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Members of the State Board
SBCCOE members may be reached at SBCCOE@cccs.edu
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Barbara McKellar, Chair 6th District, (R) Term Expires: 12/31/2009 |
| Barbara McKellar, SBCCOE Chairman, is a real estate broker and Principal of Commercial Advisors, LLC. Read more » | |
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Bernadette Marquez, Vice Chair 1st District, (D) Term Expires: 12/31/2011 |
| Bernadette Marquez, SBCCOE Vice Chair, is a Registered Nurse in a hospital setting working primarily in the Peri-Operative area with over 20 years of experience. Read more » | |
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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 » | |
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Wanda Cousar 5th District, (D) Term Expires: 12/31/2010 |
| Wanda Cousar is the Executive Director of Shivers Academy in Colorado Springs. Read more » | |
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Jennifer Hopkins 2nd District, (R) Term Expires: 12/31/2008 |
| Jennifer Hopkins is a Managing Partner at Crescendo Capital Partners, LLC, a private investment company. Crescendo targets investments in small operating businesses within Colorado. Read more » | |
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Jerry Nickell 4th District, (D) Term Expires: 12/31/2008 |
| Jerry Nickell spent 16 years teaching and coaching on the secondary level before moving into administration where over the last 18 years of his career he served as an athletic director, elementary, middle school, and high school principal. Read more » | |
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Ledy Garcia-Eckstein 1st District, (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 » | |
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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 » | |
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Tamra J. Ward 1st District, (R) Term Expires: 12/31/2010 |
| Tamra Ward is the Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. Read more » | |
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| Non-Voting Board Members | |
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Michael Milhausen SFAC Representative Term Expires: 06/30/2009 |
| Dr. Michael Milhausen is Chair of the State Faculty Advisory Council (SFAC) for the community college system of Colorado. Read more » | |
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State Board Member Bios |
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| Barbara McKellar, Chairman |
| Barbara McKellar, SBCCOE Chairman, 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. |
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| Bernadette Marquez, Vice Chair |
| Bernadette Marquez, SBCCOE Vice Chair, 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 Treasurer on 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 BA degree from Michigan State University as well as the CNOR – Certification Board Perioperative Nursing. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| Jennifer Hopkins |
| Jennifer Hopkinsis a Managing Partner at Crescendo Capital Partners, LLC, a private investment company. Crescendo targets investments in small operating businesses within Colorado. |
| Prior to forming Crescendo, Jenny was employed at Hewlett Packard and Agilent Technologies She has held leadership roles in all functional areas (R&D, Marketing, Manufacturing), and Executive General Management roles for hardware, software and services organizations. Most recently she was Vice President of the Global Solutions Business Unit, a $ .5B organization with 4 divisions and over 1500 people in 35 countries. She has led business teams in product categories ranging from Computers (workstations & servers), to semiconductors to electronic test equipment. |
| She is active in several nonprofit organizations including Social Venture Partners, the Colorado Forum, Opportunity International, the Presidents Leadership Class at Colorado University, the NDSU Alumni Board and, Peak to Peak Charter School. |
| Hopkins holds a bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from North Dakota State University, and master's degree from Stanford University. |
| Jenny lives in Niwot, Colorado with her husband, Mark, and two teenage daughters. She is an active ultra runner, golfer and downhill skier. |
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| Jerry Nickell |
| Jerry Nickell spent 16 years teaching and coaching on the secondary level before moving into administration where over the last 18 years of his career he served as an athletic director, elementary, middle school, and high school principal. He most recently served as the superintendent of the Kim school district for seven years. |
| In addition to working with the area community colleges in Southeastern Colorado, Jerry spent seven years on the superintendent's advisory board of the SEBOCES as well as the CHSAA Board of Control. He currently serves as the vice chair of the Las Animas Urban Renewal Authority. Jerry is a member of the Bent County Citizen Review Panel and member of the Supervisory Committee for the Arkansas Valley Credit Union. |
| Jerry went through the community college system and graduated from Trinidad Junior College in 1969. He received a BA from the University of Northern Colorado, and an MED from Colorado State University. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| Tamra J. Ward |
| Tamra Ward 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. |
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Non-Voting Board Member Bios |
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| Michael Milhausen, SFAC Representative |
| Dr. Michael Milhausen is Chair of the State Faculty Advisory Council (SFAC) for the community college system of Colorado. This is his second term as the chair and a member of the state board. Dr. Milhausen is also Chair of the Science Department at Front Range Community and teaches courses in the biological sciences. |
| Dr. Milhausen received his BS in Biology from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY and his Ph.D. in Molecular and Biochemical Sciences from Syracuse University. He spent ten years at the University of Washington in Seattle doing research and teaching. He worked for sixteen years in the biotechnology industry here in Colorado at Synergen and Heska Corporation. He was a director at the latter company that focused their research on diseases in companion animals. Dr. Milhausen’s area of research is microbiology and infectious diseases; he has published papers, presented at scientific meetings and holds a patent covering some of his work. |
| Dr. Milhausen has been working as a full time faculty member at Front Range for five years. He is also the Lead for online science courses, a Faculty Senate executive member, a Phi Theta Kappa advisor and the site coordinator for the Bruce-Wallace Amgen biotechnology program focused on helping high schools utilize state of the art science equipment. Dr. Milhausen also is a volunteer naturalist for Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks and assists in educational programs and outreach to children and adults. |
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