Jill Hunsaker Ryan

Jill Hunsaker Ryan, MPH, is the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). She is a public health professional with more than 25 years of experience in the field. She has been a local public health agency director, Eagle County commissioner, the vice president of the Colorado Board of Health, and previous director of the Department’s Office of Health Disparities.  Ms. Hunaker Ryan was appointed by Governor Jared Polis to take the helm of CDPHE in January 2019. This was just over 13 months before the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Colorado. Ryan has helped lead Colorado through an unprecedented response, including the largest mass vaccination effort in Colorado’s history.  Another priority of Ms. Hunsaker Ryan’s is improving air quality. Under her direction, the department’s first climate action unit was created to help measure, track and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. She also initiated the department’s quest for tens of millions of dollars in new investments in the Air Pollution Control Division to reduce a historic backlog of permitting, modernize technology, and improve air monitoring to reduce pollution.  Ms. Hunsaker Ryan serves on the Regional Air Quality Council as representative from CDPHE.