--- alias: - Jared Schutz Polis - Governor Jared Polis born: 1975-05-12 category: Political Figure created: 2026-06-20 location: Boulder, Colorado (born); Colorado (political base) summary: Jared Polis is the governor of Colorado, the first openly gay person elected a U.S. governor, a technology entrepreneur who founded ProFlowers and cofounded Techstars, and a name on the leaked 2026 roster of Peter Thiel's Dialog society. tags: - Person - JaredPolis - DemocraticParty - Colorado - Governor - TechEntrepreneur - Cryptocurrency - Dialog updated: 2026-06-20 --- Jared Schutz Polis (born May 12, 1975, in Boulder, Colorado) is an American politician and technology entrepreneur who served in the United States House of Representatives from 2009 to 2019 and has been governor of Colorado since January 2019, the first openly gay man elected governor of a U.S. state. In June 2026 Polis was named by *WIRED* among the figures surfaced in the leak of [Dialog](/organizations/dialog/), the invitation-only society cofounded by [Peter Thiel](/people/peter-thiel/) and [Auren Hoffman](/people/auren-hoffman/). Polis built a fortune in internet commerce before entering politics and has used the governorship to position Colorado as a crypto-friendly jurisdiction.[^1][^2][^3] ### Entrepreneurial Fortune Polis grew up partly in La Jolla, California, and earned a degree in politics from Princeton University. His parents, Stephen Schutz and Susan Polis Schutz, founded the greeting-card company Blue Mountain Arts; Polis built its online arm, Blue Mountain Arts.com, which sold to Excite@Home in 1999 in a cash-and-stock deal reported at roughly 780 million dollars. He went on to found the online florist ProFlowers, which went public and was later sold in a transaction valued at around 477 million dollars.[^2][^3] In 2006 Polis cofounded the startup accelerator Techstars in Boulder with David Cohen, Brad Feld, and David Brown, one of the earliest and most influential American accelerator programs. His commercial record placed him among the wealthiest members of Congress when he was elected, and he financed much of his own political activity, having earlier won a seat on the Colorado State Board of Education.[^2][^3] ### Congress and the Governorship Polis was elected to the U.S. House from Colorado's 2nd congressional district in 2008 and served from January 2009 to January 2019, aligning with the progressive wing of the [Democratic Party](/organizations/democratic-party/) on education and civil-rights issues while pursuing technology and internet-freedom causes. In 2018 he won the Colorado governorship, becoming the first openly gay man and the first Jewish person elected governor of the state, and he was reelected in 2022.[^2][^4] In office Polis pursued a self-styled libertarian-tinged Democratic agenda, including aggressive moves on income-tax reduction and a deregulatory posture on emerging technologies. His administration's embrace of digital and blockchain technology became a defining policy signature, building on positions he had taken in Congress.[^4][^5] ### Cryptocurrency Policy Polis has a long record of cryptocurrency engagement. In 2014, as a member of Congress, he became the first federal lawmaker to accept campaign donations in Bitcoin, and in 2016 he cofounded the Congressional Blockchain Caucus. As governor he announced that Colorado would accept cryptocurrency, either Bitcoin or Ethereum, for state tax and fee payments beginning in the summer of 2022, the first U.S. state to do so, with plans to extend the option to services such as driver's license renewals and hunting and fishing licenses.[^5] Polis structured the program so the state would not hold crypto reserves: a payment processor converts the digital assets to U.S. dollars before they enter the state treasury, functioning like a credit-card layer. He characterized the move as practical rather than ideological, calling crypto acceptance "frankly not as exciting as it sounds. It's a basic convenience thing," and projected that only about one percent of residents would use it initially.[^5] ### The 2026 Dialog Leak The June 16, 2026 *WIRED* report identified Polis on the Dialog roster as "Governor of Colorado," listing him among the political figures surfaced when the hacktivist [crimew](/people/maia-arson-crimew/) located a member directory in the source code of Dialog's website and a separate source provided the publication with the 222-name registration list for the society's retreat near Dublin, scheduled for August 12 through 16, 2026. *WIRED* placed Polis alongside [Senator Cory Booker](/people/cory-booker/) and [Senator Ted Cruz](/people/ted-cruz/) among the elected officials on the list.[^1] A spokesperson for Polis disputed any membership, saying the governor "does not know why his name is associated with the organization in any way or appeared on their website." The denial did not address whether Polis had attended any Dialog event, and it left unexplained the presence of his name in the records crimew pulled from the site's code.[^1][^6] [^1]: Cameron, Dell, and Yulia Almazova. "Leak Exposes Members of Peter Thiel's Secretive 'Dialog' Society." *WIRED,* June 16, 2026. https://www.wired.com/story/leak-exposes-members-of-peter-thiels-secretive-dialog-society/ [^2]: "Profile: Entrepreneur Jared Polis sees governor's race as a chance to turn good ideas into reality." *Colorado Springs Gazette,* September 30, 2018. https://gazette.com/2018/09/30/profile-entrepreneur-jared-polis-sees-governors-race-as-a-chance-to-turn-good-ideas-into-reality-af2d0222-c1b2-11e8-8b2b-afa916b3b182/ [^3]: "Congressman Jared Polis: Before TechStars Were Stars." *Startup Grind.* https://www.startupgrind.com/blog/congressman-jared-polis-before-techstars-were-stars/ [^4]: "Jared Polis: what to know about Colorado's Democratic governor." *Colorado Public Radio,* October 17, 2022. https://www.cpr.org/2022/10/17/vg-2022-colorado-governor-race-jared-polis-democrat/ [^5]: "Colorado's governor wants to be a haven for crypto as a 'basic convenience thing.'" *Associated Press / AOL,* 2022. https://www.aol.com/colorados-governor-wants-haven-crypto-130752609.html [^6]: Statement of a spokesperson for Governor Jared Polis, quoted in "What is Peter Thiel's secret 'Dialog' society and how it got exposed after website leak." *The Express Tribune,* June 2026. https://tribune.com.pk/story/2614092/what-is-peter-thiels-secret-dialog-society-and-how-it-got-exposed-after-website-leak