John Lewis
John W. Lewis recently completed a 3-year church assignment as Mission President in Cambodia. Prior to the mission assignment, John served as the President/CEO of the PHX East Valley Partnership, and he has returned to that assignment as of January 2022. The PHX East Valley Partnership (PHX EVP) is a regional coalition of community, business, educational, and government leaders whose goal is to provide leadership and support in specific areas of focus.
Other prior community and work assignments include: Mayor of Gilbert, Arizona (2009-2016), Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport Board, Greater Phoenix Economic Council Board, Arizona League of Cities Executive Committee, Maricopa Association of Government (MAG) Regional Council member, and MAG Economic Development Committee (Chair). He currently serves on the Arizona State University Research Park Board. In his work career, he was employed by Apollo Group for 18 years in various executive leadership assignments and by Ernst & Young for nine years as a Management Consultant. With his wife LaCinda, they are the parents of eight children and twenty-two grandchildren. They reside in Gilbert, Arizona.
Episode Transcription
Guiding Growth. Conversations with Community Leaders. In this podcast, we'll explore the human journey of leaders, their stories of humility, triumph, roadblocks and lessons learned. Come join us as we journey together and uncover the questions you've always wanted to know. This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce providing resources, connections and belonging for business professionals and modern moments. An event and meeting venue in the heart of Gilbert. Today is a very special day. We have a very special guest sarah. We are in the presence of greatness.
This guest grew up in Utah and settled in Arizona by way of texas. Although he carries the title as one of the greatest mayors in our town's history, he considers his greatest success to be his marriage. He and his wife share eight Children and 22 grandchildren. Today. He serves as the president and Ceo of phoenix East Valley partnership where he leads a coalition of community, business, educational and government leaders to provide support in specific areas of focus. He might also be recognized for his mantra is what we do we do together.
Or feedback is like a gift. Please welcome john Lewis, welcome to the show. Well, it's great to hear that feedback you just gave me a gift. Absolutely. Well, let's start with what we call rapid fire. Would you rather sing in public or dance in public? Sing what is one of your nicknames? J W. Would your 12 year old self think you're cool. Yes, I was a great baseball picture but no one ever wanted. My autograph. Oh well, things have changed. Have you ever won a contest? Yes. Pie eating contest. Nice. Yes.
Nice favorite movie of all time. Hoosiers. How do you overcome failures a comment And this is one of those great statements, I think my dad was quoting Henry ford but he kind of put it his own phrase on it. He said, if you think you can, you can, if you think you can't, you're right. And so when there would be a failure it would be a learning experience and you would just get up off the ground if that is what happened and get ready to go again and learn from it.
Of course, yes, fill in the blank joy is ice cream. Are you more of an introvert or extrovert? Why are we asking this question? What is it? Because you never know I love parties and there's an interesting answer that too that if I'm talking to others, I'd rather be asking questions of you than having you asking questions of me. So therefore the answer is I don't know I'm both. Yeah, I actually can relate to that. Do you have a favorite book Lincoln on leadership and then from a faith perspective scriptures, what is one thing you are grateful for a sunset and a sunrise.
It just makes the world a better place. Sorry I'm giving you more answers, smiles and then family just make everything worth it. Okay. Last question glass half full or half empty Half full. Do you ever feel like your business is stuck, it's time to get traction and move it forward call Chris, spear your business coach and certified us implementer will help you use the entrepreneurial operating system to get traction and achieve your vision. Call Chris today at (480) 848 3037 that's 488483037. Let's start in the beginning which is where we always start.
Right, talk to us about your upbringing. What was that like? Where was it? How did what was life like youngest of eight, growing up in provo Utah. My mom and dad met in Washington D. C. And they had beautiful plans to raise the family as my dad was working for a company called hot shops Which is the predecessor to Marriott Corporation. He had a fabulous job and the president of Brigham Young University in 1951 called him up and said I need you. And my mom and dad said I don't know we're we've got a life here but they ended up going to Provo, that's where I grew up.
So he when he retired he was the executive vice president Brigham Young University. So I grew up in a college town and had great seats for all of the football and basketball games. The youngest of eight. What was that like a baby? I learned a lot and of course the older siblings always said I was spoiled and I did learn how to get out of things. But once they grew up and left, what they don't understand is then the youngest was in charge of Everything and you you got to learn from all their mistakes. Yes.
