AZBusiness May/June 2018

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MAY // JUNE 2018

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Table of Contents 6

Trendsetters

14

CEO Series

16

Law

18

Technology

22

Banking

Still the

‘Greatest’

I

22

26 Controller of the Year 32

Marketing

34

Dining

36 Made in Arizona 42 Arizona Bioindustry Association 48 Healthcare Leadership Awards

32 68

68 Staycations 76 Arizona Energy Consortium

On the cover: Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter and Jimmy Walker, founder of Celebrity Fight Night.

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n the days before you had to shell out $100 to watch a major fight on pay-per-view, there was “The Greatest.” And we got to watch “The Greatest” on free TV. Muhammad Ali was Conor McGregor without the need to throw water bottles or handcarts to boast. He was Floyd Mayweather without the need to carry a backpack full of cash to prove his worth. Ali was as quick with his wit as he was with his fists. And no one could keep up with either.

When I got the chance to see Ali in person a few years ago at the Arizona Jazz Festival, I reverted back into that little boy who watched in wonder as Ali dispatched opponents on ABC Sports as easily as he silenced the unsilenceable Howard Cosell. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I just stared like a schoolgirl at a Backstreet Boys concert circa 1993.

His health was failing. He didn’t float like a butterfly. But as an icon, he was, and always will be, “The Greatest.”

And in what may be his greatest triumph, Ali teamed up with Jimmy Walker to turn Celebrity Fight Night into one of the most successful fundraising events in the world. Together, they raised more than $100 million for the the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute, which is breaking new ground in the treatment of the cruel disease.

Walker will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Healthcare Leadership Awards and you can read about him in this issue of Az Business. But let’s also remember the man who faced his disease with grace, bravery and selflessness and used his pain to help others.

Ali said it best himself: ““Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”

Michael Gossie Editor in chief michael.gossie@azbigmedia.com

SHOUT-OUTS WHICH COMPANIES PACK THE MOST IMPACT?

The Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce (GPCC) has selected eight local companies as recipients of its 31st Annual IMPACT Awards, which honor the accomplishments of small and large Valley businesses and the positive influence they have on the community and economy. Here are the 2018 IMPACT Award recipients: SMALL TO MEDIUM BUSINESS LARGE BUSINESS CATEGORY (more than 250 employees): CATEGORY (250 employees or fewer): Arizona Advocate: Arizona Advocate: ISM Raceway Arizona Public Service (APS) Community Champion: Community Champion: Delta Dental of Arizona Salt River Project (SRP) Economic Driver: Economic Driver: Phoenix Suns Plaza Companies Exceptional Innovator: Exceptional Innovator: Phoenix Children’s Hospital Equality Health The two 2018 IMPACT Businesses of the Year will be selected from these honorees and announced during the 31st Annual IMPACT Awards Luncheon on Thursday, May 24, 2018, at the Arizona Biltmore.

President and CEO: Michael Atkinson Publisher: Cheryl Green Vice president of operations: Audrey Webb EDITORIAL Editor in chief: Michael Gossie Associate editors: Steve Burks | Jesse A. Millard Interns: Will Everett | Emily Gadberry | Sage Schneider Contributing writers: Michelle De Blasi | Chris Davey Stephanie Morse | Erin Thorburn | Jackie Wright | Steven G. Zylstra ART Art director: Mike Mertes Graphic designer: Bruce Andersen MARKETING/EVENTS Marketing & events manager: Cristal Rodriguez Marketing specialist: Gloria Del Grosso OFFICE Special projects manager: Sara Fregapane Executive assistant: Mayra Rivera Database solutions manager: Amanda Bruno AZ BUSINESS MAGAZINE Senior account manager: David Harken Account managers: April Rice | Thomas Patterson AZ BUSINESS ANGELS Director of sales: Cindy Kurtze

PROVIDED RENDERING

IMPACT PLAYER: Plaza Companies, which earned a 2018

IMPACT Award as an Economic Driver, is redeveloping Park Central into a dynamic mixed-use office and retail project.

WHO ARE THE VALLEY’S BEST PARTY HOSTS?

How would you like to be mentioned in the same social breaths as Cindy Crawford, Heidi Klum, Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon? Two Valley couples can make that claim.

After surveying 1,000 in-the-know social authorities from coast to coast, The Salonniere announced its 2018 Salonniere 100, an annual list of America’s 100 best party hosts.

The Paradise Valley dynamic duo of Jason Rose, co-founder of Rose+Moser+Allyn Public and Online Relations, and Jordan Rose, founder of Rose Law Group, were among the 100 party people to make the list. Also making the list were Renee and Bob Parsons, who attracted 10,000 bikers, motorcycle enthusiasts and music lovers Jason and Jordan Rose in 2017 to his annual Bob’s Biker Blast.

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AZ BUSINESS LEADERS Director of sales: Sheri Brown AZ HOME & DESIGN AZRE | ARIZONA COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE Director of sales: Ann McSherry EXPERIENCE ARIZONA | PLAY BALL Director of sales: Donna Roberts RANKING ARIZONA Director of sales: Sheri King Az Business magazine is published bi-monthly by AZ BIG Media, 3101 N. Central Ave. Suite 1070, Phoenix, Arizona 85012, (602) 277-6045. The publisher accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or artwork. Submissions will not be returned unless accompanied by a SASE. Single copy price $4.95. Bulk rates available. Copyright 2017 by AZ BIG Media. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from AZ BIG Media.

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TRENDSETTERS

5

WAYS to maximize email marketing efforts

Email marketing continues to be one of the most affordable and effective ways to stay in touch with your new, current and potential clients. Here are five tips from Michael Toll, CEO of Valley-based FireDrum Internet Marketing, to help you excel in your email marketing efforts

Each year, the Phoenix Ad Club celebrates creativity, collaboration and community with the American Advertising Awards (ADDYs). Awards are handed out in categories such as logo design, copywriting, art direction in print advertising and broadcast.

This year’s top awards included a Best of Show award to Relentless Inc., for its Massage Envy campaign “Blissmas.” Agency and club promotion also proved a way to unleash creativity, with Copywriting of the Year going to Hapi for its 2017 ADDYs campaign, and Art Direction of the Year to R&R Partners for “The R&R Way.”

INDIVIDUAL PROFESSIONALS WERE ALSO HONORED AND INCLUDED: Creative Professional of the Year: Ben Galloway, creative director, Off Madison Ave J. Terry Groener Memorial Award/Ad Person of the Year: Scott Harkey, president, OH Partners Phyllis Ehlinger Women of Excellence Award: Alicia Wadas, executive vice president and COO, Lavidge Young Person of the Year: Kate Sitter, account coordinator, Anderson Advertising

Ben Galloway Scott Harkey

Kate Sitter

Alicia Wadas

COMPANIES THAT TOOK HOME THE MOST AWARDS OH Partners 38 awards, including 12 gold R&R Partners 23 awards, including 14 gold HAPI 14 awards, including 4 gold Moses, Inc. 13 awards, including 4 gold BIG YAM, The Parsons Agency 11 awards, including 3 gold Blind Society 9 awards, including 3 gold 6

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Commit Agency 8 awards, including 3 gold Riester 7 awards, including 2 gold Off Madison Ave. 6 awards, including 3 gold LaneTerralever 6 awards, including 1 gold ps:studios 5 awards, including 2 gold The James Agency 5 awards, including 2 gold

Fisher 4 awards, including 1 gold Lavidge 4 awards, including 1 gold Santy Integrated 4 awards, including 1 gold DigitalWire 360 4 awards FabCom 4 awards TMHK, LLC 4 awards

1 2 3 4 5

Encourage people to subscribe.

Use a combination of a clear sign-up form that is clearly visible on your website, exit-intent popups and invite subscribers through your social networks. Don’t ask for too much information.

Let the user be in control of what they receive and when they receive it. Categorize your email contacts into segments to help send relevant and actionable content.

Design your emails to be mobile friendly. Use mobile responsive templates, large buttons and a limited amount of text.

Keep it short, simple and personalized with a single-topic message, targeted at specific clients.

Automate when possible to keep your audience engaged.

A welcome campaign for new subscribers, birthday promotions, subscription renewal reminders and educational nurturing campaigns are just a few ways to take advantage of automation campaigns.

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TRENDSETTERS

CANYON STATE CREDIT UNION USES HIGH-TECH AUTHENTICATION Canyon State Credit Union recently converted to Fiserv’s DNA account processing platform, which includes palm-vein biometric authentication. It is the first credit union in Arizona to include this authentication avenue for its members.

“We had a vision of what we needed to take banking to the next level, from the front line to the back office,” said Jane Dobbs, president and CEO of Canyon State Credit Union. “Integrating palm-vein biometrics technology with the DNA account processing platform gives our members an innovative choice for member verification that can mitigate fraud, reduce transactions times and improve branch service delivery.”

Jane Dobbs

7 TRAITS TO SEEK

IN A PROFESSIONAL MENTOR Seeking out a mentor is a key way to develop as a professional. Here are qualities Cheryl Hyatt of Hyatt-Fennell Executive Search says you should look for before approaching someone:

• WISDOM Fundamental to what we look for in a mentor is someone who has not only knowledge, but wisdom. A deeper, broader perspective on the world and insight into life.

• E XPERTISE Do they have experience and skills you want to emulate?

• AVAILABILITY Do they have time to spend with you? While it doesn’t need to be a heavy investment, they should be able to meet regularly and be available for occasional counsel.

• OPENNESS Are they willing to listen to what you need or do they just like to talk about themselves and their past? You want • GENEROSITY Are they willing to share their someone who is willing to invest in experience and connections with you? you personally.

What Valley cities are the

happiest?

The U.S. Declaration of Independence speaks about the “pursuit of happiness” as a universal right. Everyone gets joy These Valley cities from different things, whether it’s family, friends, activities, ranked in the Top 100. entertainment or work. But what people might not realize is #14 Scottsdale that where you live may also determine how happy you are. #20 Gilbert Lucky for us, several Metro Phoenix cities are among the 100 #40 Chandler happiest in the U.S., according to a WalletHub study. Based #42 Peoria on 28 key indicators of happiness, ranging from depression rate to income-growth rate to average leisure time spent per #58 Tempe day, Fremont, Calif. is the happiest city in America. #77 Mesa 10

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• HONESTY Are they willing to be open about their own mistakes and forthright in their feedback to you.

• REPUTATION. Are they respected by those around them? Do others benefit from their influence?

WE’RE DRINKING MORE COFFEE THAN EVER. According to the National Coffee Association’s annual survey on Coffee Drinking Trends, 64 percent of people in the U.S. drink coffee daily - the highest daily consumption of our favorite morning beverage since 2012. Some other interesting findings in the report:

• 48 percent of Millennials drink coffee they consider gourmet.

• 79 percent of coffee drinkers brew their coffee at home.

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TRENDSETTERS

Forbes has named its list of the Best-In-State Wealth Advisors, so if you’re looking for someone to grow your wealth, Forbes says these are the folks who will do it. Rankings are based on an algorithm of qualitative and quantitative criteria, including in-person interviews, industry experience, client retention data and revenue trends.

HERE ARE ARIZONA’S TOP 15:

4 questions to determine acceptable behavior

Sexual harassment prevention trainer Ken Cooper offers up four simple questions that anyone can ask to determine whether their behavior is acceptable at the workplace. “With these questions,” Cooper says, “it’s easy to figure out where the line is, and how not to go near it.”

Arizona could become first to allow tax payments in Bitcoin Arizonans could be the first in the country to pay their state taxes in Bitcoin if a bill introduced in the Legislature becomes law.

Proponents say this would put Arizona on the forefront of cryptocurrency, which is digital currency, using code and encryption to protect their creation and transfer.

Although they have become increasingly popular, some experts say it’s too early to tell whether cryptocurrencies will be reliable long term. Sen. Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, who sponsored Senate Bill 1091, said the measure would create more convenience and ease for taxpayers.

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1 2

“Is it OK to do?” – If you wonder about it, then by definition, it isn’t.

“Would you mind it being publicized?”

– Would it bother you to have a picture and a caption of your actions published in this magazine? If so, don’t do it.

3

“Would you do it in front of an important person?” – Would you do it to your CEO’s spouse at a meeting? In front of your significant other? No? Then don’t do it at all.

4

“Why would you need to do it?” – What business process required it? If there isn’t a business reason for your action, don’t do it.

ARE WOMEN OR MEN MORE RUDE TO WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE? As women have increased their ranks in the workplace, most admit to experiencing rude behavior and incivility.

