2017 AcademyGO Members and Supporters Publication 2017 AcademyGO Members and Supporters Publication | Page 3

Greetings!
Board of Directors
WILLIAM CHITTICK
Branch Manager
Union Bank
MATTHEW COUGHLIN
Executive Director
Moses House Ministries
SHIRLI DRIZ 
Regional District Manager
Wells Fargo
MARK HUTCHASON
First Vice President
Wealth Management
Merrill Lynch
CHRISTOPHER B. LINDSAY
Board Chair
Registered Investment Advisor
CBL Wealth Management
RYAN MCEACHRON
Chief Executive Officer
ISU Insurance Services - ARMAC
ANDREA MITCHEL
Vice President
AM Development Group
VICI NAGEL
President/CEO
Academy for Grassroots Organizations
DAWN SERBUS
Vice President, Center Manager
Citizens Business Bank
www.AcademyGO.com
In this our annual
publication, we celebrate the
thousands of organizations
and people in our region
doing good works. As I like
to say, they are amazing people working
hard to change lives. Whether paid staff or
volunteers, they are the heroes among us
working day in and day out to ensure that
local families have the support they need to
be healthy, safe, and successful. Today, 15 years later Jan’s legacy is an
Academy for Grassroots Organizations
that trains hundreds of nonprofit leaders
each year and more than 2,500 since
2002. It’s an “AcademyGO” whose training
participants raised more than $180 million
in 2016 alone and served over one million
of our neighbors in need. Jan’s legacy can
and will forever be seen in the millions of
lives changed by strong nonprofits and their
leaders in the Inland Empire.
Our part in helping these amazing leaders
is reflected in our mission: “To improve the
quality of life in our region by supporting and
strengthening the social service sector.” Born in Los Angeles, Jan served in the U.S.
Coast Guard, was active with the United
Jewish Appeal, enjoyed scuba diving,
and ran a successful insurance agency in
Barstow for many years. Both Jan and his
beloved wife Sandi traveled extensively
worldwide, frequently journeying to their
second home in Israel where he was also a
partner in an insurance agency there. He
was the proud father of four grown children
and grandfather to five. After retiring from
the insurance business Jan developed his
fondness for nonprofit organizations and
began several efforts aimed at helping them
increase their funding.
One of those amazing leaders was our
founder, Jan P. Saltzman who passed
away July 6, 2017. It is in his honor that I
dedicate this issue of our publication.
I met Jan in December of 2001 through a
mutual friend. At our meeting he spoke
passionately about the nonprofits he was
connected to and about how to support
their efforts. The year before, he had just
received nonprofit designation for High
Desert Community Coalitions, which was
to become the present-day Academy
for Grassroots Organizations, and was
developing programs to help local nonprofits
collaborate and learn together.
Over the next several months we kept in
touch, then in April of 2002 he asked if
I would work with him for six months to,
“see what you can make of it.” Well, work
together we did; Jan funding all of the
start-up expenses from his family foundation
and serving as the first Board Chair, and
me writing grant proposals and organizing
our programs.
Vici Nagel is President/CEO of Academy for Grassroots
Organizations. During her 30-year career she has
worked for a variety of charitable organizations, helped
create a new nonprofit agency and merge two nonprofits,
received “Certified Fund Raising Executive” credential,
and planned and implemented many successful
Jan was continually forward thinking,
but best of all he was fun and funny and
loving. He cared for his family and friends
passionately and was always there with a
ready smile, a kiss on the cheek, and a hug.
I miss him!
So please read on to learn about all the
amazing organizations and people doing
good work in YOUR community. And as
you read, I encourage you to remember a
man who worked mostly behind the scenes
to advance these many causes, my friend,
Jan Saltzman.
Blessings,
projects, fundraising campaigns, and events. She
has trained hundreds of nonprofit leaders in the art of
fundraising and loves to mentor new fundraisers and
nonprofit executives. She lives in the California High
Desert with her husband and dogs. Her life’s goal is,
“To glorify God with my life.”