Joel D. Valdez currently serves as a special adviser to President Robert N. Shelton of the UA Foundation, offering guidance on the University’s growth and development and the UA’s role in the city’s Modern Streetcar Project, the future expansion of the Marriot University Park Hotel, the potential redevelopment of the northwest corner of Speedway and Campbell and much more. Prior his position with the Foundation, Valdez spent 20 years at the University of Arizona as senior vice president for business affairs where he served under four university presidents in his two decades on the job and implemented more than $1 billion worth of construction projects that have changed the face of the campus. Valdez’s work with the University followed a long successful career in Tucson city politics. From 1974 until 1990, he was appointed Tucson City Manager, during which time he oversaw 4,000 employees and administered hundreds of millions of dollars in capital improvements in many areas, including housing, water and sewer, public safety, libraries and various private ventures. Throughout his life, Valdez’ sphere of influence as extended far and wide in Tucson. Constantly active in his community, Valdez dedicated much of his free time to help others, where he has served on the boards of the Mariachi Conference (for which he is also a co-founder), Hellenic Cultural Foundation, United Way and the Diocese of Tucson, where he has been named a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre. He received a BS in education from UA in 1957, a Certificate from the Sloan School of Management, M.I.T in 1972 and a diploma fro Harvard University’s Senior Managers in Government school in 1978. Valdez, a Tucson native, and his wife Mary Lee have two children and five grandchildren.