But who is at fault for dishing out these sometimes harassing behaviors?

Allison Gabriel, assistant professor of management and organizations at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management wanted to answer that question.

“Across three studies, we found consistent evidence that women reported higher levels of incivility from other women than their male counterparts,” Gabriel said. “In other words, women are ruder to each other than they are to men, or than men are to women.”

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CEO SERIES

Millennials make a move

Fennemore Craig’s James Goodnow becomes youngest managing partner of a major law firm

By MICHAEL GOSSIE

Y

ou know the Millennials have arrived when a tech geek becomes the youngest known managing partner of a major American law firm.

James Goodnow, whom the ABA Journal designated as one of “America’s Techiest Lawyers,” was recently elected the managing partner of Fennemore Craig (the CEO of a law firm), one of the oldest and largest law firms in the Southwest.

Az Business talked tech and other things with the Millennial maverick.

Az Business: How has technology helped put you in the position you’re in today?

James Goodnow: The legal industry is a laggard when it comes to adopting technology. I was fortunate, however, to work at a firm and with a group of lawyers that realized early on that we need to get out in front of technology before we get left behind. Technology permeates every aspect of our practice, including how we get cases, how we manage cases and how we present them. We utilize all types of technology to present our cases and communicate with our clients—including Google Glass, augmented reality, virtual reality and 3-D printing.

AB: How will technology change your industry over the next five years?

JG: Too many ways to count. A big one is Artificial Intelligence, which Fennemore Craig is leading the way on using. AI software we use can perform basic legal research quickly and cheaply, and generate a serviceable memo that a partner can refine into a high-end legal product. This saves our clients time and money, and lets the junior associates who would have previously been tasked with that research focus their time on developing their practical legal skills.

Clients pay less, and attorneys get trained up faster. Everybody wins.

AB: Why have Millennials developed such a negative reputation?

JG: It’s inevitable. Socrates bemoaned the youth of his day. Every generation defines itself partly in reaction to the generations that came before it, which naturally causes friction.

Millennials favor egalitarian ideals over hierarchies, and worklife blending over strict distinctions between work and home life.

They want to contribute and be heard. It’s a response directly in opposition to the more hierarchical Boomer mindset. Give it 30 years and the Millennials will be the ones complaining that these new kids are doing everything differently.

JAMES GOODNOW:

“What I hope to develop going forward is a culture of openness to radical reinvention,” says the president of Fennemore Craig and chair of its management committee.

“We need to be questioning the basic premises of what makes a law firm work. Alternative fees, low-overhead business models, nontraditional staffing, new practice groups, I want us to be experimenting constantly.”

PROVIDED PHOTO 14

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AB: What qualities helped you become a leader at such a young age?

JG: When I joined the firm, I was passionate about making myself into the best lawyer I could be. Over time, that passion expanded outward, to developing my practice and then to the firm as a whole.

I’ve never been shy about my desire to work hard and be the best I can be at whatever I do. My goal is no different for the firm: it’s to work with the talented people at this 133-year-old enterprise to make it the best version of itself that it can be.

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LAW

FLIRTING DISASTER

WITH

Has the #metoo movement made the potential for a workplace romance a thing of the past?

By MICHAEL GOSSIE

T

he #metoo movement has brought a lot of dark areas to light about how women are treated in the workplace.

But there are grey areas that remain in the movement’s wake — one of them being flirting and relationships that start in the workplace. Research shows that more than 30 percent of all relationships begin in the workplace. Has the #metoo movement made that off limits now? What are the rules in this new environment and do they need to be changed in light of all that has happened in the wake of Weinstein?

“The fine line that existed between welcome and unwelcome conduct has been magnified and likely gotten even finer during the #metoo and #TimesUp shifting point,” says Nonnie Shivers, a shareholder at Ogletree Deakins. “While Title VII does not prohibit co-workers

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from having personal, social and even sexual relationships, consent – and more specifically, enthusiastic, reaffirmed consent – is more critical than ever to know — and to be able to later show — that conduct remains welcome.”

Shivers points out that employees are not sexless automatons and not every wink is sexual or harassing. However, knowing where that line is and when it’s crossed is so individualized and specific to the situation that no one can always ensure they are reading the signs correctly and their overtures are welcome, so flirting at work is best viewed warily as potentially flirting with disaster.

KNOW THE DIFFERENCE “It’s important to recognize the difference of isolated workplace flirting

and harassment or abuse of power,” says John Alan Doran, a member at Sherman & Howard. “If you’re a boss flirting with a subordinate, you are at much greater risk because you wield implied power and influence even without trying. While #metoo serves an incredibly important social problem, it has also dramatically lowered the bar on what is and isn’t considered harmless flirtation.”

With the ever-evolving awareness of workplace misbehavior — both real and perceived — the risks of office romances can be even greater, according to Jodi Bohr, shareholder at Gallagher & Kennedy.

“Employers need to be aware of office romances and make sure there is not an imbalance of power between the two (supervisor in a relationship with a direct report),” Bohr says. “This creates a risk of a

Jodi Bohr

John Alan Doran

Nonnie Shivers

retaliation; consensual romance in the workplace policies; and love contracts.

A person jilted by the termination of a relationship may decide to subsequently claim that the relationship was not consensual. A previously signed love contract acknowledging the consensual nature of the relationship will go a long way in preventing or even defending against such a claim.”

Doran says policies and training should be clear that professionalism is demanded in all work settings and interactions, including electronically — text, instant PROTECT YOURSELF While experts agree that office romances message, email — and in any setting where co-workers are together, such as an off-site are almost inevitable, there are things employers can do to minimize the risk of a work trip, car ride to sites, office parties, etc. legal issue arising from an office romance “Give employees as many avenues to — whether it leads to a walk down the express concerns as possible, including aisle or an ugly breakup. anonymous hotlines or electronic “Audit your office romance, nepotism reporting avenues,” Doran says. “Train and non-fraternization policies the investigators — whether it’s human and practices,” Shivers says. “Ask resources, legal or other — to know how introspectively, ‘What scenarios have to effectively handle concerns from both arisen in the past and what opportunities an employer and employee perspective exist to clarify or revamp policies and and on core and advanced investigatory practical approaches?’” techniques, such as how to determine While Shivers says total prohibitions whether a concern is substantiated or not on office romances remain unusual and substantiated even without the colloquial unrealistic, prohibiting relationships smoking gun, which rarely exists.” between direct reports or those within So, has the sun set on office flirting? the same chain of command, anyone in “It’s still okay to flirt,” Doran says. “but human resources or senior leadership may play nice, keep it clean and stop the instant minimize legal risk if such policies are you receive negative feedback.” thoughtfully drafted and implemented And what if you cannot help yourself? consistently. Shiver also stresses that “There’s really not a lot at stake here — policies need to discuss workplace flirting and romance up front and clearly define (as just your job, your professional reputation, much as possible) what is acceptable versus your livelihood and maybe even your family life,” Doran says. “It may sound unacceptable conduct. overly dramatic, but when you look at “Employers should maintain the the profound falls from grace for some necessary policies to address situations extremely high-profile individuals, it that may arise as a result of office doesn’t take much to recognize what’s at romances,” Bohr says. “Those policies stake here.” include policies against harassment and that (consensual) flirting in the workplace is now off limits, office romances must be banned, or that properly implemented workplace rules need to be changed,” Bohr says. “Rather, a change in the focus of sexual harassment training and heightened awareness by employees, especially supervisors, should be sufficient to ensure that flirting does not cross the line into harassment, or if it does, that employers are prepared to properly address the situation.”

subsequent sexual harassment complaint in a romance gone awry situation. It may also make people outside the relationship feel as if their co-worker is getting special treatment because of the relationship.”

So how can a hopeless romantic tell when it’s right and when it’s wrong?

“One of the requirements for conduct to be considered sexual harassment is for the conduct to be unwelcome,” Bohr says.

“This requirement means there is a fine line between flirting or overly-friendly behavior and harassment. Employers must be sensitive to flirting, but more so to the dynamic that is created when a relationship starts (or even ends) in the workplace.”

Bohr does have some positive news for those looking for love in the workplace.

“The #metoo movement does not mean

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TECHNOLOGY

MAKING THE Here’s how Metro Phoenix has become the Silicon Valley of education technology

By STEPHANIE MORSE

P

hoenix has become a hotbed for education technology — or EdTech — startups in recent years with more than 50 companies in the Valley.

Over the last several years, EdTech startups in Arizona have garnered national attention and captured millions of dollars in venture capital from states across the nation. The success of existing EdTech companies, improving entrepreneurial ecosystems, school choice environment and strong universities has created a large and growing cluster of EdTech companies in Phoenix, according to local leaders.

“A lot of people in this industry actually call this area the Silicon Valley of education technology,” said Frank Healy, CEO of Higher Ed Growth, an EdTech startup in Tempe.

EdTech in the Valley rose to the national scene with success of the Apollo Education Group in the 1980s and ’90s. The company started the University of Phoenix, a forprofit college with online and in-person classes focused on providing higher education for adults.

“I think the amount of money the Apollo group was spending really created the EdTech space here in Phoenix,” said Healy, who worked with Apollo at the University of Phoenix before starting Higher Ed Growth. “Because of the dollars they were spending, all the businesses flocked here.”

RECENT SUCCESSES The more recent success of Blackboard, a learning management system, and Parchment, an online digital credential service, has continued to draw attention

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to Phoenix and attract other EdTech companies.

Steven G. Zylstra, president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council, said these businesses created a clustering effect in the area, allowing startups and companies to share resources and expertise.

“Companies tend to congregate around companies of the same industry,” Zylstra said. “They get to share supply chains and you end up with a workforce that’s knowledgeable about the industry. All of those are key factors to the development of an economic cluster such as we’ve seen grow here in Arizona.”

GR DE

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TECHNOLOGY

“Arizona has been one of the more progressive, open states in looking at creative solutions to help students, including technology.” — Leslie Sobon Frank Healy

Zylstra also said Arizona’s improving entrepreneurial landscape has continued to grow the EdTech industry in the Phoenix area. The increased focus on startups and the growing number of accelerators, incubators and co-working spaces has helped Phoenix attract more startups in EdTech and other fields.

“All of the things that were conducive to growing entrepreneurial companies generally speaking are applied to EdTech equally and created the spike of activity that we have now,” Zylstra said.

Companies in California, New York and Massachusetts, however, still receive 78 percent of all startup investment funding in the United States, causing funding challenges for some startups in Arizona, including those in EdTech.

“I would say the one flaw or challenge we have in our entrepreneurial ecosystem is capital and that’s not unique to EdTech,” Zylstra said. “We only have just a few venture capitalists in town. You can count them on one hand, unfortunately. We have two very good angel groups, but when you make that next hop beyond angels, they are few and far between.”

OUTSIDE HELP The lack of funding and venture capital in Phoenix caused EdTech and other startups to have to look outside of the state for investments, which can prove to be more difficult.

“Entrepreneurial companies are able to get capital,” Zylstra said. “It’s just a measure harder, because when you’re seeking the funding outside the community, there’s more effort that has to go in.”

Despite these challenges, EdTech in the 20

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Valley has captured more than $100 million in venture capital during the past several years, according to EdTechAZ. Zylstra said companies have received funding from people and groups in Texas, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and California.

“Entrepreneurial companies have to go outside the region to raise money and that’s where the leadership qualities and models that exist here are helpful,” Zylstra said.

“People know that Phoenix and Arizona are sort of a hotbed for these kinds of companies. It allays some of their fears about investing outside of their own territory.”

Industry leaders also said the education environment in Arizona fosters creativity and encourages innovation in education, including looking at technology for solutions.

“Arizona has been one of the more progressive, open states in looking at creative solutions to help students, including technology,” said Leslie Sobon, vice president of marketing and customer experience for Edgenuity, an EdTech company in Scottsdale.

Arizona is one of the top three states in the nation for school choice, according to the Center for Education Reform’s 2017 Parent Power Index. Both Sobon and Zylstra said this created an environment open to embracing technology in the classroom.

“From a policy standpoint, we’re a leader in offering choice,” Zylstra said. “We’re a top state in the nation for offering choice in K-12, which led to the whole charter school movement. That was highly disruptive.”

CHARTERING A COURSE Sobon directly credited charter schools for helping Edgenuity grow because they are often innovative and more open to change.

