2009-11 Co-Chair Nita Francis
An Inventive, Connected Leader for ASU

The choice to name Nita (Juanita) Francis as co-chair took into consideration the variety of circumstances ASU and the ASU Foundation are facing, especially economic recovery. She has significant knowledge of the philanthropic community, extensive experience with nonprofit strategy and is well-respected across the Valley.

Francis has been a quiet but dedicated Women & Philanthropy investor since 2004. She joined the ASU Foundation Board of Trustees in 2007 and was honored with a Distinguished Achievement Award in May 2009 for her involvement with the College of Nursing and Health Innovation. Francis is president of the F2 Family Foundation, a private foundation focused on improving health care and education. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing and an M.B.A. in health care management. Francis worked as a women’s health nurse manager and childbirth educator.

Francis and her husband, Philip, have four children, six grandchildren and a dog named Bit O’ Honey.

Co-Chair Sybil Francis
Focused on Student Achievement

Sybil Francis, Ph.D., is a founding member and co-chair of Women & Philanthropy. She is a public policy specialist who began her career working in the U.S. House of Representatives. There, she played a key role in shaping U.S. energy, environmental and security policy. Francis later served in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she focused on national research policy. Since moving to Arizona with her husband, Michael Crow, Sybil has focused her energy here, forging links between ASU and the community, especially as executive director of the Center for the Future of Arizona.

Additionally, Francis serves on numerous boards and commissions and is deeply engaged in the ASU community through Women & Philanthropy and as honorary chair of the President’s Community Enrichment Programs. Recently, Francis displayed significant leadership in Arizona by joining a national consortium of six states committed to significantly improving student achievement through a dramatic overhaul of state education systems through the “Tough Choices or Tough Times” coalition. The Center for the Future of Arizona — in partnership with the Arizona Department of Education, the National Center on Education and the Economy and education stakeholders — will establish pilot projects based on the “Tough Choices or Tough Times” model involving five percent or as many as 50,000 of Arizona’s K-12 students in the next year. 

2009-12 Honorary Chair Jeanne Herberger
40 Years of Community Service

Jeanne Herberger has dedicated more than 40 years to finding solutions for complex local and global challenges. Her primary philanthropic interests include education, community development, the arts and intricate issues involving women and children. Herberger is a founding Women & Philanthropy investor and an ASU alumna, earning her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in communication at ASU.

Herberger’s work in fostering education and employment opportunities for women led her to found Arizona Women’s Employment and Education Inc., a nonprofit organization dedication to moving people toward economic selfsufficiency and well-being through the dignity of work. She also founded Valley Leadership and the Arizona Women’s Forum, a chapter of the International Women’s Forum of which she served as the first president. Herberger and her husband, Gary, are longtime ASU donors with significant investments in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication and the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.