And I learned a lot and and good things they did to. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I, my parents, my dad is one of 10, my mom is one of eight. And so when I look back, I can relate to those stories. And of course I have nine Children now. So I'm seeing this and I'm noticing that the youngest is getting away with a lot more because we've learned. So this is probably you. Yes, yes. And also maybe parents are tired. Yes, that's true too. I don't think I had a curfew.
Older siblings did. I'm gonna guess tell me if I'm wrong, you probably didn't need a curfew. I didn't need a curfew. I was so trustworthy and never did anything wrong in high school. Never anything. All right. What did you do? What were you up to in high school high school athletics and sports? And again, as I said, I always loved parties. I was scared of girls in sophomore year. And and once I finally got asked to a dance and I went to the dance and realized that none of the other males knew how to dance either.
I gained more confidence and I said, I can do this and I don't want to be jumping ahead too far but I'll get to a point and you told me if you want me to continue. I was minding my own business at the end of the junior year when I got called into the vice principal's office, do you need to know why it has a little bit to do with some leadership? It was the last period of the day math class and my math teacher said by the way after school, Mr Condi, the vice principal wants to see you now what goes through your mind as a junior in high school when your math teacher says that I didn't do anything wrong, why does he want to see me?
But I knew Mr Condi and he knew me and so I went into his office, sat down and he looked at me and he said john I've been watching you, you've got potential. He handed me an application for the student body vice president position and said I want you to apply. Now. That caught me off guard. I hadn't been planning on that, I hadn't been thinking of ever doing anything like that. And yet the way he phrased that john you've got potential was something important in my life.
I walked out of there thinking oh I've got potential. Now I grew up in that environment in a family where loving carrying, uplifting encouraging environment but this was a little bit different because it wasn't mom and dad and the way he phrased that he'd been watching me was thinking, where has he been watching me? And but it was something that caused me to say, I'll do this, I'm going to apply. I love the stories where we hear about the educators who had influence. Um, it just, I hope it really does take a village and I hope that I've done that for youth and that people are doing that for my kids because you're right saying it at home is one thing, but kids here so differently when it's respected adult or somebody in a leadership position.
That's awesome. Yeah. Baseball was part of your journey to was at high school. Yes, coaches influence. Is there anything like always a lot of coaches and um, and, and teachers to it just, and, and jumping back to that senior year that happened after that because even though the rest of those listening to this can't see this. But the two of you are looking at the student body vice president of my high school right here. That was another amazing experience in that it was something that I had never thought to do.
The student body president was a really close friend and the two of us together could just think of anything crazy or creative to do. And so our senior year, many things happened that no one had ever seen done before and it was a lot of fun. So we had a good time. Did you have to campaign for this position? Yes. Okay. So that's where it started. Yeah, I mean he he just didn't know the the candy was opening. So I have campaigned for student body vice president of my high school.
And then fast forward. I had not done any other campaigning until Gilbert Mayor, but that's maybe not what we're ready to talk about yet, but that's that's a little bit more about high school. Okay, interesting. So now we're going past high school. What's next? Let me make one comment about high school back to that friend who was a student body president. So at the start of the year we decided to make a bet who could get the most pictures in the yearbook. So we're both very competitive.
How do you win that contest? One you become very good friends with your photographer, which I did and two clubs. And so I started several clubs. You had to get a faculty member to sign off on it. But one of the clubs I started was the Jake Garn Fan club. Now Jake Garn was uh running for us Senate from the state I was in and he ended up winning and I had uh no reason to really jump on that campaign other than I had an older brother who was helping him and so that was just another club I could start.
And by the way, there was one other club I started called G. P. I. Y. We only had one meeting the whole year get picture in your book. But the Jake Garn fan club reform that we actually had a meeting where someone from jake Gardens office came and talked to us and it was a great experience. Now the reason why when you said, what's next? I uh did a freshman year college, a two year church mission in Japan came back and between and then was married a year later, which as Sarah already said was I think one of the greatest moments of my life and the junior to senior year, I applied for a paid position in Washington D. C. Working for Senator Jake Garn and I was one of three selected out of 100 must have been the high school campaign and you're jumping out there where I I wondered what was it that caused them to select me.
