REMOTE (Nov. 17): The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has hired Michael
Ogletree, currently air quality program manager for the City and County of Denver, as its new director of the Air Pollution Control Division.
“The Air Pollution Control Division’s work is of extraordinary importance to all Coloradans, and we knew it was vital for us to find an experienced expert leader for the division,” said CDPHE executive director Jill Hunsaker Ryan. “We conducted an exhaustive nationwide search, and we’re excited that Michael will serve in this role. He is an innovator with a comprehensive understanding of the urgent air quality issues facing this state.”
In his current role as air quality program manager for the City and County of Denver, where he has served since December 2014, Ogletree has led Denver’s overall efforts to improve air quality, with a special focus on the disproportionate impacts of air pollution and poor air quality on communities of color. He has led the development, design, and implementation of Denver’s Love My Air program.
Ogletree currently serves as secretary of the Air Quality Control Commission, where he was appointed by Governor Polis in 2020. Ogletree also sits on the Air Quality Enterprise Board, which was established in 2020 as a result of legislation passed that year (SB20-204). He will step down from those boards to fulfill his new role as division director.
Ogletree has also served as a chemist and laboratory manager in the private sector.
“I am truly honored and humbled to have this opportunity to serve the state that I love,” said Ogletree. “The division has accomplished some remarkable things in recent years, and my goal is to immediately build on those accomplishments and continue advancing the Governor’s ambitious air quality agenda. We have a lot of work in front of us, and I can’t wait to get started.”
Ogletree’s first day as division director will be December 6.
###