Piper Fellows Program

As Chief Advancement Officer, Kate Fassett oversees the development team that has raised over $50 million for Maricopa County’s public health system, Valleywise Health. Fassett was also instrumental in raising more than $1.4 million with the passage of Proposition 480, a 2014 bond measure enabling Valleywise Health to continue its work through the building of a new medical center, behavioral health facility, and federally qualified health centers. Prior to Valleywise, Fassett worked in public affairs consulting for HighGround Public Affairs where she worked on the fundraising campaigns for several notable public officials.

Fassett’s Fellowship will focus on experiences that specifically further her growth and development as a leader for Valleywise Health Foundation. She plans to attend the Harvard Business School Executive Education Women’s Leadership Forum; the Madison Institute Association of Healthcare Philanthropy Conference; and the Aspen Institute Executive Leadership Seminar, designed to help leaders gain access to their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and more self-fulfilling.

As Executive Director of the Cultural Coalition, Carmen Guerrero produces annual community festivals including Mikiztli, the Día de Los Muertos Festival (Phoenix); the Mask Alive Festival (Mesa), Portal Festival at S’edav Va’aki Museum, and El Puente Festival (Tempe). Under her leadership, the Cultural Coalition has grown to partner with numerous local arts organizations and artists. As an artistic producer, she is committed and dedicated to issues of cultural literacy and social justice. As an educator and teaching artist for various area schools, she shares her indigenous roots through music and art to foster multicultural understanding. As an artivist/arts advocate, she co-founded Xicanindio (now Xico, Inc.), the Arizona Latino Arts Center, and the Cultural Coalition.

Guerrero’s Fellowship will allow her the time and resources to strengthen her leadership and take the Cultural Coalition to the next level. She plans to visit nationally recognized and established art and indigenous museums that share similar missions focused on promoting Indigenous Art and preservation of ancestral practices. Guerrero will meet with curators and directors who are leaders in diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion, as well as decolonization practices.

A Brazilian by birth, Guerrero has been a musician and a beader since age 5. She is a descendant of the Kambiwá tribe from the northern state of Pernambuco. Upon moving to Arizona, she formed the band Zúm Zúm Zúm and currently sings and plays vibraphones, guitar, and accordion.

In 2015, Matthew Kasper made Phoenix his home, serving in roles with The Phoenix Symphony as the Resident Conductor and with the Phoenix Youth Symphony Orchestras (PYSO). He became PYSO’s first-ever Artistic and General Director. In this dual capacity, he guides the organization both artistically and administratively. Since assuming this role, PYSO’s budget has increased and transformative collaborations have been forged with institutions such as the ASU Herberger School of Music, Dance and Theater; SOUNDS Academy; The Phoenix Symphony; The Phoenix Chamber Music Society; and, the School of Ballet Arizona (resulting in the first-ever all youth performance of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake at the Desert Botanical Garden).

Kasper initiated his musical journey on the violin before the allure of conducting became irresistible. Before his tenure in Phoenix, Kasper was on the faculty at the Aaron Copland School of Music, served as the Interim Music Director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra, guest conducted in Europe, and founded the Chicago Composers Orchestra. He is a graduate of the Aaron Copland School of Music and the Chicago College of Performing Arts.

Kasper’s Fellowship plan encompasses a dual focus on artistic and leadership development, along with study of the evolution of youth music programs and the establishment of a dedicated facility for a youth orchestra. He will collaborate with conducting mentors, including Esa-Pekka Salonan, Hannu Lintu, and Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and spend time with Paul Hughes, the former head of the BBC Symphony, and Elena Armijo, founder of the C-Suite Collective. Visits with industry-leading youth music programs include Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras.

As Chief Operating Officer, Monique Lopez provides strategic leadership and evaluation-focused support to achieve UMOM’s mission of preventing and ending homelessness for vulnerable individuals and families. Her responsibilities include the oversight of finance, people operations, evaluation and learning, information technology, culinary enterprises, facilities, and government grant writing. Lopez’s two decades of experience in the nonprofit sector have been devoted to the human services field, starting as a residential counselor in a group home. Her career has grown to include increasingly complex positions perfectly suited for her deep empathy and dedication to assisting people facing adversity, juvenile justice, and homelessness prevention.

Lopez’s Fellowship will focus on experiences that will further her development of a robust business model that enables UMOM to broaden the reach of its Helpings Café. Her plans include connecting with organizations that have successfully incorporated social enterprise models in their programming, such as Kitchens for Good (San Diego, CA), DC Central Kitchen (Washington, D.C.), and Homeward Bound (Marin, CA). She will also enrich her leadership skills through study at Disney Leadership Excellence Institute and the Berkley Executive Leadership Program.