And one person said, well of course we had to select the president of the Jake Garn fan club. And so I had an experience back in Washington D. C. It was a super experience and it was just on the front row of seeing all sorts of interesting things that were happening in that particular year. Ronald Reagan was only in his um in the early part of his presidency and security wasn't as tight and I had a friend who President Reagan was out of the country was able to get me into the oval office on a saturday and that that just doesn't happen anymore.
So and it was great experience but I I loved what happened but then accepted employment in Houston texas. We had this cute little baby daughter that had been born and then twins were born in texas. We were thinking big and then it was a focus on family and politics went to the side and I was not of course I would vote and do my best to try and come up with decisions for candidates but was not actively involved in any political campaigns interesting so that Washington D. C. Graduation from college and then Houston and and then a transfer to phoenix.
And how many kids at this point? Still three. Still three. You had to get out of Texas, you don't need more twins. That's right. And then so we've got a lot of Arizona and the family too. But what was interesting in that experience is that we looked all over the valley, I would be working in downtown Phoenix to find a place to live and a lot of great places, 1985. Gilbert was 10,000 people. And it reminded us where we had lived in Houston in a city called Katy texas.
Gilbert felt like Katy texas that felt familiar and so we are going to live in Gilbert and this is a time at Elliot and Gilbert, the big huge scientist across the street from H. D. South that had the words Gilbert welcome to Gilbert hey capital of the world. So we had arrived and I did make a comment to my wife. We've been here three months. I said it is so nice here. I hope that no one else moves here. You said that you didn't say that you did.
Oh so it's your fault. But others came because of the same reasons we did. Great place to raise a family, great schools, great environment, great people. And uh we've loved Gilbert but just to be clear it was a work transfer that brought you to Arizona. Okay, so that's how you end up here. Got it. Okay, so now you're in Gilbert, what's going on here? Work? And then family grew and um did a lot of fun things. I was a lamb basketball coach And maybe one very quick story.
It was the first grade team. nine boys, 1 girl, the girl was jenny, my daughter, she was really good at basketball and she was always the leading score. So for this particular upcoming game, uh something had happened where Danny Ainge who had lived in Gilbert the time was playing basketball for the phoenix suns and then he retired from playing and he became a coach and during the middle of the season he retired from coaching and he did that because all these years he had been away from his family and he had two sons playing high school basketball and he said it's time for me to go watch them play.
Now that's the background. So back to this lamb basketball game on saturday, I walked into the gym to look down and I see the other team and there I notice the head coach of the first grade team they were playing is Danny Ainge not intimidated. It was more I thought if the Arizona Republic were here right now, I could see the headline. Danny Ainge accepts new head coaching job. And what was kind of fun about that game is his son was the leaders going on on their team and his son and this first grade league from about and the baskets were shorter but from about six ft out could do a banker and make it 100% of time.
So they beat us badly. But we had better treats than they did. That's what it's all about in first grade. So to that question, it just was family, grew up a lot of great things and involvement in Gilbert and we continue to love beating Gilbert. So there comes a time where the proposition is before you to perhaps run for mayor. How does that happen? A little bit of background on that? I was a faith group leader in Gilbert and about half a block from ST anne's catholic church and father doug Lorig and I had become friends and to bring our two churches together, we started doing some youth activities together and we did one that became very big.
We took 1000 Citizens from Gilbert in the late night, probably was 1997 or 98 and took them on a Saturday morning with T shirts that have been designed by the youth To the town of Guadalupe to do 18 major projects and it was for the community really special to have two different faith groups um and I was the Church of jesus christ of Latter day Saints in the ST ANn's catholic church coming together and we had a great experience and so we just continued doing things together and on easter and christmas they got to use half of our parking lot, we designated for them, we did christmas concerts where the two groups would get together and have a choir and down at the visitor center at the Mason Temple, we would do that joint choir, so it became really strong.
Now, I give you that background because something happened in the late 19 hundreds, um 1990s, that was not good for Gilbert, we were making the front page, there's onerepublic for some challenges, the devil dog and that wasn't Gilbert and yet Mayor Dunham ask if I would be a co chair, Arnett Ward, who was the president of Chandler Gilbert Community College was the other co chair and we were to form a diversity task force to make recommendations on how to deal with the challenges that had come to Gilbert.
