Career References

I have been very fortunate to have spent my career to date with many exceptional people. Below are excerpts from letters of recommendation from executives with whom I have worked.


“Marty distinguished himself as the person to call upon when challenges faced the organization. He served in the role of Deputy Manager of Parks and Recreation for Mayor Webb. He approaches any analytic task with an exacting eye that is scientific, thorough, and meticulous.
“Most recently, I worked with Marty when he took over as head of the regional Urban Area Security Initiative. He was the perfect person to get this effort off the ground and build strong alliances and relationships which will outlast all of us in the region.
“The hallmark of Marty’s character is his integrity. He is always honest in his feedback and seeking opportunities for personal growth and development.”

Kelly Jean Brough
President & CEO: Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
Former Chief of Staff: Denver Mayor’s Office


“Marty Flahive and I worked together in the Department of Parks and Recreation for the City of Denver from 2001 to 2003. Marty and I were selected by the Mayor to turn around a department rife with corruption and bad decision making.
“Marty was selected as the department’s Deputy because of his unquestionable integrity, his tenacious work ethic, familiarity with many different city agencies and processes and his ability to model best practices for corporate culture to fellow staff members.
“As an attorney, Marty was frequently the voice of reason in the department; able to bridge competing interests and move us forward with his newly created common goals.
“Marty’s efforts were indispensable. Given his versatility and work ethic, he would be a welcome addition to any organization that values leadership and creativity with integrity.”

James Mejia
CEO: Denver Preschool Program
Formerly Manager of Denver Dept. of Parks & Recreation


“I wanted to take this opportunity to express my deepest appreciation to you for your outstanding leadership as Director of the Denver Urban Area Security Initiative … Program. Your professionalism, analytic skills and commitment to metropolitan cooperation has resulted in a model that is recognized nationally as one of the top Urban Area Security Initiative programs. Without your tireless efforts and ability to bring people together to work collaboratively for the common good, the UASI program would have been just another federal grant.”

Alvin J. LaCabe
Former Denver Manager of Safety


“Mr. Flahive has set an exceptional example of conducting the business of government through the effective and efficient application of his well-considered business and legal perspective.
“As a result of his diverse experience, education, training and exceptional understanding of the requirements associated with meaningful community/government partnerships, Mr. Flahive is uniquely qualified to successfully accomplish the responsibilities associated with the mission of your organization. Through his exceptional leadership skills, professionalism and dedication to making a difference, Mr. Flahive has earned the respect and support of his colleagues, as well as the community.”

J. Grayson Robinson
Arapahoe County Sheriff

Welcome to my career blog

Welcome (back) to my career blog!

When we last met at this blog about 3 years ago, I was wrapping up my work with the City and County of Denver and musing about what I was going to do when I grew up. It was only two months later that I began the next adventure as the Governor's Designee for Employee Partnerships in Governor Ritter's office. It has been a very gratifying experience working with the extremely competent men and women who make up the Governor's leadership team.

Most of you know that, in January, the Governor announced that he had decided, for personal reasons, not to run for re-election. While I plan to see my work through to the end of his term, I'm now turning my attention again to what I will do in my professional life.

I will be building this site over the next few months to assist me in that search. In the meantime, I'm retaining a number of the links to older blog entries which tell a lot about who I am, what I do, and how I do it. Look again in a few months as I build this site into a tool for my next exploration.

It is always an interesting challenge to describe what I do as well as how I do it in a concise and accurate way. I’ve done this with several images. “Untying knots” is one. Specifically, I’ve often been put into ambiguous or conflict-laden situations. My response is to proceed from problem definition to achieving some degree of congruence – all in an orderly and transparent manner.

I’ve attempted to distill some of that insight in a series of links. I encourage you to select one or more of these – even if only out of curiosity. I trust that this is less intrusive than a long e-mail follow-up would be. For more information on what kinds of challenges appeal to me, click here.

For more information on how I approach an assignment, and how others characterize my work, click here.

To review my resume, listing my educational credentials and career highlights, click here.

And let me know what you think about this site!

Marty Flahive

What I like to do ...

I most enjoy dealing with matters in their formative stages. Often, this has entailed a start-up activity of some sort. My efforts with the Urban Area Security Initiative, the 1989 Denver bond issue, and Denver’s Y2K preparation are illustrative. Another is guiding the development of a drought response strategy for the Denver Dept. of Parks and Recreation.

In some instances, assignments have been a “rescue” efforts – situations where problems have arisen that have not been susceptible to resolution without help from the outside. Problems within the Denver Coroner’s Office in the late ‘80s presented such an opportunity. More currently, my work with the Denver Dept. of Parks and Recreation stretched my horizons. There, I and others had to enter an agency fraught with scandal and even some criminal conduct. Our jobs were to right the ship and restore integrity to the agency – a task which all acknowledged was singularly successful.

How I approach challenges …

Every task is unique and requires a customized approach. Nevertheless, I attempt to adapt a framework that I’ve used successfully in the past.

• Carefully review the assignment with the client entity.
• Investigate the situation to get as complete a picture of the conditions, issues and obstacles as possible.
• Return to the client entity with my conceptualization the problem based on my investigation.
• Obtain ratification of that conceptualization from the leadership.
• Create the necessary information infrastructure (e-mail networks, schematics, data bases, etc.) to support the effort.
• Recruit players with key skills needed to complete the work, while applying my own diverse skills in concert with the rest of the team.
• Present interim reports and products as appropriate.
• Maintain a calendar and/or project schematic of the key elements.
• Present resultant findings to the client, along with a plan of action to overcome the problems or move the entity to the desired level of effectiveness.
• Assist in the implementation of the action plan.

None of this is new. However, I attempt to maintain a degree of rigor in the process in order to achieve the desired result efficiently and reduce slippage in the process. I also believe that this type of work can be performed in a collegial fashion – even where some participants are cool or hostile to the effort. I also go out of my way to improve the likelihood of successful change by cultivating trust relationships with those who might otherwise risk losing face as a result of the intervention.