Meg Duke has devoted her life to conservative politics and ideals, both in a paid career and volunteer capacity.  Hailing from St. Louis, Missouri, she cut her political teeth as a 10-year old, founding “Kids for Goldwater” and selling “SweeTart” kits featuring the slogan “Barry Can Lick ‘Em!”

In early 1968 at the age of 13, she wrote then-Governor Ronald Reagan imploring him to run for President and requesting literature for such campaign.  He graciously declined the entreaty, but nonetheless sent photos and literature which still line the walls of her home’s celebrated “Reagan Restroom”.

After attending Sweet Briar College in Virginia and graduating from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, she received a post-graduate A.B.A.-approved Certificate in Litigation from the Institute for Paralegal Training in Philadelphia.  For four years thereafter she worked in the litigation and legislative practice areas of St. Louis law firm Thompson, Coburn and the Washington Office of New York’s Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft.  She then co-founded a free-lance consulting firm, bringing in client Phyllis Schlafly and representing her three foundations on Capitol Hill.  Finally her dream job came through, and she was hired in 1980 as a paralegal in the Chief Counsel’s Office of the national Reagan Bush campaign.  She ultimately became the first paralegal to serve in any White House Counsel’s Office (Reagan’s).

In the beginning of President Reagan’s first term, she was married to Denver native Jamie Duke.  After two years together in Washington and shortly before the mid-term elections, they decided to return to Colorado to raise a family.  Meg held paid positions on the Colorado Reagan Bush ’84 re-election campaign, and has volunteered extensively on many campaigns while raising her children.

Her two most meaningful and rewarding non-profit, non-partisan activities have included her 14-year tenure on the Colorado Council on Economic Education board and her 2007 graduation from and membership on the Advisory Board of the Leadership Program of the Rockies.  At CCEE, an organization devoted to free market economic literacy for K-12 students, she chaired the Events Committee for several years, plus served on the development, program, education and board selection committees.  She benefitted greatly from her participation in the LPR program, and has enjoyed her involvement on the Advisory Board.  The current class is composed of three of her recommended students.  She has also served on the Colorado Committee of Heritage Foundation for the past two years.

The rest of Meg’s volunteer commitment has been education-related.  She has served on many Parent Executive Committees at her children’s elementary and secondary schools, including St. Anne’s and Kent Denver.  She has also served 4-year terms on the Parents Development Funds of each of her children’s colleges:  Middlebury, Dartmouth and Colby.  She was elected Sweet Briar College Denver Club President and went on to be Western Regional Representative on the Alumnae Board.

When home in Denver, she is secretary of both her Investment Club and Book Club.  As co-chair of the women’s golf program, she sits on the Denver Country Club Golf Committee.  Otherwise, she spends an inordinate amount of time cheering on the Colby College Women’s Lacrosse team, defending Conference Champs and captained by her senior daughter, Caroline.

She has been married for 28 years to James Lenox Duke, and they have three children:  Jamie-1983 (a 2nd year student at D.U.’s Graduate School of Business; Margo-1985 (a business consultant for IBM in Washington, D.C.) and Caroline-1988 (senior at Colby College in Maine).