Leslie Sobon

Steven Zylstra

“Certainly, what has helped Edgenuity is school choice,” Sobon said. “The ability for charters who are always more experimental to some degree has been part of our initial success.”

EdTech leaders also said Arizona State University and the other higher education institutions in the state help create this creative environment. ASU was recently ranked the most innovative university in the nation for the third year in a row by U.S. News and World Report.

“Having the strength of the university, especially with ASU, has helped,” Sobon said. “The higher-ed industry, and the companies and universities serving that, has helped as well just as an incubator and an understanding of looking at education from creative solutions and an open perspective of, ‘How can we make it better?’ or ‘How can we look at the classroom and make it more receptive to teachers and students?’”

Sobon said this creativity trickles down into the K-12 space, creating a more innovative environment overall.

“I think that comes from a lot of those factors, like having a university that’s really leading the charge in innovation around education,” Sobon said. “Overall, that all seeps down into the K-12 space.”

Sobon said the education environment in Phoenix is crucial for EdTech, because the industry is focused first on the classroom.

“It’s much more about the education environment here,” Sobon said. “Education begins with academic goals for the student more than it is looking at it from any sort of business perspective. We really focus on the classroom perspective first.”

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BA

BANKING

N

G ON N I K

Artificial intelligence is cutting costs and enhancing security for the financial services industry

By JESSE A. MILLARD

B

anking has always relied on data for day-to-day operations.

Spreadsheets analyzed by human eyes used to reign supreme, but now there are miles of server racks storing terabytes of information humans could never fully parse through in a lifetime.

To help bankers examine this treasure trove of data, artificial intelligence (AI) technology has utilized machine learning to revolutionize the financial industry and the way banks do business.

A Mercator Advisory Group report called “Bringing AI into the Enterprise: A Machine Learning Primer” states, “Like software, machine learning can be applied to an extremely wide range of specific problems across all business domains.”

The financial services industry, along with many other industries that collect large amounts of data, has been applying AI to bring value to this data, says Michael Cocanower, founder and president of itSynergy.

Cocanower says AI can be used to speed up customer service requests, beef up cybersecurity and analyze patterns of behavior, all of which the financial services industry has been employing in recent years.

“AI saves tons of time,” Cocanower says. When it comes to banking customer service requests, AI could be used to help keep the humans busy on the important and more complicated tasks.

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“If all I need is a simple, straight-forward request, like resetting a password for example, the faster you can get me that, the better.

And I don’t know if I necessarily need to deal with a human being,” Cocanower says.

THE AI REVOLUTION One way the banking industry has been deploying AI is through investment operations. Since the early part of 2017, JPMorgan Chase has been using an AI program called LOXM in Europe to help with real-time trades, according to a report by the Financial Times.

Many investment firms and financial services companies like BlackRock and Merrill Lynch have been using or experimenting with stock-picking AI software. One of the interesting things about these types of AI platforms, Cocanower notes, is that they don’t just analyze the markets, but the AI dives into social media, television and news services to assist with the decision making.

“And the AI can make those decisions faster than a human,” Cocanower says.

Artificial intelligence isn’t just being used to speed up processes, analyze data and deepen the relationship between a bank and its customers. It’s no secret that automation and AI is

“AI CAN MAKE DECISIONS FASTER THAN A HUMAN.” — Michael Cocanower

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BANKING

“AI WILL MAKE LIFE A LOT EASIER FOR CUSTOMERS.” —Sriram Belur

replacing jobs and the banking and financial services industry is not immune to this effect. A 2013 report by researchers at Oxford University says that 47 percent of total U.S. employment could eventually be replaced by robots.

Former Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit told Bloomberg Television that 30 percent of banking jobs could disappear over the next five years.

As these possibilities loom and AI is implemented by executives and technologists, there are still other things to consider besides deciding to use AI. Banks need to figure out if they have the infrastructure to handle all of the data and technology to act upon this data. Sriram Belur, technology executive director at JPMorgan Chase, says Chase didn’t have the level of computing infrastructure 10 years ago needed for massive AI implementation.

Banks still have to analyze and make the data useful, while also living within the banking industry’s evolving regulatory framework and keeping privacy in mind, Belur says.

And there’s also the question, “What are we unleashing?” The Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research lab has reported that two AIs taught to negotiate deals stopped using language created by humans and replaced it with their own language for negotiating.

The AIs may not have achieved singularity, but experts say this is a signal of what’s to come in our changing and futuristic world.

says Matt Gilbreath, senior vice president and regional manager for Alliance Bank of Arizona. “Leveraging this data will continue to be a large component of our operating model in the years to come.”

Having access to a knowledgeable banker is still a big part of how Alliance Bank does business, Gilbreath adds. Tools like AI and FinTech will help support the “speed and responsiveness that really matter to customers and risk modeling fueled by artificial Sriram Belur intelligence as a tool to support our decision-making,” Belur says Chase is focused on using AI to deliver products and services through its digital platforms in a more efficient and elegant way for customers.

Although Chase Bank is in its early stages with these technologies, the bank is optimizing its operations so it can bring relevant information to its customers.

One of the most adopted uses of machine learning in the financial services industry is for fraud detection. AI can help reduce the incidence of false transactions and fraud, whether it’s through a point of sale system or with checks, Belur says.

AI will make life a lot easier for customers, Belur Michael says, as every interaction between Chase and a Cocanower customer will become smarter.

“Having the data and applying machine learning or AI will help us connect the dots to be a lot smarter to know who the customer is and understand what their preferences are,” Belur says, “so we can provide the right experience for them.”

Banks don’t just need bankers anymore, as they now need teams of data engineers, data scientists and INTERFACING WITH THE CLIENT software engineers who will be focused on artificial The demise of face-to-face interaction between intelligence, Belur says. financial institutions and humans isn’t here — at Moving forward, this growing technology will least not yet. But experts say these new technologies have a huge impact on the banking industry and Matt Gilbreath provide tools to help the humans do their jobs better, components like machine learning “will be embedded faster, smarter. in everything that we do,” Belur says.

“Analytics and big data play a significant part in the research tools “Vendor products will have AI and machine learning built in,” he Alliance Bank of Arizona uses to not only underwrite loans, but also adds. “Things we build will have the learning component built in. It to improve our relationship-centric approach to doing business,” will become the norm and part of the things we do every day.”

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MOST INFLUENTIAL

WOMEN

IN ARIZONA

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azBIGmedia.com AB | May - June 2018 25

FINANCIAL EXECUTIVES INTERNATIONAL

M NEY MATTERS Meet the finalists for the Arizona Chapter of FEI’s 1st Annual Controller of the Year Awards

By MICHAEL GOSSIE

H

ow does the Arizona Chapter of Financial Executives International (FEI) top 2017, when it was named “Most Outstanding Chapter” at the FEI Leadership Summit in Anaheim? The chapter has added a new event.

To supplement its very popular CFO of the Year Awards, the Arizona Chapter of FEI will present the 1st Annual Controller of the Year Awards. Since 1931, FEI has been recognized globally as the leading organization for senior-level financial executives and the Controller of the Year Awards is expected to be one of the most prestigious financial executive events in Arizona in 2018.

Sponsors of the awards include BMO Harris Bank, Lovitt & Touché, Moss Adams and VincentBenjamin.

For more information or to register for the event, visit feiaz.org.

Here are the finalists for the 1st Annual Controller of the Year Awards:

Lori Browning

Senior vice president and controller Grand Canyon University BACKGROUND: In 2008, and with an eye to the future, GCU President Brian Mueller took the university public with a $230 million IPO to usher in a new era of growth and expansion. Browning joined GCU in 2008 and was on the front lines of managing the IPO, in addition to putting in place sound accounting practices, policies and procedures, she recruited, trained and developed a team, which has grown from 10 to 60 professionals.

IMPACT ON COMPANY: Browning is not afraid to give up responsibilities as a means of advancing her team’s learning. Browning helps her staff members master their current positions and then grooms them for roles of greater responsibility. She engages her managers in continuing education, covers the cost of additional classes to enhance their skills and even encouraged two of her employees to take the CPA exam, which they passed with flying colors.

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I B RO

WNING

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FEI

Ross Grainger

with all parties, including bankers, private equity investors and target company staff.

Senior director of finance and controller WebPT

IMPACT ON COMPANY: Grainger has helped guide the prioritization of product innovation by being able to forecast what has the greatest potential to deliver return. And

BACKGROUND: Grainger’s responsibilities range from the standard activities you would expect in an accounting department and other responsibilities you may not normally expect from a controller. He is also the lead finance member for all mergers and acquisitions activity, working

Claire Janssen

Susan B. McNeece

Vice president and controller S|T|O|R|E Capital

Financial controller MedAire Inc.

BACKGROUND: Janssen has more than 30 years of financial management experience and has been in her current role since November 2012.

She oversees real estate accounting, corporate accounting and treasury.

One of her areas of focus is accounting for the company’s more than $1 billion of acquisitions per year, which often include complex arrangements.

The company went public in 2014 and Janssen oversaw SOX compliance, which resulted in no deficiencies in the year-end audit. Janssen has also been instrumental in numerous automation projects, including an automated monthly reconciliation tool, which has allowed the company’s closing process to become paperless.

BACKGROUND: McNeece started with MedAire in December 2015. Eight months into her role, the senior director of finance moved to special assignment and McNeece took over responsibility for the accounting department. For the next year, she and her team took on additional responsibilities and met all deadlines including three-day close and critical key performance indicators. She trained her team to best utilize their talents and give them true ownership and accountability to assigned tasks. This reorganization of the team workload allowed the Phoenix accounting platform she manages to become MedAire’s Global Accounting Center after absorbing all processing tasks previously managed out of the United Kingdom and Singapore.

IMPACT ON COMPANY: Recognizing that some of the best process improvements and solutions come from first-line employees, Janssen has employed a team approach in an effort to further shorten the closing cycle, which will allow the CEO, CFO, executive team and financial reporting to have quicker visibility into financial results.

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his implementation of greater transparency across the company has helped ensure everyone is focused on the right things at the right time. In the three years Ross has been with WebPT, headcount has doubled and revenue has increased almost threefold while dropping 4 percent more of revenue to the bottom line. He has also been the lead finance analyst on three acquisitions in three years.

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AIR

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RAINGER

E JANSSEN

SU SA N

E B. MCNEEC

IMPACT ON COMPANY: With no option on the market, McNeece took the lead in designing and developing a “vouchers” customization of MedAire’s Great Plains system.

It solved a clear business need for MedAire, which sells a large portion of its medical kits via prepaid vouchers.

AB | May - June 2018 29

FEI

Revea Schmidt

Megan Stallone

BACKGROUND: Schmidt is responsible for developing the annual budget for the accounting department, which is made up of 90 employees and six groups.

With Schmidt’s oversight, VEREIT developed job-cost coding that was implemented across the company, requiring all departments to be trained in the new process. As the company looks toward 2018, Schmidt has sponsored a project to implement a job-costing module within the accounting system that will better support the managing and accounting for the company’s capital expenditures.

BACKGROUND: Stallone joined Troon in 2008 as the assistant controller and has held her current position since 2013.

Stallone’s business acumen and ability to distill complex issues for others has cemented her position as a valued leader at Troon. As such, she currently acts as the chairperson of the Troon Advisory Committee, a group made up of the company’s senior vice presidents charged with providing insight to the company’s executive team.

Vice president, corporate controller, accounting VEREIT Inc.

IMPACT ON COMPANY: Schmidt recently used Workiva software to improve VEREIT’s SEC filing and financial reporting process.

Schmidt leveraged Workiva’s capabilities to standardize and track and manage department budget-versus-actual reporting, which led to improved efficiency and enhanced the quality of reports. Schmidt’s innovation reduced the time and effort associated with managing budget variances, while utilizing the existing Workiva system.

AJ Stockwell

Senior vice president of finance and controller Troon Golf

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A SC

HMIDT

N STALLONE

AJ S

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completely build the team and many of its processes. He oversees all financial reporting procedures and is the main BACKGROUND: While he was completing point of contact with the company’s his Masters of Taxation at ASU, Stockwell accounting firm to ensure timely was the first accounting and finance completion of assurance engagements hire at Tuft & Needle, joining the and tax compliance. He is also the decompany in 2014 as one of its first 15 facto treasurer, responsible for cash and employees. Being the first accounting liquidity management and working with hire, Stockwell had the opportunity to the company’s banking partners.

Controller Tuft & Needle

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IMPACT ON COMPANY: When Stallone ascended to the controller position, the closing process comprised almost 40 days, consuming the entire staff’s daily activities for much of the year.

