Independent Information
about The Foothills HOA
Biographies
David Randolph
David and Merry Randolph moved to the Foothills of Ahwatukee in 2003.
David was a career Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Department of State. As his career progressed, he ascended into ranks of the Senior Foreign Service, the State Department’s equivalent of a flag officer (general) in the military.
Much of David’s career was spent promoting U.S. values abroad, such as good governance, transparency and accountability, and free and fair elections. While serving as the head of the U.S. Embassies’ Political Sections in the Dominican Republic and Ecuador in the 1990s, he served as an official U.S. observer to those nations’ elections.
David's most noteworthy involvement with free and fair elections came in the 1980s, when he was a member of a handpicked team of U.S. officials tasked with promoting the peace process in Central America. At that time, the region was beset with civil wars, with the Contras battling the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and leftist insurgents battling the governments in El Salvador and Guatemala. David and his team worked closely with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias on a plan to end the bloodshed by holding free and fair elections. After having served in Nicaragua for two years, David agreed with President Arias that the Sandinistas would lose an honest election. He was the U.S. observer at the Esquipulas II summit, where the five Central American presidents hammered out an agreement based on President Arias’ proposal. This marked an historic turning point, as it led ultimately to the resolution of the wars in all three nations. The Sandinistas were boxed into having a free and fair election, and as President Arias and David had predicted, the Nicaraguan people voted them out. President Arias was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
After retiring from the State Department, David was recruited to work for several years at the Arizona-Mexico Commission in the Governor’s Office. Here he tapped into his experience from his final State Department assignment as Coordinator for U.S.-Mexico Border Affairs. For example, he produced Arizona’s Global Gateway: Addressing the Priorities of Our Border Communities; this became the roadmap for the State’s successful effort to promote a $200+ million project to reconfigure the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales and a $42 million project to build the new San Luis II commercial Port of Entry near Yuma. These projects have yielded great economic benefits to their communities and to the State as a whole.
Before entering the State Department, David served as an Army Special Forces officer (Green Beret). He had a year-long combat tour in Vietnam 1970-1971.
With regard to his academic background, David has a BA in History and an MA in Latin American History from Arizona State University. He graduated from the National War College (https://nwc.ndu.edu/), which is equivalent to earning an MS in National Security Affairs. He also did a year of post-graduate work at the Concilium on International Relations at Yale University as well as course work at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Georgetown University and George Washington University.
Secretary of State Colin Powell honored David by attending his retirement ceremony.
George Lemley
George Lemley Grew up in Tucson. As a 20 year old, I set my goals for the future. I decided I wanted a vocation that was a help to others, respected, technical and well paid. I paid a visit to an Air Force Reserve Recruiter and an opportunity to train for X-Ray Technology met my plans. After my Reserve training, I needed a civilian license as well. With that credential, I worked at Phoenix Memorial and later Good Samaritan for a total of 17 years. I enjoyed meeting and helping patients which I converted into friends. I specialized in Old People. They have such interesting experiences to share. I now have the interesting experiences to share as well.
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I did find myself in some humorous situations. One evening, the Hospital Emergency Room brought me a lady in in her 80s for a skull X-Ray. Usually we removed external, interfering apparel before traveling to Radiology but she wouldn't let her husband see her with out her wig. At Radiology, I removed her wig and many bobby pins, took films, but couldn't figure out how to replace her wig and accidentally put it on backward. When her daughter saw it she flew into a rage accusing me of cutting her wig to fit. Wig stylizing was not among my skills and she eventually realized what had happened.
After almost two decades working Radiology, I had married the sweetest Neonatal Nurse in the hospital, my children were teenagers and I needed a new challenge. An opportunity presented in medical equipment sales. I worked with an established small, specialized distributor for several months, learning the trade, and seized an opportunity to buy the business. As a Medical Equipment Distributor, I hoped to meet my goals of helping people, presenting technical equipment, meeting and working with a lot of people and maybe a reasonable income. Turns out it did and I spent 30 successful years covering 3 states, helping many medical practices expand services; often in remote towns like Jal or Farmington, New Mexico. After selling equipment, I carefully trained staff and Physician in the best ways to interpret the results.
30 years later and after two years of my Wife and accountant telling me I could retire, I gave in. I really liked my work, but there were long hours, hours of driving and worst was sitting and waiting for Doctor's equipment appointments.
I now am happily retired, enjoying my three children, their three children and their two children. I am about to have a 2nd Great Grandchild. Being a Car Guy at heart, I occupy a lot of my time refurbishing an old Jeep Grand Wagoneer. My Son asked me “what is a Station Wagon?” I replied, a piece of history but we no longer drive to the train station to pick visitors up.
Being a social person and living in Canyon Springs for 30 years, I have a desire and feel a responsibility to help my HOA be the best it can be. When our HOA Bylaw Change Petition was ready, there was a need for Homeowner support signatues. I volunteered to gather the 1200 signatures needed by going door to door. I had an enjoyable time meeting our good people and receiving their signatures from end to end of our HOA. The changes that petition caused have improved our HOA function and management tremendously. I now enjoy serving on the Landscape Committee and look forward to serving as a Board Director. Although many improvements have been made, we still have HOA practices and property uses that were great 30 years ago, but times and resources have changed. Good management will guide us through needed changes while keeping our HOA well maintained and beautiful at the lowest cost possible.
Rob Doherty
Rob Doherty and his wife moved to Mountain Park Ranch in 1988, and to The Foothills in 1997.
Rob is a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at General Dynamics Mission Systems in Scottsdale. His work on sophisticated government communications equipment involves interactions with many different agencies of the U.S. Government, including the Department of Defense. Rob has led many complicated projects and has been a technical contributor in systems engineering and software engineering. His areas of expertise include cryptography and real-time embedded system design.
Rob is also a former small business owner. In his seven years as a small business owner, Rob operated his business in accordance with the highest ethical standards, and his business received an A rating from the Better Business Bureau. Rob’s business also required a special license from the State of Arizona, which involved the completion of a successful background investigation by the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Rob holds two engineering degrees from Iowa State University: 1) Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering; and 2) Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering.