Driven by her entrepreneurial spirit, Nancy Placek Puffer has headed a number of business-related projects over the years. She started by buying a Christmas tree farm, the Swan Creek X-mas Tree Plantation, in 1976 because she wanted her sons to have a piece of the earth. Her mentor, a tree farmer from Michigan, taught her all about the business and about the trees pay for the land. This really paid off, as Mrs. Puffer still owns the company today. Mrs. Puffer has also served as the owner and manager of the Wheels of Fountain Hills Transportation Service in Arizona since 1988. Additionally, she has experience as the owner of a parking lot in Arizona, as the chief executive officer of The Starting Gate Foundation, an organization that pairs retired racehorses with veterans for retraining, and as a teacher and elementary counselor in the Avondale School District.
To prepare for her endeavors, Mrs. Puffer earned a Bachelor of Education from Northwestern University and completed postgraduate studies at Eastern Michigan University. She then joined prominent societies like the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the Northwestern Alumni Club of Phoenix, and Alpha Phi to help her keep in touch with her peers.
When Mrs. Puffer isn’t working, she enjoys golfing, swimming, and participating in community affairs. She notably raised $250,000 in her year as a crusade chairman for the American Cancer Society and founded organizations like Concerned Arizona Voters. Mrs. Puffer was also a member of the trunk and tusk committee and a state delegate of the Arizona State Republican Party and the governor board of the East Valley Institute of Technology. To this day, she remains a member of Concerned Women for America and the board of directors of the Arizona Coordinator Council of Republican Women. Further, she is an owner and breeder of thoroughbred horses, particularly the Seattle Slew bloodline.
