Az Business and AZRE magazines announced the publications’ lists of the Most Influential Women in Arizona of 2023, including Stacy Derstine, vice president of external affairs for Arizona Public Service (APS). In celebration of the 12th anniversary of the Most Influential Women program, azbigmedia.com is profiling one of the Most Influential Women of 2023 each day leading up to the Most Influential Women of 2023 dinner and reception.

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The Most Influential Women for 2023 will be honored at a reception on Thursday, August 17 at Chateau Luxe in Phoenix. For sponsorship information, email Amy.Lindsey@azbigmedia.com. For information about the event honoring the Most Influential Women, email Lynette.Carrington@azbigmedia.com or click here. To buy tickets, click here.

Stacy Derstine, vice president, external affairs, Arizona Public Service (APS)

BACKGROUND: Stacy Derstine is vice president of external affairs for Arizona Public Service (APS) Stacy is responsible for the company’s local public affairs strategy, community affairs and corporate giving, as well as economic development. She serves on numerous boards including Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation, Arizona Science Center and Downtown Phoenix Inc.

CAREER PATH INSPIRATION: “I can’t say my career path was planned.’ I initially pursued nursing in college. I was fortunate enough to join the APS family while in school, and my plans clearly changed. I have been blessed with many challenging roles and what keeps me here at APS are the people I work with and our culture to do what’s right for the people and prosperity of AZ.”

SOURCE OF PRIDE: “During my nearly 30 years with APS, my teams and I have had many accomplishments. But I am most proud of my ability to mentor and support many men and women in their professional and personal development. I have been honored and am proud to be part of their successes.”

SOURCE OF INSPIRATION: “I’m going to have to break the rule here. Although I have had several tremendous mentors in my career, my dad was uniquely positioned to be my greatest champion, challenger and teacher given his 46 years with APS. We regularly met for breakfast, and I usually left those meetings with a napkin full of his notes, graphs and equations. Not only did he help teach me the technical complexities of our business, but he also challenged me to be a better leader.”

SURPRISING FACT: “We love to travel and although I am not the best skier, it’s a passion of mine. On a summer ski trip to Chile’ I had the best day ever skiing! We had the opportunity to travel by snow cat to the top of a volcano and were the first to ski down in the most amazing, untouched fresh powder. It was a skier’s heaven.”