Denise L. Nappier

Denise L. Nappier is the first African-American woman elected to serve as a State Treasurer in the United States, and the first African-American woman elected to statewide office in Connecticut. Elected in 1998, and re-elected in 2002, 2006, and 2010, Ms. Nappier is also the only woman to be elected Treasurer in Connecticut history. As Connecticut’s chief elected financial officer, she oversees $50 billion in state assets, including the $23.8 billion Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds. Treasurer Nappier serves on several boards, including the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority, the first state-established green bank created to invest in clean energy and energy efficiency projects.

Treasurer Nappier is one of the nation’s leading institutional investors working for reform on issues including executive compensation, conflicts of interest in accounting practices, independence and diversity of board members, and disclosure of financial risks of climate change. In 2003, Treasurer Nappier proposed and co-chaired the first Ceres Investor Summit on Climate Risk held at the United Nations. She then co-chaired the 2005 Investor Summit, and made presentations at Summits III and IV.

She was also one of the first public pension fund fiduciaries to initiate dialogue on climate risk with portfolio companies such as, Exxon-Mobil, Ford, General Motors and American Electric Power (AEP). Because of her efforts, AEP produced a report detailing its plans to mitigate the economic impacts of climate risk, the first electric utility in the country to do so.

A Hartford native, Ms. Nappier served as Hartford City Treasurer for nearly 10 years, and as Executive Director of Hartford’s Riverfront Recapture. She holds a B.A. from Virginia State University and a master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati.