Greater Tucson Leadership announced Thursday that Robert Ramirez of Vantage West Credit Union and Cristie Street of Nextrio are its 2016 Man and Woman of the Year.
Si Schorr, senior partner of Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie, receives its 2016 Founders Award, a lifetime achievement recognition for long-term community involvement and accomplishments.
The leadership group surprised all three recipients with the news, as is its tradition.
The honorees will be celebrated at a gala on Feb. 11, 2017 at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort. This is the 64th year of the awards program.
Award selections were made by a committee comprised of community leaders representing business, government, nonprofit, higher education and Greater Tucson Leadership, a nonprofit group founded in 1980.
“Robert Ramirez and Cristie Street have distinguished themselves by actively supporting community projects at personal sacrifice, by aiding those less fortunate and for living in a manner that inspires affection, respect and admiration,” Greater Tucson Leadership said in a news release.
Ramirez, president and CEO of Vantage West Credit Union, is chairman of the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Sun Corridor Inc. Chairman’s Circle, and was the 2015-2016 campaign chairman for United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona.
He also serves on the boards of Southern Arizona Leadership Council, Pima Community College Foundation, the DM-50, San Miguel High School, El Rio Health Center and Mountain West Credit Union Association, and has been on other boards.
Ramirez’s previous awards included the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year in 2009, Father of the Year (by the Father’s Day Council, Tucson) in 2010 and Credit Union Professional of the Year in 2015.
Street co-founded Nextrio in 2002 and is its CEO and managing partner, and has “20 years of leadership experience building global brands and guiding product development in technology companies.”
She was named Small Business Leader of the Year in 2010 by the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and a “40 Under 40” recipient from Tucson Business Edge in 2007.
Nextrio received the 2007 Wells Fargo Copper Cactus Award for Business Growth; the Arizona Small Business Association’s 2007 Arizona Company to Watch award and its 2005 Building A Better Business Recognition Award; and was a finalist for the Better Business Bureau’s 2013 Good Neighbor Award.
Street regularly conducts educational IT forums with professional groups statewide. She serves on the Arizona Public Media Community Advisory Board and on the boards of Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce, Greater Tucson Leadership, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern Arizona and Social Venture Partners. Under her leadership, Nextrio has invested more than $1 million in donated goods and services to community causes.