By re-evaluating the activities of the staff with a quantum change in output required, Stallone re-imagined the process by establishing standard work flows and output, pushing forward activities prior to close where possible and realigning responsibilities to reduce the closing cycle to seven days.

IMPACT ON COMPANY: After seeing disputed charges spiking in 2016. Stockwell put together a task force to combat fraud, which included members of the finance and customer experience teams.

That cross-functional team brought the rate of disputed charges from more than 1 percent to less than 0.1 percent.

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AB | May - June 2018 31

MARKETING

SOCIAL MEDIA IN 2018:

How to drive ROI in an era of mistrust I

n light of the recent Facebook data breach and rampant fake news, more and more people are taking a break from social media—and that fact comes with some serious implications for your company. People are on social media less, and they have less faith in content they see there. Ultimately, this means that your followers might not see your posts, or they may not trust the content you post. Businesses that rely heavily on social media to promote their products or services could take a hit. At a minimum, your return on social media marketing investment could be affected.

Here’s what you need to know.

THE IMPACT OF FACEBOOK’S DATA BREACH Social media is facing some major problems. Facebook’s data breach undermined user confidence in the social media giant, prompting many to go elsewhere or at least limit their time and posts on the platform. According to research agency Toluna, almost 8 percent of people polled say that they deleted their

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Facebook accounts after the news broke, and more than 34 percent changed their privacy settings—and the impact of the Facebook data breach was not limited to Facebook alone. Toluna found that nearly 74 percent of people will be more careful about the information they share on other social media platforms, including Twitter and Instagram.

FAKE NEWS AND SOCIAL MEDIA Add to this the problem of “fake news” that has been so rampant, and you have a real problem. The public is waking up to it, and turning their backs on news in general as a trusted source of information. People are losing faith in the media, period.

And that could see PR retreating even further into the shadows as the industry’s reputation slips ever lower. People are paying less attention to the news than ever before. They assume that facts are exaggerated or overstated, all in the hopes of generating clicks, shares, and likes—so they stop paying attention.

And, pretty soon, they will have less chance to pay attention anyway.

CHANGING ALGORITHMS In response to public outcry, Facebook is renewing its commitment to “bringing people closer together.” In January, the social media company announced that it would start prioritizing posts from people over companies. “Because space in News Feed is limited, showing more posts from friends and family and updates that spark conversation means we’ll show less public content, including videos and other posts from publishers or businesses,” says Facebook. “As we make these updates, Pages may see their reach, video watch time and referral traffic decrease.” While the extent of the decline in traffic will vary by Page and the quality of the content it produces, this change still has important implications for your company.

Namely, you Jackie Wright are going to need Marketing to change your strategy if you want to keep getting the same return on your marketing investment dollars.

The question is, how can you drive ROI in this era of mistrust?

USER-GENERATED CONTENT One opportunity is user-generated content. For example, this could involve sharing customer posts, a popular Instagram strategy for companies such as Starbucks and Netflix. “Instead of producing their own content all the time, businesses are tapping into the power of their audience (and influencers) and reposting user-generated content, which generates more engagement and trust,” explains social media scheduling site Buffer. “By reposting their customers’ social media posts, they are also encouraging more customers to post about their brands on social media, thereby increasing their brand reach.”

User-generated content is trusted more than other types of content. According to Buffer, when content is user generated, it produces engagement that is seven times higher than brand-generated posts. People also trust user-generated images more than brand-generated ones. Plus, around 56 percent of all people will buy a product after seeing a positive user-generated post.

NEW VISUALS The way your followers consume information is changing too. The rise of video has certainly

been a thing. Research shows that social video advertising went up 130 percent year over year in 2017, and it isn’t slowing down—yet.

News Feeds are being saturated with video, but Facebook’s algorithm change is going to limit some of that. Companies pursuing a video-based strategy will need to up their games and create content that truly sparks discussion instead of passive likes.

Instagram Stories present one of the best opportunities. Add tags and text to short recordings of your company’s products, processes at work, store fronts or staff. They are searchable and visible by everyone—even people who are not your followers. You can also use Facebook Live. Either one is a great way to take your followers on a journey, to an experience they can’t get on their own. Whether you feature an exotic travel location, a glimpse inside your factory or an interview with someone popular in your industry, video is often seen as more legitimate than still images that are easy to manipulate.

PERSONAL CONTACT In this modern era of mistrust, your attention needs to be on how you can develop trust with your customers—and that may involve getting off the computer. Try to form offline relationships with your customers by putting your attention on meeting people faceto-face. Whether it is a business event or mixer, workshop or expo, happenings that allow people to meet the owner of your company, its staff or its management can help you develop lifelong relationships with your customers.

Plus, when you put your efforts in personal contact, you also create opportunities to allow would-be customers to sample, demo and feel your products.

TAKEAWAY Make sure you are spending your marketing budget to produce the highest possible return on investment by paying attention to what your customers want to hear and being incredibly relevant with your social content. Changes in social media algorithms and consumer media consumption habits are bound to have an effect on how well your marketing content achieves its goals, be it more subscribers or more sales.

Change your approach to meet these changes head on and you can drive your marketing ROI, despite mistrust of the platform.

Jackie Wright is the president of Rainmaker Integrated, a public relations and marketing firm with a specialization in restaurant, retail, hospitality, multifamily housing and niche healthcare.

AB | May - June 2018 33

DINING

STEAK NG ITS CLAIM

J&G Steakhouse’s mouthwatering menu puts it at the top of the Valley’s dining scene

By MICHAEL GOSSIE

H

ere’s what’s wrong with J&G Steakhouse: Nothing.

The food is unrivaled. The view is stunning. The service is superb. A dining experience does not get better than that offered by J&G. Making its home at The Phoenician – the only Forbes Five Star and AAA Five Diamond hotel in the greater Phoenix area – J&G Steakhouse offers a sophisticated and innovative menu inspired by Michelin-starred chef, Jean-Georges Vongerichten. During dinner, diners enjoy dramatic sunsets and views of the Valley while dining on premium meats and a superb selection of seafood. The menu items are complimented by fresh, local ingredients and worldly spices that are masterfully executed by Chef de Cuisine Jacques Qualin.

You’ll realize you’re in for an exceptional meal when you take the first bite of the French-influenced appetizers, which are just as irresistible as the main courses. Some standouts from the exceptional selections: • The Crispy Calamari served with Yuzu Dipping Sauce ($14) will blow your mind with its off-the-charts preparation. J&G mixes the perfect amount of crispiness with flakiness and combines it with a dipping sauce that is so exquisite that you’ll want to skip the main course and order more calamari. But resist the temptation.

• The Black Truffle Cheese Fritters ($11) are even more amazing than its name. Delicious. Scrumptious. Mind-blowing. Words haven’t been invented yet to adequately describe the reaction you’ll have when tasting these, unless it’s, “More, please.”

• There isn’t a single miss on the appetizer menu, but the Asparagus Risotto ($12) and J&G Chopped Salad ($13) with frisée, arugula, pecans and blue cheese also stand out in an appetizer menu filled with deliciousness.

While some view J&G Steakhouse as another celebrity-chef restaurant trying to capture the imaginations of Valley diners, it’s so much more than that. J&G’s great beef and seafood dishes combine with a perfect palette of sensational sauces to make J&G not only one of the Valley’s most high-profile restaurants, it’s arguably the Valley’s best.

Each main course distinguishes itself for its elegant presentation and mouthwatering perfection — and both beef and seafood dishes are equally flawless. But elevating themselves from the starstudded selections: • Maine Lobster ($57). Who says you cannot get better-thanBoston seafood in the desert?

• The 19-ounce Prime Bone-In Rib Eye ($64) and the Filet

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Mignon — served in either eight-ounce ($44) or 12-ounce ($57) portions — are as good as any steak you will find not only in the Valley, but in the world.

• Slowly Cooked Salmon ($32) with sugar snap peas, mashed potatoes and port reduction is such a perfect seafood dish that you won’t be able to describe it to friends because your mouth will be watering at the memory.

Beyond the food, J&G was named a Wine Spectator “Best of Excellence Award” winner for displaying excellent breadth across multiple wine-growing regions and superior presentation. Like we said at the start of the story, J&G is as perfect and well-rounded a dining experience as you will find.

But make reservations soon or you will have to wait. J&G will be closed for remodeling from June 4 through Aug. 31, before reopening for dinner on Saturday, Sept. 1.

J&G STEAKHOUSE

The Phoenician, 6000 E. Camelback Rd., Phoenix 480-214-8000 jgsteakhousescottsdale.com

AB | May - June 2018 35

MADE IN ARIZONA

MADE IN

ARIZONA

Arizona’s manufacturing sector boasts diversity, innovation and a tremendous economic impact

By MICHAEL GOSSIE

W

hile it’s still important, cotton doesn’t even make the cut in 2018.

When you’re discussing Arizona’s economy in 2018, new technologies and high-tech advancements are occurring at the speed of light, changing the game every day.

But at the heart of Arizona’s economy, there are thousands of manufacturers — from industry leaders like Intel, Microchip, Honeywell, Raytheon, JDA Software and Frito Lay to smaller companies that are making a mark like HJ3 Composite Technologies, Kahtoola, Pivot Manufacturing and Instant BioScan — and they are all driving the state into its next era of growth.

“Greater Phoenix is a hub for manufacturing facilities,” says Greater Phoenix Economic Council President and CEO Chris Camacho. “More than 2,700 Arizona-based companies make this state one of the nation’s largest supply chain contributors for advanced manufacturing.”

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According to the Arizona Commerce Authority, the impact of manufacturing cannot be denied: • Total manufacturing employment exceeded 157,000 in 2014.

• One manufacturing job in Arizona supports an additional 1.29 jobs, which means that there are 202,000 additional jobs in Arizona supported by manufacturing.

• The average wages for a manufacturing position back in 2014 was $69,054. This is more than 50 percent higher than the average wage for all positions in Arizona.

• More than 80 percent of Arizona’s $22.6 billion in exports for 2015 were manufactured goods. The largest sectors for manufactured goods were electrical machinery, aircraft, spacecraft, machinery, and optics.

• The state ranks in the Top 5 in the nation for aerospace and defense manufacturing and ranks fourth in the nation for semiconductor employment.

With that in mind, here’s a look at 40 products that are manufactured in Arizona.

These products show the innovation, diversity and tradition that defines Arizona’s manufacturing sector.

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APPLIANCES: Sub-Zero Group, a leading manufacturer of luxury appliances, began manufacturing operations in Goodyear in 2011 and it now produces over half of all Sub-Zero refrigeration products at the location.

CHOCOLATE: Founded more than four decades ago, Cerreta Candy Co. in Glendale is still a family-run operation, manufacturing thousands of pieces of candy each day and attracting visitors who want to tour the factory.

BEER CANS: The Ball Corporation’s new state-of-the-art beverage packaging manufacturing facility in Goodyear manufactures containers to serve a growing customer demand for specialty cans in the Southwestern U.S. CRACKERS: Founded in Chandler in 2008, Urban Oven uses fresh ingredients to manufacture artisan baked cookies and crackers. The treats are packaged in recycled materials to show the company’s commitment to the environment.

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ELECTION BALLOTS: Tempe-based Runbeck Election Services provides election printing and mailing services for jurisdictions ranging in size from less than 1,000 and more than 1 million and its products touch nearly 26 million registered voters.

11 ENERGY BARS: R-Bar produces 17 different flavors of meal-replacement bars in Tucson.

The bars are high in protein and fiber, have no preservatives or sweeteners, are made in small batches to maintain quality control and are universally praised by fitness enthusiasts.

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CACTUS WATER: Since launching in 2014, True Nopal has disrupted the natural beverage sector and is looking to outpace coconut water, the leading plant-based water in the beverage industry. True Nopal is currently sold in more than 9,000 stores.

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ARTIFICIAL HEART: Tucsonbased SynCardia manufactures the world’s first and only FDA, Health Canada and CE approved Total Artificial Heart, which is used as a bridge to transplant, helping patients survive until a matching donor heart becomes available.

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CHEETOS: Frito-Lay has manufactured chips in Casa Grande since 1984 and the location vies with other Frito-Lay production sites every year for being the most competitive in terms of manufacturing volume.

DENIM INSULATION: Bonded Logic, a textile recycling company in Chandler, collects thousands of pounds of denim jeans, shorts and jackets each year and gives them new life as insulation for homes and office buildings and fiber for bedding.

