According to the organization, the 2025 Piper Fellows “demonstrated such an astute depth and breadth in their desires to enrich health, well-being and opportunity for people in our communities” (photo courtesy of Piper Trust).
Thirteen Maricopa County nonprofit leaders were selected for Piper Trust’s 2025 Class of Piper Fellows. The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust supports organizations that enrich health, well-being and opportunity for the people of Maricopa County
The 2025 Fellows are Jolyana Begay-Kroupa, CEO, Phoenix Indian Center; Jennifer Caraway, founder and CEO, The Joy Bus; Debbie Castaldo, senior vice president of corporate and community impact and executive director, Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation; Richard Crews, director of strategic impact, Keys to Change; Latrice Hickman, chief risk and compliance officer, Copa Health, Inc.; Lloyd Hopkins, founder, Million Dollar Teacher Project; Shonna James, president and executive director, Shemer Art Center; Tracy Leonard-Warner, executive director, Ryan House; Jaclyn Pederson, CEO, Feeding Matters; Valentina Restrepo-Montoya, executive director and CEO, Arizona Legal Women and Youth Services; Nate Rhoton, CEO, one∙n∙ten; Eric Spicer, chief development officer, Arizona State University Foundation; and Michael Zirulnik, PhD, assistant vice president, university relations, Creighton University.
“Our 2025 Piper Fellows demonstrated such an astute depth and breadth in their desires to enrich health, well-being and opportunity for people in our communities,” said Steve Zabilski, president and CEO of Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust. “Today we celebrate them and look forward to all that they will add to the collective Piper Fellows community. Today, we also recognize and sincerely thank our inaugural Trust CEO, Dr. Judy Mohraz, now a trustee, for her infinite wisdom in creating the Piper Fellows program 25 years ago – its transformations continue in so many ways.”
The 2025 Piper Fellows will each participate in a self-designed Fellowship program/plan. Plans include professional development experiences and activities designed to strengthen leadership skills, hands-on learning about current issues and study at renowned programs. An intentional, connected respite activity that allows the Fellow to reflect on their learnings is also a component. The culmination of each Fellowship is to support the leader (Fellow) and the nonprofit to become even more effective and more connected across sectors in the community. The newly selected class becomes part of the larger and enduring Piper Fellows network, which is now a community of 131 Fellows.
For more information, visit www.pipertrust.org.
