About
Board of Directors
Dr. Morgan R. Olsen
John Lewis
Anjali B Halabe
Ann McCartney
F. Rockne "Roc" Arnett
Dr. Kyle Squires
Drena Kusari
Denny Barney
Lisa Loo
Dr. Morgan R. Olsen, President
Morgan R. Olsen Morgan R. Olsen serves as the President of the ASU Research Park Board, Inc. Dr. Olsen is the Executive Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer at Arizona State University. He came to Arizona State from Purdue University, where he served as Executive Vice President and Treasurer. Before he joined Purdue, Dr. Olsen, served as the business and financial vice president at three other higher education institutions, Southern Methodist University, Eastern Illinois University and Emporia (Kansas) State University. His responsibilities at Arizona State University include oversight of treasury and financial functions, budgets and financial planning, capital projects, real estate, facility operations, business services, human resources, environmental health and safety, information technology, ASU Police and auxiliary services. He also serves on the ASU Foundation Board and holds an appointment as Professor of Practice in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College of Education. He is on the board of directors of the United Educators insurance company, and is past chair of the board of directors for the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). He is also a past president of the Central Association of College and University Business Officers (CACUBO). Dr. Olsen earned a bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, in political science and a master's degree in public administration from the University of North Dakota, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Kansas. He served as acting executive budget analyst for the North Dakota Office of Management and Budget before entering university administration in 1985.
John Lewis, Vice President
John Lewis currently serves as the President/CEO of the East Valley Partnership following his service as Mayor of Gilbert and three-year Church assignment as a Mission President in Cambodia. He served as Mayor from May 2009 to July 2016. Prior community involvement included serving as Co-Chairman of the Gilbert’s Diversity Task Force, Organizer of Community Interfaith activities, and Founder of Gilbert's "Constitution Week."
Anjali B Halabe, Secretary/Treasurer
Anjali B. Halabe has been named Arizona State University’s vice president for financial services and deputy treasurer. Halabe will assume her role in early January 2023 and report to Morgan R. Olsen, ASU executive vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer. Halabe will oversee the university’s accounting, debt issuance and management, student business services and investment management functions, among other duties.
Ann McCartney, Member
Ann McCartney is the owner and Managing Director of Lighthouse Commercial Finance, a commercial mortgage banking firm based in Phoenix, Arizona. Ann is responsible for all aspects of the company’s operations, which include origination of debt and equity investments on all commercial property types. Ann has been in the commercial property finance industry for over 30 years. Her prior experience includes serving as Senior Vice President in commercial real estate lending with Enterprise Bank & Trust. Prior to that, Ann served as SVP of a $730 million private equity debt fund, responsible for managing a $250 million loan portfolio and also serving on that firm’s investment committee. She was also a Principal of Keystone Mortgage Partners, a mortgage banking firm with five offices in three states and $2 billion in mortgage servicing. Keystone was sold to GMAC in 2001. Ann earned an undergraduate degree in Real Estate from Arizona State University and an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management. She is a licensed real estate broker in both Arizona and California. Ann is active and has served on the Boards of several industry and philanthropic associations including Urban Land Institute, LAI, AZ CREW, Arizona Commercial Mortgage Lenders Association, Social Venture Partners and Gabriel’s Angels. She is a licensed commercial pilot and flight instructor.
F. Rockne "Roc" Arnett, Member
Roc is engaged in consulting: focusing on opportunities including transportation, educations and economic development. Roc was formerly President of the East Valley Partnership for 13 years, leading the non-profit business coalition advocacy on issues of regional significance in the PHX East Valley. Prior to accepting the EVP assignment, Roc had 38 years’ experience brokering risk and insurance services to clients of a range of complexity including self-insured programs as well as more traditional fully insured programs. Roc, an Arizona native, lives in Northeast Mesa with his wife Sydney. They have 5 grown children and twenty grandchildren, and not a through away in the bunch.
Dr. Kyle Squires, Member
Kyle Squires is the dean of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. Appointed in February 2016, Squires previously served as vice and interim dean, as well as the director of the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, one of the six Fulton Schools of Engineering. A professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Squires holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Washington State University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. Squires’ expertise encompasses computational fluid dynamics, turbulence modeling of both single-phase and multi-phase flows, and high-performance computing.
