Theme: Be a Part of Something Great

Full day event held at the Grand Canyon University Arena.
http://tedxgrandcanyonuniversity.org/

GCU Arena Grand Canyon University
3300 West Camelback Rd.
Phoenix, Arizona, 85017
United States

Adam Goodman

Persident, CEO

Adam Goodman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Goodman’s Interior Structures, is the third generation to lead the family business. Following the tradition of innovation established by his father and grandfather, Adam has used his leadership roles to help Goodman’s adapt to changing markets and anticipate opportunities for growth. Goodman’s is now challenging customers to understand the purpose of office space and to rethink traditional office planning paradigms. Under Adam’s leadership, Goodman’s has developed many innovative programs to give back to the community.

Allison Johnson

Resident Director

Allison Johnson grew up in San Antonio, Texas. She is the second oldest of 5 kids that range in age from 10 to 27. She has been a resident director at Grand Canyon University for the last 2.5 years. She is passionate to see and care for each of her students and pushes them to engage with topics of diversity, self-care, intentionality, and identity that holistically honors that individual. Allison has been a contributor for the last 4 years to the online magazine “Red Tent Living: Reframing Femininity.”

Andrew Collins

Chief Executive Officer

Andrew Collins is the Chief Executive Officer of New Learning Ventures, a nonprofit that supports visionary educators to pursue and grow promising new ideas in education. Collins has served as a classroom teacher and education director for over a decade in Arizona. Before joining New Learning Ventures, Collins co-founded New Schools for Phoenix, a subsidiary of the Arizona Charter Schools Association that focuses on developing high performing schools in low-income communities within the urban core of Phoenix, supporting the launch of over 30 schools.

Brian Mueller

President, CEO

Since President and CEO Brian Mueller’s first year in 2008, attendance at GCU has sky rocketed from 900 to 17,000 students and the number of employees went from 1,219 to 3,497. Since then, Mueller has focused on investing in academic programs, student amenities, residence halls, laboratories, classroom buildings, and new technologies. He plans to double to 400 acres within 10 years.

Danielle Stringer

Pediatric Nurse Practicioner

Danielle Stringer was born and raised in Arizona. Dani knew she wanted to be a nurse from the age of 10 and went on to do just that. Stringer graduated Summa Cum Laude from Arizona State University with both her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Master of Science in Nursing. She graduated at age 18, and became the youngest pediatric nurse practitioner in the country! In 2014, she started a blog, www.kidnurse.org, to raise awareness for pediatric health issues which currently has over 2 million views.

David Schneider

Artist, Entrepreneur, Athlete

David Schneider is a thriving artist, entrepreneur, innovator, and athlete. David runs his own web design company, pioneered new service dog training techniques, received his SCUBA certification, worked as a Hunter Education Instructor for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and much more. David is currently a quality manager for services offered to people with disabilities and is working towards his MA in Vocational Rehabilitation counseling.

Greg Tonkinson

Director, Department Chair

Dr. Greg Tonkinson has spent much of his adult life teaching in various capacities. Currently, Greg serves as the Spiritual Life Director, Department Chair, and Bible Teacher at Valley Christian High School. Greg holds degrees from Arizona State University, Phoenix Seminary, and Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. In 2010, Tonkinson’s family was devastated when his wife, Leigh Ann, was innocently killed in a car accident coming home from work. In the past six years, Tonkinson has spoken about his loss to several audiences; helping them to navigate the issue of faith through the turbulent streams of doubt, loss and grief.

Illeana Hester

Professor

Dr. Ileana Hester was born in Merida, Yucatan in Mexico and being a Mayan descendant, grew up in a place filled with culture and beauty. Ileana Hester is working at Grand Canyon University to develop the bachelors degree in Spanish after having developed the Spanish minor. Ileana Hester speaks fluently in four languages including; English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. Her love for languages currently has her dedicated to mastering Italian.

