Rosendin recently announced that CEO Emeritus Mike Greenawalt was selected for Grand Canyon University’s Colangelo Servant Leadership Award for providing alternative career pathways for high school graduates. The annual recognition, first awarded in 2019, honors four prominent Arizona leaders who exemplify the ideals for which businessman Jerry Colangelo is best known: servant leadership, ethics, and entrepreneurism.
In 2022, Greenawalt partnered with GCU to develop, teach, and fund a new pre-apprenticeship program for electricians. The four-credit program gives students hands on learning, classroom instruction, and work experience to decide if they want to join an apprenticeship. Since fall 2022, over 180 students completed the certificate program.
“The Colangelo Servant Leadership Awards are an amazing way to honor business leaders who are going above and beyond to serve the community,” said Dean of GCU’s Colangelo College of Business John Kaites in the press release. “Mr. Greenawalt has been an instrumental partner to the university in creating new and innovative career paths, so we are honored to present this award to him.”
The program is part of Greenawalt’s long-term vision of developing partnerships with colleges, educators, and businesses to create new training pipelines that prepare students and reduce workforce shortages, while also adhering to strict government and safety regulations.
“We need to shift the way we think about the building industry and embrace responsible public-private partnerships that give young adults free opportunities to launch a sustainable career that supports economic growth,” said Greenawalt. “I am honored to be recognized as a servant leader alongside some of the most influential people in Arizona. I take tremendous pride in the partnership we built with GCU and thank everyone who helped develop this program in a way that can be repeated in other regions.”
To learn more about this unique partnership, listen to our latest episode of EC&M On Air, which covers Part 1 of our conversation with Greenawalt and Edward Cota with Arizona's Department of Education and chief strategy officer and chairman of the Arizona Education Economic Commission (AEEC). Part 2 of this conversation will be released later this month.
