Bill Owens

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40^th Governor of Colorado
Bill Owens
Image:Bill Owens.jpg
In office January 12, 1999 – January 9, 2007
Lieutenant(s)	Jane E. Norton
Preceded by	Roy Romer
Succeeded by	Bill Ritter

Born	October 22 1950 (1950-10-22) (age 59) Fort Worth, Texas
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Frances Owens
Profession	Teacher
Religion	Roman Catholic

This article is about the former Governor of Colorado. For others, see William Owens.

William Forrester "Bill" Owens (born October 22, 1950) is an American politician and a member of the Republican Party. He was the 40th Governor of Colorado. He did not seek reelection in 2006 due to term limits.

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Owens has a master's degree in public affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He is an expert in Soviet affairs and writes and lectures often on Russia. Owens is a practicing Catholic. He is married with three children. Before his political career, Owens worked for 20 years in the private sector as a consultant with Deloitte and Touche, with the Gates Corporation, and as director of a trade association.

Owens served as a member of Colorado state house of representatives from 1982 to 1988, the state senate from 1988 to 1994, and Colorado state treasurer from 1994 to 1998. Owens was elected as the 40th Governor of Colorado in the 1998 governor's race, when he defeated Democratic opponent Gail Schoettler in a very close election (each received about 48% of the vote). He won reelection in the 2002 governor's race by defeating the Democratic candidate, Rollie Heath, 64%-32% -- the greatest majority in Colorado history.

In 2002, Owens was proclaimed by National Review, a conservative political magazine, as "America's Best Governor"^[1] while the Progressive States Network, a liberal group, named him one of the country's "worst" governors.^[2]

Following the retirement announcement of U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell in 2004, Governor Owens briefly considered running for the open seat, but ultimately decided against it. Leading up to the 2004 primary, Owens caused some controversy in the Republican Party by announcing support for Bob Schaffer's run to replace Campbell, but then endorsing Pete Coors when Coors announced his entry into the race.

Bill Owens had been mentioned as a potential nominee to the Cabinet of President George W. Bush in Bush's second term. Owens has described his politics as stongly conservative.^[3] He currently works in the private sector, dabbling in capital investment and other ventures. Also, Governor Owens joined the University of Denver's Institute for Public Policy Studies in January 2007 as a senior fellow. Another former Colorado governor, Richard Lamm, also teaches at IPPS as a full time professor.

In 2007, Bill Owens announced his support for and began advising Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.[1]