Craig Hospital Welcomes Jo Donlin as Director of Community and Government Relations 

Craig Hospital is proud to welcome Jo Donlin as the new Director of Community and Government Relations. A public policy and community engagement leader with deep experience across state government and the nonprofit sector, Jo will lead Craig’s advocacy, partnerships and community engagement efforts, strengthening relationships and advancing policies that improve the lives of individuals living with spinal cord and brain injuries. 

Since 2020, Jo has served as the Legislative Liaison to the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, where she led engagement with the Colorado General Assembly and managed the department’s legislative and budget agendas. Her prior experience spans the Department of Regulatory Agencies, the Colorado Health Institute and the National Conference of State Legislatures. 

Her career has consistently centered on community engagement, public policy and service. She has also remained closely connected to Craig Hospital as a patient, grad, volunteer and former board member. For Jo, stepping into this role is both professional and deeply personal. “I’m just thrilled to be here after being a patient and then a grad for so long, to now have had a career for the last 25 years and bring all that experience back to Craig,” she shares. “It is truly a full circle moment for me.”  

In her new position, Jo will serve as a key external representative for the hospital, building relationships across government, health care and community organizations and connecting Craig’s expertise with partners who share its mission. “I view my role as a bridge between the internal Craig and the outside world and the communities in which we participate,” she says. 

Jo believes Craig is uniquely positioned to expand its reach and impact, particularly as an independent, not-for-profit hospital with a long history of specialized neurorehabilitation care. “There’s much that we can share, so much expertise,” she says. “It’s also unique that we are an independent hospital, and we have maintained that throughout all the changes in the health care landscape.”  

As she begins this new chapter, Jo is focused on listening and learning, with an emphasis on understanding and strengthening the hospital’s current community engagement efforts. “Right now, I feel like I’m on a listening tour,” she shares. “I really want to get my hands around what is going on inside these walls already so that I can maximize that impact and help us connect as a community.”  

Jo is focused on strengthening connections that extend Craig’s impact far beyond its walls, while remaining grounded in the mission that has shaped her own journey. “At the end of the day, what’s important is bringing the best neurorehabilitation experience possible to the patients that we serve,” she says. 

Outside of work, Jo values time with family and community. A Wyoming native and the youngest of seven daughters, she enjoys laughing with her sisters, catching Broadway shows, exploring the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, visiting Hudson Gardens, and working out with yoga, weightlifting and cardio thrown in too.