Elaine Gantz Berman
Chair of Trustee Network

Elaine has dedicated her professional work and community service to improving the lives of Colorado’s youth primarily through public education; both PreK-12 and higher education. She was appointed by Governor Hickenlooper to serve as a trustee on the board of MSU Denver. Prior to her higher education board service, Elaine was elected as Congressional District 1’s representative on the Colorado State Board of Education and was previously elected to two terms on the Denver Board of Education, serving for four years as its president. Governor Polis named Elaine as co-chair of his education transition committee when he was first elected governor.

Before serving in elected office, Elaine worked for 18 years as a program officer at the Denver-based Piton Foundation, focusing on a wide spectrum of children’s issues including child advocacy, child poverty, teen pregnancy, child health, and public education. She has served on numerous not-for-profit boards and commissions and helped to found the Colorado Children’s Campaign, the Adoption Exchange, the Colorado Education Initiative, and the Colorado Non-Profit Development Center. Elaine is the founding board chair of The Hart Center for Public Service.

Elaine’s life and work were strongly influenced by her late Cuban-born mother, as well as her two-year stint in Cali, Colombia, where she and her husband, Steve, worked in community health centers. She is fluent in Spanish and holds an MSPH from the School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Elaine has two sons and one granddaughter.