As CEO, Shelby Pedersen focuses on expanding access to ICAN’s no-cost/out-of-school programs for school-aged youth living in underserved communities. She has led the expansion of ICAN, which has grown from one site serving 200 youth to five sites serving more than 750 youth. Pedersen joined ICAN in 2008 and led its philanthropic efforts and hard-working team to substantially grow the organization’s annual operating capacity and brand awareness. She helped lead its $5.65 million capital campaign, culminating in a new 21,000 square foot facility that more than doubled program capacity in 2012, In 2016 she was appointed CEO. Prior to ICAN, Pedersen served in nonprofit leadership roles for nearly two decades; her experience includes working in marketing and business development for the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Project C.U.R.E.

Pedersen’s Fellowship will focus on further developing skills to lead community-level change and innovation, keeping the wellness of those who carry the work at the forefront. As she leans out of operational leadership and into a more community-minded strategic leadership approach, she strives to evolve her community collaboration skills to lead true innovation in educational partnerships that better meet the growing needs of students. Her plans include attending Harvard Business School’s Executive Education Program (with a focus on leading and building a culture of innovation), engaging in an intensive Spanish immersion program, and participating in 1440 Multidiversity—A Transformation Workshop for Women in Leadership. Pedersen believes that with the number of families in crisis, innovation and a focus on collective impact are needed more than ever to move forward successfully—and because collaboration is extensive and can be challenging, she is also eager to grow her tool belt in leading and empowering teams around individual wellness.

As Director and CEO of Heard Museum, David Roche oversees the largest private museum in the world dedicated to American Indian art and culture. As a recognized national and international leader in the field of American Indian art, his prior role was serving as the senior specialist for American Indian art at Sotheby’s Auction House in New York. He is a member of the Association of Art Museum Directors, lectures at museums and universities in the United States, United Kingdom, and France, and contributes to numerous scholarly publications.

Roche’s Fellowship will focus on developing a new, long-term exhibition that will draw on the Heard Museum’s permanent collection (which spans 1,500 years of Indigenous creativity and comprises 45,000 works). His plans include myriad meetings and site visits to cultural institutions that have recently mounted major installations of Indigenous art, such as Denver Art Museum, the National Museum of the American Indian (Washington D.C.), and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (New Mexico). Efforts will also be made to meet with tribal cultural preservation officers on Sovereign lands in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, and Oklahoma. He will also participate in programs at The Harvard Division of Continuing Education to enhance his leadership and effectiveness within the organization, and especially related to the exhibition project, which will require working with a large, diverse, and intergenerational team of employees and advisors.

As CEO of Child Crisis Arizona (CCA), Torrie Taj focuses on creating big visions for and growing programs with the goal of “Safe kids, Strong families.” She leads a dedicated team with passion, persistence, and contagious optimism as together, they provide 24/7/365 love, safety, and hope through foster care, early education, and family support services. Taj is an executive coach, a professional mentor and also serves as the board chair of AZ Impact for Good and as an advisory board member of Enterprise Bank & Trust. She has taught nonprofit management and other fundraising courses at Arizona State University (ASU) and other educational institutions over the last decade. An ASU graduate, Taj has dedicated her 30+ year career to “social benefit organizations,” aka the nonprofit sector.

Child Crisis Arizona’s clients come from a range of backgrounds, but are primarily low-income, have experienced trauma and, in many cases, speak mostly Spanish. Taj’s Fellowship will afford her a deep-dive into Spanish language and culture to enrich her relationships and connections with staff and clients through bilingual communication. Her plans include participating in an immersive Spanish language program along with a walking pilgrimage at The Camino. The pilgrimage is specifically designed for her to build physical endurance and gain cultural insights similar to the refugee experience. Overall, Taj is seeking comprehensive learnings and development that will inform plans to strengthen CCA early education and refugee shelter programs that serve Spanish-speaking clients.

Kris Andrew Volcheck has had a passionate career spanning over three decades, dedicated to serving underserved populations. Following his graduation from Emory University Dental School (Atlanta), he embarked on a nine-year tenure as a private practice dentist in Globe, Arizona. His commitment to community service led him to volunteer at the CASS Homeless Shelter for two years, ultimately motivating him to transition from private practice to a case manager at CASS. After seven years of immersive involvement in the multifaceted challenges faced by unhoused people, Volcheck established Brighter Way Institute, a dental clinic tailored to meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness. The Institute now encompasses the Bruce and Diane Halle Dental Center, specializing in serving unhoused people and veterans; the Parsons Center for Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics; and the BWI/United Healthcare Mobile Dental Center.

Volcheck’s Fellowship will include attending the Arizona Coalition for Housing Conference, the Executive Program for Nonprofits in Stanford, California, and the International Fundraising Conference. His plans also include visiting other longstanding dental nonprofits, such as the Berkeley Free Clinic, that have executed successful succession planning when the CEO is also a Founder. Through this combination of conferences and research visits, Volcheck strives to bolster his leadership skills by gaining global insights into nonprofit best practices as he ultimately seeks to make profound impacts on people’s lives.

With over two decades of nonprofit arts experience, Becky Bell Ballard believes passionately in providing equitable opportunities in the arts, and the role of the arts in illuminating challenges and opportunities for society.

Ballard’s work at Rosie’s House: A Music Academy for Children is focused on providing creative youth development programs to youth from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Leading one of the largest free afterschool music programs nationwide, Ballard believes strongly in finding methods and solutions to address the disparity in access to music education. Under her tenure, Rosie’s House has achieved a 123% increase in program participation while building out critical capacity infrastructure, including recently completing a $6.5 million campaign for the acquisition, renovation, and expansion of services within a 15,000-square-foot building in the heart of downtown Phoenix.

Before joining Rosie’s House, Ballard oversaw the Phoenix Symphony’s Community Engagement Department, where she managed initiatives that impacted 80,000 children and adults annually. She also worked with the Lake Forest Symphony and Arizona State University’s School of Music. She completed the National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Training Program in 2017. As a musician, Ballard enjoys playing piano and horn. She serves as an advisory board member for the Grammy-winning Phoenix Chorale, a board member for the Downtown Chamber Series, and is actively involved with Valley Leadership in Maricopa County.

Ballard’s Fellowship will focus on the power of relevancy in developing engaging and reflective youth programs by specifically exploring the frameworks of culturally sustaining pedagogy and youth-directed programming. Plans include observing three youth-serving systems including the National Batuta Foundation in Colombia. In addition, recognizing that approximately 80% of Rosie’s House families are primarily Spanish speakers, Ballard will work to improve her Spanish skills through an intensive language course of study. Finally, Ballard plans to attend the Stanford Executive Leadership Development Program to determine how to best implement innovations learned through the Fellowship.

A native Arizonan, Pedro Cons was named CEO of Adelante Healthcare in June 2020; his leadership spans a network of nine community health centers that provide primary healthcare to more than 82,000 individuals across Maricopa County.

With over 25 years of community-focused program experience, Cons is a thoughtful, visionary leader with expertise in strategy and organizational management. His diverse leadership and academic experience provide a unique perspective for creating strategic partnerships across corporate, nonprofit, and government sectors to better integrate service delivery, more effectively address the holistic needs of families, and ultimately create sustainable positive change. In 2022, he was named a Titan 100 and was honored by A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine for giving the keynote address at its White Coat Ceremony. He currently serves on the Boards of the Arizona Alliance of Community Health Centers, the American Heart Association, and Building Healthy Places Network.

His Piper Fellowship plans include attending Columbia University Business School’s Senior Leaders Program for Nonprofit Professionals to focus in-depth on leadership and strategy, functional excellence, management, finance, fund development, marketing, and organizational behavior. He intends to develop an organizational impact plan, conduct a 360˚ Assessment, and develop a leadership credo for Adelante Healthcare. Additionally, Cons will visit some of the most innovative Federally Qualified Health Centers in the country to learn and bring back ideas to close gaps in care for patients. He believes this Fellowship opportunity is an absolute gift that will have a great impact on the community and the patients of Adelante Healthcare.

David Hemphill has been Executive Director at Black Theatre Troupe since 1995. He became the third Executive Director of the company since its founding, overseeing steady growth, guiding the company through capital renovations, and moving the Theatre into its “forever” home in downtown Phoenix.

Hemphill works in this field, locally and nationally, as African American theatre offers a major cultural phenomenon, often neglected, with its origins in social protest, and as a formal branch of theater arts.

Hemphill’s goal over the next four years is to position Black Theatre Troupe to be strong in each of its functions—production, programming, finance, operational systems, and, most importantly, leadership. Although leaving these functions in a great position is critical, it is even more critical that the company be left in the hands of a strong leader to ensure continued success and a viable future for the company. To that end, Hemphill’s Fellowship will focus on projects and activities that are vital to developing a succession plan that serves himself and Black Theatre Troupe.

