LinkedinThe 2024 Board of Directors
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Todd F. Lang, President - is an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona. Previously, he was Executive Director of the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, a state agency that administers the Citizens Clean Elections Act (ACT). Mr. Lang has direct experience with state campaign finance and election laws and programs as well as federal campaign finance laws and the U.S. Constitution. Previously, Todd served as Chief Counsel for the Consumer Litigation Unit at the Office of the Arizona Attorney General. Prior to that, he spent 2003-2004 as a Visiting Clinical Professor at the Arizona State University School of Law.
Mr. Lang's previous experience includes three years as an election law attorney serving as the counsel for the Arizona Clean Elections Commission. In that position, Todd successfully argued before the Arizona Supreme Court in defense of the Clean Elections Act. Mr. Lang spent the first seven years of this legal career as a legal services attorney and litigated against slumlords and on behalf of victims of consumer fraud. Todd currently serves on the Board of Directors of Community Legal Services. He also has taught several CLE programs on consumer finance fraud, landlord/tenant law, and election law. Additionally, he is past chair of the State Bar Legal Services Committee and Co-President of the Lorna Lockwood Inn of Court, and a past Co-Chair of the State Bar Convention Committee and past-Chair of the State Bar Public Lawyers Committee. He was named by the Volunteer Lawyers Program (VLP) as the "Tenant Rights Advocate of the Year" in 2005. He was also named by the State Bar Foundation for Legal Services and Education as one of the "Top Pro-Bono lawyers of the Year" in 2005 and 2006. Todd graduated from the Cornell University College of Law in 1993. |
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 Tom Giallanza, President-Elect - is Deputy Receiver for the Maricopa County Superior Court Receivership of Landmarc Capital and Investment Company. Tom was formerly Assistant Superintendent for the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions. Prior to moving to Arizona, he served as general counsel for a national real estate developer and later as manager of a national business unit for a major title insurance company. Tom earned his B.S. and J.D. from Loyola University of Chicago and is admitted to the Illinois bar. He is a member of the St. Thomas More Society of Phoenix. |
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 Matthew Fischer, Vice President - is a partner at Snell & Wilmer law firm, and has been an active member in the legal community. He has served on various Snell & Wilmer committees including being a Junior Associate Mentor and Chair of the Hiring Committee. He volunteered for the Maricopa Volunteer Lawyers Program, University of Arizona College of Law, Arthritis Foundation and the Norte Dame Club of Phoenix. Before Snell & Wilmer, Mr. Fischer worked at the US DOJ Bankruptcy Division and at the Phoenix Municipal Court. The VLP recognized him as Guardianship Attorney of the year and his own firm also honored him as a Top Pro Bono Attorney. Matt belongs to numerous professional organizations including ABA's Section of Litigation, SBA's Trial Practice Section, the Maricopa Bar's Litigation Section, the Arizona Association of Defense Counsel and the Securities industry and Financial Markets Association. | |
 Hon. Helen Purcell, Secretary was recently elected to her sixth term as Maricopa County Recorder. She is responsible for recording and maintaining for permanent public record 5,000 to 8,000 documents per day and maintaining voter registration rolls for over 1,700,000 registered voters. She is responsible for administering the Elections Department which conducts all national, state and countywide elections and provides support for cities, towns, school districts, special districts and other jurisdictions. Ms. Purcell is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Counties (NACo), Kids Voting-Arizona and a board member of Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, serving as its Secretary. At NACo she chairs the Member Programs and Services Committee. She serves as a member of the Advisory Board to the U.S.Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) and the Technical Guidlines Development Committee which recommends guidelines for future Election systems in the United States. Ms. Purcell was appointed by Governor Napalitano to the Electronic Recording Commission, serving as chair with members from the Recorders' Association, the Arizona Bar Association and the Ttitle Insurance Community. Her office has received numerous awards including the National Kids Voting Excellence Award, "Best Practice" award from the National Association of Recorders, Election Officials and Clerks and after nomination by Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computer Corp. the departments' Vote by Mail Technology became part of the 2000 Computerworld Smithsonian collection at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The office has processed over 1,000,000 every year since 1999, reaching over one and one/half million in 2004. |
