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Colorado securities commissioner resigns after questions arise from swift appointment

Tamara Chuang
Colorado Sun
Chris Myklebust, Colorado Securities Commissioner (Provided by Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies)

Colorado Securities Commission Chris Myklebust is stepping down after board members and local attorneys questioned the validity of his appointment by an outgoing regulator, according to an email sent to board members Thursday.

Myklebust will leave the post on Sept. 20, Patty Salazar, the current executive director of the Department of Regulatory Agencies, said in an email. She said Myklebust offered to quit in order to help preserve public trust.

“Some have questioned the validity of Mr. Myklebust’s appointment in 2018 by DORA’s former executive director during the prior administration,” Salazar said in the email. “However, the Colorado Department of Law has stated that the appointment was appropriately made under the authority of the previous executive director and did comply with state law. Nonetheless, the process exercised and selection made by my predecessor continues to be the subject of recurring public scrutiny, creating distractions and inhibiting the division from focusing on its core mission.”  



Members of the state’s Securities Board were taken aback last November when they learned of Myklebust’s sudden appointment as commissioner. The Colorado Sun was the first to report the questions about Myklebust’s hiring.

Within 19 days of former Commissioner Gerald Rome giving notice, then-DORA executive director Marguerite Salazar offered Myklebust the job. A month later, she left to become the top regulator in New Mexico. The board was not consulted.

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