Staff

Amy Schaefer, CPA

Vice President, Finance

Amy has been with Junior Achievement since December 2010. She is responsible for overseeing the accounting and finance operations of the organization.

Amy started her career with the Arizona Auditor General’s Office where she was a financial auditor for 8 years. Amy went on to hold controller positions in the real estate and aircraft aftermarket sales industries, with a 5-year break to become co-owner of a retail golf store and to obtain a real estate license.

Amy graduated from Northern Arizona University with a bachelor’s degree in Accountancy. She became a CPA in 1988. She is a member of the Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants and of Financial Executives International where she serves on the programs committee. She was a member of Sweet Adeline’s International for 17 years. She has a love of dogs and after adopting a dog from a foster program out of Mexico she started fostering dogs locally. She competed in dog agility with her mixed breed Mexico dog and with her Papillon in competitions with the United States Dog Agility Association, Dog On Course in North America and the American Kennel Club. She serves as treasurer of the board for Lost Our Home Pet Foundation.

Anne Landers

Chief Operations Officer

As Chief Operations Officer, Anne Landers is committed to ensuring that the Arizona community has a high-impact and positive experience with JA, so the organization can continue to shape the futures of tens of thousands of students each year. In tandem with JA’s president, Anne is the ensures the organization’s unique value proposition, thought-leadership, track record and impact on our community is represented in key education, career readiness, and financial literacy conversations. She oversees all programs, external relations and marketing for the organization, in addition to leading the organization’s data management programs for donor and volunteer engagement. She has been part of the JA team for 9 years.

Previously, she served as the Interim Director at nonprofit Life In Abundance, overseeing U.S.-based operations and fundraising, to support programs in Africa and the Caribbean. She began her career at an advertising and PR agency, Decibel Blue, where she was one of the agency’s first two employees, managing clients such as Dunkin’ Donuts and My Sister’s Closet. Honored as a Phoenix Business Journal Outstanding Women in Business, Anne holds a degree in Journalism from ASU. She is also a proud alumna of Valley Leadership, Scottsdale Leadership, and the Allstate Executive Leadership program at Kellogg|Northerwestern.

Colleen Cox

Senior Vice President, Education

Colleen Cox has been with the organization for more than 10 years. Colleen is responsible for overseeing the implementation of all JA education programs in Arizona. She has also played a role launching and evaluating new programs for JA at the national level. Prior to JA, she worked as the Director of Operations and Human Resources for E2C which owned Amber Alert, Pets 911, and Earth 911. While at E2C, she played an instrumental part in the national launch of the PETS 911 program.

Colleen attended College of Charleston, where she received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Her background includes over 25 years of combined experience in the areas of banking and finance, human resources, education, and business management. Colleen has also passionately volunteered for over 20 years, working with both animal rescues and youth programs. Colleen currently serves on the Tempe Union High School District CTE Evaluation Committee and previously served on the Phoenix Animal Care Coalition Board of Directors.

Elizabeth Clements, SPHR

Vice President, People and Technology

Elizabeth Clements has been a member of the JA team since September 2009 and is the organization’s first locally dedicated Human Resources professional. Elizabeth oversees all of HR, IT, and Office Administration. She strives to be the bridge between the employer and the employee through a transparent, engaging, and empowering culture. Elizabeth is committed to ensuring the staff and the organization reach their maximum potential by utilizing and valuing the company’s greatest resource – its people.

Elizabeth holds a BA degree in English from WTAMU. She completed her certification for SPHR in 2018 and is a ongoing member of SHRM and SHRMGP. She helps to grow young professionals through her mentorship committee with ACEL. Elizabeth was honored with Phoenix Business Journals Best Places to Work inaugural HR Rockstar of the Year Award in 2018.

Joss Francheterre

Senior Vice President, Major Gifts

Originally from France, Joss grew up in Africa, South America, Holland, and France. At 20 years old, while studying Commerce & Business Management in Paris, Joss became an entrepreneur and started his first company.

