“… the most important aspect of the Serve the Future program is the life advice and support I received from Coach Leslie. She is a contagious beacon of joy and enthusiasm…”
Personal Development
Career Development
STEM
Building a Positive & Healthy Mindset through Tennis
I’m really glad the Coach was so patient. Even though I made a lot of mistakes she kept reassuring me that it was okay and I can still fix them.
Jacqueline Reyes
Metro Tech High School, Sophomore
Building Self-Confidence and Perseverance.
Aside from tennis, Leslie also taught me valuable lessons that are sure to help me go through life.
Kendall Deja
ASU
Building Responsibility and Accountability.
They all [Featured Speakers] were very helpful and inspiring. They taught me many things about succeeding from setting goals, and persevering through struggles.
Cameron Kartchner
Betty Fairfax High School, Junior
Dr. Lindsay Felien is a dentist living in Phoenix, AZ. Until recently, Dr. Felien owned a dental practice in Central Phoenix, providing general dentistry to her patients as well as integrating specialty services to meet the needs of her growing patient population. Over the years, Dr. Felien developed strong relationships with her patients and became well known and respected in her community. Although she loved practicing dentistry and was very committed to her loyal patient base, she recently made the decision to sell her dental practice to a colleague in order to pursue her passion for teaching.
Currently, Dr. Felien is adjunct faculty at Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health in Mesa, AZ. In this new role, she is teaching first and second year dental students in the simulation clinic and guiding them as they learn the artistic and technical skills of clinical dentistry. Dr. Felien is thrilled to have the opportunity to return to her alma mater as an instructor and finds her position as a clinical instructor to be very rewarding and fulfilling. She enjoys working with the students, encouraging them and sharing her clinical experiences in order to help them become great dentists when they graduate.
Dr. Felien also has a passion for sharing her skills and knowledge as a dentist with underserved populations. She has been a part of numerous outreach service events locally in Phoenix where she has volunteered her time by providing no-cost dentistry to members of the community who may not otherwise have access to care. Dr. Felien also has a heart for international outreach and was blessed to have the opportunity to participate in a dental service trip in Ethiopia. There she worked with Ethiopian dental students providing dentistry in both urban and rural clinics. This was one of the most rewarding and humbling experiences in her life and she looks forward to returning to Ethiopia in the future.
She and her husband Mike are originally from Minnesota but moved to sunny Arizona 10 years ago. They have two children, Beckham (8) and Selah (7) who attend Phoenix Christian Preparatory School in Central Phoenix. The Felien family is very active! As a family they love to be outdoors as much as possible and enjoy activities such as hiking, running, biking, golf and tennis. The Felien’s also love to travel and find the experience of travel to be a wonderful time to grow closer as a family and buildlasting memories.
Dr. Felien earned her B.S. in Dental Hygiene at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, hercertificate in public health at A.T. Still University and her DMD at Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health.
Steve is a co-owner of Pivot Manufacturing and has been the President and CEO since the company’s inception in 2000. Pivot is a vibrant part of the manufacturing community that does machining and assembly work for a variety of companies, primarily in the defense industry. Pivot has grown significantly during the last several years by leveraging the excellent relationships the company has built with existing customers into new manufacturing opportunities. Those opportunities are currently translating to another growth period as Pivot is expanding their building footprint to accommodate future production.
In addition to sales and financial duties at Pivot, Steve is also involved in promoting the small business community and the manufacturing industry in Arizona. He is a Past Chair and serves on the board of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, is on the board, and a former Chair, of the Arizona Manufacturers Council, and a board member of the Arizona Manufacturing Extension Partnership (AZ MEP), as well as sits on the board of The Common Sense Institute.
Steve works a with variety of elected officials at both the state and federal level, specifically bringing a focus to the importance of the manufacturing industry to our economy as this base industry helps grow and develop other manufacturing opportunities, while also providing quality, high wage jobs for the middle class.
A native Arizonan, Steve and his wife Carrie make their home in Central Phoenix. They have three sons who attend(ed) Creighton University, Arizona State University, and Gonzaga University. The entire family enjoys outdoor activities including mountain biking, hiking, skiing, and general immersion in nature, as well as activities such as mentoring high school students, Habitat for Humanity, and St. Mary’s Food Bank. Steve earned both his B.S. and his M.B.A. from Arizona State University, and recently completed a Stanford Graduate School of Business certificate program on scaling your business.
Hi all! My name is Cash Teeter I recently moved to Scottsdale, Arizona roughly six months ago for a new position in my industry of Environmental Remediation. Prior to moving to Scottsdale, I grew up in Edmond, Oklahoma; as well as Lighthouse Point, Florida and eventually moved back to Edmond which is where I graduated high school. Upon graduation, I got accepted into the University of Oklahoma and began looking into my future and what I wanted out of life. Unfortunately, it took me some time to figure that out with 3 years spent on an accounting/finance degree that I absolutely could not see myself pursuing. Moreover, during that period I was experiencing many ups and downs relating to family, health, and education. These circumstances made me realize that I needed a change and to reevaluate my current situation. This reflection period led me to my current field that I am in today which is Environmental Engineering. It gave me the ability to be outside and not tied to an office and enabled me to travel to places I never thought that I would go. It also taught me that I can make a positive impact on individuals and their cities by supplying them with a healthier environment to enjoy the beauty that we have around us. I know my journey is not over, and things may change in my life but through the learning experiences that I have endured and the ability to accept failure and turn it into a teachable moment. It has created a mindset to be able to adjust even when things get challenging.
I think the best summary for all of this is the quote from Theodore Roosevelt, “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.”
Joe Russo is the Director of the Edson College Learning Enterprise (ECLE) at Arizona State University’s Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation. At Edson, Joe develops new ways to train health professionals and keep current health workers up-to-date on the latest skills and issues. Especially since the start of the pandemic, his team has worked closely with healthcare and public health partners to address the most urgent needs for health organizations around the world. ECLE has programs to train health workers of all backgrounds on issues like human trafficking prevention, advocating for better health policy, leadership skills, and more.
As a public health scientist, Joe’s work mostly focuses on reproductive health and social determinants. He looks at where health resources are and are not, how people access these resources, and how to bridge the gaps to make health more accessible for everyone. He also gets to play around with maps (the best part of the job). Joe serves on the Board for Arizona Family Health Partnership and is a member of the Arizona Public Health Association.
In his free time, Joe enjoys cooking, playing music, and woodworking – he is bad at all of these things, but they bring him joy anyway. Originally from Mesa, he tries to spend as much time outdoors with his family as the desert will allow. Joe earned his Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from ASU, and his Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Arizona. He is currently a doctoral candidate completing his dissertation for a Doctor of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health at the University of Arizona.
Amazing week at the Arizona Tennis Classic! Serve the Future brought students Monday through Thursday to see their first professional tennis matches. The highlight was when Radu Albot spent time with the 5th graders from Escuela Pueblo del Sol. He played a 3 set match and won against Benoit Paire and still took time to autograph hats. These students will remember this for the rest of their lives Thank you again to Jonny Levine for giving these students this opportunity!
