Board of Directors

Current Appointed Board:

  • Shawn Daffara – President
  • Ray Ciferno – Vice President
  • Jonas Berglund – Treasurer
  • Payton LaCivita – Secretary
  • Gary Weeman – Patient Services
  • Ken LaCivita – Member
  • Sheila Sanders – Member
  • Ben Van Horn – Member
  • Melissa Swader – Member
  • Robert Gramhill

Legacy Board Members:

  • Scott Holland
  • JP Patchett
  • Tom Idczak
  • Joe Cajic
  • Todd Hanley
  • Brian Zavislak
  • Anne Resnick

Board Member Bios:

Joe Cajic

Joe Cajic has called Phoenix, Arizona home for more than 30 years. He is a product of Shadow Mountain High School where he was a two time state discus and shot put champion, as well as, a Super Prep High School All-American offensive tackle. In 1990 Joe Cajic, admittingly, made the largest mistake of his life by committing to USC. Realizing his folly he returned to “the place where he belonged“ in 1991 to finish his football career at ASU.

Three short years after his college days, Joe was diagnosed with leukemia (CML) and required a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately, a donor was not found in the National Marrow Donor Programs registry of donors. With only a one in one million chance of finding a donor, Joe was in a position of needing a donor and needing one fast.

With such an overwhelming task in front of him Joe looked to his teachings as an athlete and realized to find a donor required a team effort. With that in mind Joe started the Save Joe foundation, whose purpose was to educate, recruit and fund bone marrow testing, one donor at a time, and one Joe at a time.

With a team comprised of former ASU athletes, coaches, alumni, families and students a donor was found in 1999, and Joe began the bone marrow transplant process. The transplant was a success and Joe is now celebrating a cancer free life. Currently he works as a Senior Corporate Finance Consultant and resides in Phoenix, Arizona.

“Getting involved with Sun Devil Family Charities is a way for me to give back to ASU and families that supported me during the toughest battle of my life. This is what families do, they help each other in a time of need.”

Todd Hanley

Todd Hanley is an original founding member of Sun Devil Family Charities. Todd is an Arizona native, growing up in Florence. Todd attended Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University, earning a B.S. in Education from the latter.

Todd has worked with United Blood Services, Special Olympics, Leukemia/Lymphoma Society, and Save Joe Foundation.

Todd has been a Phoenix Police Officer for 16 years, is married to Sonia and has a son and daughter. Todd has coached high school football in the valley for several years and is currently a varsity assistant coach at Seton Catholic High School in Chandler.

JP Patchett

JP Patchett is an original founding board member of Sun Devil Family Charities. JP originally came to Arizona State University after receiving his Bachelor’s Degree from Bowling Green State University in 1992. He worked as a Graduate Assistant within the Department of Recreation from 1992 to 1994 and graduated with his Master’s Degree in Recreation Administration in 1995.

JP has worked with several charities in Arizona including United Blood Services, City of Hope, Special Olympics, Leukemia/Lymphoma Society, and the Save Joe Foundation.

JP has worked for Sara Lee Food and Beverage since 1998 and currently is the Team Performance Manager for the Western Region Sales Team. JP is married and has two sons. He is actively involved in coaching his sons’ football teams. He is a long time Sun Devil fan and looks forward to being able to help those Sun Devil families that are in need.

Thomas Idczak

Tom Idczak is as retired Certified Healthcare Business Consultant and Certified Financial Planner. He has volunteered with Valley of the Sun Habitat for Humanity and has help complete the building of 7 homes since his retirement in 2002. He currently serves on many committees with the Rio Verde Community Association, and is current chair of the audit committee. His 32 years of experience in the financial and healthcare fields has been an asset to SDFC.

Scott Holland

Scott Holland is an Arizona native and was raised in both Phoenix and Taylor, Arizona. Scott attended Arizona State University and received his Bachelors Degree in Finance in 1991.

Although Scott has participated in various charity raising efforts such as Step Out Walk to Fight Diabetes for the American Diabetes Association and the holiday food drive for St. Vincent de Paul, serving on the board for Sun Devil Family Charities is his first board position with a charity organization.

Scott has been in the commercial finance industry for over 20 years and is currently Senior Managing Director with Berkadia Commercial Mortgage in Scottsdale. Scott resides in Paradise Valley with his wife and daughter.

Robert Gramhill

Rob Gramhill has been part of the Phoenix Business Community since 1992, mainly in the banking business. Rob currently works in the Commercial Lending Group at Alliance Bank of Arizona. Education includes a BS in Business Administration from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from Arizona State University. He has served on the boards of several non profits and has been very active in other community service in the Phoenix area since arriving.

Anne Resnick

Anne Resnick, MSW, LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 30 years of experience working primarily with older adults in hospice, oncology, long-term care and elder law. She currently works for St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center providing assessment, resources, advocacy and discharge planning to patients and families. She was recruited to Sun Devil Family Charities by founding member, Joe Cajic, and has served as the Chairperson of the Patient Services Committee since 2010.

Brian Zavislak

Brian joined the Board of Directors of Sun Devil Family Charities in 2010. Brian was raised in Phoenix, Arizona and attended the University of Notre Dame, graduating in 1997 with a B.A. in Economics. He also attended the University of Notre Dame Law School, graduating with a J.D. in 2000.

