Executive Connections mentors

Bill Pesch is a board director and retired CEO who led five businesses for private equity, selling three to strategic buyers. He is now very active in the Arizona start-up community and serves on several not-for-profit Boards. Previously, Bill served as a director for Hall Technologies, a professional audio/visual manufacturer, the Board of Governors for the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), the Boeing 737 Interiors Council, and the Dean’s Advisory Boards of the University of California, Irvine, Merage School of Business and the University of California, San Diego, Rady School of Management. Bill has strong private equity, manufacturing, marketing, and sales experience in the aerospace/defense, technology manufacturing, and energy management industries and has extensive international experience. He served until 2017 as CEO of the B&E Group, a precision aerospace manufacturing and MRO company sold to StandardAero and Cadence Aerospace. Previously Bill served as CEO of Able Manufacturing, CEO of McBride Electric, and President of Driessen Aircraft Interiors USA, a manufacturer of Boeing and Airbus commercial aircraft galleys, now part of Safran. Earlier, Bill served as President of Anacomp Inc. (ANMP), President of FP Mailing, VP of the international division of AB Dick (now Mark Andy), VP of International Business Development for Maytag Corp. (now Whirlpool), and Director of Global Marketing and Director of Manufacturing for Siemens Building Technologies. Bill earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of New Mexico. He grew up in Santa Fe, NM and is an avid global traveler, alpine skier, and scuba diver.

Kerry Philipovitch is currently serving on the boards of public and private companies. She joined the board of Apollo-owned Sun Country Airlines in December 2020 as the company was preparing for IPO. She served as interim chair of the Audit Committee, currently chairs the Nominating & Governance committee and is a member of the Audit and Safety Committees. She has been a key leader in the company’s governance evolution to build a diverse and effective board and to meet public company regulations. She recruited and onboarded four new directors to meet independence requirements, ran a successful board chair selection and transition process, and led the board to adopt corporate governance guidelines and new committee charters. She also serves as an independent director for Avianca Airlines, where she chairs the Safety Committee and is a member of the Nominating & Governance Committee. Kerry is a board member at Intervine, an international wine management company, where she is working to help the company restructure as it recovers from loss of business during the pandemic. She is also serving on the board of technology start-up OptIn, a revolutionary solution for today’s hourly workforce giving workers flexible scheduling opportunities and enabling enterprises to better understand and engage their workforce. The company is seeing high demand for its solution and is raising capital to fuel its growth.

Kerry brings more than twenty years of airline operations, commercial, and customer experience achievements. In her prior executive role, she served as Senior Vice President - Customer Experience for American Airlines where she oversaw airline operations impacting critical measures of customer value, including worldwide airport customer service, ramp, and baggage operations; onboard flight service and catering; global call centers; cargo; customer planning; and service recovery. She supported a team of 70K global team members and managed a $7B operating budget. In addition to her operating responsibilities, Kerry worked with the NAACP and other important community partners to develop an inclusion and diversity strategy for the airline. She frequently served as a subject matter expert in educating government officials on important industry issues and offered expert testimony in two congressional hearings.

Kerry was selected as an honoree for the Dallas Business Journal’s 2019 Women in Business Awards, an award that recognizes business leaders for impressive professional achievements and proven track record. Profiles in Diversity Journal named her as a Woman Worth Watching, and the Phoenix Business Journal selected her as one of the most influential business leaders in the Phoenix area. She graduated with a Master of Business Administration from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Tulane University. She earned her Directorship Certification through the National Association of Corporate Directors and co-chairs the Arizona chapter of Women Corporate Directors.

With over 20 years of experience in the auto warranty industry, Joan Saunders excels in all aspects of this specialty insurance business, from sales to operations to IT. As CEO for two leading auto warranty companies, Joan managed highly successful teams focused on growth through customer and employee satisfaction and strategic use of information technology.

Joan began her career as an industrial engineer, improving business processes and tracking results for a computer manufacturer. With an interest in information systems, Joan spent 10 years as a designer of business applications and developed a proprietary, enterprise-wide contract and claim processing system for CNA National Warranty Corporation. Ultimately ascending to the position of CEO, Joan expanded the product offerings, strengthened customer relationships, and reduced expenses which resulted in three consecutive years of record-setting profits for the company. In early 2008, Joan accepted the challenge of interim CEO of private equity-owned GWC during a time of stress for the auto industry and focused GWC on improving cash flow, reducing expenses, and re-training the sales force to strengthen their knowledge and relationships with customers.

