VYP Mentor Breakfast
GPCC Board Member BIO’s
November 6, 2013
David Bruno, DHR Interntaional
David Bruno has served as Vice Chairman & Managing Director of the firm’s Phoenix
Arizona office. As a member of the executive Committee, he was one of the eight
owners of DHR with founder, David Hoffmann. David has been a major contributor to
the growth of DHR from 10 associates in 1994 to over 300 associates currently with 40+
offices worldwide earning it the ranking of the 5th largest search firm in the United States.
With 25+ plus years’ experience in senior level recruiting in both the corporate and
executive search arena, David has completed search work for Fortune 10 companies, as well as 10person firms in almost every state as well as Internationally. Completed searches include Chairman of the
Board, CEO, President, COO, CFO, EVP, VP and Director/Manager level assignments. Industries served
include healthcare, high technology, manufacturing, retail, consumer products, alternative energy,
banking, Not-for-Profit/Foundations and Finance.
David has completed functional assignments for persons with experience in Finance (accounting, SOX,
audit, and treasury) as well as Marketing, Human Resources, Transportation, Distribution, Operations,
Engineering, and Research and Development (PhD’s and MD’s) Additionally, he has completed search
assignments for state and local Chambers of Commerce and Convention and Visitor Bureaus. Forty
percent of his searches are additional assignments from satisfied clients.
David has played an active role as an advisor Director on several boards of corporations and has been a
guest speaker for undergraduate and graduate programs at major public and private universities. He
currently serves on Boards of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, Arizona Business Leadership,
and Junior Achievement of Arizona.
A graduate of Marquette University, David has been married to Paula for 37 years, and has two adult
children; his son graduated from Wharton, University of Pennsylvania, in 2004 and his daughter
graduated from the University of California, San Diego in Biology in 2009.
Matthew Buchwald, Bank of America MeriLL Lynch
Mathew is a Senior Vice President and Market Manager of Bank of America Merrill
Lynch’s Middle Market Banking Group in Arizona, in addition to his role as Senior
Client Manager. He has worked at Bank of America for fifteen years, having spent
the past twelve years in Phoenix. He is responsible for being an advisor to clients
and prospects delivering strategic, integrated financial advice and solutions, and
works closely with the Bank’s investment banking arm to deliver more complex public
and private financings. As Arizona Market Manager, he maintains oversight of the
Middle Market portfolio in the State, which serves companies with revenues between $50 million and $2
billion.
Mathew works with Valley of the Sun United Way as a Community Investment Volunteer and serves on
the Board of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce and the Arizona Chapter of the Association for
Corporate Growth. Additionally, he is member of the Men’s Art Council of the Phoenix Art Museum and
the Arizona Energy Consortium.
He received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and completed his MBA at W.P. Carey
School of Business at Arizona State University. He maintains his Series 7 and 63 security licenses.
David Hurley, Delta Dental of Arizona
David Hurley serves as the vice president of sales for Delta Dental of Arizona. In this
role, he is responsible for leading and motivating a team of talented sales
professionals whose goal is to increase membership growth and improve account
retention. Since David joined the company in 2012, Delta Dental of Arizona has
added more than 20,000 new members and retained 98% of its business. David
previously served as the director of sales for Delta Dental of Massachusetts, where
he helped new business sales reach the highest levels in the company’s history.
David earned a B.S. in business administration from Suffolk University and has 21 years of experience in
the insurance industry. He currently lives in Scottsdale with his wife and two children.
Ken McMahon, CenturyLink
Ken McMahon is the Vice President and General Manager for the Metropolitan
Phoenix market of CenturyLink. Ken has end to end responsibility for developing a
localized approach to the market, including product offerings and promotions. He is
responsible for revenue; the customer experience; the local installation and repair
technicians; customer metrics; local sales channels; community and public
relations; and brand representation.
Ken has spent 17 years in the telecommunications industry working in various leadership roles in
operations, marketing, e-commerce and vendor management. Ken has spent his 17 year career with
Sprint, Embarq and CenturyLink. Prior to his current role, he served as CenturyLink Vice President and
General Manager of Northern Missouri.
Ken has a B.S. in Marketing and Finance from Portland State University. He is married with two children,
Jordan (7) and Cael (5).
He currently serves on the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and on the
Campaign Cabinet for the Valley of the Sun United Way.
Avein Saaty-Tafoya, Adelante healthcare
Avein Saaty-Tafoya has served as the CEO of Adelante Healthcare since 2006.
Adelante is a Federally Qualified Community Health Center with seven sites
delivering comprehensive primary care services to 40,000 patients in Phoenix and
surrounding communities in Maricopa County, AZ.
She has worked with Community Health Centers, Primary Care Associations,
Hospitals, and Health Plans in executive roles since 1996. Advocating for health
care equality and access to care in the health center movement has allowed her an opportunity to apply
her education in medicine, public health, and business administration in order to make a meaningful
difference.