Brian is a shareholder at Gallagher & Kennedy, P.A., focusing his practice in corporate and real estate transactions. Brian is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Maricopa County Bar Association Real Estate Division and the Arizona Chapter of Real Estate Investment Advisory Council.

Brian is married to an ASU graduate and he and his wife are committed to helping those Sun Devil families in need of charitable support.

Ben Van Horn

Ben Van Horn attended Arizona State and received his Bachelors Degree in Finance in 1996. Ben is an avid fan of ASU athletics and has been a season ticket holder for Football, Basketball, and Baseball since graduation.

Ben has utilized his ASU Finance Degree working in the finance sector since graduation. He has worked at National Bank of Arizona and California Bank in Trust in San Diego. He moved back to Phoenix in 2002 to work for 1st National Bank of Arizona. In 2008, he accepted a position at Keystone Commercial Capital as a commercial mortgage banker.

Ben currently lives in Phoenix with his wife Kelli and two sons, Teagan & Rylan.

Jonas Berglund

Jonas was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona and graduated with a B.S. in Accountancy and Finance from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University in 2006. He currently works in the Commercial Banking Risk & Portfolio Management division at BBVA Compass.

Jonas has volunteered for various non-profit programs in the past, particularly with the Andre House of Hospitality during his time attending St. Mary’s High School. Serving on Sun Devil Family Charities’ Board of Directors, which he joined in 2010, is his first board position with a charity organization.

Greg Mattern

Greg joined Sun Devil Family Charities in January 2013. Greg has called Phoenix, Arizona home for more than 30 years. He grew up in Nebraska and admittedly has a place in his heart for the Cornhuskers, however being an alumnus of Arizona State University the Sun Devils are his true team. Greg received a B.S. from Arizona State, majoring in Purchasing Logistics Management from the College of Business.

Greg has been an active volunteer for the charity for many years, but jumped at the chance to become more involved in SDFC and join the Board. He also takes part in other charity organizations, such as Kiwanis Club of Chandler and Exchange Club of Tempe.  He and his wife support several other fund-raising activities annually such as “Climb the Mountain” Cancer walk with the American Cancer Society, Walk to End Alzheimer’s and AIDS Walk of AZ.

Greg worked in the technical industry for more than 15 years in various roles such as a Senior Buyer at MicroAge and Hewlett Packard, Sr. Business Analyst and Manager of Business Process Management at Insight Enterprises. In late 2013, he made a very exciting career change and is currently a Mortgage Loan Officer for People’s Mortgage. Since joining the Mortgage business, he has helped many individuals and families attain the dream of homeownership. He is married to Denise Mattern and together they have three children, Kendra, Zach and Mackenzie. Greg is excited to help Sun Devil families that are in need.

Greg has served on the board, as the Secretary and now is the residing President for the Sun Devil Family Charity Board and is very excited about his new role and his ability to take the charity to the next level.

Shawn Daffara

Shawn joined SDFC in 2012 as a volunteer and later became a board member in 2014. He graduated from ASU in 2000 with a Bachelors Degree in Urban Planning/Landscape architecture. Shawn grew up in Illinois (Midwest guy at heart) and has been in Arizona for 21 years. He is active with Habitat for Humanity, a den leader for his son’s Cub Scout Pack and has been the lead on planning and bringing the Cornhole Tournament Fundraisers to existence. Shawn is married to Rachel, and they have one son, Dylan. Shawn is a true Sun Devil and is honored to help SDFC grow and help families in need.

Edward Zubow

Edward is a native of Arizona and joined Sun Devil Family Charities in August 2012. Ed attended Arizona State University and received his B.S. in Finance in 1992. While attending ASU, Ed began his work in the financial services industry and has been an Investment Consultant for more than 20 years. Currently, Ed is an Investment Consultant with Wedbush Securities in Scottsdale, AZ and his practice focuses on managing the trust investments for tribal nations, private endowments and not-for-profit organizations.

Ed has actively participated in multiple charitable organizations throughout the years. He has volunteered his time and fundraising abilities with Ballet Arizona, The Arizona Science Center and, most notably, The Scratch-N-Sniff foundation, where he served on the Board of Directors for several years. During his tenure on the Board of Scratch-N-Sniff, the foundation raised more than $1.8 million dollars to support local pet charities. Presently, Ed resides in Phoenix with his wife, Andrea. Together, they are excited to be a part of Sun Devil Family Charities and are eager to help support the mission of providing assistance to Sun Devil families.

Melissa Swader
Social Media and Public Relations

Melissa joined SDFC at the end of 2019, just in time for the 2020 annual fundraising efforts.  Melissa graduated from ASU in 1999 with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts in Photography, Art History and Photojournalism.  She received her business license before her Bachelors and has had a successful marketing, media, design, PR and communications career over the past 20 years. She was featured in ASU Thrive Magazine in 2018 for being named ‘Outstanding Women in Business’ by the Phoenix Business Journal and in December named ‘Influencers in Marketing’ by the Globe St./Real Estate Forum magazine out of New York.  She has spent her adult life supporting nonprofit organizations in an effort to make a difference. Melissa prides herself in being a Sun Devil and mentors the W.P Carey School of Business & Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Communication students in all areas of business. She is a local and nationally recognized media and marketing personality and will contribute to boosting and promoting our SDFC mission on all media platforms.