Eagle County Commissioner Ryan named by Polis to head CDPHE

Eagle County Commissioner Jill Ryan and Summit County Commissioner Dan Gibbs have both been named to the cabinet of recently inaugurated Gov. Jared Polis.

Ryan will serve as the executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and Gibbs will serve as the executive director of the Department of Natural Resources.

Here’s the press release from Polis’s office:

Gov. Polis announces new cabinet members

DENVER — Gov. Jared Polis today announced four new members of his cabinet.

“This cabinet is one of the most talented groups of people I’ve had the pleasure of working with,” said Governor Jared Polis. “I can’t wait to tackle some of Colorado’s most pressing issues with this team.”

New cabinet appointees include:

Dr. Theresa Szczurek: Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer

• Szczurek has a long career in the tech industry. She is the Co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer at Radish Systems, LLC. Prior to that she was the President and CEO of Technology and Management Solutions, LLC.

Dan Gibbs: Executive Director of the Department of Natural Resources

• Gibbs currently serves a county commissioner in Summit County and has served in that role since 2010. Prior to his tenure as a commissioner, Dan represented Summit County in the Colorado House of Representatives and in the State Senate.
  
  

Major General Michael Loh: Adjutant General, Executive Director of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs

• General Loh served as Adjutant General under the Hickenlooper administration and will remain on the Polis team to ensure the operation and preparedness of the Colorado National Guard. General Loh is a command pilot with more than 3,200 flight hours including 2,900 hours and 128 combat flight hours in the F-16A/B/C/D.
  
  

Jill Hunsaker Ryan, MPH: Executive Director for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

• Ryan is a two-term Eagle County Commissioner, and a public health professional with more than two decades of experience in the field.  She is the current President of Colorado Communities for Climate Action and past Vice President of the Colorado Board of Health. Before becoming Commissioner, Ryan managed Eagle County’s Public Health Agency and is the former Director of the Office of Health Disparities at CDPHE.