Mark Steven Ferrandino (born August 9, 1977) is a former legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado and former Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives. Appointed to the legislature in 2007, Ferrandino represented House District 2, encompassing south central Denver from 2012 to 2014. He is the first openly gay male legislator in Colorado history. He did not seek re-election in 2014, and was the chief financial officer of Denver Public Schools. On November 19, 2020, Colorado Governor Jared Polis appointed Ferrandino to serve as executive director of the Colorado Department of Revenue. He served in the position until July 2023, when the governor named him director of the Office of State Planning and Budgeting.
Biography
Ferrandino, the son of two Italian-American public school teachers, was born in Nyack, New York. He was born with oxygen deprivation and had to have surgery because he was cross eyed. Suffering from multiple learning difficulties, he took special education classes until the fourth grade. He later joined mainstream classes, played the trumpet and captained his high school track team. Ferrandino graduated from Clarkstown High School South in 1995 and earned a bachelor's degree in political science and economics in 1999 and a master's degree in public policy analysis in 2000 both from the University of Rochester. While in school, Ferrandino was a collegiate pole vaulter.
He began his political career in 1997, spending a semester as intern for Congressman Chuck Schumer of New York. After working for several years in Washington, D.C., 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, Ferrandino relocated to Colorado when his partner, Gregory, took a job with the U.S. Customs Service. He now lives in the Baker neighborhood of Denver and is a member of the Baker Historic Neighborhood Association. Ferrandino has played the trumpet since the fourth grade and continues to play regularly.
Ferrandino worked as a senior budget analyst in the Colorado Department of Health Care and Financing from 2005 until his legislative appointment in 2007. He was also active in Democratic Party politics as treasurer of the Colorado Democratic Party and co-captain for Colorado House District 2A. Ferrandino was named Colorado Young Democrat of the Year in 2007. He is also a former co-chairman of the Colorado Stonewall Democrats, and served on the board of directors for the National Stonewall Democrats.
Ferrandino is a twin, and younger brother. His twin Nicole is a business analyst for the University of Colorado Denver and his older brother Micheal is a surgeon at Duke Medical Center in North Carolina. He has two nieces and nephews, Abbey and Owen who live in CO, as well as Hayden and John in NC. He has an adopted daughter with his spouse Gregory Wertsch and they live in the Baker community of Denver.
Legislative career
2007 legislative appointment
In September 2007, Rep. Mike Cerbo resigned from the legislature in order to become director of the Colorado AFL-CIO. Ferrandino was elected to Cerbo's seat in the Colorado House of Representatives in September 2007 by the 2nd District Vacancy Committee on a vote of 23–3. Both Ferrandino and his opponent in the vacancy election, Doug Williams, were openly gay; Ferrandino became the first openly gay man to serve in the Colorado General Assembly. He served as one of four openly LGBT members of the legislature, alongside Sens. Pat Steadman (D–Denver) and Lucía Guzmán (D–Denver), as well as Rep. Sue Schafer (D–Wheat Ridge).
Ferrandino was sworn into the legislature on October 1, 2007, and was elected to a full term in November 2008. Assuming he is re-elected at two-year intervals, term limits will prevent him seeking a fifth House term in 2014, despite the fact that he would not have served four full terms.
Ferrandino has declared his legislative priorities to include health care, consumer protection, and TABOR reform.
2008 legislative session
For his first legislative session, in 2008, Ferrandino was named to the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee and the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee. Ferrandino has named health care and education as his top legislative priorities.