Irene M. Ibarra is President and CEO of The Colorado Trust, a grantmaking foundation dedicated to achieving access to health for all Coloradans. The Trust's strategic grantmaking supports the development of policies, programs and services that expand health coverage and improve and expand health care.
Ibarra has more than 25 years’ experience as a chief executive, public policy leader and health advocate. She has devoted her career to improving health for low-income children, families and individuals, and to developing policy solutions for complex health problems. Prior to joining The Colorado Trust, Ibarra served as Executive Vice President of The California Endowment, a statewide health foundation. Her accomplishments included working with a broad-based coalition to develop the Children’s Health Initiative to provide health coverage for all children in Los Angeles County.
Ibarra formerly served as CEO of the Alameda Alliance for Health, a nonprofit health plan in the Bay Area that was the first local health plan to provide health coverage for uninsured, low-income children and their parents who were not insured by private plans or public programs. She also practiced corporate and business law at Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson – a Seattle law firm.
In Colorado, Ibarra served in Governor Roy Romer’s cabinet as Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Social Services and was Deputy Manager for the Denver Department of Social Services as an appointee of Mayor Federico Peña.
Ibarra currently serves on the boards of the Colorado Association of Funders, Colorado Health Institute, Latino Community Foundation of Colorado and Mile High United Way. Ibarra holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Washington, and a Master of Public Administration and a Master of Social Work in Community Services and Social Planning from the University of Denver. She completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University – John F. Kennedy School of Government.