Commissioner Lea Márquez Peterson was elected to the Arizona Corporation Commission in November 2020, sworn in on January 4, 2021, and served as Chair for two years after being elected by her fellow commissioners. Prior to her election, she was appointed to the Commission in May 2019 by Governor Doug Ducey, becoming the first Latina to serve in statewide office in Arizona. She is the only commissioner based in Southern Arizona, with her term ending in 2025 and eligibility to run for re-election in 2024.
A long-time entrepreneur and small business champion, Commissioner Márquez Peterson was named the 2022 Hispanic Business Woman of the Year by the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. She previously served as President and CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce from 2009 to 2018 and was Executive Director of Greater Tucson Leadership from 2005 to 2009. Under her leadership, the Tucson Hispanic Chamber was recognized as the Hispanic Chamber of the Year in 2013 by the USHCC.
Her entrepreneurial journey includes founding and operating a business brokerage firm and managing a chain of six gasoline stations and convenience stores employing 50 people across the Tucson region.
As a Commissioner, she represents Arizona on the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) board and serves as Vice Chair of WIRAB, the Western Interconnection Regional Advisory Body. She also co-chairs the Nuclear Power Subcommittee and serves as co-Vice Chair of the Water Committee for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. In addition, she is a member of the Advisory Council to the Center for Public Utilities at New Mexico State University.
Commissioner Márquez Peterson also serves on the Arizona Judicial Council and formerly served on the Arizona Finance Authority. She holds board positions with Tenet Health's Carondelet Hospitals, the Pima County Workforce Investment Board, and is a former Chair of the Pima Association of Governments’ Economic Vitality Committee. She is also a past President of the National Association of Women Business Owners – Tucson and the former Chair of the National Small Business Development Council for the U.S. Small Business Administration.
She has been recognized as a 2022 Woman of Influence by BizTucson, a 2021 Most Influential Woman in Arizona Business by AZ Big Media, and received the Jack Jewett Award from the Arizona Center for Civic Leadership and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Arizona.
Commissioner Márquez Peterson holds undergraduate degrees in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the University of Arizona, and an MBA from Pepperdine University. She resides in Tucson with her husband and two children.