The Denver Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce has announced that Mark Ferrandino will be honored as this year's Professional Man
of the Year.
Tickets are going fast, so get yours today!Rep. Ferrandino has a sterling record of standing up for Colorado consumers and civil
rights. He sponsored legislation granting needy homeowners threatened with foreclosure 90
extra days to work with their lenders to come to a good solution. He led the fight to crack
down on payday lenders, reducing their exorbitant 300 percent interest rates. He sponsored legislation allowing state employees to designate their unmarried partners as insurance beneficiaries, and he has championed civil unions for gay and lesbian couples.
Rep. Ferrandino was first elected to the Colorado House of Representatives through a vacancy committee in 2007 to complete the term of Rep. Mike Cerbo. He was treasurer of the Colorado Democratic Party from 2005 through 2007 and has served as a co-captain for House District 2A and co-chair of the Colorado Stonewall Democrats. In 2010, he was named Rising Star by the Colorado Democratic Party, and in 2007, he was named Colorado Young Democrat of the Year for his work on behalf of the party and Democratic candidates across the state. As a college
student, he spent a semester in Washington, D.C. interning for U.S. Rep. Charles Schumer, now New York‚s senior U.S. senator.
Rep. Ferrandino served as a senior budget analyst for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing under Gov. Bill Owens, as a program analyst for the United States Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, and as a policy analyst for the White House Office of Management and Budget under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
Rep. Ferrandino lives in the Baker neighborhood of Denver with his partner, Greg, and their
dog, Dagny. He was born in Nyack, N.Y. with his twin sister Nicole who also lives in Colorado
with her family and has an older brother, Michael, who is a surgeon at Duke University. His parents
are lifelong educators who worked in the New York City public school system. He has a B.A.
in political science and economics and a Masters in public policy analysis from the University of Rochester. He was a pole vaulter in college and he can still run a mile in under six minutes.
