Daune Cardenas

CEO of the Pascua Yaqui Development Corporation (PYDC)

Daune Cardenas is a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, and she is the CEO of the Pascua Yaqui Development Corporation (PYDC). She earned her JD from U of A James E Rogers College of Law, her undergrad in Business Administration from NAU, and is barred in New Mexico and the Pascua Yaqui Tribal Courts. Daune worked for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe Office of the Attorney General from 2015 until 2019 and has been the CEO of PYDC, which is the Tribe’s Section 17 Corporation, since 2019. She oversees Sonoran Pueblo Contracting LLC, certified as Tribal 8(a), and a HubZone construction company under the SBA. Sonoran Pueblo Contracting LLC is the only Tribal 8(a) in Arizona. Additionally, Daune has helped launch a profitable property management division under the PYDC umbrella that is now a Real Estate Management Company, PYDC Ventures LLC, which will also be a Tribal 8(a). 

The Tribal 8(a) status allows for large federal sole-source contracts only available to Tribal, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian businesses.