Gina serves as the director of place-based philanthropy for Caring for Colorado. In this role, she oversees our place-based efforts in Pueblo County, including overseeing the Sperry S. and Ella Graber Packard Fund for Pueblo responsive grantmaking program, nonprofit capacity-building opportunities, and our youth grantmaking program.

Before joining the Caring for Colorado team, Gina was the executive director of TRIO programs at CSU Pueblo and the project director for the TRIO Upward Bound and Educational Talent Search programs. In these roles, she worked to increase college access and graduation rates for first-generation students and individuals living with low incomes (middle school–aged to adults) throughout Southern Colorado. Gina has more than 20 years of diverse professional experience in college access, higher education, and the philanthropy and nonprofit sector, including time spent at CSU Pueblo, Pueblo Community College, and El Pomar Foundation. Her professional experience provides her with expertise in higher education, leadership development, community outreach, federal grant writing and program management, and grant compliance.

Gina is active in her community and has volunteered with various organizations and boards —most recently, the Community Service Advisory Commission with Pueblo County, Communities That Care Coalition with the Pueblo Department of Public Health, Pueblo School District 70 Accountability Committee, and the Early Childhood Council. She is also an active volunteer with Valley First and Saint Aloysius Catholic Church, both in Colorado City.

Gina is also a board-certified life coach and is certified to administer the MBTI and True Color assessments. Born and raised in Pueblo, she is passionate about helping to facilitate positive change in her community. Her areas of particular interest are social justice, rural communities, college access, K-12 education, youth mental health and wellness, and poverty and housing. Gina graduated from Colorado College with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and received her Master of Science in education from the University of Kansas.

Gina resides with her husband of over 20 years, Andrew, and her two teenage sons in Colorado City, a small town just south of Pueblo. In her free time, if she is not volunteering with her church, she enjoys reading, walking around Lake Beckwith, and golfing and fishing with her husband.