Ned O’Hearn, board chair from 2004 - 2006, is a principal at Boulders Realty Advisors in Scottsdale. He has 25 years of experience in commercial real estate sales management, business development, strategic planning and consulting. Prior to joining Boulders in 2005, Ned served as Executive Vice President of ONCOR International and Senior Vice President of Atlanta-based Carter & Associates – one of the largest commercial real estate firms in the Southeast.

As a volunteer in Atlanta, Ned served as Chairman of the Board of Sheltering Arms -- one of the nation’s oldest child care and family development organizations. He was an elected Councilman for the City of Scottsdale from 2000 to 2004. Ned served as LTJG in the Navy during Vietnam and spent several years as a broadcaster in commercial radio. He holds a Masters of City Planning degree from San Diego State University and a B. A. in English from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Curt Bruggman is the Director of Development at Scottsdale Community College. Curt earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Arizona State University.

Curt's career in fundraising and development has stretched over 15 years and began at Brophy College Preparatory where he held the positions of Alumni and Development Director. From there he moved on to the Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation where he served as Director of Major Gifts just prior to coming to Scottsdale Community College.

Curt's community involvement includes his board capacity with LINKS, as well as a passion for coaching and mentoring youth primarily in football, basketball and baseball. His most recent coaching success includes back-to-back state championships as a head coach in Pop Warner football.

Curt has one son, Tyler, age 11.

Steven Davidson is the President/Ceo of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale. Steve holds a Bachelor's degree from Arizona State University in Leisure /studies with an emphasis in Youth Agency Administration.

Steven's career with the Boys & Girls Clubs has extended over 24 years. He worked for the Boys Clubs of Tempe and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Phoenix, before coming to the Scottsdale organization in 1992. Steven has assisted the organization that in 1992 served 1800 members with 3 club sites, to serving over 14,000 members in 8 sites.

Steve was a member of the founding committee of the LINKS Community Collaborative in 1993. He has served on numerous committees including the Mayor's Gang Task Force, the South Scottsdale Coalition, and is an active member of the Scottsdale Active 20/30 club. He is a graduate of Scottsdale Leadership, Class X. Steve volunteers his time with St. Mary's and the Westside Food Banks.

He and his wife Elizabeth have two children and live in Glendale.

Debbie Ellis is the Director of Risk Management for the Scottsdale-based Scottsdale Insurance Company. Ms. Ellis has been involved in contingency planning and has been sought after locally and nationally for her expertise on the subject. She has been a vital part of the Coyote Crisis Campaign planning team and has been involved with the state and county endeavors to address a pandemic event. She serves on the Arizona Pandemic Planning Committee and has advisory and training role for businesses seeking support in testing their contingency plans through table top exercises. Ms. Ellis has over ten years of experience in recovery efforts following large scale disasters which include response to 9/11, Florida and Gulf Coast hurricanes, Texas tornadoes, a large corporate fire in Ohio, and IT outages to name a few. She is a certified MBCP, through Disaster Recovery Institute as well as certified with FEMA and CERT.

Her professional memberships include AESA, CERT, Val Vista Meadows HOA Board, Disaster Recovery Institute, Association of Contingency Planners, and the Arizona Association of Contingency Planners.

Dr. Johnson received his Doctor of Ministry degree in 1993 and has served as Pastor of Presbyterian churches in Texas, New Mexico, Georgia, Washington, and currently at the Scottsdale Presbyterian Church. In addition to his duties as leader of his congregation, Johnson has been a vital force in community work. He is the current president of the Interfaith Network of Scottsdale, is co-chair of the LINKS taskforce, O.N.E. Scottsdale; and an active member of the Arizona C.S. Lewis Society, and published author in the just launched C.S. Lewis journal. Bruce and his wife Laurie and two daughters live in Scottsdale.

Rick Kidder is President/CEO of the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce. Prior to joining the Chamber in 2001, Rick was a private school administrator in New England and at Phoenix Country Day school and served as founding head of school for the Tesseract School-North Scottsdale, now Notre Dame Prep. He also served as Senior Policy Advisor to the Governor of Arizona in the areas of transportation, education, drugs/gangs, neighborhood revitalization and gaming.

A 20-year resident of Scottsdale, Rick maintains a strong interest in local affairs that affect the business community and quality of life in Scottsdale and the valley. In addition to LINKS, Rick serves as a member of the board and executive committee of Scottsdale Training and Rehabilitative Services (STARS) and is a former chair of the board of directors for the Scottsdale Education Foundation. Rick lives in central Scottsdale.

Robert Leger has been the opinions editor at the Scottsdale Republic and an assistant editorial page editor for the Arizona Republic since February 2006.

A native of New Mexico, Leger earned his journalism degree at the University of Missouri. He worked for 25 years at the Springfield (MO) News-Leader, half of that time as editorial page editor, before coming to Scottsdale.

