Leadership Team

Martín J. Quezada, Director

Martín J. Quezada, Director

Director Martín Quezada is a native to Arizona, born to working class parents in the Maryvale community of West Phoenix. His mother emigrated from Cananea, Mexico and his father is a 1st Generation Vietnam veteran.

He is a product of AZ's public schools and as a professional, he's served as a judicial law clerk on the AZ Court of Appeals,; a research analyst in the State Legislature,; as an attorney practicing criminal defense, domestic relations, civil litigation and election law,; and he also teaches courses on business organizations, family law and contracting at the ASU College of Law.

Director Quezada's calling has been as a public servant where he has a long track record of community activism, serving on numerous boards and commissions in the community. But his most impactful service has been as an elected official. He was elected to the Pendergast Elementary School District Governing Board in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014, 2018 and 2022. He was appointed to the AZ State House of Representatives in 2012 and was elected to that seat later that year. In 2014, Quezada was elected to the AZ State Senate and was re-elected in 2016, 2018, and 2020 and served in Leadership as the Democratic Whip. In 2022, Quezada was the Democratic Nominee for the office of State Treasurer.

In 2023, Governor Katie Hobbs nominated Quezada to be the Director of the AZ Registrar of Contractors.


Jeff Wills, Assistant Director Compliance & Chief of Investigations

Jeff-Wills

Jeff Wills began his construction career in 1999 working as a third-party inspector for Motorola at their Chandler, AZ location within their clean room and fabrication facilities. A short time later, he moved on to Intel Corporation inspecting clean room stainless steel piping and connections for microchip production.

In 2001, Chief Wills went to work for a large national homebuilder in the Phoenix-area as a Warranty Customer Service Representative and within a few years he was afforded the opportunity to supervise the customer service department as the Director of Warranty Customer Service.

In 2005, he was asked to oversee the warranty customer service department and their JD Power rating system of a competing national homebuilder. As with many in the industry, though, due to the economic downturn during that time, he was forced to change gears and in Oct. 2007 Chief Wills went to work for AZ ROC as an Inspector. While there, he performed numerous jobsite inspections as well as working on other projects within the agency. In Dec. 2012, he was promoted to Assistant Chief of Inspections supervising 18 Construction Inspectors statewide.

In late-summer 2013, Chief Wills returned to the national homebuilding scene accepting the position of Special Projects Construction Manager. In this position, he oversaw and managed class action lawsuit repairs, difficult construction situations and day-to-day homeowner and contractor interaction.

Knowing Chief Wills' public and private experience, he was asked to return to AZ ROC to serve as the Chief of Compliance in March 2015. In this position, Chief Wills and his staff are tasked with ensuring all licensed contractors are performing work in a professional and workmanlike manner; adhering to the rules and regulations set forth by the State of Arizona. Chief Wills and his staff also ensure unlicensed entities operating outside of statute and state law are penalized and cited within the boundaries of Contracting Without a License.

Contact ROC Unlicensed Investigations staff at ComplianceDepartmentULE@roc.az.gov.
Contact ROC Construction Investigations staff at ComplianceDepartmentLic@roc.az.gov.


Cindy Casaus, Chief Financial Officer, Chief of Operations, Chief Communications Officer, Agency Ombudsman

Cindy-Casaus

Cindy Casaus joined AZ ROC in May 2018 as the Chief Financial Officer and Operations Services Manager. In July 2021, Cindy was promoted to Chief of Operations and Communications. In addition to overseeing the Agency's operations, outreach, communications and financial operations, Cindy also serves as the Agency Ombudsman. Prior to joining the AZ ROC, Cindy served as the Accounting Manager for the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, the largest member-driven business association in Arizona. She also held a similar role for a privately owned corporation specializing in data center design, critical power and commercial HVAC.

A third generation Arizonan, Cindy earned a B.S. in Accountancy from the Arizona State University W.P. Carey School of Business and resides in Ahwatukee with her husband David and daughter Adeline.

For media inquiries, please email Media@roc.az.gov.


Chance Peterson, General Counsel

Chance-Peterson

Chance received his JD in 2014 from the ASU Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, where he was Senior Articles Editor for Jurimetrics - The Journal of Law, Science, and Technology, and received a Certificate in Law and Sustainability. As a law student, he interned with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and the Maricopa County Office of the Public Defender. Upon graduating from law school, Chance was an associate attorney at the ASU Alumni Law Group, and owned his own practice focusing on civil and consumer law.

Chance was born and raised in Phoenix, but has lived, worked and studied in Costa Rica, Australia, Italy, and South Korea. He also worked for Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans, building homes in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. After returning to Phoenix in 2011, he taught high school physics and chemistry before starting law school.


Julie Pickerill, Chief of Licensing

Julie Pickerill

Julie Pickerill has over 20 years of leadership experience she gained through the running of several small businesses. 

After joining the AZ ROC in January 2016 as a Customer Service Representative II, Julie quickly worked her way up the ranks until she was promoted to the Chief of Licensing position in April 2019.  Julie enjoys problem solving, process improvement and is committed to providing exceptional customer service. 

Julie grew up in a small town in Nebraska and attended the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. She spent 30 years in Northern California before moving to Arizona by way of Oregon.

Contact ROC Licensing staff at Licensing@roc.az.gov.


Anthony Jacovino, Chief Information Officer

Anthony Jacovino

Anthony Jacovino joined AZ ROC in 2018 as the Information Technology Manager and Senior Project Manager and was promoted to the position of Chief Information Officer in 2021.

He started his public service career in 2010 as an IT Technician for the Department of Economic Security where he gained a broad array of experience leading improvements in project management, systems transformation and modernization, digitization, cloud implementation, and the migration of multiple legacy programs to newer, more efficient and robust systems.

Born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, Mr. Jacovino moved to Arizona in 2006 where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Northern Arizona University in 2010 and a Master of Arts in Applied Ethics and the Professions from Arizona State University in 2011. He also graduated from the University of Arizona Southwest Leadership Program in 2020 with training in government leadership and driving growth.


Laura Hunter, Human Resources Manager

Laura-Hunter

Laura Hunter joined AZ ROC in August of 2013 and serves as the Human Resources Manager.

Ms. Hunter has a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management and Organizational Behavior from Brigham Young University and a Masters of Business Administration from Colorado State University. During her education, Ms. Hunter received numerous leadership designations including four Diamond Service Awards, the Bank of America Award, Business Student of the Year and three Scheid Writing Contest Awards.

Ms. Hunter has a strong background in public and private sector human resources. She began her career working for several private sector agricultural companies doing HR support and analyst duties. On a whim, Ms. Hunter took a college course on public sector human resources and knew this was the right fit for her. Since that time, Ms. Hunter has worked in human resources at both the county and state government levels.

In her current position, Ms. Hunter manages all HR functions for the agency including recruitment, compensation, employee relations and strategic HR planning. Ms. Hunter maintains a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification and a Society for Human Resources Management Certified Professional (SHRM-CP) certification.