Fellowship activities include site visits to several African American-run organizations that have or have had a founder leading the company. It is well documented that organizations in this position are extremely vulnerable to failure after the departure of these founding leaders. Hemphill plans to evaluate ideas on how these organizations are preparing for the leader’s retirement and whether or not they have developed a succession plan. He will also partner with a succession consultant.

Sister Mary Jordan Hoover, O.P. is a member of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia and has been a Catholic school educator for 30 years, serving in various teaching and administrative roles before moving to Phoenix in 2016.

Having recently assisted the Diocese of Phoenix with the opening of the newest Catholic high school in Arizona, Sister Mary Jordan continues to lead the school with emphasis on creating culture that is informed by faith in Jesus Christ. St. John Paul II Catholic High School is a co-educational diocesan high school serving students in grades 9-12 and offers academic classes to meet the educational needs of its college-prep students. The school’s four-year ethics program provides the students with philosophical formation and development of critical thinking skills. In just four years, the students have inspired the formation of 15 athletic teams. Choral music, band, drama, and the arts are also important components of the school’s culture.

During the Piper Fellowship, Sister Mary Jordan hopes to develop skills that will help her better serve families in the West Valley, especially Hispanic Catholics, who represent the majority of students enrolled at St. John Paul II. She will participate in the Encuentro Program at Boston College. Sister Mary Jordan also plans to make several site visits and experience a Spanish Immersion program to improve her ability to understand and communicate in Spanish. She will also focus on leadership training in Advancement to prepare for the future growth of St. John Paul II Catholic High School.

Kirk Johnson is a musician, performer, and educator who believes that the ZIP code of a child should not dictate access to music education.

Out of this belief, he founded SOUNDS Academy, a nonprofit music education organization that teaches, mentors, and provides musical experiences and opportunities for underserved youth. Further, the Academy teaches character values through music education. Johnson began his musical journey in Boston, Massachusetts with Project STEP and the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, where he learned to play the violin and viola, took theory classes, and played in chamber music groups and orchestras that toured in countries like Italy, Mexico, and Cuba. Johnson has guided SOUNDS Academy in providing over 62,000 lessons and classes to children and impacted an additional 21,000 students through the Musical Access program, where students attend concerts and are introduced to instruments in SOUNDS Academy’s “Instrument Petting Zoos.” In addition to students building confidence through performing in concerts, SOUNDS Academy is also making an academic impact, with 100% of the students in its SOLO program being accepted into college on scholarships.

The Piper Fellowship will allow Johnson the opportunity to lay the groundwork for SOUNDS Academy to bring a youth performing arts center to the Southwest Valley. He will start the year by attending the Sphinx Connect Conference, a social justice organization dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts. Throughout the year, he will visit three renowned music education programs in the country to learn best practices in managing a high-level music education program. As he learns and reflects on how to implement the lessons learned with SOUNDS Academy, he will also participate in executive coaching sessions and take classes that will focus on program evaluation, developing major gifts, and managing a capital campaign so he can expand the access to music education opportunities for Arizona youth.

Jared Kittelson is the Associate CEO of the Foundation for Blind Children (FBC), a 70-year-old organization that provides education and services to individuals of all ages with visual impairments.

He joined FBC in 2017 as its Chief Operating Officer; he is currently the Associate CEO and will be the Successor CEO in July 2024. Kittelson has helped grow programs by building collaboration between delivery models and creating infrastructure to support the demand for vision services in Maricopa County and beyond. For example, to address the shortage of Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVI), FBC partnered with Arizona State University to create a one-of-a-kind program that marries classroom knowledge with real-world application. During the pandemic, FBC was not only able to survive, but thrive, becoming a national leader by hosting webinars with attendees from all over the world. When the pandemic hit, staff came together and found solutions so that FBC families never missed a day of service. Before coming to FBC, Kittelson spent time as an Executive Director at the Legacy Foundation Chris-Town YMCA and was a Superintendent of charter schools throughout the country.

Kittelson’s Fellowship will focus on learning how organizations maintain their competitive advantages while developing frameworks for growth. FBC has the opportunity to impact the world of vision education and services at local, state, and national levels. Through programs at Harvard University and The Center for Creative Leadership, Kittelson will learn best practices and develop a network of leaders from across the globe. In addition to classroom experience, he plans on visiting industry leaders to learn the different paths that organizations take to ascend in their fields.

