Treasurer Denise L. Nappier

First took office January 1999
Term ends January 2015

Treasurer Denise L. Nappier

D,

Nappier, Denise L.

Contact:

state.treasurer@po.state.ct.us
Official Website
800-618-3404

Education:

B.A., Virginia State University, M.A., University of Cincinnati

2010 Election

Campaign Expenditures:

$771,269. Nappier participated in the state's public campaign financing program.

General Election Results:

Jeff Wright (R)480,623(43.5%)
Denise L. Nappier (D)573,746(51.9%)
S. David Blue (G)9,600(0.9%)
Andrew Grant White (I)15,611(1.4%)
Denise L. Nappier (WF)26,524(2.4%)

Primary Election Results:

0(0%)

Election History

Won the first of four terms in 1998, unseating Republican Paul J. Silvester in a tight race, 436,573 to 433,889. In 2010, she won with 54 percent of the vote over Republican Jeff Wright, S. David Blue of the Green Party and Andrew Grant White of the Independent Party.

Background

Denise L. Nappier is the first African-American woman in the country to be a state treasurer and the first in Connecticut elected to statewide office. She is a former city treasurer in Hartford and a former executive director of Riverfront Recapture.

As treasurer, Nappier is the sole fiduciary responsible for overseeing the investment of state funds, including $26 billion in state retirement accounts. In 2005, she backed the creation of a $100 million Housing Trust Fund to help finance affordable housing.

Her willingness to use her influence as a major institutional investor to shape a range of corporate policies, including executive compensation, has prompted criticism from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and praise from the Social Investment Forum. In 2004, she was one of eight state treasurers who called on the SEC to require better disclosure of global-warming risks in corporate filings.

Nappier said she acts first and foremost as a fiduciary interested in maximizing investment returns, not as an activist pushingsocial investing. But she said that responsible corporate practices make for good business.

In 2003, she outlined her philosophy in a keynote address to the annual meeting of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.

Nappier's birth in June 1951 made news. Long before fertility drugs made multiple births common, she and her sisters were the first triplets born at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Hartford. A photographer for The Hartford Courant took their picture two hours after their birth for the next day's paper.

Previous office: Nappier was the treasurer of Hartford for the decade prior to her becoming state treasurer. She also served on the Hartford Redevelopment Agency.

Personal: Nappier is 59 and resides in Hartford.


Financial Disclosure

 Nappier reported income from her state salary and from the city of Hartford, where she was city treasurer. She owns a home in Hartford's West End.Nappier reported owning stocks held by Webster Bank, but she failed to identify specific holdings, as required by the law. She also reported owning mutual funds held by Phoenix Investment Partners and Ameriprise Financial, but again did not name the specific funds. She also had an IRA with Merrill Lynch.She filed a confidential addendum listing any debts exceeding $10,000. She declined to release the addendum, as is her choice under the law.A note on financial disclosure: Every spring, officials are required to disclose the ownership of real estate, the source of any income exceeding $1,000 in the previous calendar year and securities worth more than $5,000. They also are required to file an addendum in which they report any debt of more than $10,000; this may by law be kept confidential.