Steve Olson, VCL President, is the Executive Director of the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association, a non-profit organization established to represent and assist member cities in areas of water resource management and development of urban water policy.  The members of AMWUA are Avondale, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Goodyear, Mesa, Peoria, Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe.  Steve joined AMWUA in July, 2005.  Prior to working with AMWUA, Steve was the Government Relations Director of the City of Scottsdale from 1999 to 2005 and worked in various planning and legislative relations roles with the Arizona Department of Water Resources from 1985 to 1999.  Steve has a Masters Degree in Political Science from Colorado State University and a Bachelors Degree with Majors in Botany and Political Science from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.  He is married to JoEllen Alberhasky and has two children, Nick and Paige.

Mark Ellis, VCL Secretary/Treasurer, is a highly skilled entrepreneur and turnaround specialist who has produced profits from every management vantage point - sales, marketing and financial. Mark served in key marketing and top management positions at General Mills, Mattel, Ideal Toys, and the Franklin Mint. At 1to1â Venture Partners, LLC, he is the Managing Partner of the fund, which provides financing for early-stage companies.

Mark began his career at General Mills. After a five-year stint in brand management at General Mills, he moved into the toy industry. Mark served as head of marketing for boy's toys at Mattel, where he was responsible for more than half of the company's sales. He then moved into general management as the International President of Ideal Toys (a division of CBS, Inc.). This was Mark's first major turnaround.

After a corporate sell-off, Mark became chief executive of the 16 European subsidiaries of the Franklin Mint. At the Franklin Mint, he combined his new product skills with sophisticated use of database-driven direct marketing to engineer a remarkable turnaround.

Penny Allee Taylor (Immediate Past President, Executive Committee Member) has been the Administrator for Corporate Public Affairs for Southwest Gas Corporation for the past 14 years.  Penny works at the state, county and local levels representing the natural gas industry and general business issues. Prior to working at Southwest Gas Penny worked for Maricopa County, the State of Arizona, and the Federal Government all in government affairs capacities. Penny was elected to the Maricopa County Charter Committee, which was a topic of interest to the Valley Citizens League.  Penny is a graduate of Arizona State University, (Go Devils), with a Bachelors Degree in Liberal Arts majoring in Political Science.  She serves on numerous professional, civic, and community organizations in the Valley and has been a member of the Valley Citizens League for the past 8 years.  Penny is a native Phoenician with an energetic seven-year-old son, George Riley.

The late Joel Harnett (Chairman Emeritus) was a former Chairman of the Board for Valley Citizens League, and a VCL Member for a number of years. In fact, Joel is the only person elected Chairman of two citywide civic clubs, 3000 miles apart, the VCL and the City Club of New York. Joel was Vice-President of Marketing for LOOK Magazine, the second largest magazine in the world at the time (1951-1970), a lecturer on Public Affairs at Columbia, ASU, Chicago University and Baruch College, the founder of Phoenix Home and Garden magazine and a retired Major in the U.S. Army. He was also the publisher of four poetry books, the latest on Arizona. Joel and his wife, Lila were very active in the Phoenix arts community.  He will be greatly missed.   Click here to read The Arizona Republic obituary.

Peggy Rubach, VCL Executive Director, has been a Board member since 2000.  Peggy is presently working as the Multimodal Planner for the Maricopa County Department of Transportation.  For several years, Peggy worked on the public involvement side of the light rail transit studies.  As Special Assistant to the Director at the Arizona Department of Transportation, she led their efforts in right of way reforms and alternative funding.  The former two-term Mayor of Mesa, Peggy has an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and attended ASU College of Law.  She holds a BA in Psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo.  Peggy has three children and four grandchildren. Travel, reading and politics (as a volunteer) are among her many interests.

Norris Nordvold is a public policy consultant working on state and federal legislative issues. Norris served as the Intergovernmental Programs Director for the City of Phoenix for 17 years, retiring in 2005.  A Phoenician since 1967, he has a Master's Degree from ASU. And is also a graduate of St. Olaf College in Minnesota.

Hal DeKeyser, for more than 25 years, has led news organizations in the West Valley, Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale, Chandler and Tempe as a reporter, photographer, editor, Opinion editor, columnist and publisher. He currently is editor and publisher of InBuckeye.com, a news and business website devoted to local news and advertising in Buckeye. He has been intensely involved in the civic and political life of individual communities and in Valleywide and statewide issues. The newspapers Hal has piloted consistently have won statewide recognition as the best in their categories, and he was won individual statewide awards for reporting, news column writing, feature writing and opinion. He was president of Hal DeKeyser & Associates, a Phoenix media and community relations firm that counted among its clients companies and organizations that do development, high tech, media, public relations, entertainment, health care and community leadership. He also has been a community columnist for the Arizona Republic and for West Valley Magazine. He is a graduate of Arizona State University, a Vietnam veteran, a Realtor and a former U.S. Navy photographer. Hal is married with two daughters.

