Andy Phillips, the former President of Sunwest Bank, joined Nancy Padberg, MBA, President and CEO, and Deb Preach, COO on episode 64 of the Creating Future Leaders vodcast. Andy Philips has been a loyal supporter of the Arizona Private Education Tax Credits for over a decade!
How Did You Hear About CEA?
Andy Phillips recalled his initial encounter with the program, sharing, “I went to lunch one day with a high school friend of mine who was involved in CEA (Catholic Education Arizona). He asked me, ‘Do you know anything about this corporate tax program?’ I said, ‘I have no clue what you’re talking about,’” Andy laughs.
Driven by his conviction, Andy convinced Sunwest Bank to embrace the program, stating, “That was in 2010 when I worked for Sunwest Bank, I convinced them that this was something we needed to pursue, and we did! And for 10, 11 years, I made sure that every year, we gave our AZ corporate tax liability to CEA,” Andy said. Andy expressed his satisfaction with this decision, affirming, “I was so happy to do it each year.”
Do you think it was hard for the company to understand?
“In a nutshell, it is so easy to understand. It is as simple as you’re going to pay your tax liability to the tax collector, or, you’re going to give it to a school and help kids. It’s that simple! You’re going to write the check one way or the other, it’s not a hard decision to make,” Andy said.
Deb Preach added, “And it’s a gift that ultimately costs the taxpayer nothing. It strengthens communities, improves our families, and it’s building our future generations and going to be our workforce of tomorrow.” Andy passionately expressed, “The idea of what Catholic Education Arizona does is so important in the lives of our kids, our grandkids, and what better gift we can give children, than an education.”
How Easy Was It to Make the Commitment Form?
“Once I understood what it was and how it worked, it was about a 3-5 minute process to fill out the [commitment] form, call up our CFO and say we need to get a check ready, and that was about as hard as it was. It was very simple.”
“There is absolutely no reason not to do this. Period. Because you’re going to write the check one way or the other,” Andy said.
Nancy Padberg added, “Right. And it doesn’t matter the industry, it doesn’t matter the size of the company, call us!” To learn more about how you can change lives and support underserved students with your AZ Corporate Tax Liability, call (602) 218-6542 or visit CEAZ.org. Click here to listen to the full vodcast episode!
