Elaine Gantz Berman has dedicated her professional life and community service to improving outcomes for children and families, with a focus on public education from early childhood through higher education. She was appointed by Governor John Hickenlooper to serve as a trustee on the board of Metropolitan State University of Denver. Prior to her higher education board service, Elaine was elected as Congressional District 1’s representative to the Colorado State Board of Education and previously served two terms on the Denver Board of Education, including four years as board president. Governor Jared Polis also named her co-chair of his education transition committee when he was first elected governor.
Before serving in elected office, Elaine spent 18 years as a program officer at the Denver-based Gary Community Ventures (formerly the Piton Foundation), working on a wide range of children’s issues including child advocacy, child poverty, teen pregnancy, child health, and public education. She has served on numerous nonprofit boards and commissions and helped to found the Colorado Children’s Campaign, the Adoption Exchange, the Colorado Education Initiative, and the Colorado Nonprofit Development Center. More recently, she has helped launch the Colorado Trustee Network, Educate Denver, and Colorado Chooses Vaccines. A strong advocate for children, she also uses her personal philanthropy to support these efforts and the organizations behind them.
Elaine’s life and work have been shaped by her Cuban-born mother, as well as a two-year period in Cali, Colombia, where she and her late husband, Steve, both worked in community health centers. She is fluent in Spanish and holds an MSPH from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health. She has two sons and two grandchildren. Her long-standing commitment to children, families, and public institutions closely aligns with Denver Health Foundation’s efforts to improve health and opportunity for families across Denver.
