Born and raised in Nogales, Mexico, Juan Francisco Padrés crossed the border daily to attend school in the United States, a routine that shaped his perspective on opportunity and resilience. His parents later enrolled him at Culver Military Academy in…

Misty Klann is a citizen of the Diné (Navajo) Nation who grew up near the Four Corners area in northeastern Arizona, in the town of Rock Point. Now, she and her partner, Derek, live in east Mesa with their two…

For nearly five decades, Toni Eberhardt has called Arizona home. Though she moved from the East Coast at the age of two, her childhood in central Phoenix and education in Arizona schools firmly rooted her in the Valley. She attended Xavier…

2017 Flinn-Brown Fellow Kyle Sawyer serves as the assistant director of public policy and strategic planning at the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). In this leadership role, he oversees federal relations, legislative affairs, strategic planning, and project management — bringing…

Since 1996, Flinn-Brown Fellow Richard Yarbough has served at Pilgrim Rest Foundation. His early work focused on real estate acquisition, site plan development, construction, and financing of the Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church campus. It was a dynamic period of growth.…

Though it’s been over half a year since voters approved the measure in November 2024, Proposition 479 remains a strong example of what can be accomplished through long-term planning, coordination across jurisdictions, and broad-based public engagement.

As Chief Executive Officer of Entrepreneurial College and Vice President of Workforce and Healthcare Programs at Arizona Western College in Yuma, the Honorable Reetika Dhawan leads efforts to align academic programs with the evolving needs of Arizona’s workforce.