Elaine Gantz Berman

Elaine has dedicated her professional work and community service to improving the lives of Colorado's children. Elaine Gantz Berman was appointed to the MSU Denver Board of Trustees in 2015 and reappointed in 2016. She is the chair of the Academic and Student Affairs Committee and is the MSU Denver representative to the Auraria Board. In January, 2015, she completed eight years on the Colorado State Board of Education, and, previously served for eight years on the Denver Board of Education, including four years as its President.Prior to serving in elected office, Elaine also worked for 18 years as a program officer at the Denver-based Piton Foundation, focusing on a wide spectrum of children's issues including adoption, child advocacy, child poverty, teen pregnancy, child abuse and neglect, 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. She been a strong advocate for children and has also used her personal philanthropy to support these causes and organizations.Elaine's life and work have been strongly influenced by her Cuban-born mother, as well as her two-year stint in Cali, Colombia with her husband, Steve, where they both worked in community health centers. She is fluent in Spanish and holds a MSPH from the School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She has two adult sons and one granddaughter.