Leger is a former national president of the Society of Professional Journalists, the nation's largest and most broad-based journalism group. As president, he opened an exchange relationship with the Journalists Association of Korea. He currently serves as SPJ's representative to OpenTheGovernment.org, a national coalition of open government advocates. He co-chairs the awards and grants committee of Sigma Delta Chi, the 501(c)(3) arm of SPJ. Locally, he serves on the boards of the Valley of the Sun SPJ chapter and the Arizona First Amendment Coalition.

Leger and his wife, Cindy, have two children. Andrew and Josh are in high school.

Wendy Lyons is the Vice President of Strategic Development for Scottsdale Healthcare. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Lewis and Clark College (Oregon), an Associates degree in Nursing from Scottsdale Community College and a Master’s degree from Grand Canyon University.

Wendy’s career has included over thirty years in the healthcare industry. She has held numerous positions including staff nurse, nurse specialist, clinical director, and Director of Quality Enhancement for Scottsdale Healthcare. She has been in her current position since 1995.

Wendy has served on many city, state, and non-profit Boards, task forces and work groups. She is a graduate of “Scottsdale Leadership” and has been involved in with LINKS Community Collaborative since its inception. She lives in Scottsdale and is married with three children.

Clif McKenzie is the executive director of exceptional customer experience at Scottsdale Unified School District. In that role he oversees Community Schools, Athletics, Service Learning, Nutritional Services & Wellness, and Transportation of Learners. Prior to this appointment, Clif was principal of Mohave Middle School and Navajo Elementary School where he collaborated with LINKS partners to open the first two school-based community resource centers.

In July of 2005, Clif represented the United States as one of the coaches for the 2005 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Youth Track & Field Championships, which will took place in Marrakech, Morocco. Clif was a member of the 1980 U.S. Track & Field Olympic Team that didn’t get to compete because of the boycott of the Moscow games. In 2000, Clif was selected to carry the Olympic Torch through Scottsdale on its way to the Salt Lake City Winter Games.

Clif McKenzie still competes at a top level. He is the president of the United States Track & Field of Arizona and he is the owner of a track club – Arizona Elite and coaches 30 youth. He is an Arizona State All American Hall of Fame, University of Pennsylvania Wall of Fame, which the team he was on broke the collegiate record for the 1600 meter relay.

Mr. McKenzie earned a B.A. in Education and Masters Degree in Administration from Arizona State University.

Alan Rodbell is the Chief of Police in the city of Scottsdale. He holds a Bachelor's of Arts Degree in Criminology from the University of Maryland and a Masters in Education degree from McDaniel College, formally Western Maryland College. He spent 26 of his 30 years in Law Enforcement as an Officer in Montgomery County, Maryland, where he rose from the ranks from Patrol Officer to Assistant Chief of Police.

Alan came to the Scottsdale Police Department in 2002 as the Deputy Chief of Police responsible for Investigations and Personnel and Training. In April 2004, he was appointed to the position of Police Chief. The Scottsdale Police Department has over seven hundred employees. Alan is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, Leadership Montgomery and Scottsdale Leadership. Additionally, he is Executive Board Member of Community Celebrating Diversity, Board member of LINKS Community Collaborative, a member of the East Valley NAACP, Latino Officer's Association, Arizona Chiefs of Police Assoc., the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the East Valley Chiefs of Police Association.

He and his wife, Debbie, have two children.

Jim owns an Allstate Insurance Agency in the Scottsdale Airpark. He is very active in the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce and is actively involved in community networking. Originally from the Chicago area, he was also very active in the Greater O'Hare and Northbrook Chambers.

Jim is a true entrepreneur. He was a member and floor trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for 19 years where his clientele ran the gamut of major corporations and farmers hedging their purchases and production to individual investors. Later he owned and operated Auto-body shops in the Chicago metropolitan area. His skill sets include creative and "out of the box" thinking. A true problem solver.

He lives in Scottsdale and has two sons.

Tim Stevenson is the general manager of Procopy Office Solutions, which he started in 1999. His company's mission is to provide the absolute best customer satisfaction while maintaining a responsible return on investment to their shareholders. His company was recently added to the select list of authorized Canon dealerships.

Tim also believes in giving back to his community and created a successful program of giving used copiers to not for profit organizations with a supply and service contract that helped these organizations save money.

Tim and his wife Terri are the proud parents of twins and live In Chandler.

Vanessa Torre is the Community Manager at DC Ranch in North Scottsdale. Prior to accepting that position, Vanessa served as Assistant Manager and Community Services Liaison for the same company. Before joining DMB Associates, she taught at Desert Mountain High School and coached Cross Country. Vanessa holds a Bachelor's degree in English Education from Northern Arizona University. She is a graduate of Scottsdale Leadership and continues to serve on various organizational committees. She is also an active volunteer for, Community Association Institute, the Site Council for Copper Ridge Elementary and Middle School, and the Junior League of Phoenix.