In August, Margaret Danuser became Denver’s chief financial officer. She previously served as the city’s deputy CFO.

Born and raised in the Denver area, Danuser has always loved the city. Growing up, though, she never expected that managing Denver’s finances would be the way she would show her affection for the city. A graduate of Littleton High School and CU Boulder, Danuser had no academic background in finance when she landed a job at a bank in Chicago. She learned quickly and found that she loved the challenges that the financial world threw at her.

In an interview, Danuser discussed her life, work experience and aspirations as CFO. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Could you speak about your background? What drew you to finance as a career? What steps did you take to get here?

I am not a finance major. I am an international affairs major. After college, I did a little bit of traveling. I was a bit of a vagabond. When it came time to get a job, a friend of a friend had a job opening at a bank in Chicago. I said, “I’ll take it!” I needed to pay rent.

That is where my career in finance began. I did not even know what a bond was and a coupon and maturity. It was a very steep learning curve, but I really liked that. I liked learning about things and the order of it.

What has drawn me to finance is all the challenges. No day is the same. We are always trying to solve problems through money or lack of money. I learned along the way.

I moved from the private sector as a money manager over to the city and county of Denver. I started managing the debt for the city and the airport. That began my career in public finance, and I have loved it. I love seeing how the things we do on the financing side result in programs that benefit our community or buildings that serve our community. Then I get to drive by it and see it. It’s very exciting. It’s long-term benefits to our communities.

What does a chief financial officer do? What does the day to day of the job look like?

The position oversees all the accounting, all the budgeting, the tax collection and assessment, as well as the Department of Motor Vehicles.

As a department, we are spread widely but have a very deep bench of experience with our employees. We say here at the Department of Finance that all roads in the city lead through finance because most things we do require money.

I work anything from working with the mayor’s office or City Council to private sector people interested in doing business or who have ideas for the city. I do meetings with my staff just to check in on what is happening in their areas to see where I can help support them.

What obstacles have you overcome to get to where you are today?

When I first began in the finance world, there were not many women in finance. Quite often, I would look around the room and I would be the only female in the room. That was just the time and I am very proud to say that that has changed significantly.

What is your highest priority at your new position?

My highest priority right now is that we continue the policies of my predecessor, Brendan Hanlon. I also want to finish out Mayor Hancock’s term on a high note. I aim to manage the city’s finances in a responsible and sustainable fashion. At the same time, making sure that we are meeting the needs of our citizens in the ways that we can: providing funding for important programs that can impact their lives.

Are there any particular projects that you are super excited about?

There are a lot of them.

I have been pretty involved in the buildout in the National Western project.

I was directly involved in my role as deputy CFO on the campus district energy project that was converting heat from the sewer system to heat and cool the buildings there.

We have a lot of projects across the city that have been supported by voter authorized general obligation bonds that we are starting to see some movement on. They were authorized in 2021, there was a lot of planning, and now we will start seeing some projects come out of the ground there.

We are finishing off the remodel at the Convention Center where they were adding 80,000 square feet of meeting space and a ballroom at the top of the building.

There is so much going on that I am excited about.

What challenges do you expect to face in your new role?

There are always lots of needs and lots of ideas, but there are also always constraints on time and money. Those are (challenges) that all CFOs face. That is something we all face, so I do not expect it to be any different.

What is your favorite aspect of working for the city of Denver?

The people that I work with are passionate about what they do. They are creative and care deeply about what we do and do it well. I feel like it is home. We all care about what happens in our world, on the micro level and across the city. There are people who are interested and curious and want to do a good job. I really enjoy working in this type of environment.

What are you most excited about in your new role?

Seeing some of the things that we have been working on for a very long time, like the National Western project, (gain) some momentum as they have done the groundwork into developing those projects.

Some of our projects that the Department of Housing Stability have carried out to make sure that low income and people experiencing homelessness have safe shelters and safe places to live. We have been working step by step with them to ensure that we are making housing more affordable and safer in Denver.