Board and Council

Christine Kajikawa Wilkinson began her role as ASU Alumni Association president and CEO in July 2005. She works to support and promote the advancement of the university, and advocates for the interests of alumni across the country and globally.

She also serves as the senior vice president and secretary of the university and is the managing director of the Trustees of ASU.

Actively engaged with the community, Wilkinson serves on the boards of Japanese American National Museum Governors, Valley of the Sun United Way, Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center and the Arizona Business Leadership Association. She is also on the Nationwide Leadership Council for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the Community Advisory Council for Wells Fargo Bank and the Arizona Educational Foundation Advisory Board.

Wilkinson lives in Tempe, Arizona, and holds a bachelor’s degree in education with distinction from ASU, a master’s degree in education (counseling psychology) from the University of California, Berkeley, and a doctorate in higher education administration from ASU. She and her husband Don are lifetime sports enthusiasts with a passion for Sun Devil sports and ASU mascot Sparky.

Rick Dircks, who joined the ASU Alumni Association Board of Directors in July 2016, is the board chair for fiscal year 2020 and also will serve as chair of the Founders’ Day Committee.

Executive vice president of Dircks Moving & Logistics, he has more than three decades of experience in the moving industry. He and his brother, Chip, started Dircks Moving & Logistics nearly 30 years ago building it into what is now Arizona’s largest and most diversified moving company and the fourth largest agent in the United States for Mayflower Van Lines. Rick Dircks was named a finalist for ASU’s Spirit of Enterprise Award and was named the Small Business Person of the Year by the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce in 1998. Additionally, Rick is a recipient of ASU’s Business Leadership Award and has been honored three times as a member of the Sun Devil 100. Dircks Moving has been named a three-time finalist for the Better Business Bureau’s Torch Awards for Ethics.

Dircks lives in Chandler, Arizona, with his wife and daughter, who are also ASU alumni, while another daughter currently attends ASU. He has a passion for Sun Devil Football and enjoys traveling to away games.

Since joining the ASU Alumni Alumni Association Board of Directors in 2015, Chris Hill has participated in selecting scholarship award recipients and ASU Leadership Institute participants. In addition, he advocates for Sun Devil veterans through his membership in the ASU Veterans Alumni chapter and service experience.

Hill is the board’s chair-elect in FY20.

A Distinguished Military Graduate from ASU’s nationally ranked ROTC program who went on to serve his country in the Army as a Medical Service Corps officer for 20 years, Hill is the senior managing director of Treadstone Management.

A fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, Hill has held executive positions in the industry since retiring from the Army: CEO for Terre Haute Regional Hospital, a large acute-care community hospital affiliated with the Hospital Corporation of America; CEO for National Surgical Hospitals, a physician-owned surgical-specialty joint venture; and vice president of operations with responsibility for two surgical specialty hospitals and an ambulatory surgery center. As CEO of St. Luke’s Medical Center and Tempe St. Luke’s Hospital in 2015, he collaborated with ASU Health Services leadership to better coordinate health care for ASU students.

A Tempe (Arizona) Marcos de Niza High School graduate, Hill attended Singapore American School before matriculating at ASU. He received a master’s in health care administration from Baylor University in 1993.

Darren Skarecky is treasurer of the ASU Alumni Association Board of Directors and the National Alumni Council. He is the owner and CEO of Grace Records in Gilbert, Arizona, and is CEO of GO Car Wash, a multiregional car wash company that focuses primarily on exterior express car washes.

Skarecky’s executive career includes more than 20 years’ experience in growth management and mergers and acquisitions in blue-chip, private-equity and public, Fortune 500 companies. He has served as CFO for Mister Car Wash in Tucson, Arizona, following a successful career as vice president of finance for Insight Enterprises, a leading technology provider based in Tempe. He has served as treasurer and board member of the Grand Canyon Minority Supplier Development Council, and he was an ASU FestDevil Homecoming Gala executive committee member from 2005 to 2008.

