Doug Ducey in Almanac of American Politics

On Principles & Values: Entrepreneur and "conservative ice cream guy"

After graduating with a degree in finance in 1986, Ducey joined up with the founder of Cold Stone Creamery And helped turn a shop into a global brand with more than 1,400 stores. He eventually became CEO. In 2007, at the age of 43, Ducey helped engineer a merger with another Arizona franchising heavyweight, Kahala Corp. He got very rich in the process, but that corporate marriage didn't work out, an experience Ducey described to Bloomberg Business as "incredibly frustrating and disappointing, but equally liberating all at once". Ducey took some time off, refocused, and became the lead investor and chairman of the board of iMemories, a friend's technology start up in Scottsdale, which helps people digitize their home movies and share them online.