Board of Directors

Anthony Gherardini, Department of Personnel and Administration

Tony Gherardini, SIPA Board Chair, serves the state of Colorado as the Executive Director of the Department of Personnel and Administration. Prior to his appointment to the Governor’s cabinet, Tony has served in a variety of roles within state government including deputy director of the state’s Office of Behavioral Health, Governor Polis’ Director of Operations and Cabinet Affairs, and the Deputy Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Human Services. In addition to his work for the State of Colorado, Tony served 13 years in the Colorado Army National Guard and deployed to Afghanistan in 2010. During his service as an officer in the Army National Guard, Tony worked as a police officer and later as a detective for the Lakewood, CO Police Department.  Tony is a 2017 Aspen Institute Children and Families Ascend Fellow, and a former board member of Colorado’s Statewide Internet Portal Authority and a current Serve Colorado, Commissioner. Tony holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Colorado Denver, and a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Colorado State University.

Ernesto Chavez, City of Lafayette

Ernesto, SIPA Board Vice Chair, is passionate for developing and building high-performing technical teams with a track record of doing so in local, federal, commercial and military environments.   He currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer for the City of Lafayette where he has transformed the Information Technology (IT)Team and technologies after joining the City post ransomware event.  Previously, he served as the City and County of Broomfield’s Director of Information Technology for five years, eight years as a Federal Employee serving under the Office of Natural Resources Revenue, 2 years in the commercial sector manager developing a large team located in multiple locations across the U.S., and seven years as a Communications and Information Officer for the U.S. Air Force.  Ernesto received his Bachelors at Colorado State University and also holds a Masters from the University of Colorado and Le Tourneau University.  He has leveraged this broad background in leadership and education throughout his career to step into challenging environments and quickly improve staff performance and bring stability and security to the technologies within the organizations he serves.  He has utilized services from the State Internet Portal Authority for the past seven year and is really excited to be on the Board to help the program have long term success.

Danielle Morrill, Firstparty Labs

Danielle Morrill, SIPA Board Secretary, works as Cofounder and Chief Technology Officer of Firstparty Labs, where she builds products that empower businesses to take control of the data and experiences of their customers. She is also the owner of Morrill Coaching, an executive coaching business focused on building leadership skills, resilience, and continuous adult development among startup founders and CEOs. Previously, Danielle was Senior Director of Marketing and General Manager of Meltano at GitLab. Prior to GitLab, she was CEO and Cofounder of Mattermark, which was acquired in 2017. She is a graduate of the startup accelerator program Y Combinator, and was also an early team member leading Marketing at Twilio. Danielle lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband and two labradors Emo and Taco.

Hannah Parsons, Barn Owl Tech, Inc.

Hannah Parsons, SIPA Board Treasurer, is the Chief Operating Officer at Barn Owl Tech, Inc. Prior to her position at Barn Owl Tech Inc., she was the CEO at Exponential Impact. She spent 2 years with the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC, recently, in the position of Chief Economic Development Officer. Hannah has worked in financial services, real estate, community and economic development. She co-founded Epicentral Coworking in Downtown Colorado Springs and has served the startup community in numerous volunteer roles. Exponential Impact is a mashup of Hannah’s diverse career history and interests. It perpetuates her passion for business and community, and fuels her love of learning.

Mark Baisley, State Senator

Mark Baisley is currently a member of the Colorado Senate, representing District 4. Mark holds a Bachelor of Science degree with majors in Computer Information Systems and Business Administration from Columbia College and has a forty-year career in information technology in aerospace, defense, education and financial services.

Maria De Cambra, Department of Local Affairs

Before joining the Department of Local Affairs, Director De Cambra served as the Director of Communications and Community Engagement on Governor Jared Polis's Executive team. During her time in the Governor's office, she worked closely with Governor Polis on delivering his first-term priorities of free full-day kindergarten, universal preschool, and saving Coloradans money on health care. She also played a critical role in the Colorado COVID response and migrant humanitarian crisis. Before working with Governor Polis, she was Mayor Pro-Tem to the City of Westminster, where she championed affordable housing development. De Cambra has spent almost two decades leading community organizing and public policy efforts.

Director De Cambra has served as the Westminster City Council Liaison to the Adams County Economic Development Board, the Affordable Housing Task Force, the Human Services Board, the Northern Area Transit Alliance, and the Colorado Municipal League Policy Committee. She has also served on the board of directors of various Colorado non-profit organizations. In 2020, the Denver Business Journal awarded her the "40 under 40" award.

De Cambra was born in Tallahassee, FL, and spent her childhood in Caracas, Venezuela. In 2000, she moved to the United States to study at The Ohio State University and graduated with a degree in Political Science. In 2017, Director De Cambra completed the Harvard Kennedy School Senior Executives in State and Local Government program.

David Edinger, Office of Information Technology

David was appointed Chief Information Officer and Executive Director of the Office of Information Technology for the State of Colorado by Governor Polis in November 2023. Previously, David was Chief Information Officer for the City and County of Denver and led Technology Services, Denver's IT Department, from 2018 to 2023. Combining people with technology and process improvement, TS pioneered numerous innovations from productive hybrid work during the pandemic to the virtualized Emergency Operation Center. Prior to this role, as Chief Performance Officer for the City and County of Denver, David launched the Peak Performance initiative. The Peak Academy has trained individuals from more than 350 municipal and state governments, and more than 11,000 Denver employees, on how to improve their city processes, saving the city over $65M since inception in 2011. In February 2023, David was named CIO of the Year by Colorado Technology Association. 

