For Immediate Release:
TYP welcomes a brand new leadership; expands to the largest Young Professional group in the state with over 750 members.
After the most challenging year in our organization’s history, TYP welcomes a new and expanded Board. Despite the challenges, we grew as an organization in the past year, hiring a new staff member, and growing our membership significantly.
We want to offer sincere thanks to outgoing President Crystal Adams, who has left Tucson for a position with the University of Utah, as well as our thanks to Dillon Walker (Immediate Past President), and Joshua Belhumeur (Past Vice President) whose dedication to TYP’s mission has been instrumental to the current success, and who will both continue on as part of our advisory board. We are very excited to welcome our new President Devon Underwood, who previously served as Secretary to the Board. As Founder and Principal at The Talent Store, an Executive Search, Recruitment, and Talent Strategy consulting firm, Devon has worked to bring world class talent into leadership positions across the country and moved back to Tucson 6 years ago to bring back what she learned to impact Tucson and Southern Arizona. In addition to her service to TYP, Devon serves as a board member for the Tucson Metro Chamber and welcomes her board seat at the Southern Arizona Leadership Council (SALC). She has also taken on the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Executive Challenge to fundraise for Light the Night and is a proud and active member of the AZ Technology Council and Local First AZ. Having previous leadership experience with TYP as Secretary of the Board, matched with her community work in workforce development, TYP is in great hands as she moves into the President role.
Joining her is Emilia Eldridge (Vice President), who works at the University of Arizona (UA) in Hiring and Employee Relations Administration; Andrew More (Treasurer), Director at BlueStone Venture Partners, a leader in the biotech startup ecosystem; Danielle Raines (Secretary) Senior Coordinator of Stewardship Operations at the UA Alumni & Development Program; Celeste Tracy (Member At Large), Head of Accounts at Anchor Wave, a local marketing and web design agency; and, Joshua Polacheck (Member At Large), independent consultant and former Executive Director of the Pima County Dems.
“The outgoing Executive team, together with our Executive Director Zach Yentzer, steered TYP through the challenges of a global pandemic and a still ongoing economic realignment in Tucson,” Devon Underwood said, “They built strong partnerships with the region’s largest employers, launched the Nonprofit Leaders Academy (Emilia, TYP Vice President, was key to this) to develop up-and-coming leaders in the NGO sector, set-up a platform for a scaled membership to choose how they want to impact the community through our Teams, executed a beta TYP Mentorship program with SALC, and placed TYP in our strongest financial position ever. Thanks to the hard work of Josh, Dillon, Crystal, and the previous board, the new board is in a great position to hit the ground running.”
In the coming year, the new Executive Committee looks forward to resuming a strong slate of in-person and remote programing to foster strong ties among our young professionals, grow professionally, and aggressively advocate for the changes needed in our community to make Tucson and Southern Arizona a desired destination for businesses, entrepreneurs, and professionals.
Our new leadership and board will turn our promises of racial, cultural, and economic diversity into concrete commitments in programming and recruitment of members. We know that unless we see a more inclusive economy, Tucson will fail to live up to its potential as one of the best places to live, work, and play in America. Devon Underwood explains: “many organizations made strong statements last year, but we will turn our words into action. As we continue to grow and advocate for inclusivity and equity we are committed to walking our talk.”
Outgoing executive board members Crystal Adams (President), Dillon Walker (Immediate Past President), and Joshua Belhumeur (Vice President) have been mainstays of the organization for a number of years in board service, and have played a critical role in expanding and growing TYP into what it is today.
“I am looking forward to continuing the work with our staff and Board of growing our membership, our members’ impact through our Teams and Committees, diversifying our programming and events, expanding the TYP Mentorship Program, solidifying our advocacy priorities and voice in the community and much, much more!” said Zach Yentzer, Executive Director.
Additional new board members include: Melissa Ayala, Nicole Barraza, Josh Bedyk, Justin Lukasewicz, Yvette-Marie Margaillan, Melissa San Angelo, and Jessica Sueskind. You can find more about them here.
For press inquiries, please contact:
Zach Yentzer
Executive Director
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