Republican Gov. Bill Owens hopes to capitalize on his experience in pushing public-private investment during his eight years as governor by taking a job in international banking when he leaves office next month.
Owens hopes to use that experience to provide funding for airports, water systems and other projects.
Owens said he will probably be remembered best as the governor who got the funding to build major highway projects, including widening Interstate 25, which had forced him to seek help from private companies because of state limits on bonding.
“I’ve received offers from several international banks. It could be that it would be focused on infrastructure, water systems, electric, airports. Right now, nobody overseas has money for infrastructure,” Owens said. “Wherever you look in the world, the new issue is how to meld private capital to public infrastructure.
We’ve done a lot of that because Colorado is one of only four states that doesn’t have general obligation bonding. Because of that, we’ve had to do a lot of innovative finance,” he said.
Owens said he also plans to serve on two or three corporate boards, “one of which is probably going to be in Russia.” Owens said he has been asked by party leaders in Washington, whom he would not identify, to run for the U.S. Senate in 2008, but he said he intends to seek a new career in business.
