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Staff and Board
Staff:
Adela Flores-Brennan, Executive Director | [email protected]
Adela comes to CCHI from Connect for Health Colorado where she was director of community-based assistance programs, and managed two statewide networks of organizations to provide outreach, education and assistance with application and enrollment. Adela brings nearly 15 years of experience in law and public policy in Colorado, the past seven years in health care policy. Adela graduated from the University of Denver with a BA and MA in International Studies and from the University of Colorado with her JD. As CCHI’s executive director, she is responsible for advancing public policy, guiding strategic and operational planning, and providing leadership and management support.
Outside of work, Adela enjoys running. She is also an avid gardener, although she admittedly ends up killing most of what she plants.
Debra Judy, Policy Director | [email protected]
Debra Judy joined CCHI in September 2010 as Policy Director. In that capacity, she is working to promote policies that facilitate access to quality and affordable health care for all Coloradans. Debra received a B. A. in Political Science from Williams College, a J. D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, and, in June 2010, a Masters in Social Work from the University of Denver. For many years, Debra worked first as a lawyer and then as a consultant advising clients on various environmental issues, primarily involving the cleanup of complex hazardous waste sites. More recently, she has been active in her community, particularly in the local public schools. Her social work training concentrated on community and organizational practice, including program administration and evaluation, community organizing, and policy analysis and advocacy.
Adam Fox, Director of Strategic Engagement | [email protected]
Adam joined the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative (CCHI) in July 2011, where he started as CCHI's Membership Coordinator. As the Director of Strategic Engagement, Adam oversees all communications, media and engagement strategies to ensure CCHI's policy and education goals are achieved. Adam enjoys creating and implementing new initiatives and taking opportunities to amplify the strength of CCHI's membership coalition.
Adam has worked with a variety of non-profit and volunteer organizations both in the U.S. and abroad to help youth, rural communities and facilitate processes among diverse stakeholders. Before coming to CCHI, Adam worked with the Boys & Girls Clubs to promote access to public health programs and implement health education programs with youth.
Adam earned his M.A. in International Policy Studies from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in 2009 and his B.A. in International Studies, Anthropology, and Spanish from Pacific University in 2007. Adam grew up in Wyoming, and was happy to return to the Rockies and call Colorado home after completing his graduate studies.
Cynthia Wadle, Director of Finance and Operations | [email protected]
Cynthia joined CCHI in January 2015 as the Director of Finance and Operations. She has worked in accounting and the non-profit sector in Colorado for the past 14 years, most recently as the Director of Operations for Anchor Center for Blind Children where she managed accounting, human resources and information technology. She also collaborated with Denver School of Nursing to launch a respite program, where Anchor Center parents could leave children with student nurses for four hours the first Friday night of each month. The program allows student nurses an education opportunity to work with individuals who have vision impairments and gives parents a much needed night out! Cynthia is a Certified Public Accountant, Professional of Human Resources and recently completed the Non-Profit Leadership Institute Program through Mountain States Employers Council financed through Rose Community Foundation and The Daniels Fund. Outside of work, Cynthia enjoys reading and hiking, spending many of her weekends in Winter Park, Colorado. She also enjoys biking, although she admittedly ends up hiking with her bike up any steep hills.
Caitlin Westerson, Policy Manager | [email protected]
Caitlin earned a B.A. in Sociology with a concentration in Human Services at Colorado Mesa University, and then attended the Institute for Public Policy Studies at the University of Denver. She went on to work as the Public Policy Coordinator at the CO-WY chapter of the National MS Society and then as a Policy Analyst for the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. Much of her work in health policy has centered around private health insurance reforms, including a focus on plan benefit design for prescription drugs. In her work as CCHI's policy manager she is committed to continue learning about how the health system works, and advocating for solutions that make health care truly accessible and affordable for all Coloradans. A native of Grand Junction, Colorado, Caitlin was a ski racer and competitive swimmer, and now stays active by hiking all over Colorado with her trusty dog companion, Mabel.