It was a year that we were together. And part of from a leadership perspective, I describe our very first meeting with 35 committee members, uh, diversified group from Oliver Gilbert, uh, someone older, someone younger, different faith groups, different thought processes somewhere local farmers, some had just moved here just every way we could diversify reform this group. And our very first meeting was very quiet. We didn't know each other, We didn't trust each other. It was we were on guard and I remember that first meeting. Well, thinking, we've got to get to know each other and so over time we did and, and I jump into the end of the year when we finish what we plan to do and and different projects and getting groups involved to listen and make recommendations.
We were a very tight group. In fact their last meeting as a group, we said, is there any way we could just keep this going? We know each other so well. There were several that had tears at the end and and I try not to cry myself, but inside it was just uh, the friendships were so strong. Now part of why I share that is from a community perspective, that's an example to me of it is easy to not know each other, not trust each other. And yet if we can just put those walls down and get to know each other, great things can happen.
That background is what caused at some point. Some of those committee members came a couple years later and said, you need to run for mayor. And it was, oh, no way, no, no, no, no, no, no. And part of, I'll give you two thoughts of why all of a sudden I changed was one I had from that diversity task force had such a good experience. I thought, well even if I didn't do well, it would give me a chance to meet more people in Gilbert. I said, and I said that would be really positive.
That would be a nice thing to do the second part. And so you'll appreciate this from a business perspective. I had a couple of friends that worked for a law firm in downtown phoenix that I just asked them one day, I said, and, and they were lawyers that often would have companies from outside of the outside of the phoenix, outside of Arizona come and look to see if Arizona was a place they wanted to put their business. And so I asked them, I said, when a company from outside of Arizona comes, uh, what do you think about Gilbert Gilbert, a place that you would consider?
And they said, Gilbert, Gilbert, we would never send a company to govern. Now what that did for me and a little bit of a competitive manner. As I said, we're going to show them. And it, uh, was part of what I would call motivator to say, I love Gilbert. And I even back up just slightly, I've been here in 1985 for just a short time. I was called to be a Boy Scout leader and Boy Scouts would work on a merit badge where they had to go to a council meeting and I'd only been here a few months.
I went to a council meeting. I remember the town manager at that time ken cooper with the Boy Scouts, He said, let me tell you about Gilbert, There's a big, huge map of Gilbert of our 10,000 people. And he told us what Gilbert was going to be some day and his vision was very inspiring to me. And so now jumping back to this moment where these two friends said Gilbert would never consider sending a company to Gilbert. That was a motivator. To say Gilbert is such a great place, We've got to show them and others why you would want to have a business here because a great place for family is a great place with our schools.
Just quality of life was fantastic. And so all of a sudden I said, I'll do it. It was a little bit late in the game. Uh, there were five other candidates and there were two weeks left to get signatures. So it wasn't like I was not proactive on that. This is when your photo days came in from your booking and you're like, I know how to get campaigns, I can do this and and so uh jumping ahead a few months later and it had been a great experience to meet people uh to talk to people to learn and all of a sudden I was elected mayor and then it was oh no, what am I going to do now?
And of course one right to the chambers where I went and said, okay, what are we going to do and how do we build business in Gilbert? Because that was a key part of the campaign was economic development and what exactly what better group to go to than the chamber, but well let's talk about the chamber in another podcast Oh yeah, yeah, well it's um I appreciate listening to you and having you reference some of our past leaders because I think right now we're so stuck in today and things that are occurring immediately um and it's just helpful to remember that all of the success today is because of people who came before us and you know, share ken, cooper and um George and Cynthia Dunham and Dunham, just so many individuals, Wally likely comes to mind with the school districts and just some great leaders who have been here, it's just yeah, it's a great reminder of uh it's so much bigger than us here today.
Yes, how does this mayor role impact your family? All of a sudden the family was older now Arizona has a council manager form of government and its design where mayors are part time. I did have this great experience with sun number seven Ed, uh, for his school class. I came home after council meeting and he said, Dad, I have to answer this question. Uh, does Gilbert have a strong mayor form of government or weak mayor form of government? And I pulled up my shirt, my shirt and I flex my muscles.
