ASU Alumni Association Elects Board of Directors and National Council

The Arizona State University Alumni Association elected its 2009-2010 Board of Directors and National Alumni Council at the end of May. All members began their terms on July 1.

Board/Council Officers
The following persons were elected to serve as officers of the Board of Directors and the National Alumni Council.

Chair: William Kavan ’92 B.A.
William “Bill” Kavan currently serves as president of Archon Ventures and as an advancement product specialist for SunGard Higher Education. He has served the Alumni Association as the Founders’ Day Committee chair and chair-elect for the Alumni Association board. Additionally, Kavan volunteers his time and leadership with organizations that include Delta Kappa Epsilon International Fraternity and the Association of Advancement Services Professionals.

Chair-Elect: Chris Spinella ’83 B.S.
Spinella is CEO of Apriva, a company specializing in wireless applications and smart card technologies. An entrepreneur at heart, he also co-founded NetSearch, LLC, a wireless application company and was the chairman and co-founder of Zanova, Inc.
He has been actively involved with the ASU Alumni Association, serving as founding member and past president of the organization’s Leadership Scholarship Chapter. While on the association board, Spinella has served on the audit committee, the finance committee and the scholarship committee.

Treasurer: Gil Jimenez ’67 B.S.
Jimenez has served on the board of the Alumni Association since 2004. This is his second term as the board’s treasurer. With more than 35 years of experience in banking, Jimenez currently serves as president of Colonia Bank, which opened in 2008. He has been active in several committees of the Alumni Association board and also holds the position of treasurer on the board of Chicanos Por La Causa.

Past-Chair: Maria Hesse B.S. ’77 B.S., ’84 M.B.A.
On July 1, Hesse became vice provost for community college partnerships at Arizona State University. Prior to that date, she led Chandler-Gilbert Community College as its president. She serves on a variety of community groups, most of which focus on economic and workforce development.

ASU Alumni Association Board of Directors
The following person was elected to his first three-year term on the Association’s Board of Directors, effective July 1:

Dan Mullen ’66 B.S.
Mullen is president of Continental Leasing Company and has served in a variety of volunteer roles at ASU, including president of the ASU Parents Association and a member of the Barrett Honors College Parent Leadership Council.

Mullen joined the following persons who are already serving on the board: Robert Boschee ’83 B.S., ’85 M.B.A., Barbara Clark ’84 M.Ed., George Diaz ’96 B.A., Andy Hanshaw ’87 B.S., Tara McCullom Plese ’78 B.A., ’84 M.P.A., Kathy Paul ’72 B.S., Martin Quintana ’87 B.S., ’04 M.B.A. and Todd Siffren ’91 B.S.

ASUAA National Alumni Council
Six persons were elected to their first three-year terms on the Alumni Association’s National Alumni Council:

Steven Balthazor ’91 B.S.E.
Balthazor currently serves as the chief technology officer and co-founder for Socious Inc. Prior to founding his company, Balthazor held various engineering and project management positions in the semiconductor, mining and software industries. He is also a former U.S. Navy submarine officer.

Christine Devine ’87 B.A
Devine works as a news anchor on Fox News 11 in Los Angeles. She has won eight Emmys and a number of other awards for her work as a broadcaster and is an inductee into the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s Alumni Hall of Fame. Devine frequently serves as emcee for various ASU-related events and organizations and acts as a spokeswoman for the university’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

Kathy Duffy Ybarra ’81 B.A.
Ybarra founded Duffy Research Inc., a research and recruitment firm, in Phoenix in 1991. She is a regular keynote speaker on recruiting and research and is a founding member of the Arizona Human Resource Leadership Forum. She has volunteered regularly at Career Connections, the association’s yearly mentoring fair for undergraduates.

Dick Foreman ’76 B.A., ’79 M.P.A.
Foreman is the director of corporate public affairs for Southwest Gas Corporation. He serves his community as director of the Great Heart Academies, as board chair for the Arizona Tax Research Association and as a community columnist for the Arizona Republic newspaper. He was honored with the 2009 Spirit of Tempe Award for his lifetime commitment to improving the City of Tempe.

Bret Giles ’87 B.S.
Giles is president and co-founder of Sitewire Marketplace Solutions, an online Internet marketing firm. Giles is a co-chair of the Phoenix Father’s Day Council and chair-elect of the Downtown Tempe Community Council.  

Darren Skarecky ’94 B.S.
Skarecky is vice president of finance at Insight Enterprises. He has served as treasurer and board member of the Grand Canyon Minority Supplier Development Council and as a ASU FestDevil Homecoming Gala executive committee member from 2005 to 2008.

The new members of the National Alumni Council join the following persons already on the council: Dave Benner ‘02 B.S., Charlie Broucek ‘93 B.S., Dave Covert ‘78 B.S., Eddie DeVall ‘93 B.S., Mark Duplissis ‘92 B.A., ‘97 M.Ed., ‘06 Ed.D., Theresa Esparza ‘94 M.Tax., Curtis Frasier ‘77 B.A., Matt Gervin ‘01 B.S., Jonell Lucca ‘95 B.A., Vada O’Hara Manager ‘83 B.S., Phillip Moore ‘66 B.S., 67 M.S.E., Jeff Olen ‘96 B.S., Anne Sawkiw ‘99 B.A., James Shaughnessy ‘72 B.A.E., John Sparks ‘57 B.S. and Joseph Udall ‘92 J.D.