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In addition to career highlights, below, you also may access
Colorado Bankers Association at CBA
. Don doesn't like changing jobs; he started with CBA in 1975.
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Don's active with various organizations, including politics,
Colorado Civil Justice League, business ventures, banking organizations and financial literacy efforts.
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Don Childears has served as President/CEO of the Colorado Bankers
Association since 1980, and has lobbied for banking since 1975. Prior to that he successfully performed legislative analysis
and campaign coordination for a Congressman from Colorado.
He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Denver
College of Law (night school) in 1981; completed the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado, University of Colorado, in 1978;
and obtained a BSBA (Marketing) from Colorado State University in 1973 where he was student body president.
Community
activities vary including board memberships: Colorado Civil Justice League (also President), Governor’s Y2K TF, Housing Council
(also Chairman), Teaching Humane Existence, Girl Scouts Funding TF, and Kids Voting. He's helped alumni efforts at CSU, CU
& DU, and wolunteered with other groups like the Cherry Creek Arts Festival.
CBA related activities have included BancInsure,
Graduate School of Banking at Colorado, and Graduate School of Banking (University of Wisconsin-Madison). Other business
boards on which he’s served include Metro Denver Economic Development Corp, a publishing company, private banking entity,
a first-of-its-kind interactive communications network (predating internet web sites), and a burglar alarm company.
He
frequently writes, speaks, lectures or teaches courses on government, political influence, and banking, varying from teaching
at banking schools to appearing on NBC Nightly News to addressing the ABA’s Annual Convention in 1992 (only state association
executive to do so from 1980 to date). Numerous industry awards have recognized him, as did a Special Tribute to Don Childears
by U.S. Senator Wayne Allard.
He was born and raised in Saguache (a town of 600 in the San Luis Valley in rural south
central Colorado) and is married to Linda Childears, President of the Daniels Fund in Denver. They enjoy travel, home design,
physical fitness, reading, history, music, cooking, and skiing.
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PERSONALITY
Don's stable professional life reflects fondness
for organization and precision and is punctuated by varied interests including a recent focus on health and exercise.
FAMILY
Linda
and Don married December 31, 1994. With parents now gone, his sister Nancy, brother John, and their families are the "blood
family." But, Linda and Don are very close to a number of young people with whom they like to spend time. They include a
number of young Denverites, and a young man from Siberia.
INTERESTS and ACTIVITIES
In recent years, Don has shown
a very surprising interest in health: losing weight, watching diet, and exercising. He's actually succeeded and is sticking
with it! He also has spent time involved with a couple of business ventures, as well as non-profits, travel, and home and
gardening - and unsuccessfully attempting to keep pace with technology.
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