Tempe Community Action Agency announced the appointment of its new CEO Phillip Scharf, who assumed leadership of the East Valley nonprofit on April 7. Scharf succeeds Deborah Arteaga, who is retiring after nine years of leadership.
“TCAA is thrilled to work with Phillip and deepen TCAA’s commitment to addressing barriers to housing, food security and financial stability in our community,” said Deidre Smith, TCAA’s board chair.
Scharf comes to TCAA with over 20 years of experience working in community health work and human services, having previously served as COO for the Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers. Prior to this position, he was the interim CEO and COO of Central Arizona Shelter Services, guiding CASS’ completion of their latest shelter located in north Phoenix. Scharf also spent more than 17 years supporting students at Arizona State University, where he most recently served as senior vice president. He collaborated with the university to establish protocols and procedures for COVID-19 testing, while also heading housing and support services for students to increase academic success outcomes.
Phillip will continue to lead TCAA into the future, guiding the organization through the development of a new permanent home. This facility will include a market-style food pantry, a commercial kitchen to support TCAA’s meal programs, and Tempe’s first permanent shelter. He is committed to strengthening community partnerships that expand opportunities for all clients, while also integrating new research to deepen the understanding of TCAA’s impact and identify opportunities for growth across its programs and services.
Scharf graduated from Suffolk University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and later received his Master of Arts from Northern Arizona University in communication.
TCAA’s former CEO Deborah Arteaga joined the organization in 2016. Her responsibilities included establishing TCAA’s organizing mission and strategy, leveraging marketing and public relations tactics to communicate the vision of the nonprofit, ensuring TCAA’s financial integrity, overseeing fund development strategies to support the sustainability and continued enhancement of programs addressing community needs, and working directly alongside TCAA’s board of directors to achieve TCAA’s goals. Deborah oversaw the rapid expansion of programs during the COVID-19 pandemic to meet the increasing needs of the community. Under Deborah’s leadership in 2025, the nonprofit announced its first-ever “Building Resilience” Capital and Program Expansion Campaign, which supports the construction of a new site and permanent home for the agency’s programs addressing poverty, hunger and homelessness.
“Deborah’s tenure at TCAA was marked by shepherding our organization through a period of rapid growth, and she guaranteed its future through launching construction of our new headquarters,” said Linda Redman, Co-chair of the Building Resilience Campaign Cabinet. “We are deeply thankful for the nine years Deborah spent strengthening and enriching TCAA.”
Tempe Community Action Agency was founded to address racial and ethnic disparities within the social determinants of health, focusing on high poverty rates in communities of color. Its various programs, which address food security, housing stability, health and wellbeing, and economic mobility, take a multifaceted approach to closing these gaps through offering crisis intervention and prevention-based services.
