 |
 |
Members of the State Board
SBCCOE members may be reached at SBCCOE@cccs.edu
 | |
 |
Bernadette Marquez, Chair At-Large, (D) Term Expires: 12/31/2011 |
| Bernadette Marquez, SBCCOE Chairman, is a Registered Nurse in a hospital setting working primarily in the Peri-Operative area with over 20 years of experience. Read more » | |
| |
 |
Tamra J. Ward, Vice Chair 1st District, (R) Term Expires: 12/31/2010 |
| Tamra Ward, SBCCOE Vice Chair, is the Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. Read more » | |
| |
 |
Patricia A. Erjavec 3rd District (D) Term Expires: 12/31/2009 |
| Patty Erjavec is executive director of the El Pueblo Boys & Girls Ranch. Read more » | |
| |
 |
Wanda Cousar 5th District, (D) Term Expires: 12/31/2010 |
| Wanda Cousar is the Executive Director of Shivers Academy in Colorado Springs. Read more » | |
| |
 |
Meg Porfido 2nd District, (D) Term Expires: 12/31/2012 |
| Meg Porfido is currently taking some time off professionally, after careers in the private and public sector. From September 1998 to December 2008, Meg was part of the management team at Level 3 Communications... Read more » | |
| |
 |
Maury Dobbie 4th District, (R) Term Expires: 12/31/2012 |
| An entrepreneur all her life and long before it was popular, Maury started her first company at the age of 19. Read more » | |
| |
 |
Ledy Garcia-Eckstein At-Large, (D) Term Expires: 12/31/2011 |
| Ledy is the Executive Director of the Metro Denver Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Initiative and Senior Policy Analyst for Denver's Office of Economic Development (OED). Read more » | |
| |
 |
Barbara McKellar 6th District, (R) Term Expires: 12/31/2009 |
| Barbara McKellar is a real estate broker and Principal of Commercial Advisors, LLC. Read more » | |
| |
 |
John Trefny 7th District, (Unaffiliated) Term Expires: 12/31/2010 |
| Dr. John U. Trefny is President Emeritus of Colorado School of Mines, having retired in the summer of 2006. Read more » | |
| |
 | |
| Non-Voting Board Members | |
| |
 |
Todd Bergren SFAC Representative Term Expires: 06/30/2010 |
| Dr. Todd Bergren is Chair of the State Faculty Advisory Council (SFAC) for the community college system of Colorado. Dr. Bergren is also a full time biology professor at the Community College of Aurora (CCA). Read more » | |
| |
State Board Member Bios |
|
| Bernadette Marquez, Chairman |
| Bernadette Marquez, SBCCOE Chairman, is a Registered Nurse in a hospital setting working primarily in the Peri-Operative area with over 20 years of experience. In addition, she manages the Community Partnership Program for an independent oil company which provides industry grants and is one of the founding board members of the Timothy and Bernadette Marquez Foundation creating, implementing and managing their grant process. Bernadette co-founded the Denver Scholarship Foundation, which works with Denver's high school students, and currently serves as the Chair of their Board of Directors. She is a member of the Denver Foundation's Health Committee which distributes grants to various health organizations. Previously, she has served as a member of the Santa Barbara Foundation's Health and Human Services Committee, Board Member and Vice President of the Lobero Theater Foundation, Family Service Agency and Noah's Anchorage in Santa Barbara, CA. |
| Bernadette holds a BSN degree from Michigan State University as well as the CNOR – Certification Board Perioperative Nursing. |
 Back to top |
|
| Tamra J. Ward, Vice Chair |
| Tamra Ward, SBCCOE Vice Chair, is the Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. Tamra joined the Chamber staff as Director of Public Affairs in December 2000. |
| A 1990 graduate of Baylor University with a degree in Journalism and Slavic Studies, Tamra's career began on Capitol Hill, where she served as Assistant Press Secretary for Senator Alan Simpson, Press Secretary for Representative Craig Thomas, and Deputy Chief of Staff following Thomas' election to the Senate in 1994. Prior to moving to Denver, the Wyoming native served as the Vice President of Marketing & Development for Columbia Hospital for Women, a private, not-for-profit hospital in downtown Washington, D.C. |
| Building on a personal interest in serving the greater Denver community, Tamra has been involved with the Daniels Career Coaching Program, the Junior League of Denver, and serves on the Board of Directors of Hope Communities. She is a graduate of the Chamber's Leadership Denver Program, and was named by the Denver Business Journal as one of Denver's "40 Under 40" – an annual list of Denver's up and coming business leaders. Tamra also was appointed by Governor Bill Owens to represent the first congressional district (Denver) on the State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education. Ward was also recently appointed by Mayor Hickenlooper to the City of Denver's Commission to End Homelessness. She is also Vice Chair of the Foundation Board of Porter Adventist Hospital. While in Washington, D.C. she volunteered for several organizations including the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Easter Seals Society, and the EverybodyWins! Literacy program; as well as served on the Board of Directors of the American Heart Association and The Campagna Center. |
| Back to top |
|
| Patricia A. Erjavec |
| Patty Erjavec is executive director of the El Pueblo Boys & Girls Ranch.. A former SBCCOE Chair, Erjavec also served as Interim System President from December 2003 to October 2004. |
