About
Derek Kreifels is the chief executive officer of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), which he co-founded in 2012. He was appointed by the Kansas Speaker of the House Daniel Hawkins in 2023 to serve a four-year term on the board of trustees at the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System. Kreifels also became a member of the Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in 2023.
Previously, he served as secretary of the Kansas Republican Party, and from December 2010 to January 2016, served as assistant state treasurer in Kansas when Republican Ron Estes held the top post.
Melanie Kreifels, his wife, also works at SFOF—as director of operations. From 2020–21, the couple co-published an SFOF magazine called Smart Women Smart Money.
Kreifels holds a bachelor’s degree in communications/public relations from Wichita State University and a master’s in management from Friends University, a faith-based “Christian university of Quaker heritage” in Wichita.
Actions
- Delivered remarks at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship 2023 conference on his anti-ESG actions in the states (10/31/23)
- Spoke on the “ESGscam” at the Heritage Foundation‘s Leadership Summit with a panel of “defenders of American freedom” moderated by Fox & Friends host Pete Hegseth (4/20/23)
- Signed an Advancing American Freedom (AFF) coalition letter to leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives demanding that “The Woke 401(k) Rule Must Be Repealed” (3/28/23)
- Signed an AFF coalition letter to Congress asking it to “overturn the Biden administration’s dangerous ESG rule through the Congressional Review Act” (2/7/23)
- Moderated the panel “What’s Behind the Drive to Promote ESG Investing and What You Need to Know” with Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild, West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore, and Heritage Foundation Visiting Fellow Andy Puzder at the 2023 Awakening meeting of The Heritage Foundation (1/6/23)
- Spoke on a panel on “ESG & State Leadership” at the AFF’s “Unleashing American Energy” summit with Louisiana Treasurer John Schroder and Texas Public Policy Foundation‘s Jason Isaac (10/25/22)
- Spoke on the panel titled “The Truth About ESG and Investing Your Values” at Liberty University’s 2022 CEO Summit moderated by Jerry Bowyer and featuring Economic War Room’s Kevin Freeman, Sovereign Capital’s John Coleman, PayPal’s Rod Martin, Strive Asset Management‘s Vivek Ramaswamy, and QCI Capital Fund’s Steven Melanson (10/6/22)
- Spoke on DonorsTrust’s podcast on “Standing up to ESG” with President of 2ndVote Analytics Bryant Haines and Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild (9/27/22)
- Spoke as part of the SFOF-sponsored panel titled “Everything States Should Know About the Dangers of ESG” at the State Policy Network 2022 Annual Meeting with Nebraska State Treasurer John Murante and Kentucky State Treasurer Allison Ball (9/19–22/22)
- Coordinated press inquiry with CRC Advisors and Nebraska and Louisiana Treasurers’ offices (6/21/22)
- Moderated a panel titled “State Treasurers Protect the Public Trust” at the Resource Bank meeting of The Heritage Foundation with West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore, Missouri State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick, and Utah State Treasurer Marlo Oaks (6/1/22)
- Drafted ALEC’s State Government Employee Retirement Protection Act with SFOF Senior Policy Advisor Jonathan Williams and Heritage Visiting Fellow Andy Puzder (4/22/22)
- Shared brochure from the Democrat Treasurers Association with Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks office (3/10/22)
- Shared opposition research on For the Long Term with SFOF members (3/10/22)
- Signed an SFOF letter urging President Biden to withdraw his nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin as Vice Chair for Supervision at the Federal Reserve for her “radical banking and economic views” that would “disrupt the private banking sector, reliable energy supplies, and the U.S. economy” (1/31/21)