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Who We Are

Board & Staff

We prioritize building a team of folks whose lived experience informs and strengthens the work we do.

Staff

  • Erica (she/her) is an Arizona native with a deep passion for racial and social equity. Erica has a strong background in program and workforce development that supports the community she serves. Her 28-year career in public health focused on eliminating health disparities by addressing community health needs and social determinants of health through the development, implementation and evaluation of innovative, sustainable, and replicable programs, policies, and systems.

    In her previous role, she was responsible for the oversight and direction of a large, multidisciplinary Division focused on community outreach, prevention, and education. Under her oversight she increased the Divisions budget more than 14 million dollars, increased personnel by 40% and added 8 programs focused on health equity and social determinants of health. Erica also successfully advocated for the creation of the first Office of Health Equity in Pima County.

    A few achievements Erica is especially proud of are: advocating for legislation that provided breast and cervical cancer treatment for un/underinsured women, being part of a team that wrote the Pima County proclamation declaring racism as a public health threat, designing and securing funding for the award winning Mitigating Covid in Communities of Color Program, developing and implementing programming to provide family planning and STI testing on high school campuses with an emphasis on young men and securing the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health grant in Pima County. Additionally, she consistently demonstrates her leadership ability by keeping people first, creating a culture of inclusiveness and employing situational leadership practices.

    Erica has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Community Health Education and a Master of Arts in Organizational Management. Erica serves on various committees across the community including the Tucson Juneteenth Committee and the African American Health and Wellness Coalition.

  • Karina (she/her) is a proud Latina born in Nogales, AZ and was raised on the South side of Tucson, AZ. Previously in the corporate and Real Estate world, Karina is happy to have made a change by joining Boys to Men Tucson, which is highly aligned with her personal values. Growing up in the communities that Boys to Men now serves, she experienced first hand the urgent need to practice healthy masculinity and can only imagine what a huge difference it would have made if this program was available while she was a teenager. Karina strongly believes that youth deserve to be supported in ways that allow them to be seen for being their most authentic selves without fear of judgement, and that this is crucial for creating change in our world. Karina commits to the goal of increasing annual fundraising to meet an expanding organizational budget so that the organization can continue to serve the youth of our communities.

    As the Director of Development, Karina will be a member of Boys to Men Tucson’s Leadership Team which collaborates on the strategic decisions of the organization. She will be creating and implementing a comprehensive fund development plan using a racial and gender equity lens as well as managing all aspects of our fundraising strategies including major gifts, foundation and corporate giving, annual giving, planned giving and special events such as our Annual Charity Golf Tournament.

  • Tayamni Goodshield (he/him) is an Oglala Lakota & Ojibwe community organizer and activist born in Humboldt County, CA and raised on the South-West side of Tucson AZ. Tayamni has been an active member in the community since he was young where he worked with in his family's nonprofit, Sustainable Nations to build and hold workshops on sustainable infrastructure using indigenous teachings and building methods. Since then he has continued to work and collaborate in his career with many different nonprofits and organizations, all with the shared vision of working to create a world free from the traumas of colonization and reconnecting to our relationships with the land, our peoples and ourselves. Tayamni is passionate about seeing this vision become a reality.

    As Program Manager, Tayamni builds tender and honest relationships with our youth program participants, as well as our community and school-based partners. He is responsible for program planning and facilitation, and supports community informed networks of care and empowerment.

  • Mark is a 5th generation Tucsonan who has a deep rooted reverence for his desert home. His love and connection to the land developed early on while being raised on the west side of Tucson, next to the Tucson Mountains. Having the access in childhood to play, explore, connect, and learn from the natural teachings of his home, he quickly developed a passion for sharing and learning from the healing gifts nature freely offers.

    After many years of working across behavioral health, restaurant, and service industries, he is now thrilled to bring his experience to positively impact the youth in our community. In his role at Boys to Men, Mark is overjoyed at the opportunity to provide mentorship to youth in school talking circles, community organized events, and within the beauty of nature on Adventure Weekends. Outside of work, you’ll find Mark teaching Yoga classes, cycling along The Loop, cooking creatively for himself and the community, and spending as much time as he can in nature.

  • Precious Craig, HIM Initiative Program Coordinator
    Precious Craig, HIM Initiative Program Coordinator

    Precious Craig's journey began in Lagos, Nigeria, and brought her to the welcoming community of Peoria, Arizona. At the University of Arizona (UA), she pursued her education, graduating Magna Cum Laude with Honors in 2021. Precious received the Robie Gold Medal Award, an honor bestowed upon only seven exceptional seniors across the entire university. During her time at UA, Precious felt a strong calling to give back to the Tucson community that had become her home. This drive led her to dedicate over 1,200 hours to community service as a youth academic specialist with the METRO Goodwill Youth Program. In this role, she had the privilege of positively influencing the academic journeys of young individuals.

