Gov. John Hickenlooper on Monday announced that Colorado Department of Revenue Executive Director Barbara Brohl is stepping down from the position she has held for nearly six years.

During her tenure, Brohl helped put in place the world’s first regulatory system for the recreational marijuana industry created by Colorado voters with a 2012 constitutional amendment. The governor’s office said she has worked with governments across the country and around the world on marijuana regulation, licensing and taxation matters.

“Barb has provided strong leadership to the Department of Revenue,” Hickenlooper said in a statement. “We will miss her steadfast and guiding hand but wish her much success in the future.”

Broil will leave her position in August.

The Colorado Department of Revenue oversees four divisions: Taxation; the Division of Motor Vehicles; Lottery; and Enforcement of the Horse Racing, Automobile Dealers, Gaming, Liquor and Tobacco and Recreational and Marijuana industries. Its roughly 1,500 employees are responsible for bringing in more than $11 billion annually in taxes and fees.

The governor’s office said Brohl “worked tirelessly” to put new DMV, Lottery and taxation systems online, as well as start a project management office and initiatives to improve processes across the department.

“This has been the opportunity of a lifetime and absolutely the best job I have ever had,” Brohl said in a statement. “I have had the luck, the pleasure and the honor of leading a phenomenal team through it all, without whom none of this would have been possible. We have been able to accomplish so much in the past six years and I am very proud of where this department is today.”

Hickenlooper appointed Brohl to head the Department of Revenue at the end of June in 2011. Before that, she served as a director representing a Denver district on the Regional Transportation District Board. She was a corporate attorney at Qwest, the communications giant that morphed into CenturyLink.

– ernest@coloradostatesman.com