Inside Tucson Business: People in Action

People in Action

Published on Friday, July 10, 2009

Appointments

Kimberly States has been named president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau serving Southern Arizona. States has served in an interim capacity since December 2008. Prior to this, she was Director of Media Relations and Marketing for BBB. States has been with BBB since August 2006.

Janis Johnson is the new chief medical officer of Health Net of Arizona Inc. Johnson previously served as medical director at Kino Community Hospital and Pima Health System and also as CEO of Kino Community Hospital.

Jo Anne Westerman joined M&I Bank as vice president and branch manager of the 7820 W. Cortaro Road location. Westerman has been in the industry for more than 32 years and was most recently with Bank of Arizona.

Javier Durán, University of Arizona associate professor of Spanish and Portuguese and director of Border Studies, has been named president-elect of the Association for Borderlands Studies. Durán is a specialist in cultural and literary studies along the U.S.-Mexico border. Founded in 1976 the Association for Borderlands Studies is the leading international scholarly association dedicated exclusively to the systematic interchange of ideas and information relating to border areas.

New Hires

Shaun O. Sommerer is the new vice president for Arizona Health Sciences Development for the University of Arizona Foundation. Sommerer previously served as the associate vice president of development at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Robert Malone is the new Home Mortgage Consultant for Long Realty Company’s Casas Adobes office. Malone has more than 23 years of experience in the mortgage industry.

Katy Spina joined R&A CPAs as a senior associate in Assurance. Prior to R&A, Katy worked as a Senior Auditor for Ernst & Young, serving clients in various industries in southeast Arizona. Karly Fields joined R&A CPAs as an associate in Assurance and Tax.

Elections

Our Family Services elected its new board officers. Those elected were: Stephen Torkelsen, president; Patricia Goldsmith, vice president; Pila Martinez, secretary and Richard Chagnon, treasurer.

The American Red Cross Southern Arizona Chapter elected its officers and board of directors for the July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010 fiscal year. Officers elected are: Joe Gulotta, chairman; Rocio Galvez, first vice chair; Valeene Williamson, second vice chair; Sarah Villanueva, treasurer and Richard Ducote, secretary. The 2009-2010 Board of Directors includes: Laura Baker, Charlotte Bilang, Joe Britton, Michael Duran, Jack Forsythe, Todd E. Hale, John Humenik, Anthony Kadous, Paul Lindsey, Wendell Long, Lynn Sagara and Thomas Sullivan Sr.

Awards, Honors, and Recognitions, an associate with CB Richard Ellis, has earned his LEED accreditation from the U.S. Green Building Council. Minnehan, who joined CBRE in 2007, has more than 15 years experience in executive-level sales, marketing and management. He joins 12 other CBRE professionals in Arizona who also have earned their LEED accreditation.

Tim Minnehan

Lynda Bergsma, assistant professor with The University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, was chosen as a recipient of the “2009 Cable’s Leaders in Learning Award” by Cox Communications. She received the award for creating and implementing innovative ways to educate students and for making a substantial contribution to learning in the field of media literacy education.

Sally Pudlo Chavez, senior interior designer with Aviar Commercial Space Planning & Design, earned the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Accredited Professional (AP) designation. Chavez is one of two Aviar Design employees who are LEED AP and has been with the company for almost three years.

The Arizona Technology Council awarded the 2009 Governor’s Celebration of Innovation Future Innovators and Teacher of the Year award winners. Michael Frank, a teacher at Empire High School in Vail received the Teacher of the Year Award. Frank actively promotes the idea that the best way to teach science and instill a fundamental understanding of how it works is by having students design and carry out original experiments. Thanks in large part to him, this year the school had 248 students participate in their science fair with a total of 172 projects. Two Tucson students received Future Innovators of the Year Awards. Ebaa Al-Obeidi from Canyon Del Oro High School for the project “Sonoran Solar Solution,” and Michael Wallace from Tucson High Magnet School for his project “Artificial Selection for Polystyrene Degradation in Bacterial Communities.”

Allstate Agent Debe Campos-Fleenor received the Agency Hands in the Community award for her commitment to helping others in her area. With this award comes a $500 grant from The Allstate Foundation for United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona Inc where Campos-Fleenor volunteers.