Adrienne Russman

Director

Denver, Colorado

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Adrienne is a Director based in Denver, focused on delivering strategic advisory, feasibility assessment, and project construction support for government, nonprofit, and philanthropic clients. She brings varied experience from government, politics, social impact, and nonprofits to proliferate policies, programs, and practices that lead to a more equitable future for everyone in the United States.

Prior to Third Sector, Adrienne worked in social impact with start-up organizations and state and local coalitions and public-private partnerships, supporting innovative solutions that create economic justice in the United States. At various points, Adrienne held roles leading network and partnership management, collective impact initiatives, and thought leadership. 

Before working in social impact, Adrienne hailed from the political world, where she was a Senior Policy Advisor to Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, working on special initiatives, advising on policy, legislative direction, and communication strategy. She was part of the team that established a common sense, effective regulatory framework to govern the newly legal recreational cannabis industry. She also led Colorado’s work to advance evidence-based policy with partners in and out of state government, including developing an evidence continuum and establishing a common language and framework used in both the legislative and executive branches around what constitutes ‘evidence-based’ for use in the legislative and budget request processes and incentivizing agencies to use evidence-based programming and build up the body of research and evidence for programs to meet higher levels of rigor through grants for implementation and evaluation support. 

Adrienne is a Denver native, a graduate of Wesleyan University, and a Political Partner at the Truman National Security Project. Away from the proverbial office, Adrienne is probably on her bike, in the mountains, or trying to perfect a loaf of sourdough bread.