Jessyca Leach (she/they) serves as the Executive Director of the Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS.

Leach has been involved with the Southwest Center since 2018, when she began serving on its Board of Directors and was hired as its Chief Financial Officer in July 2020. Before Leach’s role as the Southwest Center’s Chief Financial Officer, she was the Chief Financial Officer for Downtown Phoenix Inc., where she oversaw financial reporting, cash management, and daily operations of the accounting department, and integrated deep analytics and data-driven decision-making into all business functions. Leach has also served in accounting roles at the Phoenix Zoo, Imagine Schools, and Honeywell Aerospace. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in accounting and finance.

Leach will be attending the Harvard Women’s Leadership Forum in March 2023. While in Boston, she will meet and tour with staff from the Fenway Institute, a healthcare clinic that provides services and support for the LGBTQ+ community and individuals living with or at risk of contracting HIV. The Fenway Institute is a leader in LGBTQ+ healthcare and Leach will bring back best practices learned to the Southwest Center. She will also attend the Lantern Consciousness Leadership Retreat in Utah where the training will be informed by a 360˚ review and customized to align with Leach’s leadership goals

Throughout the year, she will work with an executive coach to provide support on opportunities identified in Leach’s 2022 annual review.

Marcia Mintz is the President & CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley (BGCAZ), with more than 30 years of global and national corporate and nonprofit experience.

The opportunity to make a difference and be a conduit for change drives her passion. BGCAZ is a large and complex organization tackling multifaceted youth-related issues. These include academic success, learning loss, food insecurity, physical well-being, mental and behavioral health, character and leadership development, and career and college pathways. These broad topics ladder down to numerous programs that are designed through the lens of removing barriers and opening doors to ensure access and equity for all Arizona youth.

Prior to BGCAZ, Mintz served as President of John C. Lincoln Health Foundation and Senior Vice President of Community Benefit for HonorHealth. Earlier in her career, she worked and lived in Latin America, Cuba, Europe, and the Baltic States, developing education, health, and infrastructure programs. Mintz earned an MBA from the University of Arizona’s Eller School of Management and a bachelor of fine arts degree from New York University’s Tisch School of Arts.

Mintz’s Fellowship plans include participating in MIT’s executive program on Innovating in Existing Markets. This course uses the Distributed Leadership Model to provide a framework for leaders who want to be more creative and adaptive in new ways. It will allow her to examine BGCAZ’s current service delivery model and develop innovative and creative ways to deliver on mission and vision.

In addition, she plans to visit and learn from several Boys & Girls Clubs throughout the country that are providing world class programs in three priority areas: academic success, mental and behavioral health, and workforce readiness/career pathways.

Born in a predominantly Hispanic community in inner-city Los Angeles, Alicia Nuñez recognized early in her life that education provided the vehicle to economic and personal success.

A graduate of Cal State University, Nuñez entered the hospitality industry as a room service telephone operator and within five years had rocketed to the accounting department, where she served as the Assistant Director of Finance at the Ritz-Carlton. She later earned her MBA at the University of Arizona. For the next 26 years, Nuñez distinguished herself in multiple leadership roles. In 2006, she joined Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC), one of the largest Hispanic community development corporations in the U.S., as the Director of Accounting Operations, ultimately becoming the Executive Vice President and CFO. She has served in this role for the last seven years. During this time, CPLC has grown more than 400%.

Through the Piper Fellowship, Nuñez will attend a two-week program for growing businesses at the prestigious Stanford Executive School. She will also visit two rapidly growing corporations distinguished for building innovative and cutting-edge housing developments. With this knowledge, Nuñez will learn executive strategies to execute faster, operate more efficiently, and focus on management systems that will help CPLC sustain growth while providing excellent programs and services to low-income residents.

Denise D. Resnik is the Founder, President and CEO of First Place AZ; Co-Founder of the Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center (SARRC); and Founder and CEO of DRA Collective, a marketing and public relations firm.

Through tri-sector leadership at every turn, she and the First Place team, along with stellar collaborative statewide and national leaders, are advancing a portfolio of residential developments, proof points and supportive policy, and—most importantly—raising the bar on life course outcomes. The nonprofit’s flagship R&D multi-use property, First Place–Phoenix, is in the heart of what PBS NewsHour acknowledges as “the most autism-friendly city in the world.” Through the First Place Global Leadership Institute, First Place is demonstrating how to develop homes and supports for those who live there and create peace of mind for families and friends.

