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Lang Sias, Mike A. Leprino Fellow

Lang Sias is a former Colorado State legislator, attorney and Navy and Air National Guard fighter pilot.

As a Colorado State Representative from 2015-2019, Lang represented House District 27 in Jefferson County. The ranking member on the business committee, Lang also served on the education, public health and health exchange oversight committees, and was a member of the legislative tax simplification task force and the JeffCo school safety task force. Over 85% of the bills Lang sponsored were bipartisan. He focused on solving problems in the areas of education, health care and small business, and on government transparency and accountability. He played major roles in passing legislation expanding public school choice, increasing healthcare transparency and reforming the public pension system to benefit retirees and taxpayers. Lang currently serves on the legislative subcommittee that oversees Colorado’s state pension fund. He was the Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 2018 and State Treasurer in 2022.

Raised in a small family manufacturing business, Lang feels a gut-level loyalty to small businesses and the families they support. His passion for entrepreneurship continued as an attorney at the Colorado offices of Cooley LLP, a leading national firm, where he worked with leaders of numerous emerging technology companies and investors.

As a Navy FA-18 pilot, Lang is a veteran of numerous overseas deployments, including combat missions in Operation Desert Storm. He also served as an Instructor at the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN), where he led the training program and edited the Navy’s premier aviation tactics journal. Transitioning to the Air National Guard, Lang flew F16’s and commanded a unit of ground-based forward air controllers in Kirkuk and Hawija, Iraq during the Second Gulf War. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard after twenty-seven years of active duty and reserve service.

Lang is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, the London School of Economics and Vassar College. He and his wife Rene live in Arvada. They have three children; a daughter, who is a freshman at the Colorado School of Mines, and two sons, who attend JeffCo public schools.

About the Mike A. Leprino Fellowship
The Mike A. Leprino Free Enterprise Fellowship was established by Laura Leprino and Matthew Leprino in honor of the late Mike A. Leprino, who was a pillar in the Denver community. The son of Italian immigrants, he was a banker, developer and community servant. Some of the greatest treasures and neighborhoods in our state were built and funded by Mike. He gave back relentlessly to his state and country, something that he also instilled in each of his children.  

No greater defender of free enterprise and the American dream, Mike is someone who from humble beginnings built an enviable legacy in Colorado. Thanks to Mike A. Leprino’s legacy, we can all take a lesson in hard work, the entrepreneurial spirit, and the power of free enterprise. The Mike A. Leprino Fellowship will focus on issues reflected in the values and accomplishments of this former pillar of the community. 

The Mike A. Leprino Fellowship is a yearlong fellowship that examines free enterprise issues facing the state of Colorado. Issues researched could include, but are not limited to: education, housing, homelessness, budget and regulatory issues.  In addition, the fellow will create an annual Free Enterprise Report, a transparency and accountability report on the fiscal health of Colorado. The report serves as a comprehensive planning document that exists outside of the executive branch and legislative committees.