Inseong Kim

Artist

Inseong J. Kim is an artist, author, executive producer, radio host of “In His Love at New Faith Talk” 1360AM KPXQ+, wife, and mother of three children. “Our heart is to share the hope and encouragement to those who are hurting as well as hear everyone’s heart from the various angles.” Inseong, alongside her husband, built three top 5% dental practices in Phoenix, Arizona. Her passion is to be a voice for the voiceless, marginalized, and unfairly treated.

Jeff Nichols

Co-Owner / Founder

Jeff Nichols spent 11 years as a Navy SEAL and oversaw product development, product assessment, program assessment. He was an operator delegate within Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and served as the department head for Human Performance. After honorable discharge from Naval service, Jeff became the Co-Founder and Co-Owner of Virginia High Performance (VHP) LLC in Virginia Beach.

John Denboer

Neuropsychologist

Dr. DenBoer is a clinical neuropsychologist specializing in neuropsychological assessment with a variety of patient populations, including those with dementia. Dr. DenBoer has published extensively on diverse topics in Clinical Neuropsychology and is an expert speaker at many local, national, and international conferences. He developed and tested the SMART product through multiple research studies starting in 2010 and currently serves patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment and early stage dementia.

Nicole Clifton

Resident Director

Nicole Clifton is a Phoenix-native, living on the west side of the city with her husband of 5.5 years. She is in her sixth year as a Resident Director at Grand Canyon University. Nicole has been an advocate for justice in human rights issues, especially issues concerning vulnerable populations and victims of sex trafficking. Nicole describes herself as an avid reader and committed to being a life-long learner.

Romeo Farinacci

Program Director

Dr. Roméo Farinacci is the Program Director for Information Technology (IT) and Cyber Security in the Grand Canyon University College of Science Engineering and Technology (CSET). He brings over 18 years of experience including military service and employment in IT/Cyber operations and management, consulting, and education. His military service includes 11 years of Active and Reserve duty in the United States Air Force, in addition to three years serving in the Wyoming Air National Guard.

Ron Blake

Project Manager

Ron Blake is currently working on a project that has been his fulltime Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) therapy. He has been opening the dialogue with so many people about issues like PTSD, sexual assault, suicide, and domestic violence. This full-time project began on November 12, 2015 when the simple mindset of an eight-year-old kid forever changed Ron’s life forever, along with the 20,644 individuals Ron has been able to talk to over the last 429 days.

Shawn Bawulski

Professor

Dr. Shawn Bawulski is originally from the Chicago area, but lived in Scotland and Lithuania for six years, and relocated to Phoenix in August 2014. In 2008, he received a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and in 2012 a Ph.D in systematic theology from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. His Ph.D thesis is a doctrinal treatment of the nature of eternal punishment and was awarded the Samuel Rutherford Prize for best doctrinal thesis in Divinity. He is now an Assistant Professor of Theology at Grand Canyon University. He has two children, Kate and Charlotte, with his wife, Sara.

Stephen Parisi

Student

Stephen Parisi is a sophomore in the Grand Canyon University Honors College studying English for Secondary Education. As a future educator, he strives to create innovative and practical solutions to further the education field. Learning from his father who has succeeded through entrepreneurship in the business world, Stephen developed a curious mind from a young age. As for a future career, Stephen aspires to work towards important leadership roles to promote creative and innovative ideas for schools to implement.

Steven Hansen

Director Arizona Humane Society

Dr. Steven R. Hansen oversees the Arizona Humane Society’s (AHS) organizational operations and leads the implementation and execution of its strategic plan. AHS and its partners strive to transform Maricopa County into one of the best places for a pet to be a pet.

Tim Crown

Chairman, CEO

Tim Crown is a leader, investor, and strategic thinker behind one of the most successful growth stories in American business. As Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Insight Enterprises, which Crown started with his brother Eric, Crown has led the company into 22 countries with more than 5,000 worldwide employees and $5 billion in annual revenue.