Valley Leadership Institute Class 40 Selected
Today, Valley Leadership announced members of Valley Leadership Institute Class 40. After a competitive selection process, the class was chosen from a wide range of business sectors, including corporate and nonprofit executives, small business owners, public officials and servants, and leaders in healthcare, education, law and technology.
Valley Leadership Institute, a nine-month program, goes deep into the most pressing issues facing Arizona. Comprised of a cross-sector mix of diverse leaders, the program empowers leaders to have deeper impact on the issues via an expectation of “doing”, both short-term and long-term. The Institute fosters commitment to tackling Arizona’s challenges and gives participants the know-how and network to get things done. The program is for leaders ready to take their impact to the next level.
“As Valley Leadership continues our drive toward impact, we are excited to welcome this diverse and well-rounded group of proven and future leaders into the Valley Leadership family,” said Dave Brown, Valley Leadership CEO. “We look forward to empowering these individuals to have deep impact on our Valley and the state.”
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 Institute Class 40 are:
Casey Arellano – Maricopa County Public Defender’s Office
Francisco Avalos – Valley of the Sun United Way
Thomas Barr – Local First Arizona
Richard Berg – New Pathways for Youth
Heather Bjella – Isola Group
Annica Benning – Arizona Diamondbacks
Laurie Buczek – Town of Gilbert
Caroline Cancel – Trellis
Lorenzo Chavez – Arizona State University
Alana Chavez Langdon – Arizona Public Service (APS)
Ryan Corry – St. Vincent de Paul
Debbie DiCarlo – Cancer Support Community Arizona
Trevor Eagle – Arizona State University
Alexander Falkenstein – Northern Trust
Mackenzie Fitz-Gerald – Arizona Public Service (APS)
Matthew Gale – NTT DATA Business Services
Cylee Gutting – Greater Phoenix Leadership
Zachary Hall – AvAir
John Hamby – Uber
Justin Hockemeyer – Salt River Project (SRP)
Lloyd Hopkins – Million Dollar Teacher Project
Margaret Hunnicutt – Landings Credit Union
Matt Ingram – ASU Foundation
Timothy Kelley – Grand Canyon University
Drena Kusari – Lyft, Inc.
Ben Lindquist – United Phoenix Firefighters Charities
Michelle Lynn – Valley Hospital
Eva Masadiego – New American Leaders
Naquana Mitchell Borrero – The Justice Fund at Community Legal Services
Danny Moran – Plexus Worldwide
Traci Morris – ASU American Indian Policy Institute
Shawn Neidorf – Arizona Commerce Authority
Sophie O’Keefe-Zelman – OH Strategic Communications
Mara Pernick – Arizona Chamber of Commerce
Paul Perrault – Helios Education Foundation
Chuck Podolak – Salt River Project (SRP)
Darnika Riley – Intel Corporation
Michael Robert – Osborn School District
Natalia Ronceria Ceballos – La NRC
Felipe Ruiz – Equality Health
Freddy Saavedra – Alex & Saavedra, P.C.
Larry Sandigo – Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project
Sarah Schol – Crisis Response Network
Staci Seyer – Goodmans Interior Structures
Ashley Shick – Bashas’ Family of Stores
Melissa Steimer – UMOM New Day Centers
Roy Tatem – East Valley NAACP
Victoria Theisen-Homer – Arizona State University
Ryan Town – Pyxl
Ryan Tritch – Food for the Hungry
Andrea Vineyard – United States Air Force
Kevin Walsh – Quarles & Brady LLP
Mark Warren – Fairway Mortgage
Megan Word – Foundation for Senior Living
Elena Zee – Arizona Council on Economic Education