Hall of Fame

Suzanne Goodspeed received her B.S. in journalism from NAU in 1991 and her J.D. from the University of Arizona. In 2011, she co-founded the legal practice Goodspeed & Merrill based in Denver, CO. Ms. Goodspeed advises businesses on a wide variety of matters including mergers, stock and asset acquisitions, divestitures and commercial transactions. In the course of her practice, she acts in the capacity of general counsel to small and mid-size businesses, managing day-to-day legal needs ranging from complex commercial contracts, incentive compensation, employment, leasing and real estate related matters. Ms. Goodspeed also regularly advises start-up ventures regarding choice of entity and formation issues. A special emphasis of her practice is assisting clients in managing risk, preparing for growth and eventual exit aligned with the client’s goals. She currently represents clients in the restaurant, retail, oil & gas, technology and manufacturing/distribution sectors.

Ms. Goodspeed has been involved in advising some of Colorado’s fastest growing companies. At the height of real estate development in Colorado she played a critical role in the acquisition, structuring, negotiating, development and financing of several multi-use commercial projects and the land acquisition and development of a high-end residential project.

Ms. Goodspeed has served on several non-profit boards and is actively involved in the community. She is married and a mother of three, advocate of children with special needs and life-long supporter of organ and tissue donation. She has provided pro bono legal services to a local non-profit preschool serving children with disabilities for over ten years.

While a student at NAU, Jim McCarty served as ASNAU President from 1970-71. He was a member of Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity, Blue Key and was a recipient of the Gold Axe Award. Mr. McCarthy was awarded a Distinguished Centennial Alumni Award in 1998, and recently established a student fund to support ASNAU students.

Before retiring from MasterCard as the Group Head of Global Processing in 2016, Mr. McCarthy spent 43 years in the emerging electronic banking field. After graduation from NAU, Mr. McCarthy, who enjoyed preserving vintage cars and racing, became the ATM manager for United Bank of Arizona which was the first bank to implement ATMs in Arizona.  Jim’s mechanical abilities served him well as he learned to perfect and install the very first automated tellers, aka “Ugly Tellers”. He managed the largest single day implementation of ATMs on July 2, 1978, when First Interstate Bank of Arizona installed and turned up fifty machines in one day.

Mr. McCarthy was involved with the development of several shared electronic banking networks. Working for First City of Houston he was instrumental in the implementation of the Pulse Network, a shared banking network owned by several Texas banking companies.  He went on to work in Kentucky as the Executive Director of the Quest Network, a banking network owned by Kentucky and Southern Indiana Banks.

Mr. McCarthy later worked for STAR System a western states banking network. While serving as STAR’s Executive Vice President of Operations and Technology, Jim worked on numerous industry initiatives that continue to be utilized to this day.  His inspirational idea of truncating debit and ATM card numbers to the last 4 digits on a receipt addressed an issue known “Shoulder Surfing”. Jim worked with the Federal Reserve and the US Secret Service to amend banking regulations to allow this innovative system into practice. The truncation of the ATM, debit and credit card numbers is now widely used internationally.

In addition to these accomplishments, Mr. McCarthy participated as a member of the NACHA EBT Council and was elected its first chairman and served in that role for 5 years. The NACHA EBT Council is comprised of major financial institutions, electronic banking networks, merchants and various Federal, State and County Government officials from around the nation. This Council created the Quest Electronic Benefits Transaction (EBT) Program. This program and its rules govern the processing of welfare programs, including Food Stamps that utilize the nation’s commercial Electronic Funds Transfer infrastructure.

He also worked with the State of California to develop ATM safety laws and developed a checking fraud program, now known as ‘Early Warning’.

Mr. McCarthy is the recipient of the prestigious National Automated Clearing House Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award for work in the electronic banking field.