ABOUT KRISTI RACINES

Kristi Racines was born in Casper, a 4th generation Wyomingite. As a child, her father’s work in the oil and gas industry took the family from Bar Nunn to Evanston and eventually to Riverton, where both of Kristi’s parents were raised.

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After attending high school in Riverton, Kristi went to the University of Wyoming, where she graduated summa cum laude with degrees in accounting and Spanish. She accepted a job with the public accounting firm of McGee, Hearne, & Paiz in Cheyenne and shortly after became licensed as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Performing in-depth audits of small Wyoming businesses, nonprofits, and governmental entities gave Kristi a critical understanding of accounting principles, financial statements, internal controls, business processes, and federal funds management. Specifically, she worked on the audits of the State of Wyoming, the University of Wyoming, the Wyoming Business Council, and several of Wyoming’s community colleges.

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Kristi began her public service career with the Wyoming’s judicial branch, and ultimately served as the Chief Fiscal Officer and Director of Human Resources for Wyoming’s judiciary. In that role, she prepared and managed a statewide budget of approximately $80 million, monitored and approved payments for the state courts in all 23 counties and oversaw the human resources affairs of over 300 employees. As a liaison with the legislature for all financial aspects of the court system, she is familiar with legislative process and has a keen eye for the budgetary issues our state is facing.

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Kristi served on the State Employee Compensation Commission, and was appointed to the inaugural Government Efficiency Commission in 2017. The work of this commission resulted in legislation during the 2018 session dealing with cost-saving initiatives and streamlining of state operations.

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Since being elected as Wyoming’s 21st State Auditor in November 2018, Kristi immediately acted on her campaign commitment to transparency.  She inherited a public records lawsuit from her predecessor, and within 30 days produced and turned over six years’ worth of State spending data. The lawsuit was quickly dismissed, saving taxpayers thousands in legal fees. Six months into her term, Kristi debuted wyopen.gov - Wyoming’s online checkbook. This groundbreaking website provides expenditure data for the state on a daily basis and has had 200,000 visits since inception.

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When serving on the State Loan and Investment Board and the Board of Land Commissioners, she quickly gained a reputation as bringing a sharp fiscal eye, a commitment to the rule of law, and a voice of reason to critical issues. 

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Kristi is proud to serve for a decade on the board of Goodwill of Wyoming, which serves adults with disabilities and other vulnerable populations. She is a past board member of the Cheyenne Historic Preservation Board, Cheyenne Respite, and is a graduate of Leadership Wyoming.

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An avid sportswoman, Kristi enjoys hunting, fishing, hiking, skiing, and camping. She hunts antelope, deer, elk, and turkey, and has had the great fortune of drawing and harvesting a bison, mountain goat, and moose in recent years. She lives in Cheyenne with her husband Torey and their two children, Addie and Theo.