Four summer law clerks join Jones, Skelton & Hochuli

Jones, Skelton & Hochuli announced that law students Ian Beck, Nicole Prefontaine, Brian Cuevas and Evann Waschuk have joined JSH for the summer as law clerks. Our summer law clerk program is designed to introduce law students to private practice firms, giving them an opportunity to explore a variety of practice areas and gain insight into the day-to-day practice of law at JSH. Our law clerks are given the opportunity to observe trials, depositions, mediations and arbitrations, as well as attend professional development seminars and get to know our attorneys and staff at social events hosted throughout the summer.

Ian Beck is pursuing his J.D. at Michigan State University College of Law. He is an active member of the St. Thomas More Society and Latino Law Society. Ian is also a Donald Nystrom Best Brief Competition Finalist. Ian graduated cum laude from Arizona State University, W.P. Carey School of Business with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Law.

Nicole Prefontaine is earning her J.D. at Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University. She serves as associate editor of the Jurimetrics Journal, is a member of the Corporate and Business Law Society, and was a Fall 2016 Pedrick Scholar. Nicole received her Bachelors of Science in Legal Studies from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Brian Cuevas is earning his J.D. at Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University. Brian is a member of the Law Journal for Social Justice, Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps, Moot Court, Chicano Latino Law Students Association, Corporate and Business Law Society, and is a Student Ambassador. He is also the recipient of a Merit Based Tuition Scholarship. Brian graduated summa cum laude from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Justice Studies and minor in Philosophy.

Evann Waschuk is pursuing her J.D. at Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University. She is a member of the Corporate and Business Law Society, and Sports and Entertainment Law Journal. While earning her Bachelors of Arts degree magna cum laude in Business Administration from Bellarmine University in Louisville, Evann played on the women’s tennis team and served as team Captain.

Local loan officer receives 2 national recognitions

Stacy Orozco, a Loan Originator of Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc. (PRMI), was recently recognized as one of the top 1% of Mortgage Originators by Mortgage Executive magazine. She was also named a Top Producer by National Mortgage News.

Each publication compiles a comprehensive list of loan officers across America with a requirement of at least $30 million in home loans for 2017. The purpose of these awards is to recognize and celebrate the service, dedication, and hard work loan officers put into serving their customers during the home loan process. 

CEO and President of PRMI, David Zitting, said, “Stacy exemplifies our mission of providing a positive and personal experience for our customers.  With her help, we assisted nearly 25,000 families across the nation finance their homeownership goals just last year.”

Orozco has more than 20 of years of experience in the mortgage industry and specializes mainly in the purchase of home loans. In 2017, she helped nearly 140 community members achieve homeownership.

“I am honored to receive such recognition from these publications,” Orozco said. “But I couldn’t have done it without my team and I thank each of them for all of their hard work.”

HomeSmart CEO awarded for humanitarian efforts

Matt Widdows, founder and chief executive officer of HomeSmart International, has accepted the honor of RISMedia’s inaugural Newsmakers Award in recognition of his significant charitable contributions and the overwhelming growth that HomeSmart International saw in 2017.

Widdows will be honored for his humanitarian efforts during Hurricane Irma in September 2017. He was scheduled to speak at RISMedia’s Real Estate CEO Exchange in New York City, but instead, personally flew relief flights to evacuate families and make deliveries to areas that were severely affected by the storm. Widdows and his crew provided over 10,000 pounds of supplies including medical equipment, water and generators to relief workers and refugees throughout the eastern Caribbean including Turks and Caicos, St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

“I knew that I had the means to go and help those in need during the hurricane, so I packed all the supplies I could and left” said Widdows. “People were being forced out of their homes without their possessions, so to evacuate them to safety and provide them with the supplies they needed was my main concern.”

Widdows will also be recognized for the success and growth of HomeSmart International. Earlier this year, HomeSmart was recognized by RISMedia as the #5 largest brokerage on the 2018 Power Broker Top 1000 Report for transaction sides and #7 for sales volume.

HomeSmart International’s total network is currently made up of nearly 15,000 agents and 133 offices across 20 states throughout the nation.

“At HomeSmart we live each day with a focus on growth,” said Widdows. “Our entire staff works tirelessly to help our agents expand their individual businesses and it’s great when the industry takes note of that hard work and the results it brings.”

Seeker Solution expands with the hiring of 2

Seeker Solution, a Phoenix-based boutique business management and operations consulting firm, announced that it has hired two new team members, Munirah Henderson and Kristin Byers. Henderson and Byers join the Seeker Solution team as management consultants, adding to Seeker Solution’s client services and areas of expertise.

As one of the only boutique business operations companies in the U.S., Seeker Solution is designed to be a company’s “in-house, out-of-house” chief operations officer and celebrates the expansion of its team. In their role as management consultants with Seeker Solution, Henderson and Byers will work with Seeker Solution’s clients, to provide expert business guidance and hands-on operational support in order to maximize their client’s company functionality and bottom line. Joining the Seeker Solution team with diverse career experience and extensive industry knowledge, Byers and Henderson bring expertise in human resources and medical practice operations to further expand Seeker Solution’s hands-on business management services. 

Responsible for fulfilling the role of a company’s chief operations officer, Byers and Henderson will work with Seeker Solution’s clients to provide full-service business management and operational services, including business plan development, employee recruiting and training, financial management, company policies and workflow implementation, and management mentoring. Working with the client’s organizational leaders and team members, Byers and Henderson will be responsible for identifying and assessing each client’s unique operational challenges in order to handcraft a business solution and implementation plan to effectively grow their client’s company. 

Specializing in medical office operations, Henderson has more than 3 years of experience as an occupational therapy director and brings her extensive knowledge of the medical industry to Seeker Solution and its clients. In her previous role, Henderson was responsible for coordinating and supervising company programs, managing team members, and acting as a liaison between patients and medical office staff for Covenant Alliance. Applying her knowledge of the functionality and processes of medical practices, Henderson’s first-hand experience working with medical practitioners and physician administrators, enables her to strategically improve a medical practice’s business policies and procedures, leadership techniques, labor and employment compliance, and company performance.

Also expanding Seeker Solution’s area of expertise, Byers brings more than 15 years of experience in human resources to Seeker Solution’s clients. With experience in both the private and public sector, Byers specializes in company policy, planning, programming, management, training and development, budget evaluation, and financial management. Her strong career experience across sectors enables her to efficiently implement expert solutions quickly and strategically for Seeker Solution’s clients. Combined with her passion for improving organizational function and employee satisfaction Byers will help Seeker Solution’s clients navigate dysfunction and deploy proper business operations for both short term and long term company success.

She is bringing that experience to Seeker Solution to find the problems within the business and construct a solution to better the business. She is an excellent addition to the team because of her strong communication skills, experience in all sectors, and drive to find solutions for businesses. Byers’ experiences throughout her career ultimately lead her to Seeker Solution. She has seen how the effects of organizational dysfunction can damage productivity and employee motivation. While she worked to improve organizational issues on her own, joining Seeker Solution provides her with more resources to further improve those issues.

“Both Byers and Henderson have the industry experience and skillset necessary to help our clients thrive in today’s business world,” said Jamie Seeker, founder of Seeker Solution. “Seeker Solution was launched with the mission to help business owners successfully grow their team, increase profit and productivity, and expand products and services with a hands-on, concierge-style approach. This is a diverse discipline that requires strong abilities in strong communication, high emotional intelligence, integrity, and good judgment and morals- Byers and Henderson possess all of the above.”