Jennifer Gimbel has a Juris Doctor from the University of Wyoming, a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Delaware and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wyoming. She currently is the senior water policy scholar for the Colorado Water Center, based at Colorado State University. In this position she teaches graduate and undergraduates interested in water policy issues and develops published articles on the Colorado River and water issues facing Colorado. Before that, she served as the principal deputy assistant secretary for water and science in the Department of the Interior and was deputy commissioner for external and intergovernmental affairs for the Bureau of Reclamation. 

From 2008 to 2013, Gimbel was the director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, a group within the Department of Natural Resources that works to protect and develop the state’s water resources. 

In August 2022, Gimbel was presented as the 2022 winner of the Aspinall Award by the Colorado Water Congress during its summer convention. She also became a Terry J. Stevenson Scholar for the Common Sense Institute and co-authored the study: Adapting Colorado’s Water Systems for a 21st Century Economy and Water Supply.

Gimbel enjoys hiking, reading, crocheting and doting on her grandkids. She has two adult children and three grandchildren.