Benita Duran is a 5th generation Colorado native raised in Pueblo and currently living in Boulder. She has extensive professional expertise in community engagement and organizational capacity building, government affairs and workforce development arenas throughout the southwest.

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Early in her public sector career Benita was an aide to Denver Mayor Federico Peña, where she was responsible for city employee programs, neighborhood outreach and the construction employment efforts in the building of DIA. Her municipal management interests prompted her move from Denver to Boulder for a position in the City Manager’s Office. She served as Assistant City Manager of Boulder for over eight years. Recently, Benita directed the outreach and engagement program for the Denver Public Schools (DPS) 2008 and 2012 general obligation construction bond program. She also served as the government liaison between DPS and the City and County of Denver. Prior to this, she was the Vice President and Director of Southwest Regional Government Affairs at CH2M Hill.

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Duran is an active member of the community and has served on over 15 nonprofit organizations’ board of directors in Denver and Boulder. She is a past chair of the Mi Casa Resource Center Board of Directors, as well as past chair of the Board of Trustees of the Community Foundation Serving Boulder County. Duran also served on the International City and County Management Association (ICMA) Board of Directors as the Mountain Plains Vice President, a professional association of city/county public sector managers. She is presently on the Board of Directors of Boulder Community Health, the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, and National History Day Colorado. She is a member of the Colorado Women’s Forum and the International Women’s Forum.

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Duran graduated from the University of Denver with degrees in Economics and Public Affairs. She earned a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Colorado at Denver.