Valley Leadership Names 74th Man & Woman of the Year
Angela Hughey and Brian Spicker will be Valley Leadership’s 74th Man & Woman of the Year. The two were selected because of their commitment to addressing Arizona’s most pressing issues, track record of community engagement and alignment with Valley Leadership’s Principles of Doing.
“Angela and Brian have put decades of community-based service into Arizona over the course of their prestigious careers. The honor is truly ours to be able to highlight their work, impact and commitment to seeing every Arizonan is able to thrive and succeed.”
Dave Brown, Valley Leadership CEO
About the Honorees
Angela Hughey is the co-founder and President of ONE Community and ONE Community Foundation. Founded in 2008, ONE Community is the coalition of socially responsible businesses and organizations moving diversity, inclusion and equality for all Arizonans forward. ONE Community Foundation provides educational opportunities to ensure better understanding of nondiscrimination and the importance of being LGBTQ inclusive.
In 2013, Angela and the ONE Community team launched the UNITY Pledge, a concerted effort by Arizona businesses and individuals to advance workplace equality and equal treatment in housing and public accommodations for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBTQ) individuals and their allies. Over 3,500 businesses and organizations including large Fortune 500 companies to small mom and pop businesses, and more than 20,000 Arizonans have taken the UNITY Pledge; the largest equality pledge in the nation. Angela is also credited with the Multicultural Conversation with the Candidates, Spotlight on Success Local Heroes Awards, the UNITY Summit, the Point of Pride Summit, the ONE Community Institute and The State of LGBTQ Arizona collaborative report.
Angela is also credited with leading bipartisan coalitions of business, faith, and everyday Arizonans in support of successful LGBTQ inclusive ordinances in Mesa, Glendale, Scottsdale, Chandler, Phoenix, Tempe, Sedona, and Winslow. Her leadership has also led to the introduction and historic hearing of Arizona’s first bipartisan bill in support of updating our state’s law to include LGBTQ individuals in employment, housing and public accommodations.
Ms. Hughey is a 2012 graduate of Valley Leadership Institute. She has won awards for her work as an independent filmmaker and was honored with the YWCA 2013 Tribute to Leadership Award for Public Service. Ms. Hughey has received the HRC Individual Equality Award and was inducted into Echo Magazine’s Hall of Fame. Angela is a 2012 Business Journal Diversity Champion and sits on the President’s Advisory Council for Phoenix College. ONE Community is the recipient of the 2012 Phoenix Pride Howard and Patricia Fleischmann Community Spirit Award. Ms. Hughey is a 2013 inductee into the Phoenix College Alumni Hall of Fame. Angela and ONE Community led the open for business to everyone coalition in response to SB1062, which led to an educational campaign of the same name, which focuses on diversity, inclusion and equality for all Arizonans to ensure the economic sustainability of the state. Echo Magazine named Angela their 2014 Woman of the Year. In 2015, Angela became the founding Chair of Valley Leadership’s Leadership Advance Program for high potential leaders, overseeing the program for two years. Angela was the 2016 recipient of the Anti-Defamation League’s Al Brook’s Community Leadership Award. Angela was a member of the Arizona Community Foundation’s LGBTQ Philanthropy committee from 2016 through 2018. In 2021, the Phoenix Business Journal named Angela one of its Most Admired Leaders.
Brian Spicker is an award winning innovative nonprofit leader with a strong reputation for directing transformational programs and initiatives for Arizona-based organizations for over 45 years and since 2019, as President and CEO of the Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation (MCCF), he’s boldly impacting communities through programs and partnerships for the growth and benefit of the Maricopa Community Colleges District (MCCCD) students, faculty and staff.
Mr. Spicker led MCCF through the pandemic and met this unprecedented challenge by bolstering student emergency and basic need funds and securing additional support for programs and scholarships. He nurtured relationships both internally and externally, elevating the Foundation’s presence as a fundraising leader and as a high performing non-profit organization and for several years, the Foundation has seen a 30% year over year growth in revenue. In response to the almost 1000% increase in student requests for emergency assistance brought on by the pandemic, Mr. Spicker established a Day of Giving for the Maricopa Community Colleges. This year, the one-day event raised $187,135.
Brian’s expertise in the evaluation and implementation of community-wide data driven campaigns that support strategic partnerships that drive revenue, change policy and collective impact and aid in the development of human services, are evident in his previous positions. During his 17 years at Valley of the Sun United Way, he had exceptional success leading teams through large-scale fundraising initiatives and programs, and repositioned the agency’s business model as a traditional grant maker to a community impact leader. His successes include the development of 1000 units of supportive housing for the chronically homeless and acquisition of over $75 million to support early childhood development. At Body Positive, an HIV/AIDS Resource and Research Center, Spicker’s role as Board Chair and then Executive Director in the 1990’s was to develop and provide alternative therapies as well as expand clinical trials, building the largest community-based HIV clinical trials program in the West. The trials brought in tens of millions of dollars in cutting edge medication for individuals and the medical community.
Brian’s leadership style is one of passion, innovation, empathy and grace, all qualities he brings to the many organizations he’s active in across the Valley. He recently served as Associate Faculty at Arizona State University for the Masters in Nonprofit Leadership and Management Program. He was also Co-Founder and Co-Chair of Arizona Early Childhood Alliance. In addition, he served on the City of Phoenix’s Traumatic Incident Intervention Response Committee and is a current member of ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, Leadership Council.