She provided Clinical Programs Leadership for both the Ohio and Arizona Primary Care Associations and
currently serves as the Arizona Alliance of Community Health Centers Vice Chair/President Elect on the
Board of Directors. She also served as the Region IX representative on the National Association of
Community Health Centers Board of Directors and on the Farmworker Health, Health Policy, and Clinical
Practice Committees.
She is a representative on the Steering Committee for the AT Still University Southwest College of
Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona helping establish a Community Campus at Adelante Healthcare for
medical students since 2008. She was also recently named a Trustee on the Board of Directors for the
Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine. She is an ex-officio member of the Region IX Western
Clinicians Network Board of Directors.
This year, she was elected to the Board of Directors of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce. In
the Phoenix community, she was in Valley Leadership Class 30, in the Phoenix Business Journal 2011
Forty under 40, a Virginia Piper Foundation 2010 Fellow, and a 2012 Athena Award Nominee. She enjoys
painting, yoga and being mom to Maxwell 8 and Tyson 3
Ann Seiden, Southwest Gas Corporation
Ann Seiden is manager of corporate public affairs for Southwest Gas Corporation.
In this role she manages the company’s Arizona public policy advocacy activities at
the state and local levels. In addition, she has internal and external communications
responsibilities and supports company activities at the Arizona Corporation
Commission.
Prior to joining Southwest Gas in 2008, Ann was vice president of communications
for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, where she was responsible for the media relations,
marketing, and overall communication strategy of the state Chamber. Ann has also worked for the
Goldwater Institute, a public policy research organization; and in fundraising and event management for
the California Republican Party and the National Republican Congressional Committee in Washington
D.C. Ann holds a bachelor degree in political science and Spanish from Baylor University. She currently
resides in Phoenix.
Robert Shelton, Fiesta Bowl
Dr. Robert N. Shelton was named executive director of the Fiesta Bowl on June 13,
2011. He joined the bowl after serving as the 19th president of the University of Arizona
since July 1, 2006. In his relatively brief tenure with the Fiesta Bowl, he has worked to
ensure that the Fiesta Bowl retains its elite status amid dramatic changes in college
football’s postseason landscape. He also has helped re-establish public trust in the
Arizona treasure.
A native of Phoenix, Dr. Shelton is a strong advocate of intercollegiate athletics and understands the
valuable role it plays on campus. He was a member of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee which
is integral to BCS governance and includes a university president or chancellor representing each
Football Bowl Subdivision conference and the University of Notre Dame.
Dr. Shelton, a physicist by training, has spent much of his career in public education, and he is no
stranger to daunting challenges. In a letter to the University of Arizona community when he took office,
Dr. Shelton said “even the greatest universities, enjoying the best of times, will encounter significant
hurdles. It’s what makes them stronger over time.” After arriving in Tucson, he helped the university
become stronger by increasing diversity and ensuring the UA is accessible to Arizona students,
particularly first-generation college students.
Dr. Shelton was educated at Stanford University (B.S., 1970) and the University of California, San Diego
(M.S., 1973; Ph.D., 1975). He began his academic career at UCSD as an assistant research physicist in
1975. After moving to Iowa State University in 1978, he was promoted to associate professor in 1981 and
professor in 1984.
He returned to California as chair of the Department of Physics at UC Davis in 1987 and served in that
capacity until 1990 when he was named vice chancellor for research. In 1996, Dr. Shelton joined the
President’s Office at the University of California as vice provost for research.
Dr. Shelton and his wife of more than 40 years, Adrian A. Shelton, met as undergraduates at Stanford.
They have three adult children: Christian Shelton, an associate professor of computer science at UC
Riverside; Cameron Shelton, an assistant professor of economics at Claremont McKenna College; and
Stephanie Shelton Crossen, who is in a pediatric medicine residency at Oregon Health Sciences
University.
Dr. Edgar Staren, Cancer Treatment Centers of America
Dr. Edgar Staren is President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cancer
Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) at Western Regional Medical Center in
Goodyear, Arizona.
He is a 1979 graduate of the University of Arizona. In 1982, he graduated from
Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine. He received his general surgery
training at Rush University Medical Center, and in 1988 completed a surgical
oncology fellowship at Rush and Cook County Hospitals. Additionally, Dr. Staren earned a PhD in tumor
immunobiology from Rush University in 1991, and in 1999, he received an MBA from Benedictine
University.
