Every American deserves a fair shot at living a healthy life.

 
 

Ready to join us to advocate on behalf of everyday Americans?

 

THE HEALTHIER UNITED FUND

 
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The Healthier United Fund is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works on behalf of everyday Americans to improve systems and resources so that everyone has a fair chance at living a healthy life. 

STAFF

The Healthier United Fund

 
  • Director of Partnerships and Growth

    Erika (she/her) a life-long advocate for human rights, she feels fortunate to have always found a professional home in mission-driven organizations. Driven by a deep belief in the power of philanthropy to create lasting change, she is committed to cultivating authentic relationships and ensuring stakeholders understand the meaningful impact of their investment.

    As a development professional, Erika brings over two decades of experience securing funding and executing projects in the U.S. and internationally. Earlier in her career, Erika fundraised and held leadership roles with international organizations and UNICEF-supported initiatives focused on strategic litigation, children's rights and education rights advocacy. She has authored and contributed to internationally recognized human rights publications and brings a strong emphasis on storytelling and cross-cultural communication to her development work. Before joining Healthier United, Erika worked on mental health and immigrant issues in Colorado. 

    Erika holds a Master of Arts in Human Rights from Hunter College and a BA in French from the University of Colorado Denver. In her free time, Erika can be found in deep conversation with her two children, reading, writing novels, and running.

  • Chief of Staff

    Kate (she/her) has spent more than a decade within the Healthier family of organizations, beginning as Senior Director of Activism at Healthier Colorado and later becoming Open Answer’s first Executive Director. During her tenure, she has led and supported nearly 40 local ballot measure campaigns across Colorado, founded Healthy Air and Water Colorado, played a key role in launching Open Answer, and expanded the organization’s work into North Carolina.

    Prior to joining Healthier Colorado, Kate spent seven years in the labor movement– starting as a union organizer with Colorado WINS (the state employees’ union), then serving as Program Manager for the Colorado AFL-CIO, and later as Political and Legislative Director for AFT Colorado.

    Kate holds a Master of Social Work from the University of South Carolina and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Illinois in her hometown of Champaign-Urbana. She lives in Pittsboro, North Carolina with her family and enjoys cooking, staying active, and gardening in her free time.

  • CEO

    Jake Williams (he/him) is the founding CEO of Healthier United. He previously led Healthier Colorado and created a series of complementary entities that now constitute the family of Healthier organizations. At Healthier Colorado, his team secured policy wins such as universal access to preschool, significant reductions in consumer health care costs, improving access to mental health support, elevating childhood immunization rates, and reducing youth use of nicotine. They also successfully influenced hundreds of candidate elections and supported dozens of victorious ballot measures.

    As the host of the Wooden Teeth podcast, Jake engages in discussions centered on the intersection of politics and health. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Sungate Kids, an organization dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse and supporting survivors and their families. Earlier in his career, Jake worked to change state laws across the country to realize LGBTQ equality, led state and federal campaigns to conserve natural resources and address climate change, worked within the labor movement to support health care workers, and served as an operative within electoral campaigns at the local, state and federal levels.

    Jake is a proud citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, and an active Potawatomi language learner. He earned a Master of Science in Comparative Politics and Policy from the London School of Economics, an Executive MBA from Brown and IE Universities, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Communications from the University of Michigan. He lives with his wife and two children in Colorado.

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BOARD of Directors

  • BOARD CHAIR

    Principal, Squire Patton Boggs, LLP

    Mike Dino is a Colorado native and government affairs specialist and has 25 years of experience advising public sector clients on matters pertaining to local, state and federal governments. He assists clients in developing and implementing strategies that help them achieve their policy objectives with public officials. Mr. Dino focuses primarily on relationship development activities, network building and issues management. He works extensively with local government clients, counseling them on funding and partnering opportunities with federal government agencies. From 2007 to 2008, Mr. Dino was the CEO of the Denver Convention Host Committee where he headed up a team that raised $55 million, managed 14,000 volunteers, and produced events hosting 50,000 Democratic National Convention guests. He served as a senior aide to Denver Mayor Wellington Webb from 1991 to 1997. He is also a political campaign expert, having been a top executive or advisor in local, state and national campaigns. In 2003, Mr. Dino was the campaign chair for Denver’s mayor, John Hickenlooper. In 2006, he was a campaign advisor to Colorado Governor, Bill Ritter, and participated in the transition team for information technology matters.