Stephanie Arenales, Consumer Assistance Program Manager | sarenales@cohealthinitiative.org
Stephanie joined CCHI in May 2018 and brings 12 years of experience in health care coverage and access issues to her position as the manager of CCHI’s Consumer Assistance Program. While at the Boulder County Department of Housing and Human Services Stephanie managed Boulder County's Connect for Health Colorado Assistance Site and the Healthy Communities and Healthy Kids Programs. Prior to that she was the Outreach Coordinator and Policy Analyst for Covering Kids and Families, a project of the Colorado Community Health Network, and for many years served on the Boards of Clinica Family Health and Dental Aid. Stephanie has a BA from the University of Colorado at Boulder in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Savanah McDaniel, Health Policy Fellow |[email protected]
Savanah joins CCHI as our Health Policy Fellow. She graduated from Colorado College with a degree in Feminist and Gender Studies and a minor in Biochemistry. Through her studies and internships, Savanah has developed a strong interest healthcare accessibility and equity. While conducting research on women’s healthcare at Weill Cornell, and teaching middle school science in Denver, Savanah developed a passion for addressing healthcare disparity and working with the Denver community. Though she grew up in Kansas, Savanah is no stranger to the mountains. As an avid runner and hiker, she enjoys exploring the local mountain trails in her free time. Savanah is excited to contribute to the mission of CCHI and work towards achieving accessible healthcare for all Coloradans.
Barbara Wells, Education and Outreach Americorps Member | [email protected]
Barbara serves as an Americorps member for CCHI focusing on consumer awareness in healthcare, as well as education and community outreach. She has worked extensively in higher education both as a teacher and a program administrator at community college and university levels. Barb has taught English overseas in Japan and New Zealand, in addition to teaching with community education programs here in the U.S. She holds a master's degree in adult education and literacy from the University of British Columbia. Barb grew up in Toronto, and has lived and worked in Denver, New York and Boston before very happily re-settling in Colorado.
Isabelle Nathanson, Outreach and Communications Fellow | inathanson@cohealthinitiative.org
Isabelle is from Boulder, Colorado and recently graduated from Colorado College with a B.A. in Sociology. While there, she was involved in the Student Organization for Sexual Safety, Outdoor Education, Dance Department, and the Sounds of Colorado College. During college she interned with the I Have a Dream Foundation leading educational programming as well as with New Era Colorado, advocating for the issues young Coloradans care about and registering hundreds of people across the state to vote. Additionally, Isabelle was as a research assistant to Dr. Prentiss Dantzler II, analyzing the history of American federal public housing policy. In 2017 she lived in Ecuador while working with Asylum Access as a community organizing intern working closely with legal advocates and Mujeres Libres Sin Fronteras, a grassroots group that champions visibility and justice for migrant women in Quito. Her experiences in housing research, in Ecuador, as well as her time studying on the US-Mexico border led to her undergraduate quantitative thesis work on the confluence of immigration and housing justice in the US. She is thrilled to be continuing to learn about and be part of social justice in action in her own Colorado community with CCHI.
Jean Scandlyn, Board President | Research Associate Professor
Jean is Research Associate Professor in the Departments of Health and Behavioral Sciences and Anthropology at the University of Colorado, downtown Denver campus. A medical anthropologist, her research interests focus on adolescence and early adulthood, migration and health care in American society, and global health with a focus on South America. Jean has completed a variety of community-based studies using qualitative methods and, with colleague Sarah Hautzinger and students at Colorado College and UCD has just completed an ethnographic study of the effects of multiple deployments on soldiers, their families, and the community of Colorado Springs. As a Fulbright scholar, she led collaborative workshops on qualitative research methods with staff of health-related non-governmental organizations in Bolivia and has served as a consultant on health-related qualitative research projects in Botswana, Guatemala, and the US. She has served on the boards of directors of Urban Peak and The Youth Connection and Colorado Kids Create! and is committed to working for health equity in Colorado.
Christy Blakely | Health Consultant
Christy is a health consultant and serves on several nonprofit boards including NICHQ Early Childhood Education CoIIN Project, Family Engagement Lead. She was Executive Director of Family Voices Colorado from 2000-2012, an organization that advocates for children and youth with special health care needs. She has a masters degree in Special Education from Purdue University. Her and her husband Todd, parented a daughter with significant disabilities. Lauren, now 35 years of age, was born prematurely and was oxygen deprived at birth. Having degrees in the field of special education gave Christy insights into the world of special needs, and over the years she teamed with insurance companies, doctors, families, schools, advocates, professionals, therapists, hospital staff, policy makers and state agencies to provide for her daughter and advocate for many other children with special needs. She has learned and shared her learning in assistive technology, systems navigation, service delivery systems, public and private health insurance, policy, law and most importantly resources and funding with people around the State of Colorado and nationally. Parenting Lauren and her other daughter, Allison, brought Christy's professional experiences an added personal dimension. Christy defines herself as a positive, strategic thinker, a life long learner, a relationship builder and a change agent. She has a passion to work with families to navigate today’s complex healthcare systems.