Drena Kusari, Member
Born and raised: In Kosovo, moved to the U.S. at the age of 17 Career highlights: Worked on Wall Street/finance for Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and the Carlyle Group; receiving my MBA which, has opened many doors throughout my career; worked in strategy and management consulting at McKinsey; have worked in technology for about 10 years now, culminating in my current role at Lyft, which has been every expanding. First as the GM for Phoenix, then the GM of Southwest and most recently, GM of Southwest and Hawaii. My role at Lyft has by far been the highlight of my career to date.
Denny Barney, Member
Denny Barney is a sixth generation native of Arizona and lives in Gilbert with his wife Nichole, and their four children. He has a strong business background and is a principal in ARCUS Private Capital Solutions, a specialized realty investment and finance company. He studied political science in college with a degree in International Relations and a minor in Japanese. Denny also has a law degree from ASU and is admitted to practice law in the state of Arizona.
Lisa Loo, Member
Lisa Loo is Vice President of Legal Affairs and Deputy General Counsel at Arizona State University and is responsible for leadership of the lawyers in the business and transactional practice group. Ms. Loo joined the ASU Office of General Counsel in 1993 after eight years in private practice. She graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1985 and from Fordham University in 1982. Ms. Loo served on the Executive Council of the National Conference of Bar Presidents, and is a past President of the State Bar of Arizona. She is a founding board member of the Arizona Asian American Bar Association and served as Vice President of Victory Together, the primary group that advocated for the voter-approved MLK, Jr./Civil Rights Day in Arizona. The State Bar of Arizona has honored Ms. Loo as the Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year and for Outstanding Achievement in Advancing Equal Opportunity in the Profession.
Partners
Park Management
Sunbelt Holdings has managed and marketed the ASU Research Park since 1992. Founded in 1979, Sunbelt is an established leader in real estate development, and provides expertise in marketing, asset management, and investment. Sunbelt has developed a number of iconic projects and master-planned communities, and is also a committed partner in the community at large.
For more information, please contact Heidi Kimball.
For on-site property management inquiries, please contact Melissa Scott.
About ASU
Arizona State University is the largest public research university in the United States under a single administration, with total student enrollment of more than 70,000 in metropolitan Phoenix, the nation’s sixth-largest city. ASU is creating a new model for American higher education, an unprecedented combination of academic excellence, entrepreneurial energy and broad access.
This New American University is a single, unified institution comprising four differentiated campuses positively impacting the economic, social, cultural and environmental health of the communities it serves. Its research is inspired by real-world application, blurring the boundaries that traditionally separate academic disciplines. ASU champions intellectual and cultural diversity, and welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 120 nations.
To learn more about ASU, visit www.asu.edu.
Our History
In 1956, the 320-acre Jones farm was acquired with funds from the Arizona State College Foundation (now the ASU Foundation) and was utilized by the college as an experimental farm. In 1979, the University disbanded its agricultural program and began to formulate a plan for re-use of the farm. The actual formation of the Research Park took several years, and required collaboration by a number of governmental agencies. Enabling legislation was enacted in April of 1983, authorizing the use of improvement bonds for infrastructure, and prescribing the formation of a park authority.
In July of 1983, the Arizona Board of Regents authorized ASU to form a not-for-profit research park corporation, and in May 1984, under the leadership of ASU President J. Russell Nelson and Dean Roland Haden of the College of Engineering, the experimental farm became the ASU Research Park. Municipal improvement bonds were issued by the City of Tempe to construct the Park’s infrastructure, with repayment generated from long-term ground leases of park land. The infrastructure improvements included streets, utilities, landscaping and lake system that users of the Park enjoy today.
The official groundbreaking occurred in December of 1984, and the first ground lease was executed with Transamerica in April of 1985. Currently the Park has ground leases in place with twenty-four different lessees in twenty-six buildings totaling 2.2 million square feet. The Park is currently home to 48 companies employing over 6,000 Arizonans.