  • Political Advisor

    Rachel Kaygi directs the political operations of a donor invested in Colorado and national politics. Rachel’s responsibilities include campaign development, election research, and the evaluation of political investments. She has 20 years of experience working in politics, including think tanks, the state legislature, and political campaigns. Rachel’s built her expertise in political management, navigating and building complex projects from the ground up. Having moved to Colorado at the age of 3, Rachel considers herself a native, graduating from CU Boulder with a degree in international affairs. She currently lives in Denver with her husband and two children and, in her spare time, enjoys traveling with the family.

  • Executive Director of Denver Shelters & Clinical Services, Catholic Charities

    Orlando Padilla, Jr. is the Executive Director of Denver Shelters at Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Denver, where he oversees and directs the operations and programming of Samaritan House Downtown, Samaritan House Women’s Emergency Shelter and Marisol Homes. Samaritan House Downtown is an extended stay bridge to housing sheltering program that provides across the life span community supports and addresses social determinants of health, which include shelter and programs for women, veterans and children and families experiencing homelessness and furthest from opportunity. Services provided are case management, therapeutic/clinical services across the lifespan, independent living, vocational and prevention groups. Samaritan House Women Emergency Services provide operations and programming to women experiencing homelessness within three different programs that include two 24/7 sheltering operations that provide case management, therapeutic/clinical services, vocational and prevention groups.  Marisol Homes provides a bridge to housing for single mothers and their children, while also providing clinical case management, therapeutic/clinical services, parenting and psychoeducation groups. Formerly, he was Associate Director of Child and Family Access Services at the Mental Health Center of Denver, where he oversaw the Integrated Care, Child and Family Access and Deaf and Hard of Hearing programs. Orlando is a Colorado Native and grew up in Trinidad Colorado. He has over 20 years of experience working with underserved and marginalized populations across the lifespan in a variety of clinical settings that include inpatient hospitals, residential facilities, as well as outpatient and community mental health. He graduated from Colorado State University in 2000 with his B.A. in Psychology and graduated from the University of Northern Colorado in 2007 with a Master’s in Clinical Counseling. Orlando also holds the professional license of a Licensed Professional Counselor.

  • Crystal Potter Rivera’s professional career spans 16 years working in nonprofit fundraising, communications and program development. This includes six years at a senior level within organizations, managing complex nonprofit development programs, and six years as a nonprofit management consultant specializing in fundraising. Crystal has generated significant funds from foundations, corporations and individual donors for a range of nonprofits diverse in size and scope, including Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, Heritage Camps for Adoptive Families, Jared Polis Foundation’s Academy of Urban Learning, Mile High United Way and Summer Scholars. In 2012, Crystal became the Manager of Foundation Relations for the Denver Health Foundation, where she is responsible for managing local and national grants totaling $4-6M annually. As a volunteer, Crystal has served as a mentor for the Circle of Latina Leadership, on the communications committee for Colorado Black Women for Political Action, on the board of the Denver Foundation’s Colorado Nonprofit Loan Fund, and as a cook and community gardener with the St Barnabas Church Sharing Table initiative. She is currently on the board of Denver’s Center for African-American Health. She is a Denver native and holds a BA in sociology from Columbia University in New York.

  • Daniel Ramos is the Executive Director of a Colorado-based nonprofit focused on protecting democracy, improving equity and expanding the civic engagement ecosystem in Colorado. Before taking on this role in 2020, he served as the Executive Director for One Colorado – the state’s leading advocacy organization for LGBTQ Coloradans and their families. Ramos is an active member of the Colorado community and has served on the Board of Directors for New Era Colorado, Community Shares and the Equality Federation, and as a Commissioner on the Colorado Supreme Court Nominating Commission. He currently serves on the LGBTQ Victory Fund Campaign Board and as a Trustee for Colorado Mesa University and the Rose Community Foundation.Ramos is also an adjunct professor at the University of Denver, teaching courses on Public Policy & Advocacy and Community Engagement & Empowerment. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado Boulder and his Master of Public Administration from the University of Colorado School of Public Affairs.