The Denver Post
Lynn Bartles
June 26, 2014
Gov. John Hickenlooper announced Thursday that Roxane White, his chief of staff known throughout state government for her tough persona and influence, is leaving after the election in November to oversee a national nursing program serving first-time moms living in poverty.

White served as Hickenlooper’s chief of staff when he was mayor of Denver and assumed the same job when he became governor in 2011.

In that time, she’s accompanied her boss to funerals for the prisons chief, who was assassinated in his home, flood and fire casualties and victims of the Aurora movie theater shooting.

White took heat when Hickenlooper indefinitely delayed the execution of death row inmate Nathan Dunlap. White, an ordained minister, admitted she made it clear to the governor she opposed the death penalty, but said she repeatedly told him it was his decision to make.

She shrugged off criticism directed at her.

“Chiefs of staff tend to take a lot of heat for a lot of stuff,” she said.

White will become the chief executive officer of a Denver-based Nurse-Family Partnership National Service Office.

“I am excited to be leaving one amazing job for an equally inspiring role,” she said.