Tony and Milena Astorga EXITO Scholarship Fund

AZHCC Tony and Milena Astorga EXITO Scholarship Fund                                                                                      

About the Scholarship Program: 

Equality Health and Equality Health Foundation are the seed funder for the AZHCC Tony Astorga Scholarship Fund to honor his service to the community. It provides a one-time scholarship of $10,000 for a graduate student in health care. The scholarship will be administered through AZ Community Foundation.

About Tony Astorga:

Mr. Astorga retired from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona after serving 23 years as the Senior Vice President & CFO. During his tenure as CFO at BCBSAZ, he also held the position as President of BCBS of Mexico (1994-1999) and as the Chief Business Development Officer (2009-11). Prior to joining BCBSAZ, he was a partner with Astorga & Maurseth, a local CPA firm (1976-1987) and a Senior Supervisor with KPMG, a national CPA firm (1970-1975).

Mr. Astorga received a B.S. Degree in accounting with high honors from Arizona State University and has attended executive education programs at Fuqua School of Business-Duke University, Kellogg Graduate School of Management-Northwestern University and Graduate Center for Health Professions-University of California San Francisco.

He currently is the owner/principal of AZTOR Health Management Strategic Advisors where he has been a consultant to various organizations, including BCBSAZ, CTCA Global-Mexico, CPLC, Equality Health, Lattice Biologics, Martinet Medical, Valle del Sol; and is a Board Advisor to Consular Corps of AZ, GlobalMed and TransMed7. He served as chairman of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation (2011-2021) and also has previously served in community leadership roles as co-chair of the Governor's Finance Review Commission, Governor's Film and Television Commission and MCCD ACE Campaign. He has been an active member of the community where he currently serves on various boards including, the Arizona Commerce Authority, Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (Emeritus), Banner Health Foundation, Catholic Charities (Emeritus), Equality Health Foundation, Heard Museum, and Ottawa University.

Eligibility: 

 Graduate school professional studying health care residing in Arizona.

 Minimum GPA of 3.0

 One parent must be of Hispanic heritage

The awarded student must meet all of the above criteria, and in addition, preference will be given to the student dependent of or employee of a company that is a member of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Search membership: http://azhcc.com/members

Award: 

$10,000 if you are an Arizona resident in graduate school.

Application Process: 

Visit the Arizona Community Foundation website to apply online: [web page in development]

The Application will request:

 1 letter of recommendation from a professor, employer, or community service agency

 A copy of the student’s graduate school transcript

 List of any awards and honors received

 List of community service and recent employment history.

Application Deadline: 

TBD

Note: In addition to any other terms and conditions, the number and amount of all Arizona Community Foundation scholarship awards and renewals are contingent on the availability of funding.

Founded in 1948, the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is the premier advocate for the state's Hispanic-owned businesses and more than 2 million Hispanic consumers. Our organizations is dedicated to promoting the economic health and prosperity of the state and nation by serving as a vital link to the growing influence of the Hispanic community in our increasingly diverse and global marketplace.

Led by President/CEO Monica Villalobos, the non-profit organization provides products, programs and services related to market intelligence, capacity building, advocacy and education to benefit its members, corporate partners, and the wider Hispanic and minority communities.

The Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s annual signature events include Power of the Purse; Black & White Ball and Business Awards; release of DATOS: State of Arizona's Hispanic Market and coinciding DATOS conference; Business Diversity Summit; Bud Shootout Golf Tournament, and an ongoing series of workshops, seminars, public forums and networking functions.

The Chamber also operates the federally funded Phoenix MBDA Center, which is consistently ranked as one of the top centers of its kind in the nation. The center provides access to contracts and capital for minority-owned firms with the desire and potential to grow to the next level.

If you would like to invest in Future Leaders please donate to our AZHCC Scholarship Fund. Please consider making a tax deductible donation. For more information visit https://www.azhcc.com/scholarships/.