News Release
May 15, 2007
Lumina Foundation elects two new board members
INDIANAPOLIS—Lumina Foundation for Education announced today the election of Frank D. Alvarez and Laura Palmer Noone to the Foundation Board of Directors. The elections occurred at the board's annual meeting on April 19, 2007.
"Frank Alvarez has a strong understanding of the value and role that community colleges have in our society," according to John M. Mutz, chairman of Lumina Foundation's board of directors. "Laura Palmer Noone brings a wealth of knowledge about for-profit universities and the needs of working adult students," said Mutz.
"With the country's demographic and workforce needs shifting, their experience with underserved students will strengthen our work on student access and success in postsecondary education," added Martha D. Lamkin, Lumina's president and CEO.
About Frank D. Alvarez of Tucson, Ariz.
As president and CEO of TMC Healthcare, Frank D. Alvarez leads a three-hospital system that serves Tucson, southern Arizona and northern Mexico. TMC Healthcare, the region's largest independent healthcare provider, employs more than 3,500 staff and has 1,600 active medical staff members.
Alvarez serves on numerous business and civic boards, including the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Board of Trustees, the Southern Arizona Leadership Council, and the Pima Business & Education Round Table. He also has served on the Arizona School Readiness Board and as president of the Arizona State Board of Education.
Alvarez is a recipient of the Corporate Citizens Award from the Mexican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Distinguished Leadership Award from United Way of the Bay Area, and the San Francisco Mayor's Leadership Award. A native of Los Angeles, Alvarez earned his undergraduate degree in business administration from Loyola Marymount University, a master's in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley, and completed the Stanford University Kaiser Executive M.B.A. Program.
About Laura Palmer Noone of Tempe, Ariz.
For the past 20 years, Laura Palmer Noone has worked in the University of Phoenix system, which has locations in 37 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada and the Netherlands, and serves more than 250,000 degree-seeking students. She began teaching undergraduate and graduate students in 1987 and most recently served as the system's president; she currently is president emerita. Noone also serves as a faculty lecturer on trends in higher education in Harvard University's Graduate School of Education.
Noone has held national positions, including vice chairperson of the United States Department of Education's National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity. She also was a member of the Arizona Governor's P-20 council, a council on lifelong learning. Noone's legal experience includes 10 years of service as a general civil practice attorney in Iowa and Arizona.
She has been listed repeatedly among the Top 100 Women in Business in Arizona and was also a finalist for the 2005 Arizona Woman of the Year. She graduated from the University of Dubuque with an undergraduate degree in business administration and went on to complete her law degree and master's in Business Administration from the University of Iowa. She also earned a doctorate in higher education administration from The Union Institute.
See a complete list of the Foundation's Board of Directors.
Lumina Foundation for Education, an Indianapolis-based, private, independent foundation, strives to help people achieve their potential by expanding access and success in education beyond high school. Through grants for research, innovation, communication, and evaluation, as well as policy education and leadership development, Lumina Foundation addresses issues that affect access and educational attainment among all students, particularly underserved student groups, including adult learners. The Foundation bases its mission on the belief that postsecondary education remains one of the most beneficial investments that individuals can make in themselves and that society can make in its people.
For more information, contact Dianna L. Boyce, Communications Associate, at 317.951.5116.
