Ellen Golombek, Executive Director

Date appointed: 1/3/10

Senate Committee date: 1/24/11

Senate Committee hearing vote: 4-2 confirmed

Senate vote date: January 26, 2011

Senate vote: 21-14 confirmed

Salary: $146,040

"Ellen is a proven strategic thinker who has a collaborative work-style and extensive experience working with the labor and business communities,” Gov. John Hickenlooper said. “Her work and the work of the Department of Labor and Employment will play a key role in our effort to support those looking for or creating jobs."

Golombek is now Colorado State Director for America Votes, whose work around the country includes protecting every American’s right to vote. She brings nearly 20 years of additional experience working on labor issues and established relationships statewide to her new role in the Hickenlooper-Garcia administration.

Golombek worked for 14 years with the Service Employees International Union and Colorado AFL-CIO. She was elected the first woman president of the Colorado AFL-CIO in 2000 and led the successful lobbying and legislative efforts for the organization for 10 years.

Before joining America Votes in Colorado, Golombek worked at Planned Parenthood as the National Political and Field Director in Washington, D.C., and as Vice President for External Affairs in New York. She earlier worked four years with the 1.8 million-member Service Employees International Union, where she served as the Assistant to the Secretary-Treasurer and Director of Government Affairs. She managed a $65 million budget in that role.

Golombek earned a bachelor’s degree in labor studies from Antioch University.
 

About the Department of Labor and Employment:

The Department oversees the state’s 64 county departments of social/human services, the state’s public mental health system, Colorado’s system of services for people with developmental disabilities, the state’s juvenile corrections system and all state and veterans’ nursing homes, through more than 5,000 employees and thousands of community-based service providers. Colorado is a state-supervised, county-administered system for the traditional social services, including programs such as food stamps, disability services and child welfare services.