Man and Woman of the Year

woman of the year, 2022

Cheryl Laflen

Cheryl Laflen has resided in Mesa since the mid 1970’s and has a long history of volunteer service for many civic and nonprofit organizations. After she and her family moved to the Dobson Ranch neighborhood in Mesa, one of her first volunteer activities was to serve on the Washington Elementary School Parent – Teacher Association. During the same time period she was elected to the Dobson Ranch Homeowners Board of Directors. During her tenure on the Association Board, she served as Treasurer and President. Cheryl was a much sought-after community volunteer and was appointed to the Mesa Library Advisory Board, the Mesa Traffic Safety Committee and attended the Mesa Leadership Training and Development program.

She was married for 24 years to the late Milt Laflen and both she and Milt were very active in the Mesa and Arizona Sister City Associations. Over the last twenty years, Cheryl has served four terms as President of the Mesa Sister Association as well as being a member of the State of Arizona Sister City Board of Directors. She has been member of the Mesa Soroptimist Club, the P.E.O. International organization and is a Mesa HoHoKam organization volunteer. One of her nominators stated that Cheryl “has shown herself to be a person who not only participates in programs but also encourages others to pursue leadership roles by her example as well as inspiring confidence in their abilities”.

Cheryl is a cancer survivor and in recent years has volunteered time to support women experiencing the same challenge. She was recognized as the Ironwood Cancer Center in Mesa as the volunteer of the month in September of 2019. In addition, she was recently recognized by the State of Arizona Sister City Association with their Lifetime Achievement Award. She has 6 adult children and 10 grandchildren.

man of the year, 2022

James Christensen

James Christensen moved to Mesa with his family in 1998. A successful community banker in the Kansas City, Missouri area, James became the founding President and CEO of Gateway Commercial Bank in Mesa in 2007. Since joining the Mesa business community, James has served as a highly engaged Board member on a number of area nonprofit Boards of Directors including leadership positions for the Mesa United Way, the Mesa Chamber of Commerce, United Food Bank and Local First Arizona. He is an active Rotarian and served two terms on the City Economic Development Advisory Board. He is a highly respected member of the Arizona Banking community and has been appointed to several prestigious national financial advisory committees.

James leads by example and his “team” at Gateway Commercial Bank have also participated actively in community entities and activities. As one of his nominators wrote. “James is a man of humility, and this makes it difficult to know all the individuals and businesses that he has touched in a very positive way. Not a man to just sit on a Board or write a check, he gets directly involved and works shoulder to shoulder with others to solve problems and improve the lives of others”.

James has been married for 36 years to Anita. Both Anita and James are graduates of Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansa and they have two adult daughters, Anna and Tara.

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Student Community Service Award Scholarships, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE :: april 7, 2023

Annually, the Mesa Citizen of the Year Association awards four high school seniors with Student Community Service Awards, along with $1,500 scholarships for college.

For 2022 Honorees, we are proud to announce that the following high school senior students have been awarded Student Community Service Awards from Mesa Citizen of the Year Association:

• Kodi Emerson :: (Red Mountain High School)

• Quinlan Harris :: (Red Mountain High School)

• Emily Perin :: (Westwood High School)

• Juliet Xanthoudakis :: (Westwood High School)

Each student receives a $1,500 educational scholarship. Eligible candidates have completed at least 150 service hours during high school and have demonstrated a commitment to lifelong community service.

As part of our mission, the Mesa Citizen of the Year Association asserts that it’s important to recognize the great volunteer work being done by Mesa Public Schools students.

These students are helping with city programs, nonprofits and other important community endeavors that help make Mesa a great place to live, work and play.

As a local civic association, we want to do more to promote volunteerism in Mesa, support young people on their educational journey, and help Mesa develop community leaders of the future.

(More information & Student Bios to follow)