Skarecky holds a black belt in Kung Fu San Soo and has completed 50 marathons and an Ironman triathlon. He is a third-generation ASU alumnus who resides in Queen Creek, Arizona, with his wife Heather and daughters Savannah, Lilly and Bethany.

Trish Gulbranson serves as past chair of the ASU Alumni Association and the National Alumni Council boards of directors. During her term, she has served as a member of the ASU Foundation investment and audit committees and chaired the Sun Devil 100 committee. She will continue to chair the Sub Devil 100 committee during her current term.

Her professional background in finance and entrepreneurship fuels her enthusiasm for supporting and growing ASU Alumni. She began her career as a CPA in a large accounting firm and later rose to president and CEO of an international software company before founding Derma Health, a medical aesthetics company. Today, Gulbranson is also a member of the Trustees of ASU.

Ray Artigue joined the ASU Alumni Association National Alumni Council in 2018 and begins a term on the association’s board of directors in 2019. He brings a wealth of strategic communications and marketing experience to the association and the council.

A native of the Grand Canyon State who has forged a successful career in professional sports and community service leadership, Artigue is the founder and principal of Artigue Advisors. He is active on the ASU Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication endowment board, a long-time member of the Sun Devil Club and a former professor of practice in the W. P. Carey School MBA program. He has been inducted into the ASU College of Public Programs and the Cronkite School Hall of Fame.

Artigue has successfully launched and built marketing communications firms that have represented some of the Greater Phoenix market’s top companies and organizations, and he has held executive positions with the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks. He has also authored a number of books.

An Arizona native, Artigue and his wife Martha, a Sun Devil alumna, live in the Arcadia neighborhood in Phoenix.

A valued ASU Alumni Association Gold member, Gregg Brewster joined the association’s board of directors in August 2016. In his role, he has actively supported its mission while focusing on its state government engagements, health care industry impacts and as a participant in special alumni events. He has sponsored a table regularly for the Legends Luncheon.

Brewster brings a long and successful history in logistics and supply chain management and currently is region vice president of commercial services, West region, for Owens & Minor Distribution, a global health care company providing expertise in health care, supply chain management, logistics and transportation.

Prior to joining Owens & Minor, he served as vice president of Cardinal Health Enterprise Contracting, where he focused on supply chain capabilities.

He is married to Tracy, and they reside in Scottsdale, Arizona, with time spent each year in Green Lake, Wisconsin. They have two daughters who are future Sun Devil alumni, following a Brewster family tradition of ASU graduations dating to 1956. Brewster enjoys politics, travel, golf, boating and outdoor adventures.

Teresa Clement serves on the ASU Alumni Association Board of Directors and is also the current president of the ASU Alumni engineering chapter board for the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering; she has been a valued member of the schools’ alumni board for more than a decade.

Clement is strategic technology manager for technology development at Tucson, Arizona-based Raytheon Missile Systems, maker of the Tomahawk cruise missile and more than a dozen other key weapons systems. A member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; the American Ceramics Society; and SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics; she currently has a patent pending for the 3D printing of an integrated thermal management solution for cooling electronics.

A graduate research assistant at the Fulton Schools, Clement was a Sandia National Laboratories Graduate Research fellow as a doctoral student at ASU. She joined Raytheon upon receiving her doctorate from the university.

Clement and her husband Ben, also an ASU alum, live in Tucson with their son Thomas.

Glenn Crawford joined the ASU Alumni Association Board of Directors in 2015. He is proud to serve on the board and take an active part in ASU's efforts with alumni.

A financial services representative for Taylor Insurance and Financial Services in Southern California, Crawford is the recipient of the company’s “Top Agent of the Year” for four consecutive years. He is an expert in all areas of financial wellness, with a focus on business owners and executives, and his track record of success also includes executive honors on regional and national levels. His professional career includes a role as executive vice president of sales for the Surrex Solutions Corp., and as a senior account executive and board-level producer for Kforce Professional Staffing and Solutions/Source Consulting.