Jill Rissi, a VCL Executive Committee Member is the Associate Director for Research and Policy at St. Luke’s Health Initiatives where her background in clinical medicine, healthcare administration, program development and management and budget analysis provides a unique perspective on the health policy issues facing Arizona.  Ms. Rissi received baccalaureate degrees in psychology and nursing from Arizona State University, and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from ASU’s School of Public Affairs.  She is a past president of the Arizona Nurses’ Association and has held several positions with the American Nurses’ Association.  Ms. Rissi is actively engaged in community efforts to improve access to care for underserved populations, to develop organizational capacity within communities and to develop sound healthcare policy for the state of Arizona.

Judith Allen, a VCL Executive Committee Member, has many years of experience with the management of large system agencies, justice systems and child support programs.  She was elected to three four-year terms as Clerk of the Superior Court for Maricopa County and served for several years as the President/CEO of the Arizona Association of Industries, a statewide manufacturers trade association.  Judith has long been active in Republican Party politics, having participated in numerous Arizona and National campaigns, including the Congressman John McCain and US Senator Barry Goldwater.  Active in associations related to her court and child-support activities, Judith had the honor to serve on three Department of State/ACYPL delegations ~ as an official observer of Parliamentary Elections – London, Berlin, Brussels in 1977; as a Republican delegate to Atlantic Treaty Organization meetings in Paris and Bonn in 1980 and as an escort to the US delegation to Hungary and Yugoslavia in 1985.  In 1997 the Arizona Business Journal profiled Ms. Allen as one of the “Outstanding Arizona Women”.  Judith is married to Rip Wilson and has one child and two grandchildren.

Tom Chapman is a Phoenician active in community and civic affairs for over twenty years.  He is an Episcopal chaplain working in hospice and grief counseling, as well as serving as one of the chaplains at Sky Harbor Airport.  Tom is an active member of the Arizona Ecumenical Council’s Worship and Study Committees, helping to plan events and conferences.  An Executive Board member of the Valley Citizens League, Tom also serves as an active Board member of the Phoenix Mountain Preservation Committee.  A former member of the Phoenix Arts Commission, Tom is currently Board Member and Co-Chair of the Board Development Committee of Ballet Arizona.  He is the immediate past President of C.O.B.A. (Consortium of Black Artists & Others for the Arts and chairs their Board Development Committee.  Tom serves on the Advisory Board of the Carver Museum.  He has a Masters in Education from the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana and a B.A. from the University of Louisville with an emphasis on history, political science and humanities.

Eric Ehst is currently the executive Director of the Clean Elections Institute.  He has a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland and spent over twenty years directing the design, development and marketing of jet engines for numerous domestic and international customers.  Eric first joined VCL more than fifteen years ago and has a long-standing commitment to community affairs.  He has run for public office and is the past vice-chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party.  Eric presently serves as a board member and officer for both the Arizona Advocacy Network Foundation and the Arizona National Organization for Women, who recently elected him as the first male state policy coordinator (president) in their history.  He has also served on various committees for the League of Women Voters, The American Association of University Women and the Arizona Conservation Alliance.  He is actively engaged in community efforts to increase citizen access to the political process at all levels of government.

Joel Breshin is the former Regional Director of the Arizona Office of the Anti-Defamation League. He is a recipient of the 1999 City of Phoenix Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Living the Dream” award, and has been recognized nationally for his activism and dedication toward furthering the cause of civil rights and human relations. Joel also served as a member of the Phoenix Human Relations Commission and the Committee on Judicial Performance Review of the Arizona Supreme Court. He served on the Citizens Curriculum Advisory Committee of the Paradise Valley Unified School District, and is a founder, and former chairman, of the Phoenix Police Department’s Hate Crimes Advisory Board. In addition, Joel served on the Phoenix Police Disciplinary Review and Use of Force Boards, and is a graduate of the Phoenix Police Department’s Citizens Police Academy. Joel is a member of the Ritual Committee of Congregation Har Zion, and is a former member of the Hillel-ASU Advisory Council. He currently works as the Associate Director for Civil Rights of the Arizona Office of the Anti-Defamation League. 

