SiX National Conference 2024

Hon. Jessie Ulibarri is SiX’s Co-Executive Director. As a queer person of color, as a parent, and as someone who grew up in a trailer park, Jessie viscerally understands the demands the progressive movement makes of our elected officials for radical, transformative change. As a former Colorado State Senator, he knows how challenging it is to deliver on those needs, with little institutional support for public leaders in a system that is designed for slow, incremental change. With this dual view, Jessie has dedicated his career to building progressive power from the states outward. Over the last two decades, Jessie has passed hundreds of economic, racial, and gender justice policies into state law, including enacting wage theft protections, establishing workplace protections for pregnant workers, curbing police misconduct, modernizing Colorado’s election system, implementing driver’s licenses for undocumented residents, outlawing solitary confinement in state prisons, combatting climate change through clean energy technologies, and making the largest investment in affordable housing in Colorado’s history. Jessie previously served as the Interim Co-Executive Director of Wellstone Action, Public Policy Director at the ACLU of Colorado, Colorado State Director of Mi Familia Vota, Economic Justice Director at Colorado Progressive Coalition, and Policy Fellow in the Office of Congressman Luis Gutierrez (IL-4). Jessie holds a Masters of Public Management (concentration in organizational development) from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.A. in Ethnic Studies (concentration in intersectional feminism) and Spanish from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He serves on the National Governing Board of Common Cause. He currently resides in western Pennsylvania with his husband and daughter.