Ryan Frazier

Personal life

Frazier is the middle son of Arcina (Jacobs) Pyatt. He and his two brothers were raised by his single mother in Wilmington, NC, after his father left when he was 7 years old. He graduated from New Hanover High School where he played basketball, football, and ran track. Frazier received his bachelor's degree from Columbia College, his Master's from Regis University, and was selected as a Gates Family Fellow to complete Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government Senior Executives program. Frazier has three children.

Professional life

Frazier was named the Senior Vice President of Member Relations with the American Hospital Association in June 2017, where he leads efforts to deliver value to the AHA's 5000 members through engagement in advancing Health in America. Frazier led his own global strategic program management consulting and professional services business, Frazier Global. He was Senior Advisor Strategic Relations and Head of Government Relations for Air Methods Corporation, where is led business engagement with the health field, industry, and federal, state, and local governments to effect change in policy, law, and rules. He has contributed as a FOX 31 Political Analyst, an NBC-affiliate 9News 'Political Expert', previously a regular on FOX Business' ‘The Willis Report’ All-Star Panel, and FOX News Channel ‘Hannity’s’ Great American Panel.

Frazier was named a Senior Fellow at the Health Research and Education Trust, a not-for-profit research and education affiliate of the American Hospital Association (AHA). He was also a member of the Business Advisory Council with the coalition to protect America's Healthcare.

He has a reputation of being one of the most skilled orators in Colorado and across the United States.

Military service

Frazier served in the U.S. Navy, where he was assigned to the National Security Agency. He completed training at the Cryptologic School in Pensacola, Florida.

Community service

He co-founded and served as board president of High Point Academy, a pre-K through 8th grade public charter school, serving over 800 students. Frazier also is a member of the Colorado Boxing Commission since June 2013 He also was a founding board member of Africa Agenda, a non-profit dedicated to the cause of promoting positive news and fostering engagement in the U.S. about the countries of the continent of Africa and the progress being made.

Frazier previously served as an advisory board member of Engineers Without Borders-USA, an organization that helps underdeveloped communities in Africa, Asia, and South America.

Aurora City Council

First elected to the non-partisan Aurora City Council in 2003 at the age of 26, Frazier was re-elected in 2007. During his tenure on the council, Frazier worked on the city budget, supported a public/private life-sciences city on the former Fitzsimmons Army Medical base, was a leading advocate for bringing professional racing to Colorado, and led the adoption of Cop-Link, a system to connect law enforcement agencies to critical information, which has since gone into use across Colorado. Frazier also promoted "boundless playgrounds" for disabled children.

Frazier completed the 2005 Senior Executives in Government program at Havard University's Kennedy School of Government where he was a Gates Family Fellow. It was on a 2008 trip to a global conference hosted by Harvard University in Shanghai, China, that he first developed a growing interest in the U.S-Chinese relationship. Frazier continued to participate in other U.S.-China engagements throughout his time on city council, having attended the National League of Cities sponsored U.S. Cities and Chinese cities conference in Seattle, WA.

Political campaigns

In 2003 and again in 2007, Frazier won two citywide elections to be elected as an Aurora City Councilman, At-Large. He was the City of Aurora's second African American and the first African American man elected in Colorado's third largest city. In 2010, Frazier won the congressional district 7 Republican primary and went on to challenge Ed Perlmutter, who has represented Colorado's 7th congressional district since 2007. Frazier lost to Perlmutter 53.1% to 42.1%. Libertarian Buck Bailey, receiving 4.8% of the vote, was also a candidate for the 7th Congressional District in 2010.

In 2016, Frazier ran to challenge incumbent democratic Senator Michael Bennet. He was among three others that lost the Republican primary to Darryl Glenn.