Short Bio

Bettina Swigger is CEO of Downtown Boulder Partnership, a nonprofit organized to promote the civic, economic, and commercial vitality and well-being of downtown Boulder and to preserve its historic and cultural environment. DBP is dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of Downtown as the heart of the greater Boulder community. It supports the overall vitality of Downtown through public policy advocacy. DBP’s 300+ member businesses support the overall vitality of downtown through leadership, community celebrations and public policy advocacy. DBP also oversees a 49-block Business Improvement District.

 

Bettina served as CEO of Downtown SLO from 2018-2023, where she led the effort to promote a thriving and vibrant downtown San Luis Obispo, California. Downtown SLO is a non-profit organization that serves 500+ businesses in a beautiful downtown area, organizing popular events like the Thursday Night Farmers' Market and the summertime Concerts in the Plaza. Bettina is passionate about fostering creative placemaking, community engagement, and promoting equity and inclusion. She serves on the Board of Directors for the California Downtown Association.
 

Prior to her role at Downtown SLO, Bettina served as Executive Director of Festival Mozaic in San Luis Obispo. She designed and implemented various orchestral, chamber, crossover, and educational programs with Music Director Scott Yoo. Her leadership has been recognized multiple times, including being selected as one of the Top 50 Women in Business by the Pacific Business Times and one of the Top 20 under 40 by the SLO Tribune in 2012. Bettina has also held several leadership positions on local, state, and national boards of directors, including the Association of California Symphony Orchestras, and with Americans for the Arts. She has published her writing in various publications, including the Colorado Springs Independent, the San Luis Obispo Tribune, and SLO Life Magazine.
 

Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Bettina grew up surrounded by books, music, and nature in a very walkable neighborhood. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Comparative Literature, graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Colorado College, where she co-founded and lived in the High Life House, an underground punk and indie music collective. She also created Stubborn Desert, a literary non-fiction zine documenting her experiences as a woman in the food service industry and the rock and roll world. As a classically-trained musician, Bettina has played the viola in community orchestras, string quartets, and rock bands. She was the Manager of the Colorado College Summer Festival of the Arts from 2003 to 2007 and the first Executive Director of COPPeR, the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region from 2008 to 2011, where she helped establish the region's first Cultural Plan. Bettina currently hosts a monthly segment called "Around Downtown" on KCBX's Issues and Ideas, having previously co-hosted KCBX In Concert, a weekly public radio show.
 

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