Outside his business success, Crawford is an active member of the Greater Los Angeles community, where he has coached hundreds of youth sports teams over the years, and serves on the boards of a wide range of nonprofit organizations. His Sun Devil achievements as a student-athlete include three seasons as a wide receiver under the demanding eye of legendary head coach Frank Kush, including the undefeated 1975 campaign.

Crawford lives in Los Angeles and follows all things ASU. He is an avid musician who owns 26 guitars.

Chief of staff in the office of Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, Lisa Fernandez joined the ASU Alumni Association Board of Directors in August 2018. Her focus as a valued member of the board is on alumni membership and events.

Fernandez is an experienced political professional who has earned her reputation for excellence through nearly a decade of managing campaigns, fundraising and strategic communications in Arizona and across the country. She was recently named one of the “best and brightest campaign professionals under 40” by the American Association of Political Consultants.

As a Sun Devil undergraduate in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Fernandez was president of one of the most active clubs on the Tempe campus and volunteered her time as a member of the student speakers bureau. Today, in addition to her work in the mayor’s office, she is a member of Valley Leadership, a pioneering organization focused on developing visionary leaders ready to address the state’s most pressing concerns; and also Charter 100 AZ, a nonpartisan, nonprofit network organization for women leaders of outstanding accomplishments in diverse fields.

Fernandez and her partner Seth live in central Phoenix with their two dogs. Outside of work, she spends her spare time volunteering on political campaigns and boxing.

Tim Gertz joined the ASU Alumni Association National Alumni Council in May 2016 when he began focusing on growing alumni affinity through various programs. In 2019, he joins the ASU Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Gertz has a deep affinity for ASU and loves the opportunity to work with other board and council members to develop programs to help share his passion.

He is a certified public accountant and partner of ProVision, a firm specializing in developing wealth and tax strategies for entrepreneurs, professionals and investors. While at ProVision, Gertz has helped develop an environment of giving through the firm’s regular outings to Helen’s Hope Chest in nearby Mesa, Arizona, as well as the adoption of various families during the holidays.

Gertz currently lives in downtown Phoenix. He is an avid Sun Devil supporter, longtime season ticket holder and an avid cyclist.

Entrepreneur, marketer and teacher, Charles (Bret) Giles joined the ASU Alumni Association National Alumni Council for two terms prior to joining the board of directors. In his board role, he is focused on alumni membership and marketing activities.

Giles is a co-founder of Audacious Studios, a marketing incubator with four specialized agencies focused on performance marketing, digital product design and development, customer experience and influencer marketing. His professional career spans more than 30 years in both the B2B and B2C sectors and working with agencies and brands.

Giles’ support of ASU can also be found on the academic side, as he is a professor of practice in the W. P. Carey School of Business in digital, data-driven and social media marketing, and is also faculty advisor to AdWorks, a student run ad agency within the university experience. He joined the W. P. Carey School of Business in his teaching role in 2010, the same year he was recognized as “Arizona Small Business Person of the Year” by the Small Business Administration.

When he isn’t “starting something — companies, conversations, plans, books and more” — Giles enjoys trail and road running.

Luis Heredia brings a wealth of service and leadership experience to his position on the ASU Alumni Association Board of Directors. He is the district director for Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego and also serves as Arizona’s representative to the Democratic National Committee, chairing its credentials committee. He led the Arizona Democratic Party as executive director from 2009 to 2012 and has held senior-level positions for Union Pacific Railroad, U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, Arizona Western College, and the City of Yuma.

A native Arizonan and first-generation American from a Mexican immigrant family, Heredia was a Roberto L. Pastor Student Award winner as a senior at ASU, recognized for his academic achievement, outreach to Hispanic youth and his leadership and volunteer service at ASU and in the community. As a junior, he was named a Woodrow Wilson Public Policy Institute fellow, an international honor providing a nine-month research and writing residency at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.

