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Pam Del Duca is the founder, President and CEO of DELSTAR Companies, Inc., which owns and operates retail specialty shops in airports, malls, and four and five-star resorts. Under her leadership, Pam and DELSTAR have won national acclaim for retail creativity, innovative business leadership and deep commitment to community. In 1990, at Pam’s direction, DELSTAR created a model for how small business can contribute to civic well-being. Fulfilling a long held dream, Pam designed a program in which DELSTAR formed partnerships with three non-profit organizations to train, empower and employ minority and economically disadvantaged people in the Phoenix area. Participants in the program were put on the payroll, and upon graduation were offered jobs in the company’s Phoenix area retail shops. Since the program’s inception, DELSTAR has trained over 300 students in the Small Business Entrepreneurial Training Program, Supervisor Development Seminars, and the Management Training Programs. DELSTAR also contributes a percentage of gross sales to Chicanos Por La Causa, the Phoenix Indian Center and the Phoenix Urban League. Over a ten-year period her small entrepreneurial company donated more than $600,000.00 to these organizations. A graduate of Arizona State University, Pam serves on the Arizona State University Foundation, Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation and is a Heard Museum Trustee. She’s an active member of Greater Phoenix Leadership, and the World President’s Organization. Pam was recently named Co-Chairman, Arizona Governor’s Council on Small Business by the Honorable Janet Napolitano, Governor of Arizona. Pam was the first woman elected president of the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce. She has been honored repeatedly by national business and professional publications and is listed amongst the Top 100 Who’s Who in Business. Working Woman Magazine featured DELSTAR as one of the top 500 women-owned businesses in America and Pam was named Most Innovative Woman by The Business Journal. Pam received the national award for Best of America by Dunn and Bradstreet and NFIB. She was named the national winner for “Socially Responsible” Entrepreneur of the Year, Ernst & Young, and Inc. Magazine. Pam was honored by Airport Revenue News as Best Airport News and Gift Operator. She also received the Blue Chip Enterprise Award, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and was named a National Small Business Person of the Year, by the U.S. Small Business Administration. In 2004, Pam was named “Woman of the Year” by the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and, in 2005, she was honored by the National Italian American Foundation as Person of the Year, and was also named to The Business Journal’s Silver Anniversary Honor Roll for being one of the Valley’s top 100 leaders in Arizona over the last 25 years. Pam Del Duca opened her first store, By George! in 1972 in Scottsdale. To finance her distinctive lifestyle store, Pam worked as a cocktail waitress at night while teaching physical education in a Scottsdale High School during the day. Although she had no prior business experience, over the next 32 years, she grew her single store into one of the nation’s most respected retail specialty companies. Today DELSTAR encompasses 20 stores and employs more than 160 people. In addition to her business and civic commitments, Pam has mentored many women, and is an inspiring and sought-after speaker about small business. She has just announced the formation of the DELSTAR Scholarship Program, awarding 4-year scholarships to economically disadvantaged students, first generation college students and non-traditional college students who had to drop out of college to take care of families. Pam estimates this program will graduate 54 individuals from Arizona Universities over the next several years. Pam is a creative, dynamic, and fun leader who exudes passion and commitment for her business, her associates, her family and friends and, for her community. |