And I said, what do you think, Ed? And he wrote down week now that that is council manager where uh, it would be considered weak mayor form of government where the town manager, professionals hired to run the city. And yet Gilbert was growing at a time where all of a sudden I was spending about 50 hours a week as mayor and I needed to and I wanted to and so been your question about the family. It it's always been important to keep family the first priority. And so then it's just managing the calendar, managing time, making sure that when there was the athletic event or the music concert or something important in school, that was first on the calendar and other things that go around.
And, and yes, there were council meetings that were scheduled for all year. So they got on the calendar and then we had something really nice in our family once a week. We had just sunday afternoon. Family council were part of, it was to look at the calendar and to look ahead. And so a family was older fortunately. And uh, and so I think it worked out a little more leeway there then. Yes, Okay. Um, when you reflect on your time as mayor, what are some of the highlights for you?
Economic development and business leaders like you and others? It was the right time. It was Gilbert's time. Now I want to back up and just for learning for me and for others. Economic development is the top priority. That's what I wanted to do and greater phoenix economic council barry Broome was the Ceo at the time and he sent out chris Camacho to train me and chris is now the present Ceo of Opec. And it was a memorable moment where chris I knew in his mind he was thinking as he came out to meet with me, oh, I've got a rookie mayor.
I've got to figure out how to help him. But he knew that my focus was on economic development and he said, Mayor luis, I need to give you some council, you want Gilbert to have great economic development, here's how you do it. He said you need to cheer on Chandler and mesa and he could tell, I looked a little puzzled when he said that and he said, here's why because those two cities, their growth is a little bit ahead of Gilbert. But Gilbert is coming, but take intel as example until we'll have thousands and thousands of employees.
Many are going to live in Gilbert. Many are going to shop in Gilbert. Many are going to influence Gilbert for, for the future and the companies that will come to support intel, many of them will be in Gilbert. It was one of those moments where he could see my puzzled look. But as I looked at him, I realized he's someone who has done this for many years. That is counsel I really needed to hear. So it became a regional uh, project to make sure the region was doing well.
And never forgetting that Gilbert was the first priority as far as the cheerleader. But at the same time, uh, the partnerships that developed with regional leaders was very important at that time. And, and it was true as chris said, Gilbert's time was coming and so later on a few years as mayor, it was really Gilbert's time and it was just so nice to see all the local leaders rallying together to help build Gilbert and have some great business leaders like Ben and others just come here and help us thrive.
And um, while you're serving as mayor, you also invest in others and bring other leaders up um, to, I think of john immediately of your guidance of Jenna before she became mayor and as she was on council. But so many others as well. You asked me a favorite book Lincoln on leadership. I read that and had so many wonderful tips from Abraham Lincoln. And one chapter in that book was called Find Your Next Grant. And what that meant is Bill Leaders for the Future. And that's been so important to me.
In fact reflecting back in the first part of the podcast, I love to meet with youth and they will always hear me say you've got potential. And that goes back to that junior year in high school when I had that moment when somebody told me that I want to look them in the eye and say you've got potential because they are future leaders. And so that is a key part of leadership is building our leadership for the future. Absolutely. I love that. I've always wondered and this is, you know, one of those situations where when you've gone through such a journey being the mayor and you, you've had all those years of experience and now you're stepping away from it.
What's that do to you? What's that like? Is it a relief? Is it I don't want to leave this, I have to now or what's that? Like tell me, I'm not, I've got a lot of growing up to do a lot of learning to do, but I also learned that to be a good leader, you need to be a good follower. And so it has been fairly easy for me in my life when it's time to pass the baton to be able to do it and then to be in a role to support others.
And, and so I'm sure I could do better. But it has been nice to be able to call myself citizen jOHn or citizen lewis and cheer on other leaders and try and help them. So then I would say it has not been a problem and and yet I need to keep learning and so if there's something we need to sit me down and say john remember what you said that one day but I have learned that trade to be a good leader is also to learn how to be a good follower.
So after you served as mayor, you were called for a three year church assignment and share a little bit about that experience. Yes, that was a surprise. It's a volunteer assignment and it was to serve in the country of cambodia. And I have of course, I've never been to cambodia, did not know the language and it was an assignment to help younger missionaries with their leadership skills and to grow and give them guidance and supervision and then to help the local members with their leadership and and growth.
