Leadership Team
Alan Knobloch
President Meet Alan
Alan worked in the non-profit sector for 30 years. He was, until recently a Senior Associate Director of Development at The Nature Conservancy Arizona. Prior to this, Alan served as Principal Gifts Officer at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Barrow Neurological Institute, Director of Gift Planning for Phoenix Children’s Hospital Foundation and held the same position with Valley of the Sun United Way in Phoenix, Arizona. He also has experience as a consultant serving in a Partnership role with The Balser Group, a full service organizational development and fundraising consulting firm. In my first development role, He went on to spend 12 years with the American Cancer Society as Director of Planned Giving and Director of Development for Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. Alan is a Certified Fund Raising Executive from the Association of Fund Raising Professionals and earned a diploma from the National Planned Giving Institute from the College of William and Mary. He has served as the President of the Greater Arizona Planned Giving Roundtable in Phoenix and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Central Arizona Estate Planning Council. His other service include Greater Arizona and San Diego chapters of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and received the Greater Arizona Chapter’s President’s Award in 2012. |
Art Matthias
Vice President Meet Art
Art was raised in small town rural Iowa. His love for the outdoors led him to seek a degree in Forestry from Iowa State university, which he received in 1965. He immediately was employed by the USDA Forest Service where he worked in various management and staff positions in Arizona and New Mexico. After 35 years he retired and established a second career as Program Coordinator for a non-profit partnership that focused on wildfire risk reduction on private land. Aside from working closely with various organizations, agencies, and landowners, Art’s responsibilities included writing and administering state and federal grants. Through his work, and hobbies of hiking, fly fishing and camping, Art has maintained close ties to the land. He has lived in Flagstaff, AZ the last 40 years, where he has volunteered serving needs in the community, and in various leadership positions in his church. He is married and has a family that now includes grandchildren and great grandchildren across the country. Serving with Seeding Mercy continues his interest in working with and for people. |
Deanne Olivas
Board Secretary Meet Deanne
Since Deanne retired from a career as a Real Estate Agent, she has focused on her passion for serving others. She has held many leadership positions in her church and is the church council Vice President and Service/Outreach Coordinator. The many years of participating in Toastmasters have increased her public speaking and leadership skills. She recently graduated from Diakonia, a 2-year national Christian educational program that offers spiritual enrichment and theological education to non-pastoral leaders. |
Aken Tong
Board Member Meet Aken
Aken Tong is a South Sudanese entrepreneur, humanitarian, and thought leader. He is the Founder of Seeding Mercy, Inc., a non-profit social enterprise dedicated to supporting smallholder farmers in Africa made vulnerable to climate-related challenges such as droughts and flooding. Seeding Mercy Inc. focuses on implementing solar irrigation systems—in addition to financing and training—to enable year-round cultivation, mitigating the impact of erratic rainfall patterns that result in destructive droughts and sporadic flooding, often occur within a single season. Mr. Tong's vision for Seeding Mercy Inc. is to uplift five million farmers across Africa by 2030 and making Africa food secure and hunger-free. Mr. Tong also co-founded Synera Energy Corporation, a Pan-African energy company with a mission to ensure universal "Energy Access for All” and a safer use of fossil fuel extraction which conforms to set-environmental standard on the continent. Currently a postgraduate student in Chemical Engineering. He currently resides in Houston, Texas. |
John Schaumburg
Secretary and Treasurer Meet John
John Schaumburg is a recently retired pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). He has served 4 congregations during his 45 years since ordination in 1972. Two of the congregations were in Arizona, two in California. His final call was to the ELCA and the Grand Canyon Synod (GCS). John served as the Director for Evangelical Mission (DEM) in the GCS. This position supports existing congregations that are in need of renewal and the establishment of new congregations. Through out his ministry John has been an advocate for the World Hunger Appeal (WHA) of the ELCA. Twice he served as the synodical chair for the WHA. As pastor of Lutheran congregations in both Flagstaff and Mesa, he helped to create the Flagstaff Family Food Center: Food Bank and Kitchen and established a First Evangelical Lutheran Church Food Pantry in Mesa. Both actively serve hundreds of residents who are in need of food support for their families. In retirement, John teaches Fly Tying and Fly Fishing to Veterans with disabilities in a national program called Healing Water Fly Fishing Project. He is looking forward to participating with Seeding Mercy to bring hope and justice to the people of South Sudan through this incredible adventure and opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives. John in married to Chris and will celebrate their 50th anniversary in August 2018. They have one daughter, Amy, who is an elementary school teacher. Ethan is their 16 year old grandson, a High School sophomore. 
Sandy Spørck
Board Member Meet Sandy
A seasoned global executive with over 20 years of experience in leading people to profitable results in the energy sector. An expert in future-proofing businesses with revenues of USD 2M by fostering inclusive leadership, collaboration and sustainable business practices to deliver results. Having lived in Sudan in the 80's, Sandy understands the importance of supporting girls out of poverty through education and application of agricultural technologies to be self-sufficient. |
Skylar Lysaker
Board Member Meet Skylar
Skylar Lysaker is the Chief Sales Officer & Secretary of ISA Industries, the premier zero-point energy hardware development company. With over Nine years of hard-core business experience focused on sales and raising capital, Skylar has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and leadership skills far beyond his age. |
Committee Head
Brion Crum
Head of Business Development
Head of Business Development
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Meet Brion
For over a dozen years, Brion Crum has been advising early stage, high growth potential companies involved in manufacturing, software, IT, clean tech, nanotechnology, biotechnology, renewable energy and non-profit endeavors. One of these high growth companies is Caliber: The Wealth Development Company. Brion is the Director of Strategic Relationships where his primarily role is to drive revenue and profitability to all business units and increase shareholder value for their investors. Caliber supports the local business community by hosting Caliber Summit events that provide speakers on topics of interest to business owners, entrepreneurs, and investors. We also have a crowd-funding portal that will be used to raise capital for Arizona businesses and projects. Caliber’s flagship investment vehicle has produced a 28.3% gain to our clients in 2013 and 19% gain in 2014. Through diligent acquisitions and superior management, we are targeting a 20%+ internal rate of return in this investment and similar in others. Caliber is developing and strengthening relationships with our clients, strategic partners, investors, economic developers, community-based organizations, and non-profits. We will be launching an equity crowd-funding portal, www.venturelocalist.com in Q3 2015 which will allow greater access to a portfolio of income producing real estate to main street investors so they can invest locally. Brion serves as President of the Leadership council for Playworks Arizona whose mission is to improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play. In the Greater Phoenix area, Playworks partners with corporations, foundations and individuals who share their commitment and passion to improve education and children’s well-being. Brion has been a member of Phoenix Green Chamber of Commerce, Valley Partnership, and Arizona Technology Council which allow him to leverage these resources on efforts that will make Arizona a better place to live and do business. |
Advisory Board
Josh Tickell
Advisory Board Meet Josh
Josh Tickell is a Sundance Award Winning film director, bestselling author and thought leader in the fields of health, climate and alternative energy. In 1997, Josh’s vividly painted “Veggie Van” made headlines across the United States as it picked up used frying oil and turned it into fuel. His subsequent movie, FUEL, went to theaters globally and was shown in the White House. He is author of the forthcoming book KISS THE GROUND (KissTheGroundBook.com). Along with his co-directing partner and wife, Rebecca Harrell Tickell, as well as Executive Producer Leonardo DiCaprio and the Kiss the Ground nonprofit team, he is the co-director and producer of the upcoming documentary also titled KISS THE GROUND. |
Justin Recla
Advisory Board Meet Justin
Justin Recla has 14 years’ experience and advanced training with the US Army and government defense contractors abroad. He is a subject matter expert in tactical questioning, surveillance, counter espionage, threat and vulnerability assessments, and investigative techniques. He developed standards for these specialties while working for the US Army. He is an educator in concepts of effective communication and has taught hundreds of future federal agents how to conduct interviews and report on investigative functions. Justin brings his skills from the military sector and delivers them the boardroom to help business owners protect their two most valuable assets: Time & Money. |
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