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 Hon. Roxanne Song Ong, Past President received her B.A. degree in Education from Arizona State University and her J.D. degree from the University of Arizona College of Law.Judge Song Ong was appointed as the Chief Presiding Judge of the Phoenix Municipal Court in 2005 by the Phoenix City Council. Judge Song Ong has served as a judge for the Phoenix Municipal Court since 1991. She was appointed as the Assistant Presiding Judge in October 2000. Prior to that, she served as a judge for the Scottsdale City Court from 1986-1991. Prior to judging, Judge Song Ong practiced in the areas of criminal prosecution, defense, and immigration law. Judge Song Ong serves as Chair to the Arizona Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Education and Training (COJET), Chair of the Arizona Supreme Court's Commission on Minorities (COM), Member of the Arizona Judicial Council of the Arizona Supreme Court (AJC), Member of the Arizona Supreme Court's Commission on Technology (COT), and is a Member of the Arizona Supreme Court Publications Committee. She formerly served on the Arizona Supreme Court's Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee for over 8 years. She serves as a faculty member for the Arizona Supreme Court's New Judge Orientation Program and for the Arizona Judicial College. Judge Song Ong is also the Past President of the Board of Directors of the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education. Additionally, she is a Board Member of the State Bar of Arizona's Leadership Institute and is an officer with the Arizona Minority Judges' Caucus. Judge Song Ong has received many awards and recognitions over the years: In 2012, she was honored as one of "48 Most Intriguing Women in Arizona" by the Arizona Historical Society and the Arizona Centennial Legacy Project; She was the 2010 recipient of the Arizona State Bar's Judicial Award of Excellence; She was the recipient of the 2009 National Asian American Bar Association's Trailblazer Award, the organization's highest honor; in 2000, she was also honored as one of the "100 Outstanding Women and Minorities for the State of Arizona" by the State Bar of Arizona and the Maricopa County Bar Association; she was the recipient of the Arizona Bar Foundation's 1999 Attorney Law-Related Education Award; and, she was also recognized in Arizona's Pioneering Women in Law, published by the Women Law Students' Association of Arizona State University College of Law in 1999. Judge Song Ong is recognized as the first Asian woman judge in the State of Arizona and is the first woman and minority to be named as the City's Chief Judge. |
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 Hon. Lawrence Winthrop, Treasurer received his B.A. from Whittier College and his JD from California Western School of Law. He practiced law with Snell & Wilmer from 1977 to 1993, when he then started Doyle and Winthrop (1993-2002). He is currently a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One. He was appointed to the position in 2002. He has been on the Arizona Association of Defense Counsel, a member of the Arizona Supreme Court Committee on Examinations, served as President of the Arizona Bar Foundation, Chaired the Maricopa County Medical-Legal Committee, and been part of the Volunteer Lawyers Program.
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Hon. Thomas J. Berning is the City Court Magistrate for the City of Tucson. Judge Berning has been practicing law for almost 30 years and has been devoted to public service, primarily providing legal services to low income people and persons with disabilities. He has worked with urban, rural, Native American and immigrant communities. Prior to becoming city court magistrate in 2006, he served as Executive Director for Southern Arizona Legal Aid. He also served on the board for the Arizona Center for Disability Law. He currently contributes content for the AZLawHelp.org website and is a volunteer for Casa Maria. He graduated in 1975 from Arizona State University and in 1978 from University of Arizona. |
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 Matt Binford is an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Arizona. He represents the State in criminal cases before the Arizona Court of Appeals and the Arizona Supreme Court. He also represents the State in federal habeas proceedings in United States District Court, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Matt received his law degree from the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where he graduated with Highest Pro Bono Distinction. At the law school, he was the Truman R. Young Prosecutorial Fellow and a staff writer for the Arizona State Law Journal. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Arizona, and has a master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Prior to his appointment as an Assistant Attorney General, Matt worked at the City of Phoenix Prosecutor's Office, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, and the United States Attorney's Office. Before he began his legal career, Matt taught with the Teach For America program in South Central Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Matt is a member of Arizona's Criminal Jury Instructions Committee and the American Bar Association's Homeland Security Committee. He also serves on the Executive Council of the State Bar's Appellate Practice Section and is a member of the Arizona Wills for Heroes Foundation Steering Committee. | |
 Damon Boyd is a partner at Snell & Wilmer where his practice is concentrated in intellectual property and technology related law. Since 2001, Damon has counseled the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education on a wide variety of legal issues, including intellectual property issues, social media issues, and general legal questions relating to technology. Over the years, Damon has counseled the Foundation with respect to numerous intellectual property issues as they arise, and has provided a variety of training seminars to the Foundation and its members relating to intellectual property and social media. Most recently, Damon has provided counsel on intellectual property issues relating to an oral history portion of the Arizona Supreme Court's Centennial website project. Damon has also served as an adjunct professor at the Phoenix School of Law.
