Leadership Built Across Business, Government and Public Service
Wanda James is a nationally recognized executive leader, entrepreneur, elected official, United States Naval Officer and veteran, strategist, and speaker with more than 25 years of experience across business, public policy, higher education, communications, hospitality, and politics.
She currently serves as an elected Regent of the University of Colorado, helping govern a four campus public university system with a budget exceeding $6 billion, and leads CGI Consulting, advising executives, organizations, entrepreneurs, and public leaders on strategy, communications, reputation, public affairs, and growth.
Wanda James is a force.
Service and Leadership
A first-generation college graduate, Wanda attended the University of Colorado Boulder and became the first Black woman commissioned through the University of Colorado Naval ROTC Battalion.
As a United States Naval Officer, she served in the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System, working in one of the military’s most technically demanding intelligence environments.
Her military experience established a foundation that has followed her throughout her career: preparation, accountability, judgment, discipline, and the ability to lead through complexity.
Corporate Leadership and Entrepreneurship
Following the completion of her military tour, Wanda moved to Los Angeles, where she quickly rose in the ranks of the corporate world. She served as Corporate Director of Marketing at Southern California Presbyterian Homes and the Southwest Regional Sales Director for two Fortune 100 companies, Unum Insurance and Avery Dennison.
In LA, she met former Marine and her soulmate, Scott Durrah, with whom she owned and operated five award-winning restaurants from Los Angeles to Colorado. She’d often says “the rest is history,” but they’re still writing it.
Politics, Policy and Public Affairs
Wanda’s political and public policy experience spans more than two decades.
She managed congressional campaigns, including the successful campaign of Jared Polis for the United States House of Representatives, and later served on Governor Polis’ transition team.
She served on Barack Obama’s National Finance Committee and later on Kamala Harris’ National Finance Committee. Her political experience has included campaign strategy, fundraising, coalition building, communications, stakeholder engagement, public policy, and relationships with elected officials and leaders across the country.
Wanda has also served on the Colorado Tourism Board, the Los Angeles Small Business Commission, the University of Colorado Alumni Board of Directors, and numerous civic and community organizations.
Her work has brought her into conversations with members of Congress, United States Senators, governors, mayors, regulators, business executives, advocates, entrepreneurs, and community leaders.
Creating an Industry. Challenging a System.
One chapter of Wanda’s entrepreneurial career changed an American industry.
Wanda and Scott became the first Black people in the United States legally licensed to own a cannabis dispensary. Their businesses included retail, cultivation, and manufacturing operations, and Wanda built Simply Pure into a nationally recognized brand.
For more than 17 years, she helped shape cannabis policy and regulation while challenging the racial inequities created by prohibition, criminalization, incarceration, and unequal access to business ownership.
Her work extended well beyond operating a company. She participated in policy development, regulatory discussions, industry organizations, public education, national advocacy, and conversations about economic opportunity and responsible regulation.
That work made Wanda one of the most recognized Black women in the history of the legal cannabis industry.
A National Voice in Leadership, Politics and Public Service
In 2022, Wanda James was elected to the University of Colorado Board of Regents, becoming the first Black woman elected to the board in more than four decades. As a Regent, she helps govern one of Colorado’s largest public institutions, with responsibility for billions in public resources, executive leadership, institutional policy, student success, research, workforce issues, and the future of higher education.
In 2025, Wanda was elected to the Democratic National Committee, extending a political career that has included presidential campaigns, congressional races, national fundraising, coalition building, public policy, and work with leaders across the country.
Her influence reaches well beyond elected office. Wanda has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Forbes, CNBC, CBS, NBC, Politico, Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Black Enterprise, and other national outlets, bringing her perspective on leadership, politics, business, equity, entrepreneurship, and public policy to audiences across the country.
As an elected official, business leader, and national voice, Wanda has built a reputation for challenging institutions, asking difficult questions, and speaking with clarity about power, accountability, opportunity, and who gets heard. Her career reflects a consistent willingness to enter consequential spaces, influence the conversation, and push institutions to better serve the people they represent.