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CANCER TREATMENT DRUGS: Celgene’s Phoenix facility is manufacturing breakthrough therapies to treat melanoma and breast, lung and pancreatic cancers, improving outcomes and quality of life for patients fighting the devastating diseases.

FURNITURE: Western Heritage Furniture in Jerome manufactures custom furniture. The company is best known for its one-of-a-kind furniture pieces made from reclaimed lumber obtained from old buildings and barns.

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BOLTS: Valley Forge & Bolt Manufacturing Co. in Phoenix manufactures fasteners of many types — interference fit bolts, studs, special nuts, twelvepoint flange, socket head, square bolts, hex bolts, pulverizing mill bolts and liner bolts.

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MADE IN ARIZONA

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HOT DOGS: Phoenix-based Bar-S Foods, with annual production of 40 million pounds, it is among the 40 largest meat processors in the United States. It is also one of Arizona’s largest privately owned companies.

HAND TREATMENTS: Phoenixbased gLOVE Treat uses its patented Parasilk formula with essential oil to manufacture paraffin wax therapy gloves, mitts and boots that are designed to soften and sooth hands and feet.

GLUCOSE MONITORS: Dexcom’s 180,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Mesa produces continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology to help patients and healthcare professionals better manage diabetes.

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MISSILES: Earlier this year, Tucsonbased Raytheon Missile Systems was awarded a $634 million Air Force contract to manufacture Advanced Medium-Range Airto-Air Missiles and perform related work under a foreign military sales deal.

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19 GUNS: With manufacturing facilities in Prescott, Sturm, Ruger & Co. is one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of rugged, reliable Americanmade firearms for the commercial sporting market. Ruger is currently America’s largest firearm manufacturer.

HELICOPTERS: The Apache Attack Helicopter is the signature aircraft manufactured by Boeing in Mesa. Built to survive as it supports soldiers on the ground, the Apache earned the company slogan, “If the Apaches are flying, soldiers aren’t dying.”

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GOLF CLUBS: Phoenix-based Karsten Manufacturing (PING) was the first manufacturer to offer high-quality cast golf clubs, which both reduced costs, allowed better quality control for high tech features and set the stage for manufactured fitting.

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ORTHOTICS: Prescott-based RESA Wear manufactures mobile kiosks that utilizes a 3-D printer to produce custom orthotic inserts for shoes. The high-accuracy foot scanning lets customers get a pair of medical-grade insoles in about an hour.

PACEMAKERS: Employees at Medtronic’s Tempe facility design, develop and manufacture defibrillators, spinal cord stimulators for pain management, deep brain stimulators that address movement disorders and the world’s smallest pacemaker.

HEART STENTS: With more than 40 years in business, Tempe’s Bard Peripheral Vascular has manufactured a wide range of products and services for the medical device industry, including heart stents and angioplasty balloon catheters.

POTATO CHIPS: Starting with a single kettle and one delivery truck in 1986, Jay and Don Poore grew their potato chip business into a huge success. Poore Brothers went public in 1996 and became The Inventure Group in 2006 to create a corporate identity.

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NAIL POLISH: Chandler’s VB Cosmetics manufactures Dazzle Dry, a quick-dry nail polish system that is revolutionizing the nail industry. The company sells direct to consumers at retail prices and to salons and spas at wholesale.

PEANUT BUTTER: Peanut Butter Americano is an all-natural and socially beneficial nut butter manufacturing company started by Brophy College Preparatory graduate Jeff Malkoon in 2013. It is found in more than 300 locations, including Sprouts and Whole Foods.

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MADE IN ARIZONA

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29 TENNIS BALLS: Penn Racquet Sports, which is headquartered in Phoenix, manufactures tennis balls and racquetballs. Penn Championship is the bestselling tennis ball in the U.S. and represents the standard by which all other tennis balls are measured.

ROBOTIC LIFEGUARD: Hydronalix’s flagship product is the EMILY (EMergency Integrated Lifesaving LanYard), which won Popular Science’s Best of What’s New Grand Award in the security category, setting the bar for innovation in maritime robotic systems.

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28 RUBBER HOSES: Copper State Rubber, which built a new $30 million, 150,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Avondale, has been building quality industrial, oilfield and mine hoses for more than 50 years.

SATELLITES: Orbital ATK in Gilbert is one of the world’s preeminent satellite builders and is currently under contract with Thales Alenia Space to assemble, integrate and test 81 spacecraft for the Iridium NEXT program.

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TEPA BURGER: The Tepa Burger is a protein substitute that is manufactured by Local Alternative Foods, which is headquartered in Flagstaff. Local Alternative creates allnatural, wholesome and vegetarian protein products that are sourced locally.

SOLAR REFLECTORS: Rioglass Solar in Surprise designs and manufactures optical CSP (concentrated solar power) and CPV (concentrator photovoltaics) components. Rioglass Solar is now the largest supplier of concentrating mirrors in the market.

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SWEETENER: Gilbert’s Wisdom Natural Brands is the leading U.S. manufacturer of stevia, a sugar substitute that has no calories. Wisdom Natural Brands is the parent company of two popular consumer brands — SweetLeaf Sweetener and Wisdom of the Ancients tea.

SEMICONDUCTORS: Chandler’s Intel facility manufactures a leading-edge computer chip utilizing the most complex manufacturing process in the world, using engineering magic that turns sand into semiconductors and build the foundation of the knowledge economy.

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STORAGE UNITS: Phoenix-based Mobile Mini manufactures, leases, sells, and transports welded steel cargo containers. Mobile Mini’s products provide temporary storage for customers such as small businesses.

TEA: China Mist Tea Company of Scottsdale produces, processes and distributes iced tea for hotels and restaurants, foodservice purveyors, grocers and coffee service operators worldwide.

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TORTILLAS: La Canasta, which was started in Phoenix in 1962, manufactures more than 1.7 million tortillas daily for local and national accounts. La Canasta added My Nana’s Tortilla Chips in 1996 and they have become a best-selling snack food.

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STUN GUNS: Scottsdale’s Axon (formerly TASER International) develops technology, weapons and products for the law enforcement market. Its flagship product and former namesake is Taser, a line of electroshock weapons.

WINE: Arizona’s largest producer of awardwinning wine, which earned rave reviews from the judges at the most recent Arizona Wine Competition, Arizona Stronghold Vineyards is based in Cottonwood and is credited with redefining the desert with high elevation wine.

36 SADDLES: Based in Chino Valley in the midst of many large working ranches, Simmons Saddlery manufactures saddles and chaps that are used by Cowpunchers in Arizona, Working Cow Horse Champions in Nevada, and Longtime Buckaroos in Idaho.

Nominations Are Open! Deadline June 22nd Arizona’s Most Admired Companies recognizes excellence in five key areas: Customer Opinion Innovation Leadership Excellence Corporate Social Responsibility Workplace Culture

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AB | May - June 2018 41

HEALTHCARE

A CURE

FOR WHAT AILS ARIZONA

Nonprofit organizations launch initiative to help fill the funding gap for the state’s innovative life science companies

By AZ BUSINESS

T

ryng to build on Arizona’s significant investments in the life science discovery and healthcare delivery infrastructure, the state’s leaders are focused on bridging the funding gap that slows the growth of Arizonabased life science companies. Leaders of Arizona’s life science sector share a drive to accomplish a common goal: accelerate the growth of local companies that are developing and delivering innovative treatments that truly change lives.

A coalition of nonprofit organizations has set an ambitious goal to raise a $200 million endowment to support the commercialization of life changing and lifesaving healthcare innovations that are being developed by Arizona-based researchers and entrepreneurs.

The founding members of the coalition include the Arizona Bioindustry Association, Inc. (AZBio) and the Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation (OTEF), as well as the Healthcare Impact Foundation (HCIF), a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization based in New York.

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AZ Business asked these leaders to share more about this exciting initiative: Joan Koerber-Walker, president and CEO of AZBio; chairman of the OTEF board of directors; and Global Trustee of the Healthcare Impact Foundation.

Chuck Stetson, head of a third- and fourth-generation family office in New York, chairman of the Healthcare Impact Foundation, and worked with KoerberWalker to develop the HCIF concept.

Russ Yelton, CEO of Yelton & Associates, past chairman of AZBio, member of the board of directors at Pinnacle Transplant Technologies, chairman of the AZ-HCIF Board of Trustees.

Kristen Swingle, chairwoman of AZBio, vice president of consumer sales and operations for Cord Blood Registry at AMAG Pharmaceuticals.

Az Business: Why this? Why now?

Joan Koerber-Walker: Arizona has made great progress since the formation of our Bioscience Cluster in 1997 and the launch of the Arizona Bioscience Roadmap in 2002. By conservative estimates, more

than $18 billion has been invested in the bioscience and healthcare sector by public and private sources over the last two decades.

We have built up our research enterprise, are launching exciting companies and are educating the next generation of bioscience leaders. Yet, one major hurdle still must be crossed. Lack of access to early stage life science capital has plagued Arizona for two decades. It’s time to stop talking about the problem and solve it.

The Arizona component of the Healthcare Impact Foundation (AZ-HCIF) is designed to provide sustainable funding to support the progression of Arizonabased life science discoveries along a path from development to delivery.

AZ-HCIF is the first of a portfolio of endowments from across the U.S. and around the world that will be collectively grown and managed by the Healthcare Impact Foundation, a public charity that was established in 2017. Arizona-based local trustees will serve to distribute the annual proceeds, with a goal of supporting the growth of innovative early-stage healthcare companies in Arizona.

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Chuck Stetson: The Stetson Family Office has spent the last 18 months meeting with emerging healthcare innovation ecosystems around the US and globally. We found that while great ideas with high impact potential were coming from emerging life science markets like Arizona, the capital streams and support ecosystems are insufficient to support efficient growth of the companies. Too much time is wasted chasing funding. This time needs to be focused on getting high quality healthcare innovations further along the path to commercialization so that traditional venture capital and public equity funding can take it the rest of the way. We were honored to work with our partners in Arizona to develop a new and sustainable funding model to address this critical need.

Following Arizona’s lead, additional communities have signed on to raise HCIF endowments in Ohio, Washington state and Switzerland, with others expected to be announced soon.

Russ Yelton: Great ideas can grow into great companies. The State of Arizona did its part by raising the cap on its successful Angel Investor Tax Credit program by an additional $10 million and authorizing $2.5 million a year in tax credits for the next four years. But, angel investment alone will not get us where we need to go. Arizona needs a steady flow of early stage capital to support the life science companies being created by Arizona entrepreneurs and to honor our angel investors for the risks they take by investing alongside them. This plan is a way for us to make it happen.

That is why Arizona’s capital campaign for the AZ-HCIF has now launched with a goal of reaching $200 million in charitable donations by the end of 2018.

Kristen Swingle: Across our state, we are seeing new ideas generated at our universities and by Arizona entrepreneurs.

This is our opportunity to leverage the investments the state and the federal government makes in these Arizona discoveries. Life science innovation has the potential to lower healthcare costs, improve the quality of life and create rewarding careers for our workforce today and in the future.

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Chuck Stetson

Kristen Swingle

Joan KoerberWalker

Russ Yelton

Access to capital has been a key objective of Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap since its creation in 2002 and is one of the few items that continues to be an ongoing growth challenge for the industry. ­­— Russ Yelton

AB: Why pursue an endowment model? Don’t we already have other endowments in Arizona?

RY: Access to capital has been a key objective of Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap since its creation in 2002 and is one of the few items that continues to be an ongoing growth challenge for the industry. While Arizona has explored various solutions over the years, including state funding, privately managed fund structures and other solutions, none have yielded results.

Arizona continued to lag its peer group in venture capital funding and Arizona’s life science employment growth percentage continues to lag its growth in the number of firms.

Unlike traditional models that raise funds, invest them and are then depleted, the HCIF model allows for a single capital campaign followed by ongoing investment for years to come. In addition, as the base endowment grows, it provides additional support for future growth so that we are not continually coming back and asking for more donations.

CS: HCIF was formed in 2017 as a 501(c)(3) public charity and is dedicated to building a better private equity ecosystem for healthcare innovations and supporting the commercialization of healthcare innovations as they progress from the research laboratory to the patient.

Structured as a portfolio of endowments, each HCIF separate account is dedicated to the community that creates it and is managed with a goal of growing the base endowment and distributing a steady and sustained stream of funding annually that can be distributed by the community’s trustees into the areas of its life science ecosystem in a way that will have the greatest potential impact.

