Melissa Trujillo is Co-founder and President/CEO of the Be A Leader Foundation which she and her husband created in 2002. The Foundation is a platform for young aspiring students and serves as an incubator to develop academic and leadership skills required of elementary and high school students to become college bound, focused and prepared. Melissa has been a steward of education throughout her life and started focusing on helping underprivileged youth with her husband in 1991. As a couple, they committed themselves to helping provide much needed technology in the Roosevelt School District and ultimately created the Roosevelt Community Technology Center to provide free access to computers for all members of the Roosevelt Community. Melissa is also an owner and Chief Operating Officer of Cambios y Servicios, (CyS) an Arizona corporation specializing in Airport concession retail since 2001. CyS has been a Joint Venture partner with the Hudson Group for over 14 years, together owning retail stores in both Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Tucson International Airport. Including overseeing the management of the dayto-day operations of all designated ACDBE retail locations, her extensive retail expertise allows for the utilization of local vendors and a continuous search for new local vendor opportunities. CyS is also proud Melissa has over 25 years of financial, management and entrepreneurial experience through not only her work at the Be A Leader Foundation and Cambios y Servicios, but also through several previous senior finance management roles including Chief Financial Officer for Commac, a commercial realestate securitization company based out of Washington, D.C. and Southwest Harvard Group Venture Capital in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1997, Melissa became the President & Managing Partner of Sunven Entertainment Group, which owned and operated the Red River Music Hall, a 1,000-seat concert venue located near Arizona State University. Melissa was instrumental in the turnaround of the company and continued to operate it until it was successfully sold in 2003. After selling her business, Melissa and her husband, Gary, decided to focus primarily on creating and building the Be A Leader Foundation to support aspiring youth to obtain a college education. Be A Leader is focused on providing college-going programs for over 8,000 students in high need school districts within the Phoenix community. She is an avid supporter of promoting the need to obtain a college education and to provide the mentorship and guidance needed to those who, like herself, must achieve it on their own. Melissa received her Bachelor of Science degree in Finance, Magna Cum Laude, from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. She and her husband, Gary, reside in Central Phoenix and have two children, Alexander and Sophia. |
