Colangelo College of Business awards four
exemplary leaders
PHOENIX, Feb. 14,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Grand Canyon University
honored four committed leaders who embody the ideal for which
Jerry Colangelo is best known –
servant leadership – during the fourth annual Colangelo Servant
Leadership Awards on Wednesday morning.
The Colangelo Servant Leadership Awards, presented by
Freeport-McMoRan, are named after one of Arizona's most notable business and sports
icons who is also the namesake of GCU's Colangelo College of
Business (CCOB). The award ceremony was held at GCU and honored the
following recipients:
- Bill McKee, Scholar in
Residence at Valley Presbyterian Church and Executive in Residence
at GCU: McKee has had a robust career in
the military and the finance sector. He is a huge supporter of GCU
and supported the building out of the Bloomberg Terminals in the
CCOB Charles Schwab Finance Center as well as hosted multi-session
lunch and learns to connect with students and educate them on the
bible, economics and human flourishing. A Distinguished Graduate of
the U.S. Air Force Academy (Class of
1968), McKee served in the military as an advanced jet instructor
pilot in T-38s. After he was honorably discharged in 1973, McKee
held many positions in finance including VP and Manager of The
Arizona Bank and President and CEO of FBS Venture Capital Company.
McKee then started his own company, McKee & Company in 1987,
later becoming W.B. McKee Securities Inc., an NASD Broker/Dealer
providing capital to Arizona-based
companies. In 2000, he sold the business to the employees. He
stayed active in private capital investing as the managing partner
of B&B Investment Group Projects until 2006. He earned a
Master's in Theology in 2015.
- Brandy Labinjo, Leader of
Executive Operations Support at APS: As leader of Executive
Operations Support at APS, Labinjo is responsible for coordinating
all executive administrative functions and providing multifaceted
administrative support to the office of the CEO. Labinjo began her
career at APS in 2016 and has served in various positions including
Sr. Financial Analyst and Leader of Transportation Operations
before being promoted to her current roll. She leads and
participates in projects/programs associated with executive
management and provides input and coaching to the executive
assistants to evaluate and manage their performance. Labinjo also
serves as Professional Chair for APS's African American Employee
Group, is a member of the CCOB Advisory Board and a faculty member
at GCU. Prior to working in the utility industry, Labinjo worked in
education and held roles in finance, student advising and as a
faculty member teaching accounting and business law.
- Mike Greenawalt, CEO of
Rosendin Electric: From an apprentice electrician to CEO,
Greenawalt has over 40 years of construction industry experience.
He joined Rosendin in 2002 and served as Division Manager in the
Arizona office and Vice President
of Operations before being appointed CEO in 2020. Greenawalt was
instrumental in establishing The Rosendin Foundation, which from
2020 to 2023 distributed $1.8 million
to 220 unique organizations nationwide. He established teams to
enhance Rosendin's Zero Tolerance for racism, discrimination and
bullying as well as set up a hotline to report discrimination,
expanded training of Rosendin's Respect for People program to
include diversity and unconscious bias and launched an Emerging
Leaders program. Greenawalt was instrumental in forming GCU's
Pre-Apprentice for Electricians pathway to address the issue of
workforce shortages.
- Karrin Taylor Robson, Founder
and President of Arizona Strategies: Taylor Robson is a long-time Arizona business leader and land-use expert.
She is Founder and President of Arizona Strategies, a premier land
use strategy firm headquartered in Phoenix. Taylor
Robson has also served on the boards of numerous government,
community and economic development organizations, including Boys
and Girls Club of Metro Phoenix, the Arizona Mexico Commission and
the Joe Foss Institute. She has mentored GCU students and had
students work on projects with her. In June
2017, she was appointed by Governor Doug Ducey to the Arizona Board of Regents. She currently serves
as a member of the Civic Leaders Group for the Chief of Staff of
the United States Air Force. Taylor
Robson was also recently a candidate for Governor of
Arizona.
"Mr. Colangelo is the definition of service before self. When we
pick recipients for The Colangelo Servant Leadership Awards, we are
looking for those business leaders in our community who really
represent that type of leadership," said Dean of GCU's Colangelo
College of Business John Kaites. "Ms. Taylor Robson, Ms. Labinjo, Mr. McKee and Mr.
Greenwalt all go above and beyond when it comes to combining
business and service, so we are thrilled to honor them with this
year's award."
As one of the three pillars of the Colangelo College of
Business, servant leadership is taught both in and out of the
classroom. "Servant leadership should be a core principle of every
successful business or organization and these four individuals
exemplify that," Jerry Colangelo
said. "They are truly making a difference in our communities and
setting an example for future leaders in Arizona."
Colangelo is an Arizona icon
whose Hall of Fame career in sports, business and real estate has
spanned 50 years -- from the day he arrived in 1968 with
$300 in his pocket to a career that
included ownership of the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks;
the Valley's only major sports championship with the 2001 World
Series; the creation/relocation on the Phoenix Mercury, Arizona
Rattlers and Arizona Coyotes; reshaping the Valley skyline with two
state-of-the-art sports facilities that transformed downtown
Phoenix; re-establishing global
dominance of USA Basketball; and
serving as principal partner with JDM Partners, which has a 60-year
history of real estate acquisitions, development and
management.
The 2023 Colangelo Servant Leadership recipients were
Don Cardon, Tommy Espinoza, Dawn
Grove and Steve Zabilski.
About Grand Canyon
University: Grand Canyon
University was founded in 1949 and is Arizona's premier private Christian
university. GCU is regionally accredited by the Higher Learning
Commission and offers 312 academic programs, emphases and
certificates for both traditional undergraduate students and
working professionals. The University's curriculum emphasizes
interaction with classmates, both in-person and online, and
individual attention from instructors while fusing academic rigor
with Christian values to help students find their purpose and
become skilled, caring professionals. For more information, visit
gcu.edu.
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SOURCE Grand Canyon University