In addition to his service to the Foundation, Damon is and has been involved in the community, including working with the Arizona Celtic Bar Association, the Sudanese for Sudanese Foundation, and counseling numerous non-profit organizations with respect to their intellectual property needs. | |
 Jeff Brodin is the founder of Brodin HR Law, an employment law consulting firm that provides HR law support to businesses and non-profit organizations.
Jeff has more than 25 years of labor and employment law experience, including with Winston & Strawn, one of the largest law firms in the country, and in-house for Arizona Public Service (APS), an S&P 500 energy company with more than 7,000 employees. Jeff is very involved in professional and community activities. He is a regular speaker on employment law topics, and was named Lawyer of the Year by the Maricopa County Bar Association. Jeff currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education. He has served as Board Chair for the Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS, Co-Founder of the HIV/AIDS Law Project, Board member of the Contemporary Forum of the Phoenix Art Museum and Vice-Chair of the Employment Committee of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. Jeff completed the Stanford Executive Program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 2008. He earned his J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law and his B.A., magna cum laude, from North Park University in Chicago, Illinois. |
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 Peter Davis is the Managing Director of Simon Consulting, LLC. His areas of expertise include understanding and interpreting financial data, fraud detection and deterrence, and determination of business and personal damages.
His projects include receiverships over Ponzi schemes, receiverships over real estate, turnarounds of operating entities, alter ego analyses, fraud investigations, lost profit calculations, lost earnings calculations, asset searches and related matters. Mr. Davis has provided expert testimony in federal, bankruptcy and state courts. He has taught on the subject of forensic accounting and receiverships at Arizona State University and has provided training on fraud and forensic accounting to numerous organizations. He is conversant in German and has consulted for companies in the United States, Germany and Japan. Mr. Davis is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the Turnaround Management Association, and the Association of Insolvency and Reorganization Advisors. | |
 Kim Demarchi is a partner in Lewis and Roca's Litigation Group, where she represents public, private, and non-profit clients in civil appeals and in the litigation of complex matters. A substantial part of her practice involves issues of public law, including representing state, local, and tribal governments in administrative and court proceedings and advising a wide range of clients on compliance with campaign finance, election, and lobbying laws.Prior to joining the Foundation Board, Kim was a member of the Board of Directors of Community Legal Services, served on the State Bar of Arizona's Access to Justice Task Force, and coached the Mock Trial team at Central High School. Kim is also active in other Bar organizations; she currently serves as Vice Chair of the State Bar of Arizona's Rules of Professional Conduct Committee, and has served as President of the Arizona Women Lawyers Association (2012) and Chair of the State Bar of Arizona Appellate Practice Section (2010-11). She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a member of the Research Committee of the Arizona Town Hall, a graduate of the inaugural class of the Flinn-Brown Civic Leadership Academy, and a soprano in the Phoenix Community Chorus. She also regularly teaches and writes on topics including appellate practice, lawyer ethics, and election law. Prior to joining Lewis and Roca, Kim was a law clerk to the Honorable Ruth V. McGregor of the Arizona Supreme Court and the Honorable Mary M. Schroeder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. A native of Tucson, Kim is a graduate of the Arizona State University Honors College and the Yale Law School. | |
 Rodney Glassman is the City of Tucson Ward 2 Council Member and is a graduate of The University of Arizona five times over. He earned his undergraduate degree in Agricultural Economics, his Masters of Business Administration as well as his Masters of Public Administration from the Eller College of Management. In 2005 Rodney completed his PhD in Arid Land Resource Science from The University of Arizona. He has published award-winning research both nationally and internationally in the area of agricultural education and hands-on learning. Just weeks after his election to the Tucson City Council in 2007, Rodney graduated with his J.D. from the James E. Rogers College of Law at The University of Arizona. Rodney joined the Arizona Bar in the summer of 2008.Professionally, Rodney currently works as a financial advisor at Wachovia Securities, which is owned by Wells Fargo Bank. He has experience in small business and also holds an Arizona Real Estate license. He has consulted in the area of community development, relationship building, and charitable giving for companies in Tucson, and previously served on the Advisory Board for the Bank of Tucson. Rodney served from 2002-2006 as a legislative aide for Congressman Raúl Grijalva, focusing on business and agriculture in the Washington, D.C. and Tucson congressional offices. |
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 Faith C. Klepper practices civil litigation at Calderón Law Offices in Phoenix. Prior to joining Calderón Law Offices, she served as a deputy county attorney with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office from 2001-2004 and a deputy public defender with the Maricopa County Public Defender from 1998-2001. Faith currently serves as Editorial Chair of the Arizona Attorney magazine and previously served on the board of directors for DNA-People's Legal Services and the Maricopa County Bar Association. She earned her undergraduate degree from Brown University and her law degree from Arizona State University. |
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 Hon. Joseph Kreamer is judge at the Superior Court. He was previously a trial attorney at the law firm of Hopkins & Kreamer in Phoenix, where he practiced mainly in the areas of personal injury and commercial litigation. Joe also worked with the firm of Snell & Wilmer. Joe has been involved in access to justice issues in Arizona for many years, having chaired the State Bar Legal Services Committee, the Maricopa County Bar Foundation Board of Directors, President of the Board for the Foundation, John P. Frank for Justice awardee, Top 50 Pro Bono Attorney and Volunteer of the Year. | |
Robin R. Mitchell is an attorney for the Arizona Commission Corporation. She has been a practicing attorney for almost 25 years and her major areas of law practice are utility, labor, employment and employee benefits. Ms. Mitchell is admitted to practice in Arizona, Florida and Texas. She has been involved in the Volunteer Lawyers Program and has also served as a counselor for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. She graduated with honors from the University of Tennessee with a B.A. in history and received her J.D. from Vanderbilt University.
