Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a onetime brewpub owner, is adding another beer guy to his team.
Hickenlooper announced Friday that he appointed Sam Walker, the former chief legal and corporate affairs officer at Molson Coors Brewing Company, as the executive director of the state Department of Labor and Employment.
“Sam brings a lifetime passion to help those who have been left behind in education or training,” Hickenlooper said in a statement. “Colorado is a leader in innovative programs that address these conditions, and Sam has the intellect, experience, and more importantly, the heart, to take these programs to the next level and become a model for the entire country.”
Walker played a key role in Denver-based Molson Coors’ $12 billion acquisition of MillerCoors in October 2016. He replaces Ellen Golombek, the longtime agency director who departed for a national workforce advocacy agency in September.
Prior to his work at Molson Coors, Walker was a partner at Wiley Rein law firm in Washington, where he represented consumer products companies. He earlier served in President George H.W. Bush’s administration from 1989 to 1992 and ran the Employment Standards Administration within the U.S. labor department.
In his new job, he will lead efforts to boost job training and employment services and administer the unemployment benefits program, as well as assist workers hurt on the job and handle consumer protection programs.
His appointment requires confirmation in the Republican-led state Senate.