Bill Adams is the owner of Ryan Austin & Associates, a full-service Insurance Agency specializing in employee benefits. From his sales experience with Mattel Toys, Panasonic, JVC (Western Regional Sales Manager) and as an agent for MetLife, Bill brings a wealth of sales and marketing expertise to the VCL Board table.  His community service includes Cactus Wren Elementary School PTA and Site Council, and Cholla Middle School Site Council. He was appointed to the Washington Elementary School District Employee Benefit Trust Board for a three-year term and served as chairman for one year. Bill has been a volunteer on the Cortez High School Planning Team and Parent Action Committee. He is an active member of Support Our Schools AZ (SOSaz), a public education advocacy group, and WESTMARC, an organization promoting public policies leading to responsible growth. He is currently on WESTMARC's Education and Healthcare Committees. In addition, he is a Washington Elementary School District Governing Board Member. Bill has also invested over a decade of his time in our youth as a coach for soccer and baseball Little League. He has been married to Jackie for over 22 years and is the proud parent of Ryan, an ASU student and realtor, and Austin who is currently a Naval Reservist and soon to be college student, on his way to becoming a naval aviator.

Robert B. Denhardt, Director of ASU School of Public Affairs, is Professor of Public Affairs at Arizona State University and Visiting Scholar at the University of Delaware.  Dr. Denhardt is a Past President of the American Society for Public Administration, a nationwide organization of academics and practitioners in the field of public administration at all levels of government.  He was the founder and first chair of ASPA's National Campaign for Public Service, an effort to assert the dignity and worth of public service across the nation. He is also a member of the prestigious National Academy of Public Administration and a Fellow of the Canadian Centre for Management Development.  Dr. Denhardt has published fourteen books and over seventy five articles in professional journals, primarily in the areas of public administration theory and organizational behavior, especially leadership and organizational change.  He is currently working on a book tentatively titled The Dance of Leadership.   Prior to joining the faculty at ASU, Dr. Denhardt was the Charles P. Messick Professor of Public Administration at the University of Delaware.  He previously taught at the Universities of Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, New Orleans, and Central Florida.  He has held several major administrative positions in these universities, serving as Vice Provost at the University of Missouri-Columbia.  He was a Fulbright Scholar in Australia in 1990.  Dr. Denhardt has also been a consultant to various public and private organizations, including public universities, primarily in the areas of strategic planning, leadership and organization development, productivity improvement, and quality service.  He was appointed by Governor Kit Bond to chair the Missouri Governor's Advisory Council on Productivity and was re-appointed by Governor John Ashcroft.

Greg Ensell currently works as staff to the Arizona State Senate.  In 2004, he served as manager of the “No on Prop 200” campaign.  Greg is a former Manager of Grassroots and Policy Development for the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, a position that required he educate, mobilize and advocate on behalf of the Chamber’s nearly 5000 member businesses on many diverse public policy issues.  Greg has a diverse background, having worked in many aspects of the political world. He previously served as senior coordinated campaign staff for the 2002 Democratic Coordinated Campaign, which helped elect Governor Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Terry Goddard. He has worked for many other candidates, most notably Fred DuVal, Chris Cummiskey, Greg Stanton and the late Andy Nichols.  In addition to campaigns, Greg also has experience in the economic and public policy fields, having worked on many projects at Elliot D. Pollack and Company, including the Arizona Affordable Housing Project.  He graduated with a B.S. in Economics and Political Science from Arizona State University.  He is involved in numerous community activities, serving on the Board of Directors for the Phoenix Arts District Community Development Corporation and as proud Big Brother in Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arizona. 

Brian Fergus, Our former Valley Citizens League Research Fellow, Brian Fergus is a currently a Development Associate at Eight/KAET-TV, the PBS affiliate serving 80% of Arizonans.  Since joining Eight in 2002, the Individual Giving Department has earned two PBS Development Awards and one from the Phoenix American Marketing Association.  

Brandon Goad, a native of Phoenix has served on the VCL Board of Directors since 2002. Brandon, a graduate of Arizona State University, returned to the Valley after completing his Masters in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University where he concentrated in social welfare policy and public finance.

While an undergraduate at Arizona State, Brandon became the first sophomore ever elected ASASU Student Body President in May of 2003.   Brandon has also worked in Washington, DC for the Phoenix based lobbying firm TriAdvocates and for Phoenix City Councilmen Dave Siebert and Greg Stanton.  In Phoenix, Brandon served on the Phoenix Human Relations Commission, co-chaired the Phoenix Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Awards Breakfast subcommittee, served on the Phoenix Youth and Education Commission and volunteered in the Big Brother Big Sister program of Central Arizona.

