Southern Arizona Network & Education Affinity Group Hybrid Meeting

Irene McKisson Related Seminars and Products

Principal Executive

Arizona Luminaria

Irene Fischler McKisson is the co-founder and Principal Executive of Arizona Luminaria, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to in-depth local news and community-centered journalism that launched in Feb. 2022. Before leaving to launch a startup, she spent 18 years in local news at the Arizona Daily Star where she started as a sports designer and copy editor and ended her tenure as the co-founder and editor of #ThisIsTucson — a digital vertical experimenting with audience development and digital revenue. As part of that role she was also the general manager of niche audience development for the Star. She has been a speaker for the Online News Association, SXSW, Google News Initiative programs and the Independent News Sustainability Summit, among others. She has been a participant in ONA's Women's Leadership Accelerator, GNI's Innovation Challenge and Startup Bootcamp and the Poynter Media Transformation Challenge. She was also among the recipients of a 2019 Tow Center for Digital Journalism research grant. She has been an adjunct instructor at the University of Arizona for eight years teaching editing and teaches social media and digital storytelling in the UA's iSchool. She is a lifelong Tucsonan and is raising two second-generation Tucsonans in a 100-year-old haunted house. 

Terry Leyba Ruiz Related Seminars and Products

SVP and Chief Program and Advocacy Officer

Education Forward Arizona

Dr. Ruiz has served students, faculty, staff, and the community as an educator in Arizona for 33 years. She recently retired as the President of Glendale Community College in the Maricopa County Community College District and now serves as a Senior Vice President for Education Forward Arizona, an education non-profit organization. Dr. Ruiz was recently appointed as a Commissioner on President Biden's Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics, giving her a platform to make a difference on a national level. As an executive leader, she has developed
partnerships with businesses, cities, K-12 and university partners, and local nonprofits to support students and the community. Dr. Ruiz supports the community through service on several Boards and recently served as the Chair of the Board for the Glendale Chamber of Commerce and is honored to be the recipient of several awards from community
organizations.
Dr. Ruiz has taught mathematics for 23 years,, engaging and encouraging students from the 7th grade to the community college. At the core of who she is, Dr. Ruiz is a teacher and believes that all students can achieve great things with the right support and hard work. She has used this core belief to guide her as a teacher and as an executive leader, recognizing
that the magic happens in the classroom, and is a vocal advocate for faculty, staff, and administrators.
Dr. Ruiz has a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Mathematics Education from Arizona State University, a Master of Education from Northern Arizona University, and Doctorate in Higher and Post-Secondary Education from ASU. Dr. Ruiz is married to Bobby Ruiz, Retired Fire
Chief, and has two college-aged daughters representing the second-generation of college students in her family.

Jennifer M. Preston Related Seminars and Products

Knight Foundation

Jennifer Preston is an advisor to the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona on a new Local Journalism Initiative and Fund that was created by local civic and business leaders deeply concerned about the demise of their local newspaper and the impact on the news and information needs for the community. A  former Vice President/Journalism at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Jennifer led a $300 million, five-year Journalism and Democracy Initiative and a national strategy to support local journalism and the information needs of communities across America. She is also a consultant at Media Impact Funders, a philanthropy-serving organization that supports a national network of local and national funders interested in funding journalism, press freedom, documentary film and local media and battling misinformation and disinformation.  Before joining Knight in 2014, Jennifer spent almost two decades at The New York Times as a senior newsroom executive, metro desk editor,  state house bureau chief and the newsroom’s first social media editor. She is a proud parent of twins.

Laurie Liles Related Seminars and Products

Chief Public Policy Officer

AZ Impact for Good

Laurie joined the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits following its merger with Arizona Grantmakers Forum in 2022. As chief public policy officer, she is responsible for developing and executing the Alliance’s public policy agenda and engagement strategy. An active member of the senior leadership team, Laurie leads Arizona Grantmakers Forum, bringing vision and strategic thinking to advance its full integration with the Alliance.

Laurie was president and CEO of Arizona Grantmakers Forum for seven years, providing strategic leadership and creating and sustaining relationships with aligned philanthropic, nonprofit and community partners. Before joining Arizona Grantmakers in 2015, Laurie worked to improve policy outcomes for Arizonans for more than 25 years. She began her career as a research analyst for the Arizona House of Representatives before joining the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, where she served as senior vice president of public affairs and as president and CEO, among other roles. In 2014, Laurie was a Washington, D.C. correspondent for Cronkite News, producing more than 30 stories covering politics, immigration and Indian affairs for Arizona news media outlets.

Laurie has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Northern Arizona University and a Master of Mass Communication degree from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She serves on the United Philanthropy Forum board of directors and co-chairs its Public Policy Committee.

A native of the Southwest, Laurie grew up in Tempe, Arizona.

Kelly Huber Related Seminars and Products

Vice President for Philanthropy

Community Foundation for Southern Arizona