Irene M. Ibarra joined The Colorado Trust as its president and chief executive officer in 2006. She has devoted much of her career to developing solutions for complex health problems in the nonprofit, philanthropic and government sectors

Before joining The Trust, Irene served as executive vice president of The California Endowment, a statewide health foundation. She also served as director of LA Health Action, a California Endowment-sponsored effort which succeeded in providing health coverage for all children and youth in Los Angeles County. She helped to achieve the same goal in Alameda County, California, where she was CEO of the Alameda Alliance for Health, a nonprofit health plan.

Irene’s return to Colorado was a homecoming. She previously served in Governor Roy Romer’s cabinet (1987-91) as executive director of the Colorado Department of Social Services and as deputy manager for the Denver Department of Social Services (1984-87) as an appointee of Mayor Federico Peña.

Irene holds a juris doctor from the University of Washington, a master of public administration and master of social work in community services and social planning from the University of Denver, and completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Her Colorado honors include being named Woman of the Year by the League of United Latin American Citizens, as well as receiving the Women Who Care Award and the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work.