President, Freeport-McMoRan Foundation and Director, Social Responsibility and Community Development – Americas Division
Winner of the: Community Service, Corporate Award
Tracy Bame leads the Freeport-McMoRan social responsibility and compliance programs in the Americas.
Tracy also serves as President of Copper & Gold Foundation, the primary philanthropic vehicle of the company. The Foundation provides grants for programs that promote education, economic development, environment, and health and wellness, with the goal of facilitating sustainable community development. Tracy is a graduate of the University of Arizona and has lived in Arizona for more than 28 years. Prior to joining Phelps Dodge, which was acquired by Freeport-McMoRan in 2007, she worked for American Express in the Western Region Operations Center in Phoenix for 7 years. Tracy has done work in 4 countries and more than two dozen cities across the globe. She lives in Scottsdale with her husband Jeff, her 14-year-old son Blake and her 16-year-old stepdaughter Madison.
Throughout her career, Tracy Bame has demonstrated continuous support for the achievement of women by providing her intellectual and financial support to organizations and programs that have expanded opportunities for women to attain greater levels of prosperity. Tracy always serves as a mentor and leader to the women that have or have had the opportunityto work with her. She understands that when women gain skills, they gain confidence, increase their productivity, mentor others, raise their income levels and reinvest in their children’s education, their family’s health, and economic activities at the community level.
Over a decade ago, Tracy established the Domestic Violence Safety and Shelter Initiative at Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold to provide operating support to shelters and service providers that provide victims of domestic/gender-based violence with opportunities to live free of violence, rebuild their lives, and achieve independence. Through this initiative, more than $3.5 million has been provided to 23 shelters and service providers in 18 communities in or near where the company operates. Through this long-standing effort, Tracy’s intention was to increase the capacity of shelters in an effort to serve more women and support their organizational efforts to raise awareness that eliminates cultural acceptance of violence against women.
Tracy also created a program to support the professional achievement and leadership development of women through the Freeport-McMoRan Women’s Development Grants program. Tracy’s goal for this program was to support specific efforts and projects that focus on providing women and/or girls opportunities to reach their full potential and achieve economic success – including education, access to physical/mental health and wellness, entrepreneurship/employment, mentoring and/or leadership development. In addition, this program was designed to help women increase access to key services critical to women’s equal participation and success in their communities.
Since 2010, Tracy has worked in partnership with the Thunderbird School of Global Management and their Thunderbird for Good team to create the DreamBuilder: The Women’s Business Creator program – an e-learning
business skills training and certification program that helps women build their dreams by gaining education and skills to create and grow successful small businesses. As women proceed through the program, their answers to key questions pre-populate and create their own online business plan allowing them to map their success. DreamBuilder began being offered in the Freeport-McMoRan operating communities of Arequipa, Peru; and Copiapo and Calama, Chile where the goal was to provide business skills training to an estimated 3,400 women in targeted communities over a five year period. The program is now available in English for the United States and was launched this year at Fresh Start Women’s Foundation, Arizona Women’s Education and Employment (AWEE). As of September of 2015, 8,800 women in Latin and North America are enrolled in the
DreamBuilder program. Tracy has also worked on the DreamCatcher: Native American Women’s Business
Creator program, a three-part program consisting of information and education sessions
held on partner American Indian Reservations, an introduction to and support for the use
of DreamBuilder, and a focused, week-long, on-campus program held at Thunderbird for
Native American women. The first DreamCatcher class will commence this year in October.
In our community, Tracy continues to demonstrate her commitment to the development of women by serving on the governing board of Fresh Start Women’s Foundation. Tracy’s leadership on the board supports the
Organization’s mission to empower women to transform their lives through education and engagement.
Early in her career, Tracy also served as a volunteer in the Fresh Start women’s mentoring program that paired women going through the Fresh Start programs with clients working through life transitions.
In addition to Fresh Start, Tracy’s Board service includes: Expect More Arizona; Center for the Future of Arizona; Sandra Day O’Connor Institute; American Red Cross, Grand Canyon Chapter; Arizona Education Foundation; Teach for America, Phoenix Community Advisory Board; Waste Not, and a host of other organizations.