Malea Chavez serves as CEO of the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, bringing more than 15 years of senior leadership experience to the fight against food insecurity. Her career shifted from legal practice to nonprofit leadership after she recognized how policy and organizational culture could extend her impact beyond individual clients to entire communities. As a managing attorney, she pioneered legal clinics co-located with food distribution centers and alternative dispute resolution programs before moving into her current role addressing hunger through both immediate assistance and longer-term policy change.
Chavez's leadership emphasizes strengths-based development and inclusive decision-making. Drawing on mentors who encouraged creative problem-solving, and on her own childhood experience receiving emergency food assistance, she prioritizes staff learning and clear pathways for team members to move into leadership roles, and measures her success as much by the careers she has helped shape as by the programs she has launched.
