67th Man & Woman of the Year Honorees Announced
Valley Leadership announces Dr. Michael Crow and Elva Coor as the organization’s 67th Man & Woman of the Year. The pair will be honored for their long-term contributions and commitment to our community at the Annual Man & Woman of the Year awards luncheon on March 24th, 2016.
Each year an outstanding Valley man and woman are selected based on their vision, innovation, measurable impact on the lives of others, and, their extraordinary service to our community.
Crow and Coor join a prestigious list of past Man & Woman of the Year award recipients. U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater was honored as the inaugural Man of the Year and most recently Tommy Espinoza and Judy Shannon were recognized as the 2015 recipients.
Crow became the sixteenth president of Arizona State University on July 1, 2002. An academic leader, educator, and designer of knowledge enterprises, Crow has guided the transformation of ASU into one the nation’s leading centers of innovation. As a scholar of science and technology policy, he has been an adviser to the U.S. departments of state, commerce, and energy and several defense agencies. Through the New American University model that he envisioned, ASU has developed innovative solutions and pursued strategic partnerships that have enabled the institution to increase access to a quality higher education. The success of that model has helped to elevate the dialogue around education at home in Arizona, across the country, and around the world.
Coor is a founder of O’Connor House and an exceptional volunteer leader in the community. In addition to helping save the historic adobe home of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, an effort that began in 2006, Coor helped foster civics education for middle school students, and established SpeakOut Arizona, to engage citizens in community action, empowering them to form healthier communities. She criss-crossed Arizona from north to south, east to west, many times, and at her own expense to meet with countless civic organizations about the low civic health index of Arizona, as reflected in the results of the “Arizona We Want” Gallup Poll.
Ambassador Barbara Barrett, member of Valley Leadership Class 1 and Woman of the Year in 2012, describes Coor’s life as “a service to her beloved Arizona through her professional, civic and personal championship.”
“On behalf of Valley Leadership and the Board of Directors, we are truly honored to celebrate the impact these two leaders have had on Arizona for decades,” said President and CEO, Christy Moore.
The newest inductees will be formally recognized at a luncheon on March 24, 2016, at the Arizona Biltmore. For more information or to purchase seats or sponsorships, call the Valley Leadership office at (602) 952-6760 or visit www.valleyleadership.org.
About Man & Women of the Year
Valley Leadership’s Man & Woman of the Year luncheon is one of the premier business and community recognition programs in the Phoenix Metropolitan area. It is attended by approximately 1,000 of the Valley’s most prominent business and community leaders and serves as the primary fundraiser for Valley Leadership, the oldest and largest leadership development organization in greater Phoenix. Nominations for this prestigious award are accepted each year from the public at large. A committee of past honorees and community leaders then selects a single man and woman to be honored at a spring luncheon.
