie’s bid to retake State Senate District 28. In March of 2009 he was elected Vice Chairman of the Colorado Republican Party.

In addition to these positions Leondray has served on school boards, advisory councils, budget committees, and worked as a coach and mentor for children. He is also the author of the Black Conservative Declaration of Principle, designer of a new system of government for the city of Aurora, and has worked as a strategist and speech writer.

Steve Schultz
State Party Secretary

Steve Schultz began as a Committee person in Clear Creek County in 1994, attended the Republican Leadership program (now Leadership Program of the Rockies) in 1999- 2000. In was elected Vice Chairman for Clear Creek in 1996 and elected Chairman in 1998, a position he has held for the last ten years.

Steve is also the founder and Executive Director of "The Arapaho Project", a nonprofit 501 c3 science and education group working with front range universities, including the Colorado School of Mines Steve served on both of Governor Bill Owens campaigns, Wayne Allard's Senate campaigns and numerous local campaigns.

Steve has an extensive background in electronics and electrical engineering from the U.S. Air Force, Northwestern Bell Telephone and Telegraph, and Coors Brewing Company and is currently an electrical engineering designer for the MillerCoors Brewing Company in Golden, Colorado.

Steve also holds a Certificate in Management from Regis University in Denver, Colorado. Steve, a retired Naval Reserve Intelligence Officer, was one of nine senior enlisted personnel chosen nationally by the Navy for a direct commission as an intelligence officer in 1997.

He served five years in the Cheyenne Mountain AFS Joint Intelligence Center as a space systems and missile event analyst and eleven years with the Office of Naval Intelligence as an analyst in anti-air warfare and naval strike warfare.

Richard Westfall
State Party Treasurer

Richard Westfall was appointed Treasurer by Chairman Wadhams in 2008 and reappointed for the 2010 election cycle.

Mr. Westfall joined the firm, Hale- Friesen, after service as Solicitor General for the State of Colorado. Mr. Westfall’s practice includes appeals and litigation involving state and local government and other areas of the law including public policy, constitutional law, election law, regulatory law, utility law and Medicaid. He is a board member of the Colorado Nonprofit Association and chairs its Public Policy Committee. He is also a contributor to the Rocky Mountain Appellate Blog, which he co-authors with Peter Krumholz.

While working with Attorney General Norton, Mr. Westfall sat on the Title Setting Board, chaired the National Association of Attorneys General’s Federalism Working Group, oversaw the Attorney General’s Hospital Conversion Task Force and acted as liaison with the Governor’s office and the Colorado Supreme Court. Mr. Westfall previously worked with Davis, Graham & Stubbs. He also practiced in Davis Graham’s Washington, D.C. office. Before joining Davis Graham, Mr. Westfall clerked for Justice Byron White on the United States Supreme Court and Judge Robert H. McWilliams on the Tenth Circuit.

Colorado Republican Committee Staff

James Garcia
Executive Director
james@cologop.org
(w) 303.758.3333   

James joined the Colorado Republican Committee and Republican National Committee (RNC) as the Victory Director last March after working on New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign in Iowa and Florida.

Directly following the 2008 elections, James was dispatched to Senator Saxby Chamblis’ successful runoff campaign by the RNC to serve as a Regional Campaign Manager. James has also had two stints on congressional campaigns in Texas, Shelley Sekula Gibbs and Congressman Tom DeLay.

James is a graduate of the University of Houston.

Chuck Poplstein
Victory Director
Chuck@cologop.org
(w) 303.758.3333

(Bio coming soon)

Michelle Yi 
Finance Director
Michelle@cologop.org
(w) 303.758.3333 x105