Jim Flynn, 2008 Inductee

In 1999, the Sunridge Foundation selected Jim Flynn as the recipient of the first Champions Award. Foundation President Mike Petrone said it was a distinct honor for him to present Mr. Flynn with the award. “He does so much for his family, his company and his community, I’m proud to call him my friend.” Mr. Flynn conceived the idea of forming the non-profit Sunridge Foundation. It was established as a 501(c)3 charitable organization that would give the community’s non-profit clubs and organizations a means of benefiting from major fund-raisers. Another honor he received was the first-ever President’s award in 1998 from the Chamber of Commerce. He retired as executive vice president of MCO Properties in July 1999, after serving 27 years with the firm managing projects in three master-planned city projects, Fountain Hills and Lake Havasu City in Arizona and Pueblo West, Colorado. He was also involved with projects in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Amarillo, Texas, Arkansas, Tucson, Arizona, Puerto Rico, and Elko, Colorado. He was a longtime member of the board of the Arizona Mentoring Council and he helped organize the Fountain Hills mentoring program at McDowell Mountain Elementary School. He started a mentoring program in Phoenix that had 15,000 mentors. Before joining MCO he taught business classes at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., known for its education and career development for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Jim started his career in the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover.