Get to Know Governor Colyer

Jeff Colyer, M.D. is a fifth generation Kansan from Hays who is dedicated to making a difference in people’s lives on the personal, state, national and international level.
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Dr. Colyer and his wife, Ruth, have been married since 1991 and have three daughters Alexandra, Serena and Dominique.
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A practicing surgeon, Dr. Colyer has extensive private and public sector leadership experience from startups to large organizations. He has started or helped manage small companies, healthcare entities, large organizations, and complex international projects. He has also served on a variety of Boards.

Over the last 25 years, Dr. Colyer has volunteered as a surgeon in dangerous war zones through his work with International Medical Corps. His role has been to assess, initiate, provide care, negotiate and implement large programs with more than 1,000 employees in multiple countries. He has worked in Rwanda, the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, Cambodia, USSR, Libya, the Syrian border, and South Sudan. He has negotiated with businesses, governments, international institutions and warlords. He was the only surgeon in southern Rwanda during the genocide that killed 800,000 people.

​At home in Kansas, Dr. Colyer is driven to serve his community. As a board certified craniofacial/plastic surgeon he is passionate about reconstructing complex skull and facial deformities in children, having operated on more than 20,000 patients.
 

Elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 2006 and the Kansas Senate in 2008, Dr. Colyer served as the 47th Governor of Kansas. Dr. Colyer has played a prominent leadership role in cutting wasteful government spending, fighting Obamacare and protecting innocent life in our state.
 

As Governor, Dr. Colyer oversaw a $17 billion budget and 40,000 employees. He reorganized state governance to establish a more corporate architecture. Dr. Colyer moved Kansas forward, earning the state its first credit outlook upgrade by creating a stable budget, consolidating agencies, upgrading technology, making education/workforce improvements, and increasing transparency. Under his governorship capital investment and employment improved, especially in aviation, agribusiness, financial services, exports and healthcare. He helped revise the state pension plan (ranked 49th in solvency) and implemented what is now a viable retirement system. He reformed the Medicaid program by creating the first privatized, fully integrated medical and long-term care system, saving Kansas taxpayers more than $2 billion while increasing care and services, and improving outcomes for 400,000 patients.

Dr. Colyer has degrees from Georgetown University (economics), Cambridge University (masters, international relations) and Kansas University (M.D.) He also served as a White House Fellow under President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush in international affairs.