Feedback: April 2022

Q: Please share some of the benefits your mentoring program brings to your company.

Christopher Cano

Director of Artistic Operations and the Marion Roose Pullin Opera Studio
Arizona Opera
Sector: Arts 

The Marion Roose Pullin Opera Studio of Arizona Opera is currently celebrating its 15^th season. 

Over the past 15 years, Arizona Opera has auditioned thousands of gifted hopefuls who long to come to Arizona to have a first-hand experience working on one of the most respected operatic stages in the country singing secondary and leading roles in Arizona Opera’s mainstage offerings.

Singers, pianists and aspiring stage directors come to work with world renowned casts and creatives to hone their craft, learning from some of the most respected individuals in the operatic industry, all the while developing their own sense of artistry and discovering their own artistic voices over the course of two seasons in residency. 

In addition to being seen on stages in Phoenix and Tucson, Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artists are the artistic ambassadors for Arizona Opera through various opportunities and performances throughout the country. Many former and current Studio Artists have gone on to make major debuts in some of the major opera houses and festivals in the world.

A seasoned recitalist, orchestra soloist and collaborative pianist, Christopher Cano has performed throughout the US, Mexico, Israel, Europe, and the Far East. He has prepared singers for appearances at the renowned venues internationally; and similarly for orchestral appearances. As a collaborative artist, he has played in the masterclasses acclaimed of such luminaries as Licia Albanese, Fedora Barbieri and Anna Moffo.

Stacy MCline 

Corporate Sustainability senior director
GoDaddy
Sector: Technology 

We launched mentoring as a component of our Empower by GoDaddy program in 2017.

Our approach at GoDaddy is to apply what we do best — being digital teachers and coaches; mentors and relentless advocates — as we focus on supporting the unique needs of entrepreneurs around the world. Internally, our goal is to create a thoughtful, high-impact experience for our employee volunteers that allows them to live our vision and mission daily, and to help employees experience first-hand how they can give back to communities and improve lives.

Employee mentors teach workshops, run small-group coaching sessions and work one-on-one with small business owners to help turn their entrepreneurial goals into reality. There’s a menu of opportunities and options available to participate — whether an employee has a lot of time to give or a little — and we’re proud to partner with organizations locally, like Better Business Bureau® Serving the Pacific Southwest, to further extend our program offerings and support local economies.

Stacy Cline is GoDaddy’s Corporate Sustainability senior director responsible for driving the strategic direction of GoDaddy’s ESG efforts, social impact programs, CSR processes and initiatives, and engagement across cultures to create business value. Her passion for inclusive entrepreneurship is evident in her experiences running the Empower by GoDaddy program that equips entrepreneurs in underserved communities with the resources and networks needed to accelerate their journeys.

Jim Gmelich 

Culture Champion
CHASSE Building Team
Sector: Construction

Mentorship programs bring enthusiasm, energy and excitement to the job both for the mentor and mentee and provide a boost for the business’s overall culture, not to mention for its clients or other target audiences. It also brings innovation. We formalized our biggest mentorship project — our internship program — in 2008. It has served to support the growth and development of nearly 200 individuals in the local construction industry to date, many whom we’ve hired ourselves. 

Our focus is fixed on not only teaching but learning, the hallmark of any good mentorship program. Everyone has a role and, though our seasoned teammates have more industry experience than our interns, our growth and development as professionals is impacted by the interns that we serve, and vice versa. 

Good programs require variety — the spice of life — so ours offers field work, project management, preconstruction, project coordination, marketing and business development over the course of time. Passion, partnership, and reputation are the foundation of our company and at the heart of our internship program. 

Jim Gmelich is Culture Champion at CHASSE Building Team, an employee-owned local general contractor with more than $400 million in Arizona projects annually. A former client and both a former education and nonprofit leader, Gmelich directs professional and leadership development and career progression while cultivating, promoting and celebrating CHASSE’s extraordinary culture.

Lyn Hart 

Workforce Resilience Program Coordinator
Arizona Department of Child Safety
Sector: Government

Launched in 2018 to help reduce stress and turnover for social workers serving Arizona families and children in crisis, the Arizona Department of Child Safety created a peer mentor support group, which I oversee. The program is composed of roughly 52 DCS employees spread throughout the state who have volunteered to help their colleagues cope with the day-to-day stress endemic to social work.

Although police departments, hospitals and fire departments across the nation utilize peer support programs, the practice is sadly uncommon in child welfare. DCS caseworkers dedicate their lives to serving children and families in crisis, but working with children who have experienced trauma can take a significant emotional toll on a person — potentially triggering burnout, creating mental health issues or lessening their ability to support those who need them most.

Peer mentors are especially important in a social worker’s success given their personal understanding of their colleagues’ experiences and their knowledge of how best to work through them.

Lyn Hart graduated from North Central University with her master’s in psychology and completed her Certified Program Manager through ASU. She then became an in-home therapist for Family Preservation and later a DCS supervisor and program manager in 1994. Today, Hart serves as the executive assistant to the deputy director of field operations, as well as the coordinator for the Workforce Resilience Program in the Arizona Department of Child Safety.

Amy Rushall

Faculty Professional Development Program Director
Northern Arizona University
Sector: Education

The Faculty Professional Development Program at Northern Arizona University is committed to providing a supportive community for all faculty members. As part of the comprehensive and ongoing orientation for faculty new to NAU, members of the cohort of new faculty have the opportunity to join the Faculty Mentor Program.

Now in its 15th year, the Faculty Mentor Program fosters purposeful matches between faculty colleagues with the goals of promoting a sense of community, inviting feelings of collegiality, introducing the university culture, offering support in the development of productive teaching and research agendas, and creating opportunities for maintaining a broad network of professional colleagues.

Mentors are recruited from the body of experienced faculty who have demonstrated success in navigating the university landscape. Through purposeful matching, mentor-mentee dyads have shared interests, comparable job expectations and similar career goals. 

Benefits of involvement in the program include gaining insights on the institution from a perspective outside of their disciplinary unit, connecting with a trusted colleague who does not evaluate or supervise them, and strengthening their understanding of the annual review and promotion processes.

Amy Rushall is director of the Faculty Professional Development Program at Northern Arizona University. Prior to taking on this role, she served 20 years as a faculty member in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. The focus of her current work is holistic support of faculty and graduate teaching assistants with an emphasis on teaching and learning in higher education.