NOVEMBER 2017 14 | FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM A Friendship for the Ages Sharon and Ollie Harper spend a great deal of time with their longtime best friends, Cindy and Sen. John McCain. They own property together in the Verde Valley along Oak Creek where they spend most of their weekends, and the Harpers have been involved and supportive in almost all of Sen. McCain’s political pursuits. The Harpers were even co-chairs of Sen. McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. “He’s been a great inspiration,” Ollie said. “Both in just watching him interact with us, and of course with the world on the national scale. Our kids just worship him, and think he is such a fine person. They’re crazy about him. To see that kind of relationship, it’s very inspiring.” “Our families have grown up together — 32 years now, the Harpers and the McCains,” Sharon said. “And so that’s been intertwined in our lives and we’ve had the opportunity to be around such a great family, and I think they feel the same about us.” population of Africa, and would do a lot of complicated stuff from a medical standpoint, because over there you’re it — there’s no referral hospital to send people to.” When they came back to Arizona to start their family and professional careers in earnest, Ollie continued to do volunteer medical work while simultaneously building a successful medical practice. He’s volunteered at St. Vincent de Paul’s Clinic for the Working Poor for more than three decades, spending Thursday evenings making sure that working people suffering from poverty have access to quality doctors. He also volunteers for the Mission of Mercy. In the meantime, the entrepreneurial influence of Sharon’s mother took root, as she saw opportunity in the real estate industry. “The shift from my journalism background really occurred when Ollie was busy with his medical practice,” she said. COVER STORY CONTINUED

NOVEMBER 2017 FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM | 15 “The entrepreneurial spirit made me see opportunities in the real estate industry. With influence and guidance of Ollie, I initially gravitated toward the development of medical office buildings. That’s how we started Plaza Companies in 1982, and now we are much broader in the sectors we serve.” For Sharon and Ollie, two things grew particularly quickly over the course of time. The first was Plaza Companies, which has evolved into one of the most respected real estate firms in the region, boasting signature projects such as SkySong, The ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center, Vi and Silverstone, an impressive portfolio of medical offices, and most recently a partnership with Holualoa Companies to redevelop Park Central Mall. And the second was their family. They have four children — Christy, Lise, Joe and Michael — and have raised their niece Shannon since she was a child. Their children have gone on to their own pursuits over time, both in the Valley and around the world. Joe and Michael in particular traveled extensively, both living in South America for a period of time. The family continues to be close, and Sharon and Ollie frequently travel to see each of them. But there was another aspect of their lives that has perhaps best defined their legacy in the community — their extensive community involvement, for organizations too numerous to list. Ollie’s involvement with healthcare-related entities has included not only serving impoverished populations, but helping to shape the Phoenix-based medical programs of his alma mater Creighton University as well as his work with the University of Arizona. And Sharon’s involvement has placed her at the top echelon of the business community. She has served as chair of COVER STORY CONTINUED