The Board of Directors of the Arizona Small Business Association (ASBA) named Jack Lunsford to serve as Interim CEO. Lunsford is the former president and CEO and co-founder of WESTMARC.
Besides managing The Lunsford Group consulting business, Lunsford has recently served as Special Assistant for Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton and president and CEO of the Arizona Community College Coordinating Council.
Lunsford replaces Rick Murray, who left to to take an executive position with a Scottsdale technology firm.
“Jack’s outstanding leadership with non-profits, business, and government organizations will provide stability for ASBA’s members and he will create continuity for the board’s work,” noted Nick Petra, ASBA Board Chair. “Jack is a recognized leader throughout the valley and state which benefits ASBA greatly in this time of transition.” Lunsford will replace Rick Murray who is leaving to join tech startup Bolste.
Lunsford is excited to return to a familiar position of non-profit leadership.
“The Arizona Small Business Association provides leadership and services to benefit small businesses throughout the state”, Lunsford said, “and I look forward to preserving those roles. ASBA’s partners and members should feel confident in the strength of the organization.”
A Phoenix native, Lunsford has more than 40 years’ experience in the private, public, and non-profit sectors. He is twice an Arizona banking officer, a rural Arizona radio station executive, and a former account executive for Mountain Bell/AT&T.
He is also the founding director of the Office of Government Relations and External Affairs for the Maricopa Community Colleges where for 20 years he was the chief policy and political advisor to the Chancellor and Governing Board. Lunsford has twice held elected office, as Coconino County Assessor (youngest in state history) and as a board member of West-MEC (a Maricopa County JTED school district).
Lunsford’s honors include being named by The Phoenix Business Journal as one of the Valley’s “50 Powerful People” and one of its “Most Admired CEOS & Top Level Executives”; being named as one of the inaugural “West Valley ‘24’ Movers & Shakers” by West Valley Magazine; receiving the ASU West Visionary Award, jointly with WESTMARC; the Arizona Capitol Times’ Leaders in Public Policy ‘Unsung Hero’ Award; and the Marvin D. “Swede” Johnson National Achievement Award for Outstanding State Relations in Higher Education.
