Norris Nordvold

A Phoenician since 1967, he has a Master’s Degree from ASU. And is also a graduate of St. Olaf College in Minnesota.  Norris has been active in international affairs, as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nigeria and for the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) in Vietnam for 5 years. Norris speaks fluent Vietnamese and is active in local Vietnamese/American activities.

Norris and his wife, Brenda Young, served 7 years in Somalia, East Africa first working for a church group as the co-directors of a refugee project.  Their oldest daughter, Alexis, now a U of A graduate, was born at that time in Nairobi, Kenya and their youngest daughter, Lucy, is a 2007 high school graduate.

Norris has volunteered as an international election monitor and has monitored more than 10 elections during the past 10 years in Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Serbia, Russia, Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. Prior to his Somali service, Norris served 10 years as the Research Director for the Arizona State Senate.

Norris is also a member of the Arizona Senior Olympics Board and is very active in running marathons, jogging and other sports activities with his family.