Mark Ferrandino, Office of State Planning and Budgeting

Mark Ferrandino is the Executive Director of the Office of State Planning and Budgeting. He joined OSPB as ED in 2023 after previously serving as Executive Director of the Department of Revenue.

He attended the University of Rochester, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and economics in 1999, and a master’s degree in public policy analysis in 2000. Mark worked as a policy analyst for the White House Office of Management and Budget in Washington, D.C.

After relocating to Colorado, he worked as program analyst for the U.S. Department of Justice, then served as the senior budget analyst for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing until 2007 before being appointed to the Colorado House of Representatives. While in the legislature, he was elected Speaker of the House by his peers and served in that role from 2013-14. After his service in the legislature he joined Denver Public Schools as Chief Financial Officer before transitioning into the Deputy Superintendent of Operations role. Mark worked at leading several of the district's largest departments in this role.

Jena Griswold, Secretary of State

Jena Marie Griswold is Colorado’s 39th Secretary of State, and began her term on January 8, 2019. She is the youngest elected Secretary of State in the United States. Griswold grew up in a working-class family in rural Colorado and was the first person in her family to attend a four-year college and then law school. She knows first-hand how important it is for every vote to count and for every Coloradan's voice to be heard, no matter their background or income. She will protect our right to vote, fight secret political spending, improve transparency, and stand up to those who try to bend the rules or break the law. Griswold has practiced international anti-corruption law and worked as a voter protection attorney, where she made sure Coloradans were able to participate in our democracy. She served under John Hickenlooper as the Director of the Governor’s DC Office, advocating on behalf of Colorado in D.C. During that time, Griswold was instrumental in bringing back hundreds of millions of relief dollars to help the Colorado communities hit by the 2013 flood. Before her election to Colorado Secretary of State, Griswold ran her own small business, a legal practice in Louisville.

Jason Harris, State Judicial Branch

Jason Harris serves as the Manager of Data Analytics of the Colorado State Judicial Branch, providing informational insights and technical direction. Jason's expertise is in business process, analytics tool implementation, and data governance. He brings over 15 years experience to the role. He leads an analytics program responsible for data security compliance, systems architecture, key performance indicator implementation, data sharing across governmental organizations, and primary BI tool selections. Jason is a member of the Governors Data Advisory Board (GDAB) where he provides a unique perspective on protecting personal information of the citizens of Colorado from a non-Executive Branch role. Jason consults with Probation Services, Court Services, Financial Services, and Human Resources to translate their business requirements into successful business intelligence programs. Jason received his bachelor's degree from the University of Denver.

Heidi Humphreys, Department of Revenue

Heidi Humphreys has worked for the state for more than 18 years and within the Department of Revenue since 2015. Humphreys previously served as deputy executive director of the Department of Revenue, director of administrative services at the Department of Transportation, director of rural workforce at the Department of Labor and Employment, and a regional director at the Department of Labor and Employment.

She holds a master's degree in human resource studies and education from Colorado State University and a bachelor's in education of the hearing impaired from Texas Woman's University.

Kevin Priola, State Senator

Kevin Priola represents Senate District 13 in the Colorado State Senate, which includes parts of Adams and Weld counties. Senator Priola attended the University of Colorado where he earned a BS in finance and accounting and a minor in economics. He began his service as an elected official in the Colorado House of Representatives in 2009 and was elected to the Senate in 2016. He currently serves as chair of the Joint Technology Committee, as vice chair of the Transportation & Energy Committee, and as a member of the Agriculture & Natural Resources and Finance Committees. Senator Priola’s legislative agenda prioritizes environmentally-conscious innovation, addiction prevention/recovery, and long term economic stabilization.

Sam Taussig, RXN Group

Sam Taussig has worked in the emerging finance, small business, and machine-learning-enabled technology industries across four continents with non-profits, private enterprises, and government organizations.

Sam is a principal consultant with the RXN Group, with significant prior roles at American Express in product development and operations. He was previously the Head of Global Affairs for Kabbage, a small business FinTech provider.

Sam's work spans critical issues ranging from digital literacy to artificial intelligence, fair banking, privacy, open data rights, economic development, and financial inclusion.

Brianna Titone, State Representative

Brianna has been a resident of Colorado since 2008. She is a geochemist and web developer. She is serving in her third term in the General Assembly. She represents the people of House District 27 in northern Jefferson County. She holds bachelor's degrees in Physics and Geology as well as Masters degrees in Geosciences and Information Communication Technology and previously worked part time for a small Colorado software company as a full stack web developer. She House Majority co-Caucus chair and us the Chair of the Joint Technology Committee.

Ron Weinberg, State Representative

Ron Weinberg is currently a member of the Colorado House of Representatives, representing House District 51, Loveland.  Ron is owner and founder of 365 IT, LLC, an information technology consulting services company in Loveland.  He also served for 3 years as Chairman of the Loveland Planning Commission.  In 2021, he was on the Board of Directors and currently sits as the webmaster of the Loveland Rotary Club.  Weinberg was head coach for D1A rugby and was named the Coach/Academic Advisor Of The Year in 2017-18 for Colorado State University. Representative Weinberg is currently Vice President of Sertoma (Service To Mankind) in Loveland.