3 finalists vie for Wyoming treasurer job

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Gov. Matt Mead intends to interview three finalists for the position of Wyoming State Treasurer on Wednesday and make his final selection on Friday. The Wyoming Republican Party presented the following three finalists to the governor:

Bruce Brown
Age: 56.
Occupation: Accountant in Devil's Tower.
Education: Undergraduate degree in accounting, MBA from the University of Wyoming. Currently in a doctoral education program at UW.
Public Service: Member of local hospital board. Member of the state central committee of the Wyoming Republican Party. Ran unsuccessfully for state auditor in 2006 and in 2010.
Approach: "My philosophy will be to stay the course of the strategic plan that Treasurer (Joe) Meyer has laid out," Brown said. "I want to make sure that we invest our money wisely so that we reduce our investment risk as best we can by having a well-diversified portfolio."

Mark Gordon
Age: 55.
Occupation: Rancher in Buffalo.
Education: BA in history from Middlebury College in Vermont.
Public Service: Recently resigned from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, where he served as a non-banking board member. Served on the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council and the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust and the local school board. Ran for Congress unsuccessfully in 2008.
Approach: "What I'd like to do is from the financial management standpoint, if I were successful, in trying to fill in behind Joe (Meyer), whose shoes I could never fill, I'd want to take it slow, be cautious." He said he regards the Treasurer's Office as well-run currently with a good mix of assets.
"For the foreseeable future, it's a little bit troubling what we may see in the economy," Gordon said. "Inflation could pick up, it could pick up substantially. The way forward is going to take a lot of careful consideration and good advice."

Clark Stith
Age: 51.
Occupation: Lawyer in Rock Springs.
Education: Bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering and philosophy from the University of Kansas. Law degree and master's of science degree in foreign service from Georgetown University. Some foreign study.
Public Service: Ran unsuccessfully for state legislature in 2008. Served as trustee on the Western Wyoming Community College Board from 2005 to 2010,
Approach: "Number one, as a lawyer, I'm a strong believer in the rule of law, and I want to make sure that the State Treasurer's Office complies with all aspects of state statutes and the Constitution of Wyoming. I will be pretty boring as treasurer, in that what I would do with the trust funds would be to simply take the interest income, the dividend income, and the net capital gains and losses, and give all of that, 100 percent to the Legislature each year, which I believe is what the law requires."
Stith said he also wants to make certain that the selection of managers to handle state funds is done through an open and competitive process.