Utilizing her well-established network, Joan has taken full-time positions assisting struggling businesses including SilverRock and Door Works. As COO of SilverRock, Joan led this startup affiliate of DriveTime Used Cars in establishing the vital systems, employees and strategic partners that allowed SilverRock to sell service contracts and provide excellent service to customers. As COO of Door Works, Joan supported manufacturing and installation teams by implementing systems that enabled the company to double headcount and revenue. Through her management consulting practice, Joan uses her experience to improve profitability by focusing on customer needs, simplifying, and automating processes, and implementing operational best practices.

Joan received a BS in engineering/business and a master’s degree in information management, both from Arizona State University. Her personal hobbies include hiking with friends and family, gardening in the Arizona heat, and skiing.

Bob Shepler is an accomplished finance executive and independent Board member with deep experience in global financial services, cybersecurity and election technology. He most recently served as CFO of Phoenix-based Runbeck Election Services, a full-service election solutions provider serving jurisdictions across the country, where he played a pivotal role in driving significant grown, leading a successful recapitalization, and expanding the firm’s technology offerings through strategic acquisitions.

Prior to his tenure at Runbeck, Bob held senior leadership roles at prominent firms such as Stroz Friedberg, Legg Mason, and Citigroup Asset Management. His expertise encompasses guiding firms through complex transactions, strategic planning and corporate governance. In addition, he brings extensive boardroom experience as an independent director serving both for-profit and non-for-profit organizations, as well as a strong commitment to community engagement, having co-founded and served as Treasurer for the East River Fifties Alliance in New York City, which successfully led an unprecedented grassroots rezoning effort.

Bob was born in Detroit, grew up in the Chicago area, and spent the bulk of his career in New York City before settling full-time in Scottsdale in 2018. He received an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BA from Williams College. He is an avid golfer and enjoys cooking, wine tasting and travel with his wife, Liz.

Jacqualine focuses on developing leadership teams and governance systems for privately-held, entrepreneurial companies in Australia, China and the United States. She also brings experience as co-founder of a successful start-up firm offering shareholder value based management services that became an affiliate of Stern Stewart & Co, the EVA company.

After that business was acquired, Jacqualine spent 15 years as a principal and partner in EY's New York, Stockholm and Melbourne offices. Specializing in B2B global account growth and enterprise risk management, she led client-based initiatives which resulted in strategies that achieved the firm’s largest global accounts. Jacqualine began her consulting career working with Fortune 100 communications, media and technology companies on performance improvement programs.

In the nonprofit sector, Jacqualine's focus is on increasing access to educational opportunities for high-potential candidates from unconventional backgrounds. She serves as Treasurer with the American Australian Association; and her strategy and governance projects include work with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, the Juilliard School and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Michele St. Louis-Weber is a visionary strategic executive with a distinguished career in the semiconductor industry, renowned for her expertise in operational excellence and transformative innovation. As an Executive in Residence at Arizona State University's W. P. Carey School of Business, she brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of leading high-volume computer chip manufacturing facilities, driving revenue growth, and spearheading corporate initiatives that achieve sustainable outcomes.

Michele has held several key leadership roles at Intel Corporation, where she directed the alignment of a global workforce of approximately 9,000 employees with the organization’s top strategic objectives. Her leadership within the Internet of Things Group (IOTG) resulted in significant revenue growth, from $2.6 billion to $4 billion, through innovative strategies that optimized operating models and accelerated business execution.

In her role as Senior Director of the Foundry Business Unit Transformation Change Agent within Intel's Network and Edge Group (NEX), Michele co-created Intel’s corporate operating model, enhancing financial transparency to optimize product margins. Her strategic vision and operational expertise have been instrumental improving design for manufacturing efficiencies within Intel’s business unit products division.

As Factory Manager of Intel's Arizona Fab Sort Manufacturing, Michele led three state-of-the-art computer chip fabrication facilities, delivering over 40% of Intel’s global supply of semiconductor products on time and under budget. She managed a workforce of approximately 4,500 employees, ensuring their safety and development while maintaining high standards in product manufacturing quality, output, cost management, and strategic planning. Michele's leadership improving 22nm efficiencies was instrumental, achieving significant cost savings and capacity enhancements that facilitated the flawless transition of $500M in capital and 700 resources to support high-volume manufacturing for the next-generation technology node of 14nm.

