Many leaders will make headlines this year. The Arizona Republic‘s editorial board picked 16 we think are particularly worth watching. Kitchell’s CEO Jim Swanson is one of them.

Swanson co-chairs the Classrooms First Initiative Council with Gov. Ducey, a group tasked with finding more equitable ways of funding Arizona schools, be they district, charter or private. Not surprisingly, this task force has a lot of factions to please, and it has already asked for more time to continue its studies. Whether it can come up with meaningful school finance reforms depends on how well it can compromise and move forward. As CEO of Kitchell, a construction-management and real-estate development company, Swanson has the chops to keep everyone at the table and on task.

Check out who else made the list in this AZ Central article.