Board of Directors
Mary Gittings Cronin - Co-Chair
Mary Gittings Cronin is the former President and Executive Director of the Piton Foundation, a private operating foundation that provides opportunities for children and their families to move from poverty and dependence to self reliance. From 1988 through 2009, she managed the foundation's philanthropic investments to improve public education, create economic opportunity and strengthen neighborhood leadership.
Ms. Cronin has served on numerous boards and commissions in Denver. She is a past president of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado Association of Foundations, and the Women's forum of Colorado. She has served on the Board of Trustees of the University of Northern Colorado, and as a board member of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, The Children's Hospital, The Denver Scholarship Foundation, Vectra Banking Corporation, Colorado Zoological Trust, Stapleton Foundation, Urban Land Conservancy, Wyatt-Edison Charter School, Metropolitan State College Foundation, Colorado Association of Nonprofit Organizations, and the Colorado Health Planning Council.
From 1976 to 1988, she was Chairman of the Board of Gittings Lumber Company. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Jesus Salazar - Co-Chair
Jesus Salazar is a consultant with Credera, a business and IT consulting firm. Throughout his career, Jesus has developed, architected, managed, and services various large projects for customers such as Hairclub for Men, Yamaha, Frontier Airlines, Chipotle, Blockbuster, Hotels.com, Inter-tel, Interstate Batteries, Microsoft, CoBank, Duke Energy, and others. Jesus is currently leading Credera’s Denver practice which provides information technology consulting services to organizations throughout North America.
In addition to his professional career, Jesus Salazar is heavily involved in education reform and economic development within Colorado. At the request of Lt. Governor Barbara O’Brien, he co-chaired the “Turning Around Struggling Schools” sub-committee for Colorado’s Race to the Top application. Jesus was also a member of the Colorado Department of Education Assessment Stakeholders Committee, which helped to modernize the way the State of Colorado assesses the growth and proficiency of its students. In addition, Jesus sits on the advisory board of Colorado Succeeds. Jesus is also a founding board member of Latinos for Education Reform.
Mr. Salazar is also the co-founder of ITsColorado. A consortium of talented IT and Management consulting firms whose mission is to promote Colorado companies and resources, thus increasing economic development within our state. He was also a member of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation.
Jesus Salazar looks forward to providing leadership and passion to organizations and programs that make Denver and Colorado a better place to live and work.
Anna Alejo
Anna Alejo is a communications consultant serving tech startups in Denver, specializing in product launch communications and thought leadership, with a solid track record for landing her clients in top-tier media. She previously served as Director of Corporate Communications for Western Union, a Fortune 500 company with half a million locations in 200 countries and territories. At WU, Anna designed and led global PR initiatives designed to drive business strategy, build reputation and protect the brand.
Anna also covered public education for 16 years for the NBC- and CBS-owned stations in Denver. In addition to award-winning local reporting, she reported stories for CBS News, CNN and Univision, and hosted three public affairs television shows including DPS Today. Anna produced the critically praised documentary “Denver: 25 Years of Desegregation.” She began her journalism career as a news assistant in the Miami Bureau of the Washington Post. Anna and her husband Shepard Nevel live in Denver and are the proud parents of three daughters.
Jill Barkin
Jill S. Barkin is VP of Board Governance of Teach for America. Jill brings over 15 years experience in social enterprise, corporate philanthropy, and strategy consulting. Most recently Jill was the Vice President overseeing corporate philanthropy and community relations for the Colorado region of JP Morgan Chase & Co. Before moving to Denver in 2006, Jill worked in Massachusetts as a consultant to nonprofits and charitable foundations at both the Monitor Institute and FSG Social Impact Advisor and served as the Interim Chief Operating Officer at New Profit Inc., a venture philanthropy firm.
Jill currently serves on the Board Directors of Chalkbeat, a national network of local education news websites operating in New York, Colorado, Indiana, and Tennessee. In 2011 Jill was appointed by Mayor Michael B. Hancock to serve on Denver’s Homelessness Commission and the Denver Education Compact.