Michele's contributions extend beyond her corporate achievements. She has served on multiple boards, including the Chandler Chamber of Commerce, the University of Arizona Engineering School, and the ASU W.P. Carey School of Business Dean’s Council. Her commitment to education and innovation is further demonstrated by her initiative to integrate Intel’s OpenVINO Computer Vision Inference Software and AI hardware into a graduate-level Machine Learning course at ASU’s Ira Fulton School of Engineering.

A calm and servant leader, Michele is skilled in crisis management and adept at resolving critical safety, quality, and supply chain disruptions. Her leadership style is characterized by her ability to build high-performing teams and foster career-best experiences for her colleagues.

Michele holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University and a B.S. in Physics from Missouri State University, both earned magna cum laude. Her numerous accolades include multiple Intel Quality Awards and recognition for her contributions to capital and commodity savings.

As an Executive in Residence at ASU, Michele continues to inspire and mentor the next generation of business leaders, sharing her insights on strategic execution, innovation, and leadership. Michele lives in North Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband, Brant. They enjoy traveling, hiking, skiing, and horseback riding with their adult children (and ASU graduates), Monique and Curtis.

John has led worldwide operations and business process innovation for financial services companies. Over the course of his career, he made the discipline of enterprise shared services a key asset at American Express (Amex). John brings broad intelligence gained from growing organizations and teams in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. John was last Executive Vice President, Enterprise Transformation at Amex. In this role, he identified $400M in annualized revenue and OpEx savings in three years and reduced spend through technology expansions.

Immediately prior, John served as Executive Vice President, Global Business Services, leading strategy and operations across 42 markets. During his tenure, 3,000 employees delivered smooth day-to-day operations for real estate, enterprise automation, supply management, customer fulfillment, internal consulting, and sales enablement.

Previously John was Senior Vice President, Global Servicing Network (GSN). There, he spearheaded deployment of robotics process automation for GSN’s $2B cost base and generated $10M annually of benefits to the wider team. John also addressed persistent friction in the merchant experience by digitizing much of the operations, creating well-received customer-facing options, and making the platform available in 22 markets.

In 2010, John helped found the GBS group, a strategic decision that made Amex an early adopter of this enterprise-wide shared services model. He then led the global finance operations as Senior Vice President, Global Financial Operations, Global Business Services Group.

Outside Amex, John chaired the GBS Council at The Conference Board, an industry think tank. His community work includes the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, the nonprofit UMOM New Day Center, and Junior Achievement of Arizona. In 2018, the Phoenix Business Journal named him to a list of Phoenix’s “Most Admired Leaders.”

John holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Exeter in Exeter, UK. He is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Arizona and a Chartered Accountant of England and Wales. He is a fanatical skier, terrible golfer, and travels extensively with his wife, Suzanna.

Craig is currently devoted to philanthropic goals and giving back, performing functions such as mentoring and teaching students, establishing new and creative programs to benefit the global society and guiding newly formed organizations or those looking to transform their business to unforeseen levels of success. He has accomplished this by utilizing 30+ years of career experience as an international business expert specializing in business process and support functions, software development, information/network system solutions, contact centers and management consulting as the foundation for supporting and helping others.

Craig has launched several new divisions and turn-arounds of struggling entities from large multi-national companies to start-ups and firms personally founded. He has generated several billion dollars of global business and managed operations on six continents with 10,000+ employees.

Craig’s first primary role set the stage for consistently holding positions for things that previously had not been done before. Working for IBM, he was selling and supporting office system products to mid and large sized organizations throughout a multi-state region, all while supporting his family and still attending college full time. Craig currently spends his time as an Executive in Residence, Professional Teaching Associate and a volunteer at Arizona State University.

He has participated in the development of newly launched programs, spoken at many public forums, participated in numerous events, recruited new students, is a public address announcer for Sun Devil Athletics and much more. Craig is a graduate of Bentley University with degrees in Computer Information Systems and Management, is an avid sports fan and especially with two of his children being ASU graduates considers himself a Sun Devil through and through.