In Europe, Joss created and managed a flourishing distribution network of thousands of distributors, but Joss’s true dream was to move to the United States – “the land of opportunities and free enterprise,” as he exclaims. For three years, Joss had the opportunity to manage a “Tour of the West of the USA” for nearly 9,000 European guests, honing his event planning, management and fundraising expertise.

Joss then relocated to Arizona permanently and started his first U.S. Company, TotalNews, “surfing” the wave of the new and burgeoning Internet industry. TotalNews was truly a pioneer in online advertising and news aggregation in the late-90s. The company was featured in the Wall Street Journal as well as other top-tier national and international news outlets.

Joss became a U.S. citizen in 2002, the same year he joined the Junior Achievement team as Senior Vice President of Major Gifts. In his nearly 15 years at JA, Joss and his team have developed many signature fundraising events, including the largest, premier nonprofit golf tournament in our state. Under Joss’s leadership, JA’s fundraising events raise more than $1 Million each year to enable Arizona students to receive JA’s critical programs. During his time with JA, Joss has raised nearly $20 million for the organization.

Katherine Kemmeries Cecala

President

A fourth-generation Arizonan, Katherine Kemmeries Cecala brings to Junior Achievement a diverse background in nonprofit leadership, healthcare administration, law, industrial engineering, utilities, and business. Katherine has extensive knowledge of our community and nonprofit landscape as she has served on more than 40 nonprofit boards including the Arizona Humane Society, Children’s Museum of Phoenix, Vista College Prep, Maricopa Integrated Health System, Mountain Park Health Center and Arizona Women’s Leadership Forum.

Prior to joining JA, Katherine had twenty-five years of leadership experience in nonprofits. Most recently she was the interim CEO/President for Friendly House and served as the Chief Operating Officer at Valley of the Sun United Way. Previously she held executive roles at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Because of her love of learning, she attained her law degree and practiced in the areas of commercial and real estate transactions, business and employment law.

A master’s level instructor of philanthropy and nonprofit innovation at Arizona State University, Katherine has a BS in industrial engineering from LSU, an MBA from Louisiana Tech, and a JD from the University of Arkansas.

Paloma Santiago

District Director, Southern Arizona

Junior Achievement of Arizona is happy to announce Paloma L. Santiago, as the new District Director for Southern Arizona, she will succeed Charles Zaepfel who recently retired. Santiago will work with her team to increase funding for programming for students including the new JA Inspire Program that focuses on career readiness.

Vivacious, determined and hardworking, Paloma builds strong connections between individuals, corporations and communities. Her 24 years of professional experience in the media, nonprofit and business sectors, includes overseeing marketing, public relations, special events, strategic planning, corporate relations, relationship building and finally, fundraising.

Santiago comes from San Miguel High School where she was Vice President of Advancement and led her team in tripling development revenue in a five-year period bringing much needed resources to students and faculty.

Paloma circles back to Junior Achievement of Arizona after serving as Development Manager from 2010- 2013. Paloma serves on the board for Social Venture Partners, is a member of the Foothills Club of Tucson, and a participant of the Class of 2023 as well as serves on the social committee for Greater Tucson Leadership. She herself is a volunteer for JA and is coming up on her 10-year anniversary of volunteering for the organization.

Paloma spends her free time traveling whether it be solo, with her friends, or with her two sons and mother. For downtime, she enjoys walking her dogs, hiking, painting, and yoga.

Sam Alpert

Chief Development Officer

Sam Alpert is responsible for leading fundraising and business development strategy for Junior Achievement of Arizona. Since he joined the organization in 2013, he has led JA to some of its most successful fundraising years in its history. Before coming to JA, he spent 11 years in the marketing field including owning an advertising and PR agency where he represented Dunkin’ Donuts, Cox Communications, Cancer Treatment Centers of America and KJZZ-NPR, among other brands.

He has also been involved in a number of community-based organizations including Friendly House, Flinn Foundation, Phoenix Chamber’s Small Business Leadership Council and Scottsdale Prevention Institute. Sam was honored as one of the Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 in 2016, and his advertising agency won the Phoenix Chamber’s IMPACT Award for Best Company Culture and was a finalist for ASU’s Spirit of Enterprise Awards. He has an MBA and a BA in Journalism from Arizona State University.