Craig Larimer Jr.’s professional life has been all business and passion — a combination, he says, that will fit right into his third career, in the academic world.

“Educators are so passionate about what they do — making a difference in the lives of young people,” he said, “and caring intensely about what you’re doing has been an important thread in my life.”

A former economist for the U.S. Treasury Department during the Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations, Larimer became headmaster of Fountain Valley School on July 1. He’s the seventh headmaster in the coed boarding and day high school’s 77-year history, but he’s the first businessman. He also holds the distinction of being the first head of the school who’s an alumnus and a Colorado Springs native.

Larimer, 56, grew up in the Broadmoor area, the son of Craig Larimer Sr., a doctor who established the city’s first anesthesia medical group. Larimer earned a master’s degree in international relations from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He and his wife, Irene, have four children.

QUESTION: Why did you move back to your hometown?

ANSWER: Our family has been here about a year now. It’s a return to old roots. I grew up here, was gone for a long time and it took me a lifetime to realize I love this part of the country.

Q: Why did you want this job?

A: I graduated from Fountain Valley School in 1969, and three of my four children have attended here.

I lived in England for 15 years, and reconnected with the school when I moved back to the U.S., to Chicago, in 1995. Since then, I’ve been the alumni association president, an elected trustee and president of the board.

Last year, I served as interim admissions director for three months.

Q: In 1980, the Treasury Department sent you to London as a financial attache for the U.S. Embassy, and you participated in the release of the American hostages from Iran. What was that like?

A: It was tremendously exciting. There was an asset freeze in the Treasury Department, which affected American banks in London. My role was to represent the interests of the American government through the Treasury Department.

We were united in a common cause with our British allies, and it was an opportunity for negotiation. There were many late nights at the embassy, and I realized the best comes out in people when they’re committed to a worthwhile cause, which was seeing the release of the American hostages.

Q: What did you do in Chicago?

A: I left the embassy in 1982 and went into banking, working on the trading floor first in London, then in Chicago, in the foreign exchange market and derivatives.

Q: What was that like?

A: High tension but exciting to see the risk taking. Everything happens very quickly, you sit in long rows, elbow to elbow. You have to make instantaneous judgments repeatedly, and your clients have to be advised.

Q: How will your business experience translate into your new job at Fountain Valley School?

A: I bring a difference in style, from the big-policy government world I come from, which is helpful in broadening perspective. It’s a trend in private education — schools find it helpful to hire leaders with some management or business background.

Q: What changes will you make?

A: We’re increasing enrollment. We plan to open with about 240 students, a 10 percent increase, and grow to 250. We’re initiating a center focusing on how students learn. We’re also addressing how we produce leaders for the 21st century, how students can be good stewards of the environment, how to live in an increasingly technological society and how to be good global citizens.

Q: What hasn’t changed since you attended this high school?

A: There’s a feeling of place alumni mention when they come back — the panorama of the mountains, the adobe buildings, the 1,100 acres of a former ranch.

Only the faces change, but the kind of person that comes here to study or teach is special. Fountain Valley School is a close-knit, supportive community.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0235 or debbie.kelley@gazette.com. Answers

are edited for space and clarity. Send suggestions for a Q&A subject to joanna.bean@gazette.com.