DE222 Honoree: Michael Quaranta – Delaware Business Times

Title: Chairman (caption id=”attachment_188122″ align=”alignright” width=”182″) Michael Quaranta(/caption)

Workplace: Delaware State Chamber of Commerce

Alma Maters: Minnesota State University, University of Minnesota, Georgetown University, Wilmington University

Plates: Delaware Workforce Development Board, Delaware Court on the Judiciary

Question and answer: What is something interesting about you that isn’t on your resume? “I am a certified barbecue judge with the Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) and I have taken hours and hours of professional barbecue lessons!”

As leader of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, the oldest and most influential business association in the state, Michael Quaranta has the ability to help set public policy for thousands of state-owned businesses, large and small. Quaranta, who took over the helm of the state chamber in 2018, was a good fit. She had served on the staff of what would become the Department of Homeland Security, managed 30-state operations for a Fortune 500 company, lobbied for the Podesta Group and served as chief of staff to then-U.S. Rep. Mike Castle for seven years. Today, Quaranta has the ear of major CEOs across the state, the governor and legislative leaders, and has pushed membership to new heights to expand the chamber’s lobbying power.