Meet the Authors!

Stephanie Donner

Stephanie loves to build communities and lift up other women and girls while doing so. She served as Governor John Hickenlooper’s Chief Legal Counsel and then went on to be Chief Legal and People Officer for Galvanize, a technology education company with eight campuses across the United States. Stephanie founded the Galvanize Foundation, a 501(c)3) that exists to increase access to tech careers for women and people of color, and was recognized as 9NEWS Leader of the Year in 2017 for those efforts. Stephanie is now the Executive Director for Denver’s Emily Griffith Technical College, Colorado’s premier trade and technical college, where she is focused on creating opportunities for all who want to learn and on driving diversity across all programs.

Amber McReynolds

Amber is one of the nation’s leading experts on election administration and policy, and she has spent her career improving the voting process for all. She has proven that designing pro-voter policies, creating voter-centric processes, and implementing technical innovations will improve the voting experience for all voters. Amber is now the Executive Director for the National Vote At Home Institute and Coalition and is the former Director of Elections for Denver, Colorado. During her tenure, the Denver elections office was transformed into a national and international award-winning office, and she helped to lead the effort to modernize Colorado’s voting process, making it a top state to vote. Amber was recognized as a 2018 Top Public Official of the Year by Governing Magazine for her transformational work to improve the voting experience.

Amber and Stephanie met during the 2013 Legislative Session in Colorado when they were both working on the voting modernization legislation and while they were also both pregnant with their second children. They bonded over their shared commitment to ensuring that women have equal representation from the ballot box to the boardroom.