And then there were six senior couples that came to help. And there was this specific humanitarian aid project uh to help medical clinics and so we had some doctors come and they were just full time trying to help the local country build their medical facilities. So the short answer there is that was like the mayor was another service opportunity of a lifetime and so enjoyable that people were very friendly and just enjoyed being in that environment to try and help. Of course Miss Gilbert and I love coming back here.
But at the same time, uh, there's a piece of my heart that's still in cambodia. Yeah. Time spent for sure. Yeah. And I remember receiving word that you were coming home and it felt like a piece of Gilbert was back when you came home. Yeah, okay. So now you're back and something else is happening. Talk about that. So those who are listening to this many will know Danny Barney when I left and in a sense had to retire because three years is a long time. And and I had been serving in a lead role for these valley partnership and Danny barney had taken over symbolically in my backyard.
I had found a piece of wood that I made into a baton and so on my last meeting I handed it to Danny and I said Danny, here's your baton run And he's a great leader. And and uh and he ran when we came back, he was called on a church mission and I had started to look for other opportunities. And he called me up on the phone, he said john what are you doing? What are your plans? And he said, stop, don't do anything till you come talk to me.
And so I went and talked to Denny and he said, This hasn't been announced yet, but I'm going to be leaving for three years and the board wants to talk to you. So at the, his last meeting, he called me up and he handed me back that baton, give that given to him. And the only thing I could think of at that moment was Denny, This is not a baton, it's a boomerang. So when you come back, just be ready. But so I'm, I'm back involved with this partnership and to get to work with people like the two of you, other business leaders, government leaders, educational leaders in trying to build our region and to continue to make this a place that people want to be.
So you're gonna pass that baton boomerang back. I take it, I've got that option that boomerang can just be given back to Daniel or someone else. Well, that's where I'm going with my next questions. What's, what's on the horizon for you then? Well right now it's short term thinking and that is to just continue to build our region and long term it will be to be the best grandpa I can be. I continued to just love being in Gilbert and we get out in the mornings and evenings and, and so we'll continue to do that.
I in fact, I just not a question you asked. But someone recently asked me that they said when it gets really stressful and there's too much going on. What do you suggest that I would do as a leader? And I said go to a kindergarten class and read them a book and I said, if you don't have a kindergarten class to go to go or the lawn or just get in your backyard and those are the times or sometimes you just need self time. And that's been a great blessing to me.
So to that question, what's next uh opportunities to continue to build our community, region family that would be part of my life and and faith will be part of it. And just anything we can do to help build Gilbert because when I wake up in the morning, my other statement I often say is another great day in Gilbert, another great day. It is. Okay. Last question Gilbert being part of the fabric of your D. N. A. What do you hope for our town in the next decade?
That comment you heard me make in 1985 is so nice here. I hope that no one else moves here. Uh, that changed and I think we're up to about 280,000 and build out will probably be another 20 or 30,000. So it would be to just continue to try and that diversity task force experience to bring us together have us get to know each other, find ways to build a community and in spite of differences, know that we uh can make this the best community in the entire world by working together to make it.
So I love that. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being on our show today. It's been a pleasure learning about your journey and learning about all the amazing things you've done for so many people in the community, I'm thinking we didn't really scratch the surface of the amazing things he's done. Yeah, this is the condenser and to talk about some of those great leaders that were just great mentors and blessed louis family. I mean I think of school teachers and just neighbors and business owners that have just influenced my life for the better and I appreciate them. Absolutely.
So we can talk about them at a future podcast around too. That sounds good to me with that. I know you enjoy this this podcast episode, we did immensely enjoy this one, so thanks for being here, thank you for being on our show today and we hope that you'll join our tribe and subscribe and get these in your inbox for the next time. So thanks for being here. Thank you, guiding growth conversations with community leaders. Ben, let me ask you a question, how do you see other community members being involved in this podcast, this is going to be a great opportunity for so many people in the community to have a chance to be heard if they want to tell their story, or if they just want to be part of this journey with us and help sponsor in a way that helps bring more people to the table with us.
So I think there's many opportunities at hand. Whether you want to again be on the show, reach out to us, let us know what your story is and how you think you could be part of it. We'd love to hear from you, reach out, let us know and we'll see if we can make that connection.
