United Way of Northern Arizona — Welcoming Our 2021 Officers and New Board Member

Key to the success of the United Way of Northern Arizona is our Board of Directors. We are fortunate that in our 50+ years, this organization has always been led by volunteer leaders who keenly understand the needs of the communities we serve.

Recently, we held our organizational meeting where we named a new Board Chair, installed the 2021 officers, and welcomed a new member.

Stacey Brechler-Knaggs, our new chair, is the Grants and Contracts Manager and Disaster Recovery Manager for the City of Flagstaff.

An Arizona native and Northern Arizona University graduate, she has worked for the City for more than 36 years. Stacey oversees hundreds of city-wide agreements and more than $20 million a year in federal, state and local grants.

In addition, she also coordinates with Emergency Management Divisions at the local, state and federal level to assist the City in disaster recovery efforts following an emergency event. Stacey’s volunteerism, including extensive work on our Community Investment team, helps make Flagstaff a great place to live and raise a family.

Stacey is joined by Vice Chair Mike Kelly (W.L. Gore & Associates); Treasurer Bruce Blankenship (retired) and Past Chair Janet Dean (APS) as our 2021 officers.

Joshua Maher, our newest board member, joined Northern Arizona University last year as its Associate Vice President for Community Relations.

Before moving his family to Flagstaff, Maher was the Assistant Director of Government and External Affairs at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona and was the Program and Policy Coordinator for the Mayor of Riverside, CA.

Early in his career, he helped forge partnerships to provide education enrichment to underserved students in Riverside and led a community-based program to address student literacy gaps in rural communities.

Board members returning for their second term are: Reed Hancock (TEP); Erika Harting (Wells Fargo Bank); Mike Penca (Flagstaff Unified School District); Chris Reed (Christ Church); Gabriella Smith (Kinney Construction Services) and Jeff Springborn (Nestle Purina).

We’d also like to thank our retiring board members who have served with distinction over the years, including Rich Bowen (Genterra Enterprises); Karen Pugliesi (Northern Arizona University), Sedric Cade (Edward Jones), Sylvia Johnson (retired, Flagstaff Unified School District) and Brett Larson (W.L. Gore & Associates).