AZ BUSINESS ANGEL OF THE YEAR: INDIVIDUAL
RICK UEABLE CO-OWNER || FOODS 2000
ERIC OLSEN OWNER || FASTURTLE By day, Olsen is the award-winning owner of Fasturtle, a digital marketing agency. But by night – and during most weekends – Olsen is dedicated to creating opportunities for women, children and nonprofits across Arizona. He recently completed five years of service on the Fiesta Bowl committee — which has given more than $12.5 million to Arizona youth, sports, education and human services organizations in the last eight years — and he is a decade-long board member for Tonto Creek Camp. “Beyond my work with children, I come from a family of strong women. And I am married to a strong woman. This propelled me down another philanthropic road: The Fresh Start Women’s Foundation,” says Olsen, who joined the Foundation’s Men’s Board last year.
26 | AzBusiness Angels
Ueable owns 49 Arizona Subways with his business partner, Ken Clark, and is founding member of Subway Kids & Sports of Arizona (SKS), a nonprofit founded by franchisees to help at-risk children gain access to sports, equipment, registration fees and more. SKS has donated $1 million in nonprofit grants and sports equipment for kids. Ueable also volunteers as director of African affairs for Partners in Action. “Right now, I’m focused on Bulembu, a city in Swaziland,” says Ueable, explaining the nonprofit, in partnership with two Swazi partners, bought Bulembu with a goal to make it self-sustainable. So far, Partners in Action has helped open an orphanage, school, bakery, dairy, sawmill, and hotel/restaurant to help improve the quality of life in the city.
KEVIN WALSH PARTNER || QUARLES & BRADY In 2018, Walsh, 35, was honored among the Top 50 Pro Bono Attorneys in Arizona by the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education. Walsh studied International Peace Studies at Notre Dame, believing that “if you want peace, work for justice.” This belief led him to law school at Villanova, where he began volunteering in a legal clinic helping refugees seek asylum and education in the U.S., eventually partnering with a nonprofit helping students in Iraq during the war. In 2007, he traveled to Syria and Jordan to assist identifying and aiding student refugees – many whose homes and schools had been destroyed. This led to broader advocacy for refugees. He even co-hosted a full Symposium in D.C., which helped to result in true reform.