Jaime Dempsey
Acting Chief Program & Community Engagement Officer
Arizona Community Foundation
Jaime Dempsey joined the Arizona Community Foundation in June 2021 as Senior Vice President, Philanthropic Initiatives and took over interim leadership as Acting Chief Program & Community Engagement Officer in February 2023. She previously served as Executive Director of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, an agency of the State of Arizona and a partner in the creative advancement of Arizona’s arts sector. Prior to joining the Arts Commission, Dempsey developed community programs and partnerships at the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University, and managed programs for Idaho’s nexStage theatre and Sun Valley Center for the Arts.
In alignment with her passion for public policy and the promise of her home state, Jaime completed a 2013 fellowship with the Arizona Center for Civic Leadership’s Flinn-Brown Academy, receiving the academy’s 2018 Network Builder Award. In 2017, she also received a Gabe Zimmerman Award for Public Service from the Center for the Future of Arizona.
Jaime considers her experience as a collaborative performing artist to be foundational to the perspectives and practices that animate her work. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Human Rights Practice from the University of Arizona.