From 1988 to 1998, Dr. Staren was a faculty member at Rush Medical College and attending surgeon at
Rush University Medical Center and Cook County Hospital. In addition, from 1995 to 1998 he held the
positions of Assistant Dean for Clinical Curriculum and Associate Dean for Medical Student Programs at
Rush. As one of its founding organizers, between 1999 and 2005, Dr. Staren was Professor and Medical
Director of the Medical College of Ohio (MCO) Cancer Institute. Between 1998 and 2004, Dr. Staren was
Chairman of the Department of Surgery and Surgery Clinical Service Chief at the Medical College
Hospitals. In 2005, Dr. Staren was appointed Senior VP for Clinical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer for
CTCA. In this role he was responsible for organization-wide clinical service development and quality,
clinical leadership, information management and strategic planning, and clinical and basic research. In
June 2011, he was appointed President and CEO of CTCA at Western Regional Medical Center in
Goodyear, Arizona.
Dr. Staren is a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery and a Fellow of the American College of
Surgeons. He is a member of numerous academic organizations including the American Surgical
Association, the American College of Medical Quality, the Society of Surgical Oncology, the American
College of Physician Executives and the American College of Healthcare Executives. Dr. Staren has also
served as President of the American Society of Breast Surgeons, Rush Surgical Society and Toledo
Surgical Society. He is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. He served as its
President at MCO in 2001.
In 2012, the Stritch School of Medicine named Dr. Staren Alumnus of the Year in recognition for
excellence in research. He has been listed in America's Top Doctors®, Best Doctors in America,
America’s Top Surgeons and America’s Top Doctors for Cancer. In 2002, he received the Association of
American Medical Colleges’ Humanism in Medicine Award from MCO.
Dr. Staren has served as the Editor-in-Chief of Cancer Fighters ThriveTM. He has also served on the
editorial boards of the American Journal of Surgery, the American Journal of Clinical Oncology and
Current Cancer Therapy Reviews. Additionally, he has served as a reviewer for more than 20 other
journals. Dr. Staren has been published extensively with more than 250 scientific works; including more
than 130 manuscripts, 60+ abstracts, 45 book chapters, and 12 books on subjects including the diagnosis
and management of breast, endocrine, gastrointestinal and other malignancies, as well as healthcare
management and information technology. He is frequently invited to be a distinguished speaker and has
given nearly 150 visiting professorships or lectures.
Dr. Staren and his wife Lisa are the parents of six children, five boys—Eddie, Danny, Johnnie, Tony and
Mikey—and one girl, Helen.
Merl Waschler, Valley of the Sun United Way
Merl serves as Valley of the Sun United Way’s President and Chief Executive
Officer. As the executive leader, he is responsible for the $110 million nonprofit
organization, serving the health and human service needs of Maricopa County. Merl
is supported by a staff of 115 who work with more than 3,000 volunteers and 90,000
donors. Merl joined the United Way staff in 1992 and was appointed to his current
position in 2007. Prior to joining United Way, he held executive managerial
positions with Oryx Press, the Disclosure Information Group, and the Bureau of
National Affairs, Inc.
Merl is a member of, or serves on the board or advisory committees of, a number of organizations
including: AZ Ready Education Council, BUILD Arizona, Greater Phoenix Leadership, ASU School of
Public Programs, Rodel Foundation, Arizona Chamber of Commerce, Expect More Arizona and United
Way World Wide.
Merl is a Certified Public Accountant and began his career in the Washington, D.C. office of Arthur
Andersen & Co. He is a graduate of Penn State University, where he earned a degree in finance and
accounting.
Doug Yonko, Hensley Beverage Company
Doug Yonko serves as VP Communications for Hensley Beverage Company, one of
the nation’s and Arizona’s largest beverage distributor, which employs more than 750+
employees. Hensley has four operations with headquarters in Phoenix and branch
facilities in Chandler, Prescott Valley, and Tucson. Primary brands distributed include
Anheuser-Busch beers, Quench Fine Wines, spirits, craft beers, and non-alcoholic
products.
Having worked at Hensley for 32 years, he currently directs the company’s governmental affairs,
communications, and public relations. Doug serves on Hensley’s Executive Committee and also
represents Hensley on various community and business organization boards including: Arizona Chamber
of Commerce (Vice Chairman Membership 2008-2011, named Volunteer of the Year in 2010, and served
as Chairman 2012-2013); Board Member Arizona Lodging & Tourism Association (Chairman 2011-2013)
- recognized as Tourism Champion of 2013 by the state of Arizona; Board Member Valley Hotel and
Resort Association; Board Member of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce; Board Member and
Executive Committee Member of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Board Member and past
Chairman of Beer and Wine Distributors of Arizona.
Doug is also past Chairman of Phoenix Clean & Beautiful and is a member of the Phoenix Thunderbirds.
In addition, he works with various organizations pertaining to alcohol education and responsible drinking
programs.
He and his wife of 32 years, Elisabeth, reside in Scottsdale and are the parents of two daughters and
grandparents of two. Doug enjoys spending time in the White Mountains, playing golf, and is a classic
car enthusiast.