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We started the day with an exciting presentation from Rachel Sacco, President and CEO of Experience Scottsdale. Did you know that for every dollar that Experience Scottsdale spends we see $116 in return to the economy of Scottsdale?
We don’t often have an opportunity to see all that Experience Scottsdale does to showcase our community around the country and the world. We were so impressed by the Scottsdale is Calling campaign that we wanted a Scottsdale Sun Globe of our own. Thanks to Michelle Myers, VP of Marketing at Experience Scottsdale and Class 38 for making sure everyone in Class 39 got their very own Sun Globe keepsake.
Next up was Andy Greenwood the VP of Development at Macerich (Scottsdale Fashion Square) and Class 34. Andy’s presentation included a look at the past when Fashion Square was a rodeo grounds and a Goldwater’s department store. Today, Fashion Square showcases a new luxury wing with designer goods and world famous restaurants. One of the most eye-opening statistics that Andy shared about Scottsdale Fashion Square is that each year 20 million visitors shop at Fashion Square, while the Grand Canyon hosts 5 million. You read that right: 20 million visitors per year! That really helps us to understand the impact that Fashion Square has on the Scottsdale Economy.
We rounded out the morning with a conversation with Teri Kilgore, Scottsdale’s new Economic Development Director. She shared that Scottsdale has three business districts: Airpark, Downtown Scottsdale, and the McDowell Road Corridor. Their area of focus is: attracting new companies, supporting business retention and growth, talent attraction and community alignment with schools and education. That sounds like a winning formula when one considers that 21% of Arizona’s business headquarters are in Scottsdale!
After lunch we heard from Dan Newhart who is the Vice President of Ticketing for the Fiesta Bowl and a member of Class 38. Most people know that the Fiesta Bowl brings in a lot of revenue to the community but perhaps do not know just how much they give back in charitable giving. Over the last 14 years they have contributed 32 million dollars to our community! As a special treat we even got our own private tour of the Fiesta Bowl Museum!
The afternoon session featured a panel of leaders representing companies that have had, and will have an enormous impact on our economy. We were grateful to host Odette Bakker, Head of Governmental Affairs for ASM, George Thimsen the Tournament Chairman for WM Phoenix Open, Quannah Dallas, the Economic Development Director for SRPMIC and Geroge Adams, Director of Facilities and Real Estate for General Dynamics.
By this time in the day our heads were swimming with so much amazing information, and we hadn’t even welcomed GPEC yet! It was wonderful to see Class 33’s Mark Paratore who is the VP of Business Development for GPEC (Greater Phoenix Economic Council). This is really where the phones start coming out to capture the wealth of information provided by Mark’s presentation. It is eye opening to learn that the population of Maricopa County was 216,031 in 1950 and today it is 5,132,479! And by 2033 it is predicted to grow by almost another million! This is where great leaders will need to rise to the occasion and make the best and most responsible decisions for navigating our future.
After spending these last several months with Class 39, I am confident that we will see 49 more great leaders ready to guide us into the future.