    In 2022, Precious co-founded her school's Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) chapter and assumed the role of President. Her goal was to lay the foundation for positive change, both locally and nationally, by championing SNPhA's mission.

    A highlight of Precious's journey was the initiation of a Black Health Fair in Tucson, a significant step toward supporting underserved communities and underrepresented students on campus through her involvement with SNPhA. Precious's passion for community well-being was evident in her efforts to bridge SNPhA and MexZona, a program sending pharmacy students to Mexico monthly for participation in health clinics. In recognition of her exceptional leadership, Precious received the Gen Ronald L. Kurth Award after successfully completing the Greater Tucson Leadership Lead Tucson Program.

    In 2021, Precious was honored as a recipient of Tucson's 40 under 40, a recognition of her achievements at just 21 years old. Her journey continues with her role as the HIMI coordinator with Boys to Men Tucson, where she eagerly looks forward to promoting healthy masculinity and making a positive impact on the lives of young adults in the community.

Board of Directors

  • Andrés Portela
    Andrés Portela

    Andrés Portela III. Southern Arizona Native. Board Chair. 2016 Tedx Speaker. UArizona Alum. Insta: @mixedindianajones Twitter: Portela4AZ

  • Anna Harper-Guerrero
    Anna Harper-Guerrero

    Anna Harper-Guerrero is the Executive Vice-President and Chief Strategy Officer of Emerge Center Against Domestic Abuse. Harper-Guerrero has a decorated career in public service, most recently receiving recognition from the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual & Domestic Violence (2016) for outstanding advocacy, and the Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona (2018) for community impact. As someone whose life’s work has been devoted to supporting survivors of gender-based violence, Anna knows how important it is to provide young boys with models of healthy masculinity, and serves on the Board in order to advance this work. As a mother of a son, Anna does this work because she wants a world for him that nurtures his own wholeness.

  • Terri Tellez-Baker
    Terri Tellez-Baker

    An enthusiastic native of Tucson, Terri works as an independent financial consultant and can otherwise be found feverishly backing the Wildcats, volunteering in the community and spending time with her family. She serves on the Boys to Men Board of Directors because she believes that our mission helps build stronger communities.

  • Catherine Tornbom
    Catherine Tornbom

    Catherine is an organization development consultant who helps businesses and nonprofits strategically create a team that is inclusive, creative and productive. She is on her second term on the board currently serving as the chair of the Governanace Committee.

  • Brian Eller
    Brian Eller

    Brian (he,him) is passionate about education, health and the link between the two. He started his career teaching physical education in the Sunnyside Unified School District, and after four years, found an opportunity working in public health to support a broader scope of schools in Pima County. During this time, the importance of creating or supporting opportunities for young people to connect to adults consistently became apparent as a community need. As a young man, Brian was fortunate to experience the benefit of positive mentorship. There are many young, masculine identified folks in Tucson who need this same experience and Boys to Men provides access to safe and loving men.
    Brian currently works for the state health department, striving to connect the dots in new ways to support our schools.

  • Lance Meeks
    Lance Meeks

    Lance Meeks currently serves as the Director of Community Engagement for Goodwill of Southern Arizona. His responsibilities include overseeing Goodwill Youth Reengagement Centers, the management of programs that connect Opportunity Youth to educational programs, job training, needs assistance (bus passes, clothing, food, school supplies,) and community service learning projects. With a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Criminal Justice, Lance has over 13 years of experience
    working with at-risk and Opportunity Youth and youth in the juvenile justice system. He also has more than 5 years of experience working in adult corrections. Lance is active in the community and serves on various committees, Youth On Their Own- Program Committee; Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness-Homeless Youth Coalition; Pima County Juvenile Justice Steering Committee; and Pima County Juvenile Justice Racial and Ethnic Disparities Committee. Lance is also an active member of the NAACP Tucson Branch and the Pantano Rotary Club. Lance is a 2021 Greater Tucson Leadership Board of Director, Boys to Men Tucson Board of Director, Juneteenth Festival Committee Board of Director, 2020 Greater Tucson Leadership graduate, Society for Human Resource Management 2022 Community Impact Award, 2018 Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce 40 Under 40 Award recipient, 2019 Child & Family Resources Gabe Zimmerman Emerging Champion Nominee, 2019 Women’s Progressive Civic Club recipient of the Men of Honor Award and 2019 Goodwill Ambassador of the Year Award. He also received the 2014 Child Abuse Prevention Award.
    Lance has served as a national expert at the Coalition for Juvenile Justice Conference, contributing on a panel, leading a workshop about community relationships, and reducing arrests for youth of color.

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