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Women's Business Connection is growing each month in attendance. If you have not attended in the past, it's time to start! 

September 26th is National Love Note Day. We will be writing notes to Mesa Fire and Medical as well as Mesa Police Department. Note cards will be provided. The love notes will be delivered to Chief Cost and Chief Cameli.

This month's focus: Diversity in Business 

Our speaker: Commissioner Lea Márquez Peterson was elected to the Arizona Corporation Commission in November 2020. She was sworn-in on January 4, 2021, and elected by her fellow commissioners to lead the Commission as Chair which she served for two years. 

Prior to November 2020, Commissioner Lea Márquez Peterson was appointed to the Commission by Governor Doug Ducey in May 2019. With her appointment, she became the first Latina to serve in a statewide office in the state of Arizona. She is the only commissioner who is not from Maricopa County. 

Lea has been an entrepreneur in Arizona for many years and supports Arizona’s small business community and economic development. She was honored to be selected as the 2022 Hispanic Businesswoman of the Year by the United States Hispanic Chamber. She served as the President/CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber from 2009 until November of 2018 and the Executive Director of Greater Tucson Leadership (GTL) from 2005 to 2009. While Lea was serving as President/CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber in 2013, the Tucson Hispanic Chamber was recognized by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as the Hispanic Chamber of the Year.

From 2005 to 2009 Lea owned and operated a Business Brokerage Firm and from 1998 to 2005, she built and operated a chain of six gasoline stations/convenience stores with 50 employees in the Tucson region. 

Lea has been appointed to serve on the Arizona Judicial Council, which advises the Arizona Supreme Court and the Arizona Finance Authority, the state's bonding authority. She is the past chair of the Tenet Health Board of Directors of Carondelet's St Mary's and St Joseph's Hospitals in Tucson and is the former Chair of the Pima Association of Governments' Economic Vitality Committee. She serves on the Board of the Pima County Workforce Investment Board and is the past President of the National Association of Women Business Owners in Tucson. She also chairs the Board of the national Small Business Development Council for the U.S Small Business Administration. 

She has been recognized as the 2022 United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Hispanic Businesswoman of the Year, a 2021 Most Influential Women in Arizona Business Recognition by AZ Big Media, 2022 Woman of Influence in the Region by Biz Tucson Magazine, 2021 Jack Jewett Award by Arizona Center for Civic Leadership, as well as a University of Arizona Distinguished Alumni Award. 

She received her undergraduate degrees in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the University of Arizona, and her Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University. She resides in Tucson and is married with two children. 

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