Michael Booth | The Bawmann Group
Michael is a strategic communications consultant, journalist and moderator, who brings 30 years of experience in finding the right methods and the right audiences for delivering the most useful and accurate information on policy and social needs. He is currently a senior counselor and consultant with The Bawmann Group, a communications firm with longtime ties to Denver-area health care and nonprofit leaders. He also consults, writes, edits and hosts forums for some of Colorado’s most prominent nonprofits, including the Colorado Health Foundation, Mental Health Center of Denver, The Colorado Trust, Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado, and more. Booth was previously a 25-year writer for The Denver Post, specializing in health care, public policy and major projects in every corner of the state. While at The Denver Post, Booth was an integral part of two different Pulitzer Prize-winning teams in breaking news. A Colorado food crisis in 2011 led to authorship of the Colorado Book Award-winning “Eating Dangerously,” with Jennifer Brown. Still, family time is always first, and this family of six (and a half, if dog-inclusive) spends it participating in and watching sports, hiking and skiing Colorado’s great outdoors, traveling to see more family and searching for the perfect Instagram shot. "All the Fourteeners" is on the bucket list.
Kyla Hoskins | Trailhead Institute for Public Health Innovation
Kyla is a Program Director at Trailhead Institute for Public Health Innovation, advancing innovation and collaboration in public and environmental health. Some of her prior positions include working as a consultant at PA consulting and also at Connect for Health Colorado, Colorado’s health insurance marketplace for individuals and small businesses. During her four years with Connect for Health Colorado she held various policy, operations and public affairs positions. She is a passionate advocate for system-wide transparency for healthcare consumers and finding creative and sustainable ways to make healthcare more affordable to the broader populous. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Creighton University and a masters of public health from George Washington University.
Sheeba Ibidunni, Board Treasurer | Ieso Digital Health
From a very early age, Sheeba always knew she wanted to work in healthcare and promote social justice, which lead her to obtain a BA in Biology & Society from Cornell University. While the Biology & Society major may seem a bit unusual, it was perfect; because, it allowed her to explore the intersection between science and social concerns, and better understand the complex relations between biological and sociocultural forces. From there she earned a Master of Health Services Administration degree from the University of Michigan, School of Public Health. She has committed her career to public service through her work to increase access to healthcare, for those that have historically been marginalized and considered vulnerable. In the Medicaid system, she has managed and implemented a program for evidenced-based, person-centered policy design, written administrative rules to clarify Medicaid benefits, and designed and implemented new Medicaid benefits. Additionally, she understands the impact of multiple funding streams, effects of psycho-social issues on health, and strength of coalition building and stakeholder engagement. Most recently, she worked with Medicaid providers to design and test models of behavioral health integration within the pediatric primary care setting. She is dedicated to achieving long lasting change through inclusive development and accountable governance.
Myung Oak Kim, Board Member | Executive Consultant
Myung Oak Kim | Myung Oak Kim joined the CCHI board in late 2014 and is up for renewal for her second three-year term. Myung currently serves as Director of Communications and Community Partnerships at Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics. She joined RMYC inJanuary 2017 and leads the organization’s communications, marketing, development and community partnership initiatives. She previously served as Chief Marketing Officer at Connect for Health Colorado, directing all branding, communications and marketing efforts during the organization’s critical early years of planning and operation. Prior to that, Ms. Kim served as Communications Manager for former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter. She also operated a communications consulting business, providing services to a variety of health care organizations, companies and government agencies. Earlier in her career, Ms. Kim worked as an award-winning newspaper reporter in Denver and Philadelphia.
Sharon O’Hara | Chronic Care Collaborative
Sharon rejoins the CCHI board after a 2 ½ year break. Sharon has a proven track record in state level advocacy, legislative and regulatory initiatives as well as educational programs to address health and social issues. She currently directs the work of the Chronic Care Collaborative, a Colorado-based collaborative of 34 voluntary health organizations. In representing the 1 in 4 Coloradans with a chronic disease the Collaborative joined with other groups to pass the bi-partisan legislation that established the state based exchange, called Connect for Health Colorado, and more recently to pass network adequacy regulations that closely mirror model regulations from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Sharon recently retired after ten years as Executive Vice President at the MS Society Colorado-Wyoming Chapter and an accomplished career in executive leadership and management of nonprofit and health care organizations. Sharon was appointed five years ago to that Board by the Governor to represent consumers. She has demonstrated success and expertise in development of networks and community partnerships, working with state and local policy makers to address accessible and affordable health care.