KS: A key benefit of AZ-HCIF is the decision architecture. Decisions regarding the annual distributions will be rendered exclusively by the AZ-HCIF trustees – which are local community leaders. While the funding account is managed and grown as part of the global HCIF endowment, the decision architecture ensures support is allocated to local emerging growth companies only.

In addition, AZ-HCIF grants to local

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incubators and accelerators can help to provide access to experienced life science industry personnel and other business resources that may enable companies to mature faster — which further mitigates investment risk.

Early stage investors have many options for their investment dollars. Life science opportunities, especially those that are early in the development cycle, can appear daunting at best. Over time, as the degree of risk declines, the level of local and outside investment is likely to increase.

JKW: We do have other endowments here in Arizona. Each one serves a dedicated and important mission.

Some examples include our university endowments, private endowments like the Flinn Foundation, Vitalyst Health Foundation, the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, supporting foundations at TGen and many of our hospitals, as well as others. Many of these foundations have and continue to support vital efforts in education, research and public health.

AZ-HCIF provides the piece that is missing in the equation, specifically the resources to take the discoveries that are born from research and moving them forward along the commercialization path so that they get to our healthcare systems and patients faster.

With a $200 million endowment, we can reasonably expect distributions of $10 million each year. As the endowment grows over time, so will the distributions.

HCIF’s endowment model also provides a steady stream of investment capital inside the state so that the peaks and valleys of traditional venture fund structures can be avoided. In addition, through AZ-HCIF’s support of incubators and accelerators across Arizona’s life science innovation ecosystem, entrepreneurs are better supported and more likely to succeed.

HCIF’s investments into Arizona life science companies, at the direction of the AZ-HCIF trustees, can serve as a first institutional investor for local companies and provide syndication support to additional local and out of state investment partners.

Outside investors are more willing to invest alongside a local lead investor.

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When Arizona had institutional investors focused on the life science sector resident in the state, the levels of life science venture investment were significantly higher than where we are today.

employer, my company has benefited tremendously from hiring local talent.

But, unfortunately, we aren’t able to hire every talented student we interact with. I look forward to the day when more of our young people are able to access rewarding AB: HCIF is the Healthcare IMPACT careers right here in our state and don’t Foundation. What do you see as the have to relocate to find fulfilling career major impacts the success of this opportunities. initiative will bring to Arizona?

At AZBio, we are regularly contacted by RY: At a $200 million endowment talented senior executives too. Many of level, we expect to see $10 million or more these individuals have more than a decade annually beginning in 2020 for early stage of experience in the life science sector. funding and support across our Arizona Some are looking to relocate here due to life science ecosystem in perpetuity. the amazing quality of life that we enjoy AZ-HCIF is also raising a $50 million here in Arizona. Others are attracted by direct impact fund for donors who would like the incredible innovation happening across to see immediate impact in 2018 and 2019. our life science sector. The volume of job The impact will be more life science seekers really heats up in the frigid winter companies being founded, attracted and months. People gravitate towards Arizona grown in Arizona. This will result in faster for its warm weather and business-friendly job growth across our life science sector climate. More companies with funding will and our business community, as life increase the sector’s ability to attract and science jobs have a average employment retain extraordinary talent. multiplier of five-fold.

JKW: More companies and more jobs There is always a risk that promising are great benefits, but the potential for young firms will be drawn away or forced more cures and life-changing innovations to move in their quest for investment is where the impact will be greatest. dollars. Experience has shown that the Today, Arizona innovators are working to best way to keep companies in place is to help people with cancers, diabetes, heart root them in the community. Companies disease, respiratory diseases, brain and are rooted by investments in facilities, neurological disease and so much more. strategic partnerships with universities We are looking at ways to make life better or clinical partners, or by key local talent. for everyone, from our littlest people to Past examples of well rooted companies our valued seniors. that stayed and continue to grow here If we all come together to achieve this after they were acquired include Ventana goal, AZ-HCIF is a way for us to make (Roche), Abraxis (Celgene), Ulthera better life for Arizonans today and for (Merz), CBR (AMAG Pharmaceuticals) and generations to come. That’s impact.

MicroRel (Medtronic).

CS: AZ-HCIF is one of a portfolio of endowments that are being formed within the Healthcare Impact Foundation that are based in the U.S. and internationally. This creates the opportunity for collaborations across the HCIF communities, as well as access to networks of life science investors from outside of your community. These can lead to opportunities for future investments that may be needed as the LEARN MORE companies continue to grow.

To learn more about the KS: Through the growth of Arizona’s life Healthcare Impact Foundation, science sector, we create more employment visit azhcif.org. opportunities for the talented students being trained at our universities. As an

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20 18 Here are the

INNOVATORS AND TRAILBLAZERS who are leaving their mark on the healthcare industry

By MICHAEL GOSSIE

A

ccording to Morgan Stanley, the United States healthcare mergers and acquisitions market started 2018 with almost $39 billion worth of deals announced in January alone — the strongest start in more than a decade.

Additionally, as new healthcare delivery entrants with a tech focus — examples include Apple, Amazon and Google — gain market clout, traditional healthcare systems and hospitals face pressure to remain competitive.

But one thing remains certain in these most uncertain of times in the healthcare industry:

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innovators and brilliant minds will always have a home in the healthcare industry.

That’s why each year, Az Business magazine hosts the Healthcare Leadership Awards to honor the women, men and institutions that bring excellence and innovation to Arizona’s healthcare sector. The winners and finalists for the 2018 Healthcare Leadership Awards will be recognized at a dinner on May 10, 2018 at Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort. Go to azbigmedia.com for more information on the event.

Over the next several pages, you will meet the innovators and trailblazers who are finalists for the 2018 Healthcare Leadership Awards.

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FINALISTS

Outstanding achievement

IN BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ALICIA COWDREY, MD, medical director,

Maricopa Integrated Health System First Episode Center Leadership: Dr. Cowdrey leads one of the first programs in Arizona to provide early intervention services for youth when they first experience psychosis to prevent the traditional course of schizophrenia. Dr. Cowdrey and the First Episode Center have had impressive results since beginning services in February of 2017. Most similar programs expand at a rate of 10 people during their first year. The FEC was at 50 after 10 months. “We have changed how they view their challenges, from being afraid to seek care, to taking an active approach to reach their goals and engage with care,” says Dr. Cowdrey.

ALICIA COWDREY

JUDY PEARSON

CARIE BARLOW

SIERRA TUCSON

Leadership: Since 1983, Sierra Tucson has led the way in addiction and residential behavioral health treatment in Arizona and has become internationally renowned for comprehensive programs, innovative and effective therapies, and clinical excellence personified by a highly credentialed staff. Leading groundbreaking advances in treatment, Sierra Tucson’s programs have affected positive change in the lives of more than 33,000 individuals suffering from alcoholism, drug addiction, depression, anxiety, trauma, complicated pain, disordered eating and cooccurring disorders utilizing the Sierra Tucson Model, a holistic approach for individualized treatment that combines integrative and experiential therapies with evidence-based practices.

SOUTHWEST BEHAVIORAL & HEALTH SERVICES

SIERRA TUCSON

SOUTHWEST BEHAVIORAL & HEALTH SERVICES

Last year, Gov. Doug Ducey declared a statewide health emergency over the number of people dying from opioid addiction. Southwest Behavioral & Health Services worked on the governor’s goal council and helped provide the framework for the governor’s final executive order. SB&H is working tirelessly to stay abreast of the national trends to improve the outcomes for opioid addicts, to save lives and to help alleviate the opioid crisis through its four statewide opioid replacement clinics. In addition, SB&H’s Kingman Recovery Unit/Kingman Observation Unit serves as a Center of Excellence that continues to address this challenge.

COMMUNITY IMPACT CARIE BARLOW, MD,

volunteer physician, Mission of Mercy Arizona Leadership: After the birth of her first child in 2010, Dr. Barlow left her position as a hospitalist, but felt a strong desire to help those who were less fortunate and did not have access to quality healthcare. In 2014, she applied to become a pro bono physician with Mission of Mercy Arizona’s free mobile healthcare clinics, which provide primary medical care to more than 14,000 individuals annually. After seeing how great the need was for her expertise, she quickly increased her volunteer time and her volunteer hours for Mission of Mercy Arizona now totaling more than 2,500 hours.

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RISAS DENTAL & BRACES

JUDY PEARSON, founder, a2ndAct

Leadership: Pearson is the founder of a2ndAct, whose mission is to celebrate and support women survivors of all cancers as they re-enter their lives. a2ndAct produces live, curated stage performances, featuring a cast of eight women survivors of all types of cancers. Each woman shares her own story of how she’s using her gifts of life and experience for the greater good, proving that the second act of their lives can be even more meaningful than life before cancer. a2ndAct builds networks of women survivors and awards micro-grants to women ready to begin their own second acts.

RISAS DENTAL & BRACES

Leadership: Risas gives back to the communities in which it is located with grand opening celebrations and its annual Labor of Love event.

Each office’s grand opening is celebrated with a day of free dental work, providing an average of $35,000 in complimentary care. And every Labor Day, Risas celebrates Labor of Love Day, giving free dentistry to community members at every Risas location. For Labor of Love 2017, Risas provided free dental care to 7,239 patients across 16 offices, amounting to $480,000 donated. In total, between grand openings and Labor of Love events, Risas has provided more than $4 million in free dental care.

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FINALISTS

Outstanding achievement

Outstanding achievement

ARCHSOL

JAMES BATES,

IN HEALTHCARE DESIGN Leadership: The design and construction of the environment for healthcare services is highly complex and few do it as well as ARCHSOL. Some examples of ARCHSOL’s excellence include the Yuma Regional Medical Center Emergency Department expansion, new patient tower and campus redevelopment, which earned a RED Award and ENR Southwest Best Project award for healthcare; and the Yuma Regional Medical Center Cancer Center and Serenity Garden, which features an abundance of natural light and large shade elements, allowing a very strong indoor/outdoor relationship with expansive views. The Serenity Garden project was awarded the 2017 AzASLA Landscape Honor Award.

IN HEALTHCARE DELIVERY CEO, Advinow Medical Leadership: Bates and the AdviNow Medical team have invented and patented the worlds most automated medical visit. The provider total time, including all documentation, per patient is reduced from 20 minutes to 3 minutes while improving patient satisfaction and outcomes.

The AdviNow team developed an AI that reads medical textbooks research and existing EMRs. In laymen terms, the AdviNow team put the AI through medical school and then gave it 20 years of experience. This unique system could change the way patients and physicians interact from now to the future. This system could expand primary and acute care coverage to millions of people who have limited or no access.

ARCHSOL

HKS ARCHITECTS

HKS is ranked among the top healthcare architectural firms in the world by Modern Healthcare and BD World Architecture. Operating from 28 offices worldwide, HKS’ award-winning healthcare architecture includes 1,600 unique projects representing 78,000 beds and 166 million square feet, including the $400 million patient tower and emergency department at Banner University Medical Center - Phoenix.

HKS’ evidence-influenced plans and designs maximize the value of its clients’ facility assets, raise patient and staff satisfaction and help improve patient outcomes. HKS’ health solutions and designs are research- and operationalbased to optimize workflow, streamline staff and increase safety.

HKS ARCHITECTS

ORCUTT | WINSLOW

ORCUTT | WINSLOW

As one of the few homegrown firms in the Valley, Orcutt | Winslow’s healthcare design studio has contributed to the planning, architecture and interior design of more than 30 major hospital campuses in the state, including the design of some firsts — the Surgical Transitional Intensive Care Unit at Banner Desert, the Healing Garden at Banner University Medical Center - Phoenix and Desert Pain Institute’s fully sustainable facility for pain management and outpatient care. Firm leaders have helped Arizona’s Department of Health Services form new guidelines and regulations for the emerging trends and made significant contributions to design discussions and seminars relating to advancement in healthcare design.

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JAMES BATES

TELADOC

BRIAN HARRIS,

owner, Smile Virtual Consult Leadership: Dr. Brian Harris is a cosmetic dentist known for his ability to create beautiful smiles, but its how he communicates with his patients that has everybody talking. His creation of the Smile Virtual Consult has allowed him to help people all over the world get answers to their dental questions. The Smile Virtual Consult was created to provide answers to those questions in the comfort of your home. Patients are able to upload a photo of their smile, share what they don’t like and then receive a personal video from the doctor with recommendations. It has transformed the way doctors communicate with patients.