Heredia was elected to the Somerton (Arizona) Elementary School Board at the age of 24 and later appointed to the Yuma County (Arizona) Planning and Zoning Commission and the Arizona Governor’s Latino Advisory Council. He recently completed the Flinn-Brown fellowship for the Arizona Center for Civic Leadership and currently is the president of the ASU Alumni Association’s Los Diablos chapter.

A registered health underwriter, Kristine Kassel joined the ASU Alumni Association National Alumni Council in 2013 and the board of directors in 2016. Kassel is focused on advancing the growth and accomplishments of the university, its students and alumni. Her passion for collaboration is reflected in her work on the alumni association board and her service in the community.

Kassel’s long and successful track record in the health care industry includes her current title of nearly two decades as president of Benefits by Design, an Arizona-based agency focused on group employee benefits. For her business and community service she has received several awards, including Tempe Business Woman of the Year, NAWBO Business Owner of the Year and recognition as an ATHENA Award finalist by the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.

When not leading Benefits by Design, Kassel is a member of the U.S. SBA Region IX Regulatory Fairness Committee and the Small Business Community Advisory Board. She has served as board president or chair of the Tempe Chamber of Commerce, Gabriel’s Angels, the Phoenix chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, the Greater Phoenix Chamber Athena Mentoring Board, and the Arizona Small Business Association.

Kassel is a Tempe, Arizona, native and currently lives in nearby Ahwatukee with her husband and their two dogs. Her daughter is currently in veterinarian school at Colorado State University. Kassel enjoys golfing, hiking and biking, and is an enthusiastic college football fan.

Tim Kelly has been a valued member of the ASU Alumni Association Board of Directors since 2016.

The two-degree Sun Devil is senior vice president and general manager of Shamrock Farms Dairy, the dairy division of Shamrock Foods Company, one of the 500-largest privately held businesses in the country. Kelly directs the dairy business for the enterprise and is instrumental in developing the strategic plan and infrastructure for further growth.

Deeply engaged in the Valley of the Sun community, Kelly has held board positions with the Grand Canyon State games, United Cerebral Palsy of Central Arizona, and Blueprint Education. He is a past member of the Tempe Diablos and has served as a board member of the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy.

Kelly and his wife Robyn have three boys who keep the family busy between educational and sports endeavors.

Mark Kerrigan joined the ASU Alumni Association Board of Directors in 2016.

A sought-after executive in the energy and environmental field, Kerrigan is CEO and manager of Amstar Energy Group after serving as senior vice president for the Energy Solutions Operation at Science Applications International Corporation. He helped found GridWise Alliance in 2003, an industry consortium established to promote the next-generation electric power grid.

Kerrigan has held senior management roles in the federal government, including senior staff for the White House Office of Management and Budget and as deputy undersecretary for policy at the Department of Energy under President George H.W. Bush. As part of that role, he was a member of the American delegation to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

His experience in the energy services industry includes board chair roles with Research and Development Solutions LLC and the GlobalResolve advisory group at ASU, as well as representation on the Phoenix Energy Technology board. He was a member of the Board of Visitors at Indiana University, where he received the Alumni of the Year Award in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs in 2005. He and fellow GlobalResolve co-founders were honored with the prestigious James W. Creasman Award for Excellence from the ASU Alumni Association in 2009.

Kerrigan lives in Falls Church, Virginia, with his wife Susan and daughters Meredith and Paige.

Joya Kizer Clarke is a valued member of the ASU Alumni Association Board of Directors and a member of the association’s prestigious Sun Devil 100 in 2019.

Clarke has served for 18 years as president and chief executive officer of CASA Unlimited Enterprises, a family-owned, locally based ACDBE-certified airport concessionaire business operating its own stores in Phoenix. She currently oversees three retail stores in Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and nine joint-venture partnership contracts, and she continues to build growth opportunities for the business.

In addition to her Sun Devil 100 recognition, Clarke is an honored recipient of the Univision Radio Phoenix and Valle del Sol “40 Hispanic Leaders Under 40” for her excellence in business leadership, and she is a member of the National Association of Professional Women.

