Office of the County Administrator

The Office of the County Administrator (OCA) manages Boulder County departments of Community Planning & Permitting, Community Services, Housing & Human Services, Human Resources, Information Technology, Parks & Open Space, and Public Works, as well as the OCA and the Office of Racial Equity. The OCA supports internal operations of the county, and ensures the success of our commissioners’ strategic priorities.

Jana Petersen, County Administrator

Jana works directly with county leadership to implement programs and processes designed to realize the Boulder County Commissioners’ three strategic priorities of Economic Security & Social Stability, Climate Action & Environmental Stewardship, and Good Government.

The Office of County Administrator was created in 2020 for the purpose of ensuring organizational continuity whether we’re facing a natural disaster, navigating a dynamic regulatory environment, or implementing major projects beneficial to our county. Jana is one of five direct reports to the County Commissioners and works with her peers to make sure county government runs as smoothly and effectively as possible.

Before this role, Jana served as Administrative Services Director and Commissioners’ Deputy at Boulder County, and at the city of Boulder she held the roles of Communications Director, Interim IT Director, and Assistant City Manager. Prior to working in public service, Jana was a newspaper reporter, and vice president of a marketing, surveying and leadership coaching firm. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Nebraska and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Colorado-Denver.

Outside of work, Jana is a mom of three young adults, three dogs and one cat. She’s been married to her husband, Chris, since 1992, and enjoys running and reading – sometimes at the same time with amazing audiobooks!

Yvette Bowden, Assistant County Administrator

Yvette Bowden Yvette is responsible for staff functions within the Office of County Administrator, including the Recovery and Resiliency Division leading Marshall Fire and other disaster recovery efforts; the Board of Equalization managing property tax appeals; Communications functions; and the Business Operations Division that supports administration of the county’s internal facing departments. She also leads cross-functional projects that span areas of responsibility among the departments reporting to the county administrator, and serves as acting county administrator in the administrator’s absence.

Previously, Yvette worked for the city of Boulder in a variety of roles since 2014 and has been a tireless advocate for Boulder’s residents, visitors, businesses, educational and civic groups. She started with the city as deputy director of Parks and Recreation before becoming an assistant city manager. Before moving to Boulder County, she served as President and CEO of the Piedmont Park Conservancy, the most visited public space in Atlanta, and Executive Director of The Giving Tree, an adoption agency for children with special needs in foster care, in Decatur, Georgia.

Yvette holds a juris doctorate degree and a bachelor’s degree in business from Pace University in White Plains, New York, as well as Certification for Leadership in State and Local Government from the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and she was a member of the Urban Land Institute Center of Excellence in 2012.

The Office of the County Administrator includes:

Board of Equalization
Business Operations Division
Communications and Language Access
Economic Development
Recovery and Resiliency Division