| As President and CEO of El Pueblo, Patty has increased its asset base from $8.8 million to $17.7 million and has augmented its capacity to service Colorado's children by 50% since 2003, becoming the second largest residential childcare facility in the state of Colorado. A therapeutic team directed by Erjavec developed and copywrote the positive cognitive behavioral model of treatment currently in use at El Pueblo. Prior to her career at El Pueblo, Patty held several positions with PCL Packaging, Inc., in Pueblo, including six years as general manager. She serves on the board for US Bank and Colorado Association of Family and Children's Agencies and is a former board member for the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center, the Colorado Association of Commerce & Industry Education Foundation, St. John Neumann Catholic School, and the Workforce Development Board of Pueblo, Huerfano and Las Animas counties. In 2005, Patty was named Administrator of the Year by the Colorado Adolescent Mental Health Coalition and was awarded the Charles w. Crews Outstanding Business Person of the year for 2002, the first woman recipient of that award. |
| Patty holds a Master's degree in non-profit management from Regis University and a B.S.B.A. in accounting from the University of Southern Colorado (now Colorado State University-Pueblo). She was in the Pueblo Leadership Class, 2001. |
| Back to top |
|
| Wanda Cousar |
| Wanda Cousar is the Executive Director of Shivers Academy in Colorado Springs. In addition to serving as Shivers Academy's executive director, Cousar has taught physical and biological sciences at the Academy and wrote an inclusive curriculum for biological sciences in compliance with Colorado content standards. She was a mentoring program consultant at the Academy helping at-risk young women with health and nutritional life skills. For a number of years at the Academy, she taught nutrition to at-risk youth and adults with disabilities. Wanda was a NAACP national delegate to a resolutions committee on education and social welfare issues and is actively involved in the Colorado Springs Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She was awarded the Vera Gang Scott Award from the African American Voice Newspaper. |
| Wanda earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Cook College, Rutgers University and an Executive MBA from Colorado Technical University. |
| Back to top |
|
| Meg Porfido |
| Meg Porfido is currently taking some time off professionally, after careers in the private and public sector. From September 1998 to December 2008, Meg was part of the management team at Level 3 Communications, a global company, based in Broomfield, Colorado, providing communications services over one of the world's largest fiber-based networks. Meg reported to the President and Chief Operating Officer for eight years and to the Chief Legal Officer for the last two years, when she served as the Chief Human Resources Officer. As the CHRO, she was responsible for compensation, benefits, HR systems, recruiting, talent management and development, engagement, an employee call center, and internal communications. Prior to that, she served in various roles, with a focus on communications, integrations, performance management and reporting. |
| Prior to joining Level 3, Meg served as Chief of Staff to Governor Roy Romer. In that role, she managed a sixteen-person cabinet, which oversaw all state government operations and services. She advised the Governor and senior managers on legal, budget, operations, personnel, and policy issues, and served as liaison to the business community. She also supervised the Governor's Office staff. Prior to that position, she served as the Governor's general counsel, where she worked with the Attorney General providing legal support to the Governor and cabinet, and as legislative liaison, where she served as the lead lobbyist with the state legislature. |
| Prior to joining the Governor's office, Meg practiced law at the private law firms of Brownstein, Hyatt in Denver, Colorado, and Skadden, Arps in Washington, DC. She began her career as a legislative assistant to Congressman Mike Synar in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, DC. |
| Meg earned a BA, majoring in political science, from the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware, and a law degree from George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC. She was named one of the "top 40 business leaders under 40 years of age" by the Denver Business Journal, and participated in Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government. |
| Back to top |
|
| Maury Dobbie |
| An entrepreneur all her life and long before it was popular, Maury started her first company at the age of 19. She quickly built and owned a commercial property, locating her business there. Maury has owned five diverse companies since 1977. She still owns MediaTech Productions (an award-winning multimedia company) in Fort Collins that she founded in 1994 which is operated by her husband Steve. She has a Business Administration degree. |
| Formerly, Maury was the President/CEO of NCEDC (Northern Colorado Economic Development Corporation), a not-for-profit 501 (c)(6) organization dedicated to stimulating economic development by strengthening existing primary employers, support expansion projects and market to new primary employers. NCEDC focuses on Larimer County in Colorado. During that time she also served on the board of directors for the state-wide Economic Development Council of Colorado. Currently, Maury has returned to her entrepreneurial roots in private industry by working on projects that create primary jobs in the clean energy industry. |
| Maury has been a women business leader for over two decades, dedicating herself to working on programs that advance women, men and youth. She has been appointed in the past to state boards including Colorado Women's Economic Development Council and Motion Picture and Film Commission. |
| Among many awards, Maury was named 1995 Woman Leader of Excellence award in Colorado, awarded "Emerging Entrepreneur" in Northern Colorado and Wyoming in 2002 by NCBR, selected as "Top 10 Women Making a Difference" in 2005, awarded a prestigious national award by Office Depot, "2005 Businesswoman of the Year", "Women in Business Champion" by Small Business Administration (SBA) in 2007, and "Creative Vision for Women" award by Crossroads in 2008. |
| In the mid-1980s Maury earned a second degree black belt in Taekwondo, a martial art she studied for 18 years, earning a spot on the U.S. Olympic Taekwondo Team and traveling on a demonstration team. Maury is married with two grown children and two grandchildren. |
