Vally Leadership Accelerate Class 2018 Selected

Today, Valley Leadership announced members of Valley Leadership Accelerate Class 2018. After the selection process, the class was chosen from a wide range of business sectors, including corporate and nonprofit professionals, small business owners, and leaders in education, law and technology.

A shorter-term program, Valley Leadership Accelerate provides the lay of the land on the hot issues facing Arizona and connects participants with others already working on solutions. Leaders get up-tospeed with short, burst-style programming, interaction with the people making a difference and the opportunities to get involved. The program is for individuals who are beginning their community work, still exploring their leadership style and are ready to build the networks they’ll need to excel and thrive as a community leader.

“Now entering its fourth year, we are excited to welcome Accelerate program participants into the Valley Leadership family,” said Dave Brown, Valley Leadership CEO. “Their next three months will be an exciting introduction to Arizona’s most pressing issues and start them on their path to impact.”

Since VL’s inception four decades ago, more than 3,000 leaders have come through the leadership development programming. This is the first cohort of participants to benefit from the evolution of VL’s signature programs. As a part of the organization’s larger pivot toward impact, changes in the programming leverage the organization’s rich programmatic history and reputation while advancing current curriculum to be more timely, innovative and intentional about impact.

The members of Valley Leadership Accelerate Class 2018 are:

Marissa Astrain – Make-A-Wish Arizona
Suzanne Bay – University of Phoenix
Tiffany Blakemore
Michael Cavaiola – Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office
Zachary Charnell – KUBRA
Tania Contente-Cuomo – Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen)
Kristina Crane – Scientific Technologies Corporation
Heather Dukes – Lazarus, Silvyn & Bangs, P.C.
Jordan Dunn – Cox Communications
Tess Elmore – Bryan University
Zak Ghali – Arizona Democratic Party
Victoria Gibilterra – Aetna
Joy Graham – Bank of Arizona
Nico Howard – Berry Riddell LLC
Devina Joiner – Williams Nationwide
Chloe Kolaz – New Way Academy
Angela Lopez – Maricopa County Community Colleges
Nicole Lopez – Asimou & Associates, PLC
Sandra Luna – Wells Fargo Bank
Christina Lytle – Arizona School for the Arts
Meghan McCabe – TRIADVOCATES
Kevin McElroy – Arizona’s Family, CBS 5 / 3TV
Arthur Montoya – Mennonite Central Committee/West Coast
Kevin Nuss – Feld Entertainment
Erin Owen – Make-A-Wish Arizona
George Palomarez – BeachFleischman, PC
Patrice Register – PLR Services
Christopher Smith – Market Mortgage Capital, Inc.
Katie Thomas – Diamond J Accounting
Michael Turk – Cosmich Simmons & Brown
Samantha Van Denburgh – TCI Wealth Advisors
Nanda Vann – Visit Phoenix
Anne Vos – RVi Planning
Sarah Youngman