Mark Safty was appointed as the Wirth Chair in Sustainable Development at the University of Colorado in 2013. The Wirth Chair is housed within the School of Public Affairs at UC Denver and honors the environmental and sustainable development achievements of former U.S. Senator and Undersecretary of State Tim Wirth. Following his work with the federal government, Wirth served for nearly a decade as the President of the United Nations Foundation.

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In over 25 years as a partner at Holland & Hart, LLP, companies operating on five continents turned to Mr. Safty for virtually every type of infrastructure development and financing transaction. He has extensive experience developing and financing infrastructure projects in the energy, healthcare, water, wastewater, and transportation sectors.

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Mr. Safty has served as lead counsel in the development, acquisition, financing, and refinancing of dozens of power generation facilities across the spectrum of energy technologies. For nearly 20 years, Mr. Safty has focused his practice almost exclusively on development, construction, financing, and M&A activity in the renewable and sustainable energy industry. His earlier years of experience included the positions of general counsel and COO of a regional bank holding company, and he served as an outside director and chairman of the board of a $2.5 billion financial institution.

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Mr. Safty currently serves as the practice group leader for Holland & Hart’s Energy & Infrastructure Group. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for project finance law and his practice group is recognized as a global leader by Chambers USA. He was recently selected as “Colorado’s Best Renewable Energy Attorney” by Law Week Colorado. Mr. Safty is an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado Law School and at University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, where he teaches courses on Renewable Energy Development, Regulation, and Finance. He is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences on renewable and sustainable energy topics.