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 Meredith Peabody has had her own consulting business for the past seven years working with various companies and specializing in strategic planning, cultural change management, leadership and organizational development. Some of her most notable clients are: Cerberus Capital Management L.P.; BAWAG/PSK Bank, Vienna, Austria; Kearny Alliance Foundation, and Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Prior to starting her consulting business, Ms. Peabody was the Managing Director of the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS). She held responsibility for all aspects of operation and strategic planning for the DBS Retail Distribution network in five Asian Countries. Her responsibilities included leveraging of Consumer Banking capabilities across the region to achieve DBS's regional objectives as well as improve performance of the flagship Retail Bank in Singapore through the integration and expansion of their Distribution channels locally. Ms. Peabody spent over 20 years in retail banking. She began with the Arizona Bank, introducing a sales and service culture to all levels of the Retail Bank. She progressed through management positions with the Arizona Bank, Security Pacific Bank and Bank of America, where she spent nine years managing a district. Ms. Peabody was in Hong Kong from 1997-1999 with Bank of America's Asia Retail Banking Group, where her responsibilities included the development and implementation of division-wide sales and service strategies to create consistency in products, sales and service delivery across five countries in Asia. Prior to banking, Ms. Peabody spent 10 years in the consumer products industry, most notably as National Sales and Marketing Manager for the J.M. Smucker Company. She has served on many charity boards, including: Bank of America Community Service Board, Valley Big Brothers & Big Sisters, Valley Leadership, and the Arizona Governor's Council. In 2005 she began mentoring an Artemis fellow, a woman entrepreneur from Afghanistan. She is on the Governor's Task Force against Methamphetamine in Yavapai County. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Thunderbird, the School of Global Management. Most recently she was appointed as a public member to the Board of Governors for the State Bar of Arizona, and is a founding member of the Board for "The World Academy for the Future of Women" which is a leadership training and development program for young women in emerging economies. Meredith also serves as an Adjunct Faculty member of Ashford University. In addition to holding an MBA in International Management from Thunderbird, she is a graduate of the Bank Marketing School of the University of Colorado. |
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 Richard T. Platt is the Chief Criminal Deputy County Attorney for the Pinal County Attorney's Office. He has been with the County Attorney's Office since 1996. From 1984 to 1996, he was in private practice in the firm of Platt & Jenson, P.C. in Coolidge, Ariz. His practice focused on criminal law, domestic relations, real property and probate matters. In 1987, he was the President of the Pinal County Bar Association. He has served on the State Bar Board of Governors for the last 10 years (Secretary-Treasurer 2010-2011; 2nd VP 2011-2012), representing rural Arizona and public lawyers. |
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 Domingos Santos formed Santos Law Office, P.L.L.C. in November 2010 to provide individuals and businesses with quality and cost-effective legal representation in state and local tax matters. Prior to forming Santos Law Office, P.L.L.C., Domingos was a member of Snell & Wilmer's Commercial Litigation Practice Group, where he focused his practice on commercial litigation and state and local tax matters. While at Snell & Wilmer, Domingos advised small and large businesses facing transaction privilege tax audits from local taxing jurisdictions and represented small and large businesses, banking institutions, and exempt organizations appealing real property tax valuation and classification determinations to county assessors, county and state boards of equalization, and the Arizona Tax Court.Prior to joining Snell & Wilmer, Domingos was a Deputy County Attorney with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, where he acted as lead counsel in hundreds of contested property tax appeals involving master planned communities and subdivision projects, and agricultural, commercial, and residential real property. | |
 Clarice Spicker is a Law Clerk to the Honorable Patricia A. Orozco at the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One. She graduated from University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law in 2011 and was admitted to the Bar in 2012. While at the U of A she was a writer for the Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law and a panelist for the Disappearing Parents (a report on Immigration Enforcement and Child Welfare). She was the recipient of the International Trade and Business Law Certificate and of the Dean's Academic Excellence Scholarship. Ms. Spicker has also served as President and Chairperson of Imaginations, where she managed the business and legal aspects of the company as well as oversaw the volunteer trips to Thailand, Peru and Indonesia. She spent two months volunteering at and AIDS hospice in Lopburi, Thailand.