| Back to top |
|
| Ledy Garcia-Eckstein |
| Ledy is the Executive Director of the Metro Denver Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Initiative and Senior Policy Analyst for Denver's Office of Economic Development (OED). She has an extensive background in government, having served in the Administration of former Governor Roy Romer for eight years, as Policy Advisor and Executive Director of the Colorado Workforce Coordinating Council. She has also been a Community Planning and Development Representative for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Indianapolis Area Office. She has worked for the City and County of Denver since 2000, as Assistant Director for Business Services and Contracts for the City's Division of Workforce Development, prior to accepting the position in OED's Policy Group. |
| Ledy also has eight years of private sector experience in the banking and insurance industries. She has been a Certified Financial Planner and has held securities and insurance licenses. She has a long history of community involvement and is currently on the Latino Advisory Committee for the Rocky Mountain News, the Colorado Public Defender's Commission, the board of the Insight Center for Community and Economic Development, and the National Network of Sector Partners' Advisory Committee. Ledy has a B.A. from the University of Iowa and a Masters Degree in Government from the University of Virginia, where she also completed all requirements but the dissertation for a Ph.D. She was a Fannie Mae Fellow at the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in the summer of 1999. |
| Back to top |
|
| Barbara McKellar |
| Barbara McKellar is a real estate broker and Principal of Commercial Advisors, LLC. She began her real estate career with Hammond Investment Corp. in Colorado Springs. Barbara was later a broker associate with Grubb and Ellis in Englewood and then president and managing broker of Travois Investments, Inc. in Denver. She is a member of the board of directors of the South Metro Denver Economic Development Group, on the board of trustees of the Emily Griffith Center Foundation, the advisory board for Colorado Business Bank, and on the community development committee of the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce. |
| Barbara earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Colorado State University, a sales and broker's license from Jones Real Estate School, and was designated a Certified Commercial Investment Member in 1988. |
| Back to top |
|
| John Trefny |
| Dr. John U. Trefny is President Emeritus of Colorado School of Mines, having retired in the summer of 2006. Prior to his appointment as President in 2000, Dr. Trefny served for nearly five years as CSM's Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty. Earlier, he served Mines as Professor of Physics and Head of the Department of Physics. Dr. Trefny has been active in pre-college education, serving for many years as Coordinator of Teacher Enhancement Programs at Mines. |
| Born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, Dr. Trefny received his undergraduate education at Fordham University and the Ph.D. in Physics from Rutgers University. Subsequently he held appointments at Cornell University and at Wesleyan University before joining CSM in 1977. He has published widely in various fields of condensed-matter physics including amorphous materials, liquid and solid helium, high- and low-temperature superconductivity, and photovoltaics. He was recognized by the School in 1983 with the "Brown Innovative Teaching Award" and in 1984 with the "Amoco Outstanding Teaching Award." He has also received the "Excellence in Science Teaching Award" (1992) and the "Friend of Science Education Award" (1990) of the Colorado Association of Science Teachers. In 2006, following his retirement, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Colorado School of Mines. |
| Dr. Trefny serves on the boards of the Golden Civic Foundation, the Community First Foundation, the Rocky Mountain Regional Center of the Institute of International Education and the Red Rocks Community College Foundation. |
| Back to top |
|
Non-Voting Board Member Bios |
|
| Todd Bergren, SFAC Representative |
| Dr. Todd Bergren is Chair of the State Faculty Advisory Council (SFAC) for the community college system of Colorado. Dr. Bergren is also a full time biology professor at the Community College of Aurora (CCA). This is his first term as the chair and a member of the state board. He teaches General College Biology I and II, Human Anatomy and Physiology I and II, Nucleic Acid Techniques and Molecular Cloning (a biotechnology course), Microbiology, and General Genetics, Molecular Biology of the Cell (both of these at Metropolitan State College of Denver (MSCD). |
| Dr. Bergren received his first Bachelor's Degree in Veterinary Science at Colorado State University. He received his second in Mechanical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. He earned a Masters Degree and PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Colorado in Boulder. |
| Upon receiving his PhD, Dr. Bergren worked as a part-time instructor for CCA, MSCD and the University of Denver for four years before being hired full-time. |
| He has been the principle investigator on a pair of grants from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Labor, both dealing with training high school teachers to perform molecular biology labs in their classrooms. Dr. Bergren also has an ongoing research project he is working on with a colleague at MSCD, dealing with wastewater treatment on the Yucatan peninsula. |
| Dr. Bergren and his wife have been married for 17 years and currently live in Denver. He loves to read about many different subjects, but is especially interested in evolution, cellular and molecular biology and the history of science. He also enjoys woodworking and playing his guitar. |
| Back to top |
|