Debbie Castaldo: Corporate and Community Impact Leader of the AZ Diamondbacks

by | Apr 12, 2018 | leadership, PPWA 2018

Photo Credit: Dennis Scully/Arizona Diamondbacks

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. Harriet Tubman

Debbie Castaldo is the Vice President of Corporate and Community Impact for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and also the Executive Director of the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation. She is an amazing woman who sees an opportunity to create positive change in communities and fearlessly goes about making the changes she envisions happen. She is a corporate servant-leader.

Impact leader

Debbie Castaldo. Credit: Jennifer Stewart/Arizona Diamondbacks

Debbie Castaldo enters her tenth season with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2018, overseeing the organization’s award-winning community efforts. She leads the team’s industry-leading fundraising efforts that have made charitable contributions exceeding $55 million to non-profit organizations throughout Arizona since 1997. The D-backs and the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation projects and programs are improving our communities and creating opportunities for our most at-risk children and families. The D-backs Give Back efforts include team ownership, players, employees, corporate partners, and fans.

Here are a few of her many Diamondback corporate – community collaborations:

  • The D-backs Science of Baseball presented by Chase and Insight, a comprehensive STEM initiative that uses baseball as the platform to teach science, technology, engineering, and math.
  • With support from Western Refining, Fry’s, and Tide, the D-backs Youth Jersey Program includes nearly 100 leagues and 50,000 players and coaches from across Arizona.
  • The D-backs School Challenge presented by the University of Phoenix.
  • The D-backs – Helios Scholars Program, providing 4-year college scholarships to academically gifted students from economically disadvantaged circumstances.
  • “Evening on the Diamond”, the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation’s signature annual event credited with raising millions each year to fund important project and programs in the community including the Ken Kendrick Grand Slam Awards, named for D-backs managing general partner, Ken Kendrick.

The Diamondbacks have received many Awards: Phoenix Business Journal’s ACE Award for Community Impact, Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Impact Award as Community Champion, the prestigious service award from the United Phoenix Firefighters for efforts during the fire tragedy that claimed the lives of 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots. And in 2010, the D-backs became the first professional sports team to win the inaugural 2010 United Nations NGO Positive Peace Award.

On May 17, 2018, Debbie Castaldo will receive the 2018 Positively Powerful Woman Awards for her Corporate Leadership and the Community Impact that she makes through her many contributions.