Clancy Jayne moved to Arizona in 1956 as a young boy with his parents Clarence & Peggy Jayne of Mesa. Mr. Jayne graduated from Mesa High School in 1967. He is married to Kathleen and together they have 6 children and 15 grandchildren. Clancy has resided in the North Valley since 1989. Serving his community is something that comes naturally to Clancy, starting with achieving his Eagle Scout at age 16.  Clancy presently serves as a State Representative for District 6.  Clancy Jayne lists the following current and former community service: Maricopa County Planning & Zoning Commission Member; President, North Valley Partnership; Deer Valley YMCA, Charter Board Member; Board Member, Phoenix Parks & Conservation Foundation; Member of the American Legion and Moose Lodge; Member of the NRA; Member of the National Association Mortgage Field Services and serves as an active Past Honorary Squadron Commander, Luke AFB.  Mr. Jayne owns a successful small business providing consulting and property inspections. He has lived in the State of Arizona over 45 years and all of his children and grandchildren continue to reside here

Bob Rosenberg is a native Phoenician and the Principal in R.G. Rosenberg & Assoc., a public policy consulting and advocacy firm. His current major project is working with the Arizona Legislature and Governor to transform K-12 education statewide with 21st century tools: a computer on every desk, in every classroom, in every school in Arizona with broadband to the desktop within ten years.  Bob spent two decades in marketing and sales within the former Bell (telephone) System, and he also founded and ran ABC Vending Co. until 1999. Mr. Rosenberg is a Commissioner on the City of Phoenix Human Relations Commission. He was a co-founder of Children of Abraham (a Muslim/Jewish group) and a founding member of Temple Kol Ami. An avid supporter of Ballet Arizona, Phoenix Children’s Hospital and the Phoenix Symphony, Bob is also the proud father of a San Francisco Chiropractor who
specializes in sports chiropractic with elite level athletes.

Mark Manoil practices law in Phoenix, Arizona.   Mr. Manoil is an active member and sits on the board of directors of the National Tax Lien Association and is the past-chair of the Real Property Section and the Arizona Bar Online (Internet) Committee of the State Bar of Arizona. He frequently addresses groups on real estate and title topics, particularly tax lien investing and foreclosure. He is admitted to the bar in Arizona and Illinois.  In addition to practicing law for 19 years, Manoil is the owner of Property Investment and Publishing Company and is author of "Arizona Property Tax Liens - Guide to Profit, Protection and Prosecution."

Mark is a fourth generation Arizonan. He has served on the Boards of the East Valley Habitat for Humanity and the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education and was a recent candidate for the Arizona Corporation Commission.  
He has long been active in the Democratic Party and currently serves as Chairman of the Maricopa County Democratic Party.  Mr. Manoil received his Juris Doctorate and Masters in Business Administration degrees from Arizona State University and his Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University.  Mark lives in Phoenix and has two teenage children.

Helen Stern has been a community activist since moving here over 31 years ago.  She is currently Chair of the Arizona Regional Board of the Anti-Defamation League.  Her longest term involvement has been with the Arizona Medical Association and its Alliance.  She has been state president of the Alliance as well as Legislative and PAC chair, positions she continues to hold.  For 8 years, Helen was Chair of the Alliance’s Domestic Violence Committee where her mission was to educate the medical community about how to most effectively treat domestic violence victims.  At the same time, she was on the board of the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence.  She has shepherded 2 bills through the legislature protecting domestic violence victims from discrimination in life, health, disability, property and casualty insurance.  She is currently Chair of the Neighborhood Advisory Commission in Tempe.  She has also been an active board member of the Arizona Jewish Theatre Company for the past 10 years.  Helen’s B.A. in Education is from Queens College of the City University of New York.  Her M.S. in Urban Planning is from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Dewey Schade has been a VCL Board member for over ten of the fifteen years he has been active in the organization.  A past President and current Board member of Phoenix Sister Cities Commission International, Dewey has been involved in traveling and hosting international delegations for the past thirteen years.  Mr. Schade was a founding director and past President of Downtown Phoenix Partnership.  Dewey has been a Valley resident for 31 years.  After years of service as a healthcare executive, Dewey now owns two commercial center properties in downtown Scottsdale.  In addition to his civic and community work, Dewey also enjoys physical fitness, running and attending concerts.