HomeFeaturesFeatures › The Valley’s Most Powerful Men—2012 - Page 11

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
It’s been a year since nine respectable gents were honored as the Valley’s most powerful. Here’s what a few of the 2011 honorees have been up to.

Dr. Rafael Fonseca transitioned to another high-profile role at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. In February, Dr. Fonseca stepped down as Deputy Director of Mayo Clinic’s Cancer Center after being named the new Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine. Dr. Fonseca also serves as the Associate Director for Mayo Clinic’s Center of Individualized Medicine in his dual role.

Since July 2011, Sam Fox has expanded his portfolio of restaurants to include the opening of True Food Kitchen in San Diego and Denver and Culinary Dropout in Las Vegas. In Arizona, locals saw the opening of the third Zinburger, the sixth NoRTH and the debut of Fox Restaurant Concepts at Sky Harbor Airport. In the fall, locals will see the launch of a new fish-house concept.

Shortly after being featured in the July 2011 issue, Lee Hanley was diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer. With the assistance of TGen, and its remarkable staff of medical doctors, scientists and researchers, he has been waging a steady, fierce and optimistic fight of the difficult disease. While reigning back his day-to-day activities at Vestar, he is still fully engaged as chairman of the company.

Craig Jackson remains at the forefront of the collector car industry with more than $110 million in sales at the Scottsdale and Palm Beach auctions this year. With numerous charitable endeavors, including record donations to United States armed forces and veteran’s organizations, Jackson shows no sign of slowing down as the granddaddy of all auctions just finished the third annual Orange County auction and looks forward to the fifth annual Las Vegas event in September.

Mike Meldman has been working hard to find new opportunities to expand the Discovery Land Company portfolio. As Discovery emerges from the challenging economy of the last several years with its brand intact, Meldman has to be ever more careful about the opportunities that merit his company’s attention. “I think the future is bright and the demographics lookpositive for our type of projects. We just need to stick closely to our focus on family, lifestyle and an overall experience that is superior to anything people can find outside of our communities,” he says.

F. Francis Najafi donated $2 million to launch the Thunderbird School of Global Management’s Najafi Global Mindset Institute. Najafi’s leadership was recognized by his alma mater with the 2011 Jonas Mayer Outstanding Alumnus Award. He also received the Ellis Island Medal of Freedom from the National Ethnic Coalition for his outstanding citizenship, individual achievement and encouragement of cultural unity.

Bob Parsons of Go Daddy and Arizona State University’s Dr. Michael Crow were also honored in 2011.