TELADOC

BRIAN HARRIS

Leadership: Teladoc is changing the way people receive medical care by providing members with 24/7/365 access to a doctor using telephone and video conferencing technology to provide on-demand remote medical care via mobile devices, Internet, video and phone. A number of recent acquisitions — Best Doctors, HealthiestYou, StatDoc and BetterHelp — have led to an increase in membership and visits for TelaDoc, making it the largest provider of telehealth medical consults in the nation. In 2015, Teladoc became the only telemedicine company to be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the American Hospital Association has exclusively endorsed Teladoc’s telehealth technology platform.

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FINALISTS

Outstanding

Outstanding

HEALTHCARE EXECUTIVE

PEGGY CHASE, president and CEO, Terros Health

Leadership: At Terros Health, Chase analyzed the way providers care for patients and the way patients receive care, discovering that physical and mental health conditions are often treated in silos. Chase changed that with specialists who treat the mind and body as one. This groundbreaking model of care is yielding better patient outcomes and the community is reaping the rewards through the opening of three Federally Qualified Health Center LookAlikes, which ensure care for underserved/vulnerable populations regardless of their ability to pay. Chase and Terros continue to pilot new programs and expand its treatment, community education and prevention efforts.

DAVID HANEKOM, MD, CEO, Arizona Care Network

Leadership: Hanekom has led ACN to impressive results, including a 30 percent increase in value-based arrangements – which reward physicians and hospital systems for the quality of their clinical outcomes and produce costs savings, rather than the number of services they provide. Hanekom also invested in a technology platform for active referral management.

Since launch, average time for a practice to take action on a referral has reduced from 51.23 hours to less than 6 hours. The rate at which a patient is scheduled for referral within the timeframe requested by the primary care provider has improved from 67 percent to 91 percent.

STEVE PURVES, president and CEO, Maricopa Integrated Health System Leadership: Since taking over as president and CEO of MIHS in September 2013, Purves led a $120 million turnaround for Arizona’s largest and longest serving public teaching hospital and healthcare system. Facing a $75 million loss in 2014, Purves instilled disciplined management and improved financial processes to launch a three-year transformation for MIHS, which includes the Maricopa Medical Center, the Arizona Burn Center, the Arizona Children’s Center, a Level I Trauma Center, two behavioral health centers and a network of 13 Federally Qualified Health Centers that serve Phoenix and Maricopa County.

CIGNA MEDICAL GROUP PHOENIX CENTRAL MULTI-SPECIALTY CENTER

BANNER UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER-PHOENIX

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HEALTHCARE FACILITY BANNER UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER-PHOENIX

Banner University Medical Center-Phoenix was named to the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals list by IBM Watson Health. The hospital’s award-winning $133 million Emergency Department expansion increased capacity and sets the precedent for a superior environment for care for the community, including shorter wait times for patients. Medical professionals now see around 90,000 patients a year as opposed to 65,000 patients a year. Further improving care will be a new 16-story patient tower, which is now under construction at Banner University Medical Center-Phoenix.

CIGNA MEDICAL GROUP PHOENIX CENTRAL MULTI-SPECIALTY CENTER

At Phoenix Central, patients can see their doctor, get lab work, have an X-ray and pick up a prescription all at the Phoenix Central office.

The center offers digital imaging, an outpatient surgery center, urgent care that is open 365 days a year and an optical shop. More than 6,500 patients call the Phoenix Central office their medical home and nearly 500 patients visit the center every day. The 90,000-squarefoot, three-story medical center provides family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, general and outpatient surgery and a pharmacy that fills more than 7,100 prescriptions a month.

HACIENDA AT THE RIVER

Once a dude ranch and later a stable, Hacienda at the River redefines senior living.

This 7.9-acre property includes centers for rehabilitation and skilled nursing, memory care, hospice care, assisted living memory care, assisted living, gardens and trees, tin roofs to capture the soothing sound of rain, a therapy pool and spa, café, dining rooms and courtyards. Designed on the traditions of the colonial hacienda, the grounds feature buildings interconnected by tree-lined pathways and interspersed with patios, shaded courtyards, gardens and orchards with classic Spanish Colonial design that is common to Tucson’s architecture.

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FINALISTS

Outstanding

HEALTHCARE INNOVATOR OR RESEARCHER MOHAMMAD ALBANNA,

vice president of clinical and scientific affairs, Pinnacle Transplant Technologies Leadership: Dr. Albanna oversees product development and technology transfer efforts to introduce new regenerative medicine products that will improve patients’ lives. Upon his arrival at Pinnacle Transplant Technologies in 2015, Dr. Albanna created a research and development facility and recruited five of the leading experts in regenerative medicine to join his team. Within two years, the team developed two regenerative medicine products that will be instrumental in the growth of the company and have contributed a 20 percent increase in revenue in the first year through guaranteed exclusive deals and committed sales.

MICHAEL KRUER, MD, neurologist, Phoenix Children’s Hospital

Leadership: While about 10 percent of children with cerebral palsy have an identifiable cause, the cause for a large segment of patients remains unknown. Dr. Kruer hopes to unravel the molecular mechanisms that lead to pediatric movement disorders in order to better diagnose and treat these disabling diseases. He founded the Cerebral Palsy Genetic Research Network that connects physicians and researchers worldwide.

Through his leadership, his team collects DNA and cell samples and performs whole exome or whole genome sequencing to identify the genetic basis of the disease. Through the use of patient-derived cells, Dr. Kruer is leading the way to finding a cure to this complex disorder.

Outstanding

Leadership: Sonora Quest is utilizing innovative partnerships to benefit patients. It partnered with Safeway to provide services that are aligned with changes in consumer-driven healthcare.

The company teamed up with CarePayment to offer CarePayment’s easy-to-understand 0.00% APR financing solutions to patients who uses Sonora Quest for their medical testing. Sonora Quest also partnered with health insurers by utilizing data analytics to identify gaps in care for their membership. One success story is Sonora Quest’s partnership with Arizona Priority Care to utilize data to ensure its members are receiving the right testing at the right time to identify disease states early and monitor chronic conditions to improve their health outcomes.

PHYSICIAN

BELINDA BARCLAY-WHITE, MD,

founder and medical director, Arizona Breastnet Leadership: Dr. Barclay-White, who has been practicing in the Phoenix area since 1983, founded Arizona Breastnet in 1998. Arizona Breastnet specializes in all medical conditions related to the breast. Dr. Barclay-White is currently participating in the FROST clinical trial, sponsored by Sanarus, and the only doctor in the Valley performing cryoablation to treat small breast cancers. She has treated 18 patients with this ground-breaking technology since 2016 and all are doing well and cancer-free. Dr. Barclay-White was also the first physician in Arizona to offer Sonocine Automated Whole Breast Ultrasound to her patients.

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DANIEL COOPER, MD,

surgeon and urologist, Affiliated Urologists Leadership: As a Naval medical officer, Dr. Cooper volunteered to provide medical support for U.S. Marine Corps Infantry out of Camp Pendleton as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. During eight months in Falluja, Iraq as a battalion surgeon, Dr. Cooper himself was injured in the line of duty, distinguishing himself as the first U.S. Navy physician awarded the Purple Heart in nearly 30 years.

Dr. Cooper is also an avid philanthropist who recently served on a medical mission trip to Haiti, volunteering his time and medical expertise to support the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission.

CRISTA JOHNSON-AGBAWU, MD,

director, Refugee Women’s Health Clinic, Maricopa Integrated Health System Leadership: Dr. Johnson-Abgakwu began the Refugee Women’s Health Clinic in 2008 to provide a culturally grounded, patientcentered medical home for the growing refugee community in Maricopa County. Dr. Johnson-Agbakwu has developed MIHS’s Refugee Women’s Health Clinic into the only one of its kind in the nation dedicated to reaching out to the refugee women and children. Arizona hosts over 70,000 refugees with an average of 2,000 refugees arriving each year. Approximately half of the resettled refugees are women and girls.

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HEALTHCARE LEADERSHIP

CHAMPIONING A CAUSE

Jimmy Walker earns Lifetime Achievement Award for Celebrity Fight Night’s impact on healthcare

By MICHAEL GOSSIE

J

immy Walker remembers taking Muhammad Ali to Phoenix Suns games.

“We would walk into the arena and he would get a standing ovation,” recalls Walker, the founder of Celebrity Fight Night, which helped raise money to build the Muhammad Ali Parkinson’s Center at Barrow Neurological Institute. “Players would come over to shake his hand. They were in awe. I’ve taken Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods to games, but no one ever got the response that Muhammad got.”

And when Walker and Ali got to their car to leave the arena after games, fans would line up, trying to get a glimpse of “The Greatest.”

“There were sometimes I just wanted to get home,” Walker says. “But Muhammad would stop me and shake the hands of all the people who wanted to see him. He was generous like that. He really cared about people.”

With those last statements, Walker could have been talking about himself.

“Jimmy Walker is a walking angel,” says comedian Billy Crystal, a Celebrity Fight Night regular who recruited Robin Williams, Jim Carrey and Tom Hanks to join the cause. “Jimmy Walker is one of the rare people I’ve met who doesn’t know how to do anything else but help people.”

And help people is exactly what Walker has done his entire life. Since he founded Celebrity Fight Night in 1994, the events has raised nearly $100 million for charities, primarily focused on healthcare.

Early in the history of Celebrity Fight Night, Walker joined forces with Ali and raised the money needed to build the Muhammad Ali Parkinson’s Center, which

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now sees about 10,000 patients each year and has been a game-changer in the treatment, rehabilitation, education and support for those suffering from Parkinson’s disease. The center has also developed into a world leader in Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery for the treatment of movement disorders.

For his philanthropic efforts that have dramatically improved healthcare for patients both in Arizona and around the world, Walker will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at Az Business magazine’s Healthcare Leadership Awards on May 10, 2018, at Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort in Phoenix.

Past recipients of the Healthcare Leadership Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award include Dr. Robert Spetzler, a groundbreaking brain surgeon and former CEO of Barrow Neurological Institute; the late Dr. Ted Diethrich, a high-profile cardiac surgeon who started the Arizona Heart Institute and once performed openheart surgery on live television; Peter Fine, the CEO of Banner Health, whom Modern Healthcare named as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare; Linda Hunt, CEO of Dignity Health, who was named among the Top 25 Women in Healthcare

by Modern Healthcare magazine; and the late David Lincoln, who helped build the John C. Lincoln Health Network Jerry Colangelo

into a force in Valley healthcare.

But Jimmy Walker, whom Newsweek described as, “the man who schmoozed the world,” is in a league of his own in terms of his ability to form friendships with anyone and his ability to help the causes that are close to his heart.

“I have a lot of favorite Jimmy Walker stories,” says Jerry Colangelo, a Valley business and sports icon who is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and a long-time friend of Walker. “But one of my favorite stories happened not too long ago.”

Colangelo, Walker and their wives were in the lobby of the St. Regis Hotel in New York, taking in the city’s Christmas spirit.

“I looked at the elevators and I saw Andrea Bocelli standing there,” Colangelo recalls. “When I turned to tell Jimmy that Bocelli was standing there, Jimmy was gone. He was already over there talking with Bocelli.”

Not only did Walker get Bocelli to

Billy Crystal

Lionel Richie

MAN WITH A PLAN: Celebrity Fight Night

was founded nearly 25 years ago by Jimmy Walker, who thought it would be possible to raise money for local charities through a celebrity charity event. Since then, his event has raised nearly $100 million for charities, particularly the Muhammad Ali Parkinson’s Center at Barrow Neurological Institute.

PHOTO BY MIKE MERTES, AZ BIG MEDIA

commit to coming to Celebrity Fight Night that day, he has had a history of success attracting a who’s who of A-listers. It’s that ability to establish relationships with almost anybody and any time that has made Walker — and Celebrity Fight Night — such a success. Some of the celebrities Walker has attracted to Celebrity Fight Night include Halle Berry, Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steve Martin, Michael J. Fox, Donald Trump, Chevy Chase, Sharon Stone, Magic Johnson, Wayne Gretzky, Jack Nicklaus, Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Phelps, Jennifer Lopez, Garth Brooks, Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, Rod Stewart, Reba McEntire, Michael Bublé, Jon Bon Jovi, Faith Hill, Rascal Flatts, Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus, Diana Ross, Josh Groban, Glenn Frey, Kenny Rogers, Gloria Estefan, John Mellencamp, Barry Manilow, Donna Summer, Dennis Quaid, Kevin Bacon, The Go-Gos, Jordin Sparks, Michael Bolton, the Pointer Sisters and The Village People.

