The New Life Center leadership team is comprised of some of the most qualified and compassionate people in the domestic violence space. Meet the team behind the scenes of Arizona’s largest domestic violence shelter.
Myriah Mhoon
CEO
Myriah Mhoon is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Arizona’s largest domestic violence shelter, New Life Center. For the past 12 years, Mhoon has dedicated her professional life to working with the most vulnerable populations. During her career, Mhoon has been a direct service provider as a social worker, and became a statewide leader working at the Arizona Governor’s Office. Mhoon had the privilege of overseeing the Arizona Governor’s Commission to Prevent Violence Against Women and has worked with the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence on statewide initiatives. During her three-year tenure in the Governor’s Office, Mhoon led the domestic violence awareness campaign, Lighting Arizona Purple. In 2016, Mhoon sat on Arizona’s Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit Task Force, guiding the Governor’s Office with recommendations to combat the backlog of rape kits in the state.
David Villaseñor
CFO
David Villaseñor is a non-profit finance professional with more than 30 years’ experience in management accounting, financial reporting, and business management with proven skills in financial analysis, team leadership and project management. As the Chief Financial Officer for New Life Center, David advances the mission of the organization through strong internal controls, sound financial policies that promote sustainability, minimize risk, and maintain regulatory compliance. David understands that fiscal budgeting, accurate financial reporting, and efficient accounting procedures inform leaders and program staff to make good decisions. David is proud of his ability to work cooperatively and collegiately with program and management staff to achieve the goals of objectives of the organization while maintaining strong internal controls and compliance. Since 2004, he has chosen to work for non-profit organizations whose missions transform lives and change society.
Angela Rose
Training Director
Angela Rose is the Training Director for New Life Center. Angela has worked in the field of victim services for over 20 years, previously serving as the Manager of a Victim Services Division for a municipal Prosecutor’s Office, overseeing victim advocacy services for approximately 4,000 victims annually. Angela has also worked in numerous human services capacities, including as a domestic violence advocate, transitional housing case manager director, and mobile crisis response. Angela has served on the Executive Board of the Arizona Coalition for Victim Services and trains Advocates and criminal justice professionals throughout the state of Arizona on topics related to advocacy and victimization.
Amy Scanlon
Outreach Director
Amy Scanlon is currently the Outreach Director at New Life Center. Amy earned a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from City University in Bellevue, Washington. She has been working in the field of child abuse and family violence since 1998. Her career started as an Investigator for Child Protective Services. Amy held a specialized caseload of child fatalities, sexual abuse, and felony physical abuse of children. In 2007 she became the Program Coordinator at a hospital-based Child’s Advocacy Center. Amy was instrumental in implementing a hospital-wide abusive head trauma prevention program and educated the community and professional partners on topics related to child abuse. She has served on multiple taskforces to include child fatality reviews, abusive head trauma, commercial exploitation of children, child abduction response teams, and drug endangered children. She holds a position as an Executive Board Member with the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Washington.
Board of Directors
Bryn K. DeFusco
Managing Attorney, DeFusco Law, P.L.C.
Equity – NLC’s dedication to marginalized communities. This is important to me because I believe in equality and feel we have a lot of work do when it comes to serving those who’ve not had the same privileges as others.
Geoffrey Harris
Executive Vice President with BMC Capital, a leader in commercial real estate finance.
Community – Being a helpful member of your community and providing time and resources to those in need is the foundation for real, actionable change.
Priyanka Miller
President, Mil Geospatial, LLC
Compassion – Our shared humanity, empathy and ability to feel another’s pain as our own is what allows us to stake the first step in healing. The love for others I see at New Life Center is inspiring and a voice used for kindness often rings loudest.
Chris Reynoso
Director of Distribution Operations, SRP
Resilience – New Life Center recognizes that traumatic events can lead some people to isolate themselves. They understand by connecting with compassion and trustworthy relationships, can help give the individual a sense of reclaim hope and resilience.
Patty Rudolfo
Purchasing Manager, Valley Forge & Bolt Mfg Co.
Resilience – I have personally watched NLC adapt and effectively respond to a vastly changed community around them. What started as a grassroots effort 35 years ago has now grown into an advocacy that serves thousands of families locally and nationally each year. NLC meets every challenge with trauma-informed care programs, outreach services to help victims get out of harrowing situations and training for local agencies who are on the front lines of the fight every day.
Shelly Ward
Victim Services Administrator, Mesa PD | Mesa Family Advocacy Center
Compassion – I believe that lasting change starts with connecting through compassion. Understanding that our experiences are individual, valuable and everyone deserves kindness and grace.
Matthew C. Whitaker, Ph.D.
Founder and CEO, Diamond Strategies, LLC.
Equity – Recognizing that violence disproportionately impacts marginalized populations and solutions are effective when they are accessible to all, is critical to serving our entire community. We have to practice cultural humility, become aware of unique socio-cultural dynamics like this, avoid one size fits all solutions, and respond in ways that give people what they need, rather than what we want them to have.
Amanda Williams, LCSW
Behavior Health Manager, Mountain Park Health Center
Community – I believe that to support a survivor of abuse, we must work together as one. From the city and state leaders, first responders to local organization and volunteers. Together we can create a community, and environment, that is safe and support for everyone.
Autumn Wiseman
VP of Human Resources, American Title Service Agency
Community – New Life Center and its leadership has become a recognized authority in educating the community on how to provide trauma-informed responses and resources to those who have been subjected to domestic violence.