Economic growth, advocacy for the region and improved binational commerce with Mexico are the key areas Sun Corridor Inc. will focus on as it moves forward under its new name and expanded mission.
The group, which in May changed its name from Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities, was formed in 2005 as the area’s economic development entity. Over the last 10 years, officials said, it facilitated 110 relocations and major expansions in the region.
The result was an impact of $8 billion on the regional economy thanks to companies such as La Costeña, Ventana Roche, Target.com, Accelerate Diagnostics and HomeGoods, said Joe Snell, president and CEO of Sun Corridor Inc.
With that decade of experience came a natural evolution, Snell said.
“We recognized that it was very much time to position ourselves for long-term success,” he said. “To shift from a transactional operation to transformational, to think bigger and to think without boundaries or borders.”
Speaking Tuesday before more than 450 people gathered at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, Snell said the name change from TREO to Sun Corridor Inc. was more than just a branding exercise. It was the birth of a new organization.
The group’s expanded footprint — covering Pinal, Pima, Santa Cruz and Co-chise counties, along with the state of Sonora — means increased influence at the state and federal levels and a stronger asset base, and allows for the development of a strong partnership with Mexico, officials said.
Sun Corridor plans to spend heavily on aggressive sales and marketing, lobby consistently before federal and state officials on the merits of the region and establish a presence in Mexico, Snell said, with the group opening sales offices in Mexico City and Hermosillo, Sonora.
The importance of Mexico as a source of economic opportunity for the region was underscored by Shannon O’Neil, senior fellow for Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, who gave the keynote speech at Tuesday’s event.
Focusing on headlines about crime and immigration misses the point of a changing Mexico, she said, which has gone through seismic changes in the last 30 years.
“Politically it’s gone from decades of one-party rule to a vibrant, sometimes messy, democracy. Economically, it’s gone from a closed, commodity-driven economy to one that’s open to the world,” O’Neil said. “And socially, we’ve seen this rise of a professional middle-class.”
Border states are the most affected by what happens in Mexico, O’Neil said, and for the last decade it’s been a net positive.
“Border states as a group have led in terms of population growth in the United States and in terms of economic gains,” she said. “And the threat of violence that many worried about hasn’t materialized.”
But while border states have benefited, that benefit has not been evenly distributed, and Arizona faces a host of challenges as it loses out to Texas and California, O’Neil said.
“While trade with Mexico has been a bright spot for your economy, the growth in trade and the growth in transit that you had hasn’t kept pace with what’s happening in other neighboring states,” she said. “Numbers are up, but you’re losing market share.”
Exports from Arizona to Mexico were more than $8 billion in 2014, an increase of almost 22 percent from 2013, but California exported more than $25 billion and Texas topped $102 billion.
Still, O’Neil said, Arizona can capitalize on its advantages, including proximity to Mexico and its cross-border cultural and familial ties.
Sun Corridor Inc.’s strategic goals, she said, are also a reason to be optimistic.
“I think there’s great promise here for the state.”