“When Jimmy sets his mind to get something done, nothing is going to stop him,” Colangelo says. “If you have sticktoitiveness, it leads to great things.

What Jimmy has done with Celebrity Fight Night is one of the amazing success stories in fundraising in the country.”

While Colangelo says most people know Walker as a business leader — he is a very successful leader in the insurance industry — and as the founder of Celebrity Fight Night, Colangelo and others say what they admire most about Walker is his deep faith, his sincerity, and his willingness roll up his sleeves and do what needs to be done in support of the causes he holds dear.

“Every once in a while, an angel falls to Earth and takes up a cause,” says Lionel Richie, a five-time Grammy Award winner who has performed at Celebrity Fight Night. “Jimmy is one of those wonderful, special angels.”

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Phoenix | Chandler | Deer Valley | East Mesa Flagstaff | Glendale | Goodyear | Prescott Valley Scottsdale | Sedona | Tempe | Tucson New Locations Now Open: East Mesa, Goodyear and Tempe.

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TOURISM

By ERIN THORBURN

M

ore than 30 years ago, Mark and Carrie Schnepf developed a concept closely tied with agritourism. It’s a word, in fact, for which they could scarcely imagine would eventually become the local and national phenomenon it has. Introducing “agritainment.” While Arizona is undoubtedly rich in agritourism offerings such as Schnepf Farms, Queen Creek Olive Mill, The Farm at South Mountain, Red Rock Lavender, The Orange Patch, Hayden Flour Mills at Sossaman Farms, Tolmachoff Farms, Blue Sky Organic Farms, the state’s growing

Arizona digs into its rich farming traditions to give rise to a growing agritourism industry wine industry and many more that attract visitors from near and far, something more is at work — or shall we say play. From the East to West Valley and everywhere in-between, people aren’t simply touring the agricultural wonders of Arizona, they’re experiencing the wonder that is agritainment.

FROM CONCEPT TO DISTRICT Once upon a time, agritourism was embedded within the idea of human beings’ natural desires to reconnect to the land, absorb local agricultural history, combined with the vision of those who could provide the land and resources to take these concepts to the next level. And take it to the next level is exactly what many local agritourism entities have done.

The advent of agritainment has been a unique process. Again, Mark and Carrie Schnepf, who actually coined “agritainment” 64

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FARM — to —

TABLE Under the leadership of Executive Chef Jeremy Pacheco, LON’s at The Hermosa Inn is embracing agritainment by incorporating local produce and protein menu items to entice visitors near and far. Some of those items include: • Desert Sweet Shrimp. LON’s is one of only two restaurants chosen to use this product.

• LON’s serves items from Rovey Dairy in Glendale, including lamb Wagyu Beef and sheep milk cheeses.

• The restaurant features goat cheese from Crow’s Dairy in Buckeye and dairy goat products from Black Mesa Ranch.

• The menu is filled with garden fresh produce from McClendon Select Organics and Duncan Family Farms.

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TOURISM many years ago (and admittedly maybe should have trademarked the phrase), began to think beyond agritourism as a one-stop visit to encompassing a memorable, dynamic and diverse experience.

From humble beginnings as a producer of potatoes and cotton, Schnepf Farms has become a local and national hot spot for famous events like the Pumpkin and Chili Party, Peach Blossom Celebration and Winter Wonderland, in addition to hosting weddings, corporate occasions and even serving as Queen Creek’s premier glamping locale.

“Agritainment as a business model offers the flexibility of experimenting without having to spend a lot of money to do it,” says Queen Creek’s former and first-ever mayor, Mark Schnepf, owner of Schnepf Farms.

Schnepf describes the agritainment journey of Schnepf Farms as a natural progression in offering entertainment rooted in agriculture. It’s one that nearby neighbor Queen Creek Olive Mill has similarly witnessed and adopted.

“Twelve years ago, we were in the middle of nowhere,” says owner, master blender and Olive Oil sommelier Perry Rea. “Now, we’re surrounded by rooftops, but we still have a farm feel.”

What began as a one-bathroom, single-shelf establishment has become Queen Creek’s prized olive mecca. With a restaurant serving all local offerings, eight tours per day and events like the Olivepalooza Harvest Party and Garlic Festival, the Olive Mill attracts visitors from Casa Grande to Canada (and beyond).

With Schnepf Farms’ 100,000 visitors per year and Queen Creek Olive Mill’s 650,000, it makes sense that both are now part of an actual designated Agritainment District, thanks to the support of Queen Creek and the advocacy efforts of Schnepf and Rea. PERFECTLY PLACED Inarguably, there truly is no better place primed for agritainment success than Arizona. After all, as Rea so appropriately points out, “We have the longest agritourism/ agritainment season of anywhere – eight months out of the year.”

It’s not simply the seasons, however, it’s the soil, salt-of-theearth purveyors of agritainment and ingenuitive marketing mavens that make the Valley a perfect source for agritourism.

“Our Arizona agritourism guide showcases nearly a dozen farm experiences in the East Valley for guests to explore, and also identifies a number of restaurants that feature local farms on the menu,” explains Michelle Streeter, Visit Mesa’s vice president of communications and partner relations.

The guide for which Streeter refers is none other than Arizona’s Fresh Foodie Trail, featuring agritainment activities ranging from making fresh pasta at Hayden Flour Mills at Sossaman Farms or picking peaches at Schnepf Farms to learning about best garden practices at True Garden Urban Farm. There is no shortage of entertainment possibilities.

“We have always found that partnering with our local food instructors, artists and craftsmen, naturally brings new collaborations and trend forward education opportunities,” says Pat Christofolo, owner of The Farm at South Mountain and Santa Barbara Catering. “The Farm has always been authentic in the many offerings that we have, allowing our property to continue growing for the last 20 years.”

PERFECTLY TIMED While the Valley serves as the perfect place for agritainment, it has also bloomed at a most fortuitous moment – one that is likely to last and prosper.

“People are becoming heavily aware of what they eat and where their food comes from,” Christofolo says. “Agritourism is a

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popular way for interested guests to become educated on seasonal crops, methods of food growth and how important local farming is to the community. With many different properties giving these guests a fluid experience of the process, people begin to appreciate the work and final product that they enjoy so much.”

And, as local agritainment literally satisfies the palettes of healthy foodies and agricultural adventurists, it offers visitors something extra.

“Agritainment businesses aren’t simply stops along the way,” Rea says. “We have become destinations.”

“Visitors have long sought out unique ways to discover or remember a destination — now it’s through their stomachs,” Streeter adds. “I think the popularity of agritourism spans the generations. We’ve been so robbed of knowing where our food comes from in the last two decades that we are now more eager than ever to better understand what makes a premium product – and we all know you can taste quality.”

Schnepf has witnessed this first hand with a constant flow of local visitors to the farm’s U-Pick organic farms, and from outof-state and out-of-country guests who come to pluck peaches from an orchard that serves as the nation’s largest — with eight varieties of peach trees.

“We do a lot of tours, including bus groups all year round,” Schnepf says.

Pat Christofolo

Perry Rea

ARIZONA AGRITOURISM

Mark Schnepf

FUN FACTS

THE FUTURE OF FARM-RELATED ENTERTAINMENT What do the experts recommend for other agritourism outlets considering a push toward agritainment?

“Be authentic in your offerings and stay true to your passion,” Streeter says. “Skip the polish and celebrate the dirt, sweat, tears, dedication and hard work that goes into your production and offering. We all get inspired when we can take part in something extraordinary. Our farmers, growers, winemakers, brewers — all our makers — are doing amazing things by staying true to Arizona’s uniqueness and making people take notice.”

“Don’t attempt to convey a contrived experience,” adds Rea. “Agritainment is successful because of its authenticity — the experience has to be real.”

The originator of agritainment reminds us of one of the most unique and coveted aspects of agritainment: “You absolutely cannot franchise the agritourism experience,” Schnepf says.

Something we’re all sure to remember when we pick a fresh Arizonan peach, olive or orange.

Michelle Streeter

• Schnepf Farms’ 300 acres has hosted concerts, zombie paintball hayrides, peach-orchard tours, is home to multiple relocated farm buildings and Arizona’s oldest carousel, which was rescued from the top of a barn in Minnesota.

• With more than 10 acres of gardens, yard games, restaurants and shops, The Farm at South Mountain hosts events such as the Arizona Vignerons Alliance Wine Symposium, Blue Watermelon Project Fundraiser and offers ongoing gardening and raw-food cooking classes.

• Queen Creek Olive Mill has an expansive home and body line featuring olive-oil-based lip balm, soaps and more. Not surprising, it boasts a full store offering every olive oil imaginable, including chocolate and vanilla flavors.

• Superstition Farms has their very own “Milk Bar,” complete with a dozen flavors, including Cookies-N-Cream.

• Blue Sky Organic Farms hosts periodic “farm days” for the entire family, as well as farm-to-table events.

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STAYCATIONS

Here are some of the best summer staycation deals of 2018 from Arizona’s finest resorts

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By MICHAEL GOSSIE

S

ummer in Arizona is not the time to miss out on a memory.

With summer vacation time approaching, the Arizona Office of Tourism says Arizonans leave more than 11 million days of paid vacation unused each year. And those forgotten vacation days translate to more than $3 billion in lost economic benefit for the state. But even more importantly, letting those vacation days go to waste may harm your health. Consider this: • Studies show that employees who forfeit vacation time are lower performers.

• Skipping vacations for just one year can raise the risk of heart disease, research shows.

• Experts say people who take regular vacations have improved moods, better mental resilience and increased creativity.

Luckily for us, we live in the land of perpetual vacation. Arizona is home to some of the world’s most plush pools, renowned resorts, luxurious spas, romantic retreats, spectacular golf courses and best restaurants.

So if you need a summer getaway, why not stay close to home and help your health at the same time?

Forget about flight delays and rental cars because many of Arizona’s award-winning hotels and resorts offer summer deals that are designed specifically for local residents who want a staycation to get away from it all. The best part about experiencing Arizona’s best resorts in the summer is that you can spoil yourself while getting a bargain.

Here are some of Arizona’s best staycation deals for 2018:

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STAYCATIONS BOULDERS RESORT & SPA

ARIZONA BILTMORE THE DEAL: The Biltmore Block Party is a season-long celebration of the Arizona Biltmore, A Waldorf Astoria Resort as the hip and historic neighborhood staycation season go-to since 1929.

A lineup of colorful themed weekend activities, creative flavors including a gourmet boozy snow cone pop-up, glow in the dark fun and more bring to life memories of your neighborhood block party in modern style. Standard staycation season guest room rates begin at $159.

TO BOOK: arizonabiltmore.com/special-offers ARIZONA GRAND RESORT & SPA THE DEAL: Book your staycation at Arizona’s only AAA Four Diamond

all-suite resort and customize your visit with the perk that suits you best with a Resort Credit Package. Enjoy $50 in nightly resort credit to be used towards your choice of dining, spa or golf.

TO BOOK: arizonagrandresort.com/specials/resort-credit-package BOULDERS RESORT & SPA THE DEAL: This summer, re-TREAT yourself at the Boulders Resort

— a peaceful vacation getaway that is close yet far removed from the Valley’s family crowds. Luxurious casita accommodations, a legendary spa, four swimming pools, world-class golf, culinary adventures — all starting at $129 per night. The “Truly Boulders” package includes dining credits and spa specials.

TO BOOK: 480-488-9009 or theboulders.com FAIRMONT SCOTTSDALE PRINCESS THE DEAL: From Memorial Day to Labor Day, this AAA Five Diamond playcation paradise is the perfect backdrop for families to make memories to last a lifetime. Summer weekends include cool rides down waterslides, sugar white sand at Sunset Beach, 70

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Techno Glo pool parties, Dive-In movies, virtual reality roller coasters in the Trailblazers Family Adventure Center, Mermaid University and fishing derbies at the lagoon with Ranger Rick, with most activities being complimentary for overnight guests.

The Best. Summer. Ever. Vacation Package starts from $179 per night and includes a $50 resort credit and a complimentary photo session with the Princess’ Instagram Concierge.

TO BOOK: 480-585-4848 or scottsdaleprincess.com FOUR SEASONS RESORT SCOTTSDALE AT TROON NORTH THE DEAL: Escape to the foothills of Pinnacle Peak and enjