Rico Munn, Esq.
Superintendent of Schools, Aurora Public Schools

Rico Munn serves as the 16^th superintendent of Aurora Public Schools.Superintendent Munn joined APS in 2013. Since 2013, APS has eliminated the graduation equity gap and experienced a 25% overall increase in graduation rates, a 50% decline in dropout rates, a 70% decline in expulsions, a 60% decrease in referrals to law enforcement and an overall increase in academic achievement, student growth and college readiness indicators. APS also earned its first state athletic championship in 21 years. In 2019, Superintendent Munn was named Colorado’s “Superintendent of the Year” and Aurora’s “Man of the Year.”

Prior to joining APS, Mr. Munn served in a variety of leadership roles in Colorado and nationally. In 2012, he was appointed to the Board of Governors for the Colorado State University System where he served until 2020. In addition, he was a member of Governor Bill Ritter’s Cabinet where he served as the executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education from 2009-2011.  Mr. Munn also served on Governor Ritter’s Cabinet as executive director of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies from 2007-2009 where he oversaw the Colorado Divisions of Civil Rights, Banking, Real Estate, Insurance, Financial Services, Securities, Professional Licensure, Public Utilities and Consumer Counsel.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Munn was a litigation partner with a national law firm for over a decade. He describes his law degree as “a graduate degree in problem solving.” As a litigator and trial attorney, Mr. Munn dealt with a wide variety of people and situations, including financing, construction, education, refugee populations and crisis management.

Mr. Munn has a significant history fighting for causes of social justice. He was a founding board member for the San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability. He was also the principal author of the Denver Police Department’s first-ever policy against “Biased Policing” and he formerly served on the board of the ACLU-Denver. Further he spent many years volunteering in the international human rights community with Amnesty International where he served in national and international leadership roles including representation of the organization in Los Angeles, CA, Capetown, South Africa and Santiago, Chile.

Mr. Munn is active in the metro Denver area’s non-profit community. He served on the board of The Denver Foundation and was a co-founder of the Denver Urban Debate League. Under Governor Roy Romer, he was also a member of Colorado’s Law-Related Education Advisory Group which created curriculum to support students’ understanding of their legal rights.

Mr. Munn is a graduate of Midland Lutheran College (nka Midland University) in Fremont, Nebraska, where he received his B.A. in secondary education and was named Student Teacher of the Year in 1993. He received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law, where he had the honor of being named a Chancellor’s Scholar for his commitment to public interest service.

Mr. Munn has been married to his wife Kay since 1998, and he is the proud father of two middle school students.