Community Service
BRUCE and MARCY BENSON
Bruce and Marcy Benson are skilled problem solvers, adept coalition builders, and consummate fundraisers who have given generously and tirelessly of their time, talent and treasure for the betterment of the citizens of Colorado.
Born in Chicago on the 4th of July, Bruce went to work as a roughneck in the oil fields, and then earned a B.A. in geology at the University of Colorado before founding the Benson Mineral Group. For the next 30 years, he served Colorado through community service, business and politics. A champion of education, he chaired the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel for Higher Education and was co-chair of Governor Ritter’s P-20 Education Council. He chaired the boards of Metropolitan State College of Denver, the Denver Public Schools Foundation, the Denver Area Council of Boy Scouts, and the Denver Zoological Foundation, and served on numerous local and national corporate boards. In his political life, he was chairman of the Colorado Republican Party and Republican nominee for governor of Colorado. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Colorado and was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in 2009. Bruce became the 22nd president of the University of Colorado in March of 2008.
Marcy is also well steeped in public service. Born in Oklahoma City, she spent 19 years in Washington, DC, where she directed the White House Fellows program in the Reagan Administration and the first Bush Administration. Her tenure in Washington also included working for Citizens for America, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Federal Judicial Center. Since coming to Colorado, Marcy has been a tireless advocate for quality health care for children. She has been a board member for The Children’s Hospital and The Children’s Hospital Foundation, and co-chaired the $273 million campaign to support the hospital’s move to the Anschutz Medical Campus. She has also served on the boards of the University of Northern Colorado, Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), Denver Public Library Friends Foundation, and Vail Valley Institute. She received her B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara and her M.A. from George Washington University.
The Bensons have shared numerous awards for their exceptional community service, including the 1999 Humanitarian Award from the Rocky Mountain Arthritis Foundation.