Resnik will focus her Fellowship exploring leadership development and marketplace and community-building strategies with Arizona pioneers and others from across the country who are committed to raising the bar on options and ensuring that a diagnosis of autism and/or any  intellectual/developmental disabilities do not stand in the way of friends, jobs, supportive communities, and homes.

The Piper Fellowship will provide Resnik with the space and capacity to travel and meet with local and national leaders from academia, philanthropy, public/private sectors, and nonprofits. She plans to experience progressive programs such as South by Southwest and the Aspen Ideas Festivals. The ideation process will further inform growth of the First Place Global Leadership Institute and help determine the best strategies for engaging peers, organizations, and institutions, and mentoring the next generation.

Christopher Tiffany came to the nonprofit community in 2010 from the public school system, where he was a middle school special education teacher.

His experience as a special educator changed dramatically when his son was diagnosed with autism at age 2. As a teacher, he began to identify with the parents and family members of the students he taught, identifying with their hopes and fears and their confusion about how to access necessary supports and services to enable their children to grow and live a good life. At Raising Special Kids (RSK) he found the opportunity to use his education and training to serve and support families. Tiffany has been with RSK for 13 years in several roles and is in his fifth year as Executive Director. He continues to be honored and privileged to serve Arizona families.

Tiffany’s Piper Fellowship plans are designed to increase competencies in nonprofit leadership and in the organization’s capacity to serve a growing population of Arizona parents and family members raising children with a suspected or diagnosed disability. In addition to structured professional development, Tiffany plans to explore disability inclusion as a civil right and the integration of family advocacy and disability advocacy to unify the collective voice for community integration of children and people who have disabilities.

Dr. Gerd Wuestemann grew up the youngest son to a working-class family in a small, medieval town in Germany, mere miles from the Iron Curtain.

Wuestemann discovered music and art at a very young age, and the arts have been the one constant in his life—as a performer, a patron, an entrepreneur, and an administrator. After transitioning from a performance career and professorship to working as an entrepreneur, he began managing arts organizations in Louisiana and built a new multidisciplinary arts center. He became the CEO of Scottsdale Arts in 2018. Since then, the organization has grown from three to six major branches, working across visual, performing, and public art, as well as in arts education and festivals such as Canal Convergence. Funded by a city bond in 2019, Scottsdale Arts will be opening a new 14-acre outdoor campus with three performance venues in early 2023.

Wuestemann’s Fellowship agenda includes eight major focal areas throughout 2023. His goal is to study, synthesize, and plan a welcoming, accessible, and encompassing 21st century campus for arts and education in Scottsdale. After two decades of working on building venues and organizations, Wuestemann has been fortunate to grow deep relationships with architects, museums and theater planners, acousticians, and designers. He plans to study master planning with Studio Libeskind; architectural venue design with Snohetta; theater design with Theater Projects; acoustics with Akustiks; campus development and sustainability at Lincoln Center; and technology in the arts with digital museums and performance venue developers. With time to reflect and digest, Wuestemann plans to synthesize this new knowledge into action plans to develop a sustainable and people-centric model.

A third-generation Arizonan, Sam Alpert was the Chief Development Officer for Junior Achievement of Arizona (JA), which provides career and financial literacy education to 85,000 K-12 students annually, helping them build the foundation for future success.

A third-generation Arizonan, Sam Alpert was the Chief Development Officer for Junior Achievement of Arizona (JA) when awarded his Piper Fellowship, which provides career and financial literacy education to 85,000 K-12 students annually, helping them build the foundation for future success. Since he joined the organization in 2013, he has led JA to some of its best fundraising years in its 65-year history. Previously, he spent 11 years in the marketing field including owning an advertising and PR agency where he represented Dunkin’ Donuts, Cox Communications, and KJZZ-NPR, among other brands. He was honored as one of the Phoenix Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 in 2016. His advertising agency won the Phoenix Chamber’s IMPACT Award for Best Company Culture and was also a finalist for ASU’s Spirit of Enterprise Awards. A proud father of two daughters, Alpert received an MBA and a BA in journalism from Arizona State University.

Alpert’s Fellowship plans focused on helping Junior Achievement continue to be innovative in all aspects—program delivery, community engagement, company culture, and branding—to help position the organization as the leader in educating young people on what it takes to become successful in work and life. He plans to attend the TED Summit, IBM Think Conference, and the SXSW EDU Conference & Festival, as well as the Berkley Executive Education “Innovation Organization” program.