June 09, 2011 09:12 PM UTC

Katherine Archuleta Named National Political Director for Obama

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• by: Colorado Pols

Big news for one of Colorado’s finest. From The Huffington Post:

President Barack Obama’s re-election team has chosen Katherine Archuleta of Denver to be his national political director. The campaign told CNN that Archuleta will also be the first Latina to hold that position “on a major presidential campaign.”

Archuleta is currently the chief of staff to Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis.

Before her work with Labor Secretary Solis Archuleta was a big force in Colorado’s hispanic community, working as an aide for Mayor Federico Pena–the first, and so far the only, Hispanic mayor of Denver. When President Clinton appointed Pena to Secretary of Transportation, he named Archuleta chief of staff in 1996 and 1997. Later in 1997 when Pena became the new Secretary of Energy, Archuleta was named senior policy advisor.

Archuleta’s most recent Colorado ties were as a Senior Advisor to then-Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper in 2008.