MEET THE TEAM

Tom Boone is a founding Board Member and the Chairman and CEO of VSMG. He began his lifelong public service career as an auditor of school finance for the State Auditor General’s office. Mr. Boone served for eight years in the Arizona State House of Representatives as Majority Leader and Chairman of the Appropriations Committee. He later brought his skills and determination to a small but rapidly growing school district known as Deer Valley Unified School District. As Assistant Superintendent and CFO from 1981 – 2000, when he retired, Tom helped shepherd the district through all its challenges as it grew to one of the largest districts in the state. While at DVUSD, Tom oversaw all non-instructional aspects of the district, including finance, transportation, food service, construction, human resources, payroll, supply, etc. Tom graduated from Northern Arizona University with his accounting degree and immediately went to work in his chosen field.

Bill Maas has spent his entire career in education and has been on the Board of Directors at Valley Schools for over two decades, currently serving as the Secretary/Treasurer of the VSMG Board. He has served as the Chief Financial Officer for the Peoria Unified School District and five years as the Deer Valley Unified School District Associate Superintendent of Fiscal Services. Mr. Maas also provides consulting services to school districts. He’s served as President of the DVUSD Governing Board. Bill Maas has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Arizona State University and a Master of Arts from Northern Arizona University. He has been a life-long educator as a teacher, head football coach, and school district administrator.

Jim DiCello CPA, P.L.L.C. has a lifetime of school experience and has been a Board Member of VSMG since 2005. From 1992 to 2005, he was Assistant Superintendent for Business at the Paradise Valley Unified School District, where he managed all aspects of the business functions for the fifth largest school district in Arizona including Accounting, Audit, Payroll, MIS, Purchasing, Warehouse, Risk Management, Technology and Government Relations. He’s a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Association of School Business Officials International, AND the Arizona Association of School Business Officials (AASBO), and Desert Schools Federal Credit Union Supervisory (Audit) Committee. Mr. DiCello holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Arizona State University with a major in accounting.

Mike Barragan has extensive experience in school finance and is currently Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Auxiliary Services for the Glendale Elementary School District. (GESD). Mr. Barragan has also served as Director of Finance for the Tolleson Union High School District (TUHSD), worked for the Arizona State Department of Education and is a past President of the Arizona Association of School Business Officials (AASBO). At both GESD and TUHSD Mike has distinguished himself by solving budget deficits and building capital budgets and medical reserves.

Jim Migliorino has over 25 years of school experience and has served on the Board of Directors of VSMG since 2011. He joined the Deer Valley Unified School District in July of 2005 and has served in his current capacity of Associate Superintendent of Fiscal Services since 2007. He has been a leader in his profession, serving as President of the Arizona Association of School Business Officials in 2006-07. Jim Migliorino is a graduate of Arizona State University and began his education career during the 1991-92 school year as a Business Manager for a small unified school district in the southwest portion of Maricopa County.

Michelle Myers was appointed to the VSMG board in July of 2018. Ms. Myers is currently the Chief Financial Officer for the Peoria Unified School District and is a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Global Management Accountant. Ms. Myers is known as an innovative and results-oriented individual who has worked as a finance and accounting professional in both the K-12 and higher education arenas as well as local Certified Public Accounting firms. Ms. Myers has a Masters of Business Administration degree from Arizona State University and is committed to ongoing professional development in her career field.

Tom Bock is the Administrator for the Valley Schools Insurance Group (VSIG). He has vast prior experience in managing claims in both the public and private sectors. This includes stints managing risk at AIG Automotive and MicroAge. Since 2002 the Valley Schools Insurance Group has proven that the concept of working cooperatively means members could realize dramatic savings on the purchase and administration of insurance products. Participating school districts have saved millions of dollars over the years. Tom has his Business Administration degree from Minnesota State University.

Jerry Cipriano is the Executive Director of School Services for VSMG. Jerry has a lifetime of experience both in private contracting and construction as well as in the public sector overseeing major construction and maintenance projects. At VSMG he is primarily focused on business development and seeking new relationships for Valley Schools to benefit new members and save them money while improving the quality of their services. Mr. Cipriano identifies new prospects, orchestrates meetings and provides targeted business development efforts in client philanthropy initiatives, including foundation and fundraiser committee involvement. VSMG has a long history of supporting the community and education charities.

Laura L. Felten, CPA, is Chief Financial Officer of the VSMG Board of Directors serving on the Board since 2014 and has over two decades of education administrative experience. She became Assistant Superintendent of Business Operations for Paradise Valley Unified School District in July, 2014. Prior to that, Ms. Felten worked for the District for 17 years as the Director of Budget and Finance and the Internal Auditor. Before working at Paradise Valley Unified, she worked at the Arizona Department of Education in the School Finance and Auditing Departments. Ms. Felten has a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University in Business with a major in accounting and is a member of the Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants, Association of School Business Officials International and the Government Finance Officer Association.

Tom Elliott is the Executive Director Member Services for the Valley Schools Employee Benefits Group (VSEBG) and has served in this capacity since 2014. Mr. Elliott is a member of the Arizona Association of School Business Officials (AASBO) and served on their Board of Directors as President in 2010-11. Tom has over two decades of education administrative and business official experience, working for the Casa Grande Elementary School District, Cave Creek Unified School District, and serving as the Assistant Superintendent of Business for the Paradise Valley Unified School District immediately prior to his role with VSEBG. He is responsible for providing all operational support to members. His primary focus is current member retention efforts and ensuring members’ needs are being met while managing the renewal process. Mr. Elliott also ensures all members utilize the available services, products and preferred providers, both core and voluntary, and is responsible for rolling out new services and offerings regularly.

Sheri Gilbert has been with Valley Schools for over thirteen years and is currently the Marketing Director. Sheri has a diverse background having owned and managed multiple businesses, designed and manufactured merchandise, worked as a freelance writer, and is a published author. Sheri has continually excelled at providing the highest level of services, designing the framework for the wellness programs at Valley Schools as well as attracting and serving new business. She speaks frequently at regional conferences on various employee benefits topics as well as publishing articles for associations on managing public health benefit and wellness programs. Her current role as Marketing Director allows Sheri to apply her years of experience in wellness, business development and account management to better serve Valley Schools’ mission to grow while maintaining the highest standard of services and pricing.

Kendall Taylor has been with Valley Schools for 5 years and is currently the Executive Director of the growing Wellness Department. With now over 13 years of experience in the healthcare and wellness field, she has extensive knowledge in the development, implementation and management of corporate wellness programs. Her key focus at Valley Schools has been on creating programs aligned with company culture for multiple clientele. Her goal is to address the primary roadblocks to health and wellness, reduce chronic diseases and claims costs, as well as encourage and reward consistent healthy behaviors. Kendall is a popular speaker at regional conferences on work site wellness and employee retention topics and is passionate about local efforts encouraging communities to eat local and organic food. Kendall currently holds a degree in Kinesiology with an emphasis on Exercise Science from Arizona State University.

Christy Todd serves as a Senior Account Executive responsible for large member clients. Christy has over three decades of experience in personnel benefits and health care administration. Prior to joining VSMG, she was the owner of the agency, AZ Health and Life Advisors LLC. Before that, Ms. Todd was an Agency Manager for UnitedHealthcare, spent 15 years in various executive positions at Blue Cross Blue Shield, and served as a manager at both John Alden Insurance and at Pacific Mutual of Arizona. She holds a degree in Education; Business Management from Bloomington College.