My Name Is: Maureen Harper

About me

I’m from Cleveland, Ohio, and spent most of my career there.

I always had a dream of moving out west, and I did spend some time in New Mexico on a backpacking trip, which is where I met my husband. Eventually we were able to move out to Colorado in October of last year.

I received my Bachelor’s degree in communications, theater and English from Heidelberg University, and a Master’s in Interpersonal Communication from Bowling Green State University, both in Ohio.

Previous experience

My interest in this kind of work started in high school. At first I wanted to be a scientist, but then I read “All the President’s Men” for a class, and thought, “That’s what I want to do!” I wanted to be a journalist, but then in college I took a public speaking class, and got pulled into the speech team, and shifted from journalism to political communication.

I worked for the City of Cleveland for 12-and-a-half years. It was a fantastic job that gave me a lot of learning experience. When I was offered the Chief of Communications job, I asked the mayor what it entailed, and he said “If we communicate anything to anyone, you’re responsible for it.”

Upon coming to Denver, I was Chief Communications Officer at Denver Public Schools, but wanted to get back to local government.

In my free time…

I have three kids –; one in high school, middle school and kindergarten, so I hang out with them a lot.

I love the outdoors, especially camping and hiking. I also love to read. My husband is a musician, so it’s always fun to go see him play.

What I want to accomplish

Local government is the level of government people can truly connect with. They can reach out and touch local government, which is more difficult, the higher up in the system it gets. Local government is what makes the community work, from public works to how attractive the community is.

I want better engagement in the community, because it demands it. People want to be engaged and have a voice.

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