Greg Lopez has seen it before.

In the early 1990s, when he was mayor of Parker, the sleepy hamlet on the far outskirts of the metro area was just starting to look more like the bustling exurb it’s since become. The strain on the Douglas County town’s infrastructure was palpable, leading to the same kind of congestion and pressures on everyday life that seem endemic to Colorado these days.

“I look at what was happening then,” Lopez says. “It’s happening again.”

During the four years Lopez was in office, Parker more than doubled in size, launching the explosive growth that would see it double again and then double again in the decades since.

“There was a tug of war between those people who wanted Parker to be an up-and-coming bedroom community, and there were people who wanted to keep it small, maintain its rural character. I understand the challenges between those,” Lopez says.

“One of the things about being the former mayor is, I understand land-use – zoning, transportation, all the land-use that goes on around a community, specifically when you have so much growth coming into the state. It’s about economic development, regional growth, all the issues pertaining to growth.”

That’s one reason the Republican is running for governor. Another, he says, is that he’s the only candidate in the crowded primary field – nine at last count – who’s run a government, had to deliver for his neighbors. Parker had a strong mayor form of government at the time, meaning Lopez acted as both mayor and city manager, and the town charter required his presence on every board and commission.

“I’m the only candidate who has true executive experience dealing with the different public works, police, snow removal. That experience, as well as the rest of experience, allows me to understand the state,” he says. “You’re also the voice and face of Colorado, making sure all 64 counties have a voice and have a position at the table to make sure resources are being utilized across the state.”

Greg Lopez

Party: Republican

Residence: lives on 2 acres in Elizabeth off a dirt road

Age: 53

Occupation: owns a small restaurant and bar in Aurora

Political experience: Mayor of Parker in the early- to mid-1990s, Colorado director of the Small Business Administration in 2008

Family: Married to Lisa; they have two grown children, Christina and Michael

This is a weekly series of personal interviews Colorado Politics is doing on all the gubernatorial candidates so we can learn who they are as people before we tear into their political positions.

After his stint as mayor, Lopez worked in public relations and government affairs, eventually joining the board of the Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and becoming the organization’s president and CEO in 2004. Then he took over the Rocky Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council, a four-state organization funded by major corporations to put minority owned businesses into their supply chains.

A few years into that job, Lopez says his wife, Lisa – “she’s always leading my career,” he smiles – suggested he apply for a position with the Small Business Administration, and soon he was director for the Colorado district office.

“I was the highest ranking official here in Colorado representing small business,” he says. “I traveled the entire state. I would go out Sterling, La Junta, Lamar, and talk about the importance of small business and how small business is the heart and soul of a community and makes a community what it is.”

During his tenure at the SBA, Lopez says he was able to help garner $2.9 billion in SBA loans to businesses throughout the state, as well as $4.6 billion in federal contracts to small businesses – equating to about 45,000 jobs created or retained due to those loans or contracts.

“I recognized the importance of the tapestry that happens in a community, and it’s all based on small business. It gave me the opportunity to learn all the economies that Colorado has to offer – it’s not just the urban, Front Range corridor. It gave me an opportunity to figure out what’s going on throughout the state.”

He says he left the SBA over problems with the Veterans Administration hospital under construction – and, it would soon be clear, wildly over budget – in Aurora.

“I was the first individual who rang the bell and said there is a problem,” Lopez says, but soon he got crosswise with his bosses in D.C. when he pressed to get 41 small business owners paid some $21 million they were owed.

“My leadership in Washington was concerned it was going to make the president not look good by saying this,” Lopez recalls. “I believe it was for me to be a strong advocate for the success of small business, but leadership felt it was to make sure the rules were followed, and that was all.”

These days, Lopez and his wife live off a dirt road in Elizabeth, on a 2-acre spread with a well. When he isn’t on the campaign trail, he helps his son operate an Aurora restaurant and bar called the Hideaway Lounge.

“I give all my credit to my Lord and savior,” Lopez says. “I’m truly blessed. I don’t forget that.” He adds that he feels a need to help others.

“I come from humble beginnings,” he says. “My mom and dad were migrant workers – dad had a 6th grade education, never really learned how to read and write – but they taught me to be humble, to be honest, to work hard, to try to do the right things, follow the rules and be able to live the American dream. I think I am a true representation of that.”

It’s a sentiment that underlies his campaign.

“You can have a governor who understand how to keep his hand on the pulse throughout the communities of the state,” he says. “I’m not going to be the smartest guy in the room, and that’s OK. You need smarter people around you to come up with solutions long-term. I talk about how it’s about all of us. We all have to work together and understand the entire state has to be involved.”