MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Cheryl Pahl: Your Investment Solutions

Cheryl Pahl moved to Flagstaff as a summer resident in 2010 and became a full time resident in 2015. Though she enjoyed being a stay-at-home mom and working as a substitute teacher at Northland Preparatory Academy, as her children got older, Cheryl decided to embrace her joy of sharing her horses with the community and in 2017 started the non-profit Horses Healing Hearts. Cheryl joined the Chamber that same year and has been an active ambassador since then.

Now Cheryl is involved in the finance world where she has assisted local companies in getting millions back from the IRS, by assisting in the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC). As a teenager Cheryl worked as a bank teller and moved into a sales assistant for three Financial Advisors. After getting her Bachelor of Science in marketing Cheryl worked as a Financial Advisor with one of the Advisors she worked for before college. Taking a break from the financial world to raise her two children Cheryl always stayed involved in finances. Cheryl loves helping others and has been involved in the financial world for over 40 years. Understanding numbers and how to save money has allows been of interest. Cheryl learned about compounding interest at a very young age and always wanted to be on the positive side of the interest rate.

Cheryl see's helping Flagstaff business owners receive their Employee Retention Tax Credit as a key potential for growth in her practice. She gets an enormous sense of accomplishment from assisting businesses in a strategic way to keep their ERTC refund working for their business by putting together a Tax Strategy Plan. By assisting clients with this investment, she helps their business, helps to keep money in Flagstaff, thereby helping the community flourish.

Cheryl also helps clients with Estate Planning, which is always in peoples mind, but remarks that the thing that holds them back is the expensive of putting everything together. Your Investment Solutions has a cloud based service that uses attorney approved documents to lower the cost and simplify the process. For a free trial go to www.epdocu.com.

Colleen Maring, J.D., joined Northern Arizona Healthcare as its Chief Legal Counsel in 2018 from the law firm of Aspey, Watkins & Diesel, where she had served as outside counsel to NAH and other organizations for several years prior. Previously, Colleen held positions as Assistant Professor of Practice at Northern Arizona University and Associate at the law firm of Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, DC.

Colleen earned her law degree magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., and her bachelor’s degree with honors from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Colleen Maring is an inspiring leader with great Integrity who makes those around her want to do their very best. The title of Chief Legal Counsel obscures all the roles she truly fills at NAH, as a leader of various HR teams, communications, compliance, legal and risk management.

Colleen is fluent in American Sign Language and willing to step in and assist patients or their family who speak ASI, although it is not part of her responsibilities. Through this act, she helps them to feel supported during their time at the hospital.

Community Service involvement is a passion of Colleen’s. She serves as Vice President of the Arizona Justice Project, which works to achieve justice for innocent and wrongly convicted individuals. She has also served as faculty in NAU’s Criminology and Criminal Justice Department, lending her life and professional experience to teaching others. She has served on the Board for Flagstaff Shelter Services and Young Invincibles, and volunteered her time as a Mock Trial Coach at Basis as well as an Organizer of Organizing for America.

By example, Colleen shows women it’s possible to lead a healthy life, be a good mother and a dedicated employee.

Diana White is the Executive Director of the Moonshot at NACET, an Arizona-based, non-profit organization, whose mission is to help subject matter experts bring products and services to market and help cities develop entrepreneurial eco-systems that create jobs. Prior to that, Diana started a consulting business helping local Flagstaff businesses which led to her becoming the Director of the Coconino County Small Business Development Center. Her philosophy is to bring a holistic approach to consulting leaders, which includes helping them discover their strengths, determining their true purpose, and leading their ventures with integrity.

In 2021, Diana joined the team of the international podcast, “10 Lessons Learned” as the co-host. She enjoys interviewing ordinary people doing extraordinary things, especially women. Diana has stated, “As women, we don’t tell enough of our stories, accomplishments, and challenges. If more of us shared authentically, the women looking up to us would have less fear of the unknown.”

She provides free business development workshops to “Market of Dreams” Flagstaff, facilitates a “Basics of Personal Finance” workshop for a women's home, and has served on many boards, including the Boys and Girls Club and Habitat for Humanity. She received her BS in Small Business Management from NAU and is in the process of completing her Master’s in Business Administration.

Her experience with young professional women of color led her to create the Coalition for Colorful Women. This organization is dedicated to bringing more experienced and accomplished women of color together with younger women still finding their voice and their way to create connections, start a dialogue, and build community. Diana is highly invested in mentoring young women and says her daughter is the guiding light for all efforts to support young women.

Emma Wharton Grand Canyon Youth (GCY)

Emma Wharton, Executive Director of Grand Canyon Youth celebrates 20 years, leading one of Flagstaff’s most innovative non-profit organizations. She built not only an organization, but a community of people dedicated to connecting young people to the transformational experience of immersion on the rivers and canyons of the Southwest. Using creativity and initiative, Emma has grown GCY from 3 expeditions per year to over 80, forged collaborations with over 50 local, regional and national schools, non-profit organizations and government agencies, expanded GCY’s budget from $50,000 to over $1.5 million annually and raised $15 million For GCY during her tenure.

