Luna to move on

Valley of the Sun United Way President Paul J. Luna is leaving the nonprofit organization to lead the Helios Education Foundation

Valley of the Sun United Way President Paul J. Luna is leaving the nonprofit organization to lead the Helios Education Foundation in Phoenix. Helios is a nonprofit education group founded in 2004 that has an endowment of $600 million. It encourages the completion of higher education for residents in Arizona and Florida.

VSUW named Merl Waschler as the group's interim president, slated to assume formal leadership when Luna leaves Nov. 10.

A search committee is being drawn up to consider candidates and name a permanent successor to Luna, said Mary Lou Valenzuela, United Way spokesperson.

Luna served as the United Way's senior vice president of fund distribution and community affairs and had led the organization as its president since 2001. Luna is a native Arizonan who graduated from Stanford University with a degree in civil engineering. He has worked in former Gov. Bruce Babbitt's administration, as well as for IBM Corp. and Pepsi-Cola Co. For more, visit www.vsuw.org.