Arika Wells

United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona announced the hiring of Arika Wells for the position of VP and COO. She is replacing Clay Bacon, who is retiring after five years with United Way, and will start in mid-July.

Wells is a human resources and operations professional, working most recently with the Pima County Attorney’s Office as legal administrator, giving strategic direction over the human resources, IT, finance, and operations functions in the office. Her volunteer footprint in Tucson includes more than seven years of service on the Women United Executive Board. She also served as secretary for the Marana Broncos Youth Football & Cheer organization for more than three years, as well as president of the Eta Epsilon Omega graduate chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority in Tucson. Wells is also a Certified Nonprofit Professional, according to the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. 

Wells holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of San Diego, and a master’s degree in public administration from National University. She has more than 10 years of human resources and business operations experience with the City of Tucson, University of Arizona, Pima County, and Tucson Unified School District. A native of San Diego, Wells has called Tucson home since 2013.

“I am thrilled to join United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona in a professional capacity, an organization I truly love and for which I have served as a volunteer for many years,” said Wells.  “I very much look forward to taking on the new challenges of serving our community in this exciting role, and can’t wait to get to work with my new colleagues.”

“We are pleased to have Arika Wells coming on board as part of our senior leadership team,” said Tony Penn, president and CEO of United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona. “Her education, and professional experiences truly matches our needs and will help take our United Way into the next century of service.”