Outside of work, Emma volunteers and has participated in a number of organizations including, Girl Scouts of America as a Troop Co-leader for over 7 years, The Big Brothers & Sisters program as a Big Sister and Mentor, Flagstaff Family Food Center, and more.

Prior to GCY, Emma worked with adolescents as a manager for an in-patient treatment facility where she dealt first-hand with the struggles that young women were having with depression, self-harm, substance abuse and mental health challenges.

Emma has worked with countless GCY alumni, especially young women, encouraging them, connecting them to resources, and helping them to see their own potential. She created an apprentice program to help train and educate youth in river guiding and exploring careers in outdoor adventure. Somewhere between 50-100 young women have used this program as a springboard toward successful careers in leadership and the outdoors, in what used to be a typically male dominated field.

Emma remembers every alumnus who has crossed her path. She has written countless letters of recommendation, provided references and also been there through challenging times and struggle. Of all of her accomplishments, it is her connection to these young people that mean the most to her.

Erin Evans Evans Garrey PLLC

Erin Evans is a founding partner of Evans Garrey, PLLC. She received her J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law and lived in Phoenix before moving to Flagstaff where she has lived and worked for the past ten years. She focuses on representing plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic personal injury cases.

Erin has always had a passion for helping people whether that is through her legal practice or her countless volunteer hours. Her first profession was as a classroom teacher for children that required a special education curriculum. After graduating from law school, she found herself especially interested in helping families with adoptions and guardianships through the Volunteer Lawyers Program. She was named one of the Top 50 Pro Bono Attorneys in Arizona. In addition to this, she has served as the president of the Coconino County Bar Association and is an active member of several committees and task forces, including the Outreach to Young Lawyers Committee, Litigation Committee and Solo and Small Firm Task Force, and Women Trial Lawyer’s Committee.

In addition to her work in the legal field, Erin spends her time volunteering for the arts where she served as a Board Member of the Flagstaff Arts Council for 6 years. She also has put her skills as a community organizer and leader to work locally with the Childhelp, Flagstaff Chapter, for over 10 years. She has been a driving force for fundraisers and bringing in new young members.

Erin strives to be a role model to young women. She is a professional woman that sets an example for her children and other professional women by proving it is possible to be a mom and have a career all the while finding time to make meaningful contributions to the community.

Heather Dalmolin

Mountain Line

Heather Dalmolin celebrated 21 years of public transit service with Mountain Line this month. She started in the Accounting Department when Mountain Line had four routes, six buses and about 200,000 riders a year. Today, she is the CEO and General Manager of an organization that operates nine routes with 28 hybrid-electric buses and ridership topping 2.5 million. Heather rose through the ranks at Mountain Line, becoming one of the most respected public transit officials in the state.

Under Heather’s leadership, Mountain Line instituted eight hours of paid volunteer time for all staff to assist local non-profits. Transit Voice, the monthly slideshow sharing news Mountain Line staff need to know, highlights a different local non-profit each publication that could use volunteers, and in doing so shares the excellent work done by Flagstaff organizations. Heather is a firm believer in giving back to the community that so strongly supports public transit. She demonstrates this belief in her personal volunteerism and encourages staff to follow her example. She is a Board Member for Quality Connections, and Advisory Committee Member for ECoNA, and a Member of the Northern Arizona Leadership Alliance. These are just a few of the organizations she volunteers with and participates in.

Heather has developed and promoted women into leadership positions with a majority of key leadership and decision-making positions held by women at Mountain Line. Her development of staff and willingness to support them has led to an incredible retention rate amongst these women; they come to Mountain Line and stay. Through Heather’s example and guidance, other women have embraced leadership roles and navigated traditional gender roles with grace. Heather is a role model for the many women at Mountain Line and is paving the way for them to be change makers in their own way.

Heather Marcy Northland Family Help Center

Heather Marcy is the Deputy Director of Northland Family Help Center, a local non-profit that has served the Flagstaff community for 45 years. Heather has dedicated her 17-year career directly serving over a thousand victims of crime that have experienced Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and/or Human Trafficking. The programs that Heather has helped implement and sustain through obtaining federal and state grant funding have also served thousands of people of diverse ages, ethnicities, and needs.

Heather is a woman of service, and her community involvement goes well beyond her current position with NFHC. She is the Co-Chair of the Coconino County Continuum of Care to End Homelessness, a board member for the Coconino County Coalition for Children & Youth, and actively serves on four other local work groups that range from identifying best practices for serving domestic violence victims/survivors to the Flagstaff Tax Credit Coalition. Heather also assists other agencies as a volunteer grant reviewer.

Colleagues have shared that besides being an expert on so many issues the nonprofit world is managing, Heather also brings a positive attitude, a sense of humor, and creativity to solve very large issues in a collaborative and effective manner. She can be found representing her agency and supporting others by running and hosting community meetings, helping to advise and support other leaders with her expertise, such as fundraising.

Heather began as an advocate at NFHC and in her current position she actively seeks opportunities for formal and informal mentorship of staff and interns. Her goal is to empower women to effectively ask for promotions and raises and support their career and educational opportunities

Heather is completing her Masters degree in Leadership and Management with an emphasis in global public affairs at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.