Born in Monticello, Utah, in 1952, Black is the youngest of eight children of older conservative parents who lived through the depression years. He moved to Mesa, Arizona, in 1965, graduated from Mesa High in 1970. After two years of community college, became an electrician at age 20, a self-employed electrical contractor at 21, a self-employed custom home builder at 24, and a self-employed land developer at 31.
Black went to work for SunCor in 1989 during the real estate economic transition of the Resolution Trust Corporation years, when the government rescued so many failed savings and loans. He became a corporate officer in 1990. He grew his division of the company from a land steward, to a developer, to a home-builder, to a builder of communities.
Black’s division was the premier builder of master planned communities in the intermountain west in quality-of-life mid-sized communities, with $250,000,000 in sales annually and more than $30 million a year in net profit.
Duane is now retired and spends most of his time in his mountain home in northern Arizona. His personal interests include philosophy, personal growth, business management, writing, public speaking, golf, flying, and making a difference wherever and whenever possible in people’s lives.