Jill holds a BA in Economics and Political Science cum laude from Williams College and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
Yee-Ann Cho
As Vice President of Initiatives, Yee-Ann oversees the programmatic activities in Health and Wellness, Colorado Legacy Schools, Educator Effectiveness and Expanded Learning Opportunities. Previously, she served as the Chief of Staff to the then-Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, Barbara O’Brien. As such, she was responsible for managing the daily activities of the office, supervising staff, and overseeing initiatives in the areas of K-12 education reform, early childhood, community service, and Indian affairs. Prior to this she was the founding CEO of a new charter school management organization focused on serving Denver students in grades 6-12. Yee-Ann came to that role from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where as a Senior Program Officer for Education she managed a portfolio of over $200 million in grants to charter school operators, small schools organizations, and school districts.
Her experience also includes working at New American Schools, a national nonprofit education reform organization, and consulting with various education ventures. Yee-Ann’s passion for education reform started when she helped start Eagle Rock School, a small, alternative, year-round boarding school serving at-risk adolescents in Estes Park, Colorado, that was founded and is fully funded by the American Honda Motor Company.
Yee-Ann earned a BA in international relations from Colgate University, an EdM in policy and evaluation from Stanford’s School of Education, and an MBA from Yale’s School of Management.
Steve Dayney
Steve Dayney is the Managing Director and CEO of REpower USA Corp. a wholly owned subsidiary of REpower Systems SE based in Hamburg, Germany. Mr. Dayney has been with REpower USA since September 2007 and is responsible for managing REpower’s United States subsidiary. The company is located in Denver, CO and to date has sold and installed over 1000 MW of REpower 2MW wind turbines across the United States.
Mr. Dayney has been in the energy industry for over thirty years, holding a variety of management positions in the engineering, project management, business development and regulatory functions of various utility and start up companies. He holds a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Purdue University and a masters degree in business administration from the University of Colorado.
Denise Maes
Former White House Office of Administration General Counsel Denise Maes returned in November 2011 to Denver, her adopted home, to work for the ACLU of Colorado. Pronounced one of the Top Seven Women Lawyers by LAW WEEK Colorado in 2009, Denise left the firm of Berenbaum Weinshienk & Eason, where she was partner, to serve as General Counsel for the White House Office of Administration in the Executive Office of President Barack Obama. Later, she directed Budget and Finance operations for the Office of Vice President Joe Biden. A co-founder and former Director of the Colorado Latina Initiative, Denise served as Chair of the Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Chair of Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, Director of the Downtown Denver Partnership, and as Director of the Colorado Women’s Bar and Hispanic Bar associations. Celebrated in the legal, business, social justice and Latina/o communities, she was lauded in 2010 as “Barrister of the Year” by The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Colorado (The Center).
Dr. David Scanavino
David Scanavino has combined an active clinical practice with 19 years of extensive managed care experience involving the corporate, payer and provider perspectives in multiple competitive health care markets across the country. From 1988 to 1990, Dr. Scanavino served as National Medical Director for MetLife Health Care Management Corporation and was responsible for all medical management operations in 20 rapidly growing HMO plans from coast to coast. In 2001, Dr. Scanavino was a founding principal and Vice President of MMM HealthCare, Puerto Rico’s first Medicare + Choice program. In December 2002, he became Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of MMM HealthCare, which became the fastest growing Medicare + Choice plan in the United Sates. Dr. Scanavino currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Denver Scholarship Foundation. BA – DePauw University, M.D. – Case Western Reserve University.
Charles L. Ward
Charles L. Ward is formerly Colorado President for Qwest Communications. He has worked in the telecommunications industry for over 38 years. Chuck grew up in Pennsylvania and attended Penn State University [BS] and Southern Illinois University [MBA]. Chuck and his wife Chris have lived in Denver for 16 years and have two children.
Chuck served on the Board of the Denver Metro Economic Development Corporation, which he co-chaired for two years, the Board of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, which he chaired in 2010, and the Board of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Colorado.
Federico Peña - Chairman Emeritus