Clarke’s commitment to the Arizona community is reflected in her current and past outreach and philanthropic support of such entities as the Arizona School for the Arts, Children’s Museum of Phoenix, Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona Latino Arts & Cultural Center and the Cesar Chavez Foundation. She continues to be a prominent NextGen Healthcare community figure within the airport concessionaire industry.

Residents of downtown Phoenix, Clarke and her husband Matt and children Maya and Henry enjoy the outdoors, camping and hiking.

Jim Lodge brings more than 20 years’ experience in senior leadership in the energy industry to his recent role as a member of the ASU Alumni Association National Alumni Council and as an association board member in 2019.

Vice president of strategy and business development at NRG Energy, Lodge is a specialist in high growth and change management, responsible for the development and implementation of NRG’s business-building strategies. He has led Venture Management Company as CEO and served as president of APS Energy Services. Lodge currently is on the executive committee of the International District Energy Association and is a registered professional engineer.

Among his leadership specialties are operations, finance, employee engagement, deal structuring and contract negotiations, engineering and construction.

Mike McGuirk joined the ASU Alumni Association Board of Directors in June 2018. In his role on the board, he will focus on alumni engagement and events.

President of ProCopy Office Solutions since 2010, McGuirk’s success at the Flex Technology Group company includes recognition as a “Best Place to Work,” listing as one of Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing companies and two-time honors as one of ENX magazine’s “Top 50 Copier Dealers in the U.S.”

McGuirk is active in community service locally, as well as nationally. He currently serves on the board of the Better Business Bureau, is a member of the Executives' Association of Greater Phoenix and is a national board member of the Business Technology Association and president-elect of its Select Dealers Group. He is also the chair of the ProCopy Foundation.

McGuirk lives in Gilbert, Arizona, and has a summer home in Imperial Beach, California, with his wife Kelly. They have three children, including a pair of twins and an ASU alum.

Fred Reish has been a member of the ASU Alumni Association Board of Directors since 2015, advocating for the continued enhancement of the college experience across all university campuses. Included in his focus is the advancement of the new ASU Greek Leadership Village on the Tempe campus and working with first-generation students and service veterans. A recipient of the ASU Alumni Service Award, Reish has established a scholarship at ASU for student-veterans in honor of his father, a career soldier.

Reish is a partner at Drinker Biddle, a national, full-service law firm where his practice centers on fiduciary issues, prohibited transactions, tax qualification and retirement income. He serves as a consultant and expert witness on ERISA litigation and FINRA arbitration, with a focus on cases involving broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, financial service companies and other service providers. He has written four books and more than 350 articles on fiduciary responsibility; audits and pension plan disputes; updates and insights on the retirement industry for service providers, plan sponsors and registered investment advisers; and more. He has received numerous industry awards, including selection as one of the 5 “Legends” of the retirement industry by Planadviser magazine.

Reish lives in Los Angeles with his wife Michelle and children Theresa and Freddy.

Michael Tully joined the ASU Alumni Association Board of Directors in 2017 and has also served on the National Alumni Council. A valued four-year member of the ASU Founders’ Day Committee, he chaired the group in 2017. He also has been active in ASU Homecoming and the annual Legends Luncheon.

As a proud ASU alum, Tully serves as a Director and member of the Audit Committee for CopperPoint Insurance Companies. He also serves as a Director for the National Association of Corporate Directors, Pacific Southwest Chapter and chairs the Arizona Advisory Board. Tully is the former President and CEO of AAA Arizona where he led the transformation of the organization into one of the most dynamic, fastest growing AAA organizations in the United States. He is a licensed CPA.

Tully has served on the ASU finance advisory board, ASU’s Center for Services Leadership and is a long-time member of the ASU Foundation’s prestigious President’s Club. Tully lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with his wife Heidi, whom he met while attending ASU. He and Heidi have two daughters attending ASU. Tully is an avid hiker, mountaineering enthusiast, photographer and traveler.