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 Geoffrey Sturr is an attorney with Osborn Maledon. He represents clients in litigation and arbitration proceedings. His cases currently involve defending claims against lawyers and law firms, disputes involving businesses and real estate, and defending claims brought under the False Claims Act. He also conducts internal corporate investigations. He has represented clients in administrative and bar disciplinary proceedings and advises lawyers and law firms on professional responsibility issues. Mr. Sturr received his B.A. from Haverford College and his J.D. from UCLA. He was admitted into the California Bar in 1990 and Arizona in 1991. He has been admitted to U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, U.S. District Court , District of Arizona, U.S. District Court, Central District of California and both the Arizona and California Supreme Courts. Geoffrey has served on the State Bar's Legal Services Committee, served as an Adjunct Professor at ASU Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, and is a member of the American Bar Association, Center for Professional Responsibility. He was named "Southwest Super Lawyer" by Law and Policy Magazine and is a past recipient of the Bar Foundation's Top 50 Pro Bono attorneys.
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 Christine M. Thompson is the Assistant Vice President for Government Relations for the Arizona Board of Regents. In that capacity, Ms. Thompson serves as the liaison to the executive and legislative branches of state government on government and legislative affairs, and advocates for priorities of the University system. Ms. Thompson is active in several community boards, including the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education, Kids Voting Arizona, and Soroptimist International of Phoenix. Ms. Thompson was honored in 2007 by the University of Arizona Alumni Association with the Outstanding Young Alumni Volunteer Award, and was named in 2003 as one of the Arizona Republic's "20 in their 20's." In 1999, Governor Hull appointed Ms. Thompson to a one-year term on the Arizona Board of Regents. Ms. Thompson received her BA in 1996 and her JD in 2001 from the University of Arizona. |
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 Janice Wezelman has worked with the Tucson law firm Haralson, Miller, Pitt, Feidman and McAnalty since she was admitted to the Bar in 1974. She has been of counsel for the firm since 2000. She has been admitted to the United States District Court, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. Her community involvement includes the Arizona Research Park Association Board of Directors, the University of Arizona James R. Rogers College of Law Board of Visitors, and coaching the University High School mock trial teams.Ms. Wezelman received her B.A. at Stanford University and her J.D. from the University of Arizona. She has received the Arizona Bar Foundation's Mark Santana Law Related Education Attorney award, the Arizona Alumni Association's Sidney S. Woods Alumni Service Award, the Southern Arizona Women Lawyers Association's Alice Truman award along with several other prestigious awards and recognition. | |
Kevin S. Ruegg, Ph.D., Ex officio has over twenty years with working with nonprofit organizations serving those most marginalized in our society. Currently she serves as the CEO/Executive Director for the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education, Inc. In addition to her administration of nonprofit agencies, she has lent her expertise to mentoring numerous small nonprofit organizations to build their capacity; increase volunteer involvement; and create quality assurance processes. She has been recognized for building collaborative efforts and has presented at National Conferences regarding both statewide cadres and University & Community partnership programs which she assisted in developing. Kevin has a doctoral degree in Applied Management and Decision Sciences. Her Masters is in Human Resource Development and she holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration with a Minor in Theology. |
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John F. Phelps, Ex officio - CEO/Executive Director, State Bar of Arizona •Chief of Staff of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) in Washington, D.C. •Chief Operating Officer of the Grand Canyon Chapter of the American Red Cross in Phoenix, Arizona. •Deputy Director of the Arizona Office of Homeland Security in the Office of the Governor of Arizona. •Retired from active duty after nearly 25 years as a Colonel in the Judge Advocate General's Corps in 2003. Areas of expertise include government ethics and policy, administrative and constitutional law, homeland security, and executive leadership. John graduated magna cum laude from St. John's University in Minnesota with a bachelor's degree in Government. He holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Arizona College of Law, and Master of Laws degrees from the Judge Advocate General's School and the University of Virginia School of Law. John has been a member of the Arizona Bar since 1986. |
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