When Peña left the Clinton administration, he returned to Denver and joined investment firm Vestar Capital Partners in August 1998, as Senior Advisor. On January 18, 2000, Vestar announced that Peña had become one of the firm's ManagingDirectors.[3]
Personal life
Peña is the father of three children: Nelia, Cristina, and Ryan Peña. The divorce of Federico Peña and his first wife, Ellen Hart Peña, became final on September 10, 2001. Federico Peña married Cindy Velasquez on September 2, 2006. Cindy Velasquez is a formerbroadcastexecutive for Channel 7, KMGH-TV, and Channel 9, KUSA-TV, in Denver, Colorado.
On September 7, 2007, Peña announced that he would support Sen. Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, and also serve as Obama's National Campaign Co-chair. The move was important in that Peña did not support Sen. Hillary Clinton, the wife of the president under whom he served.[4] On November 5, 2008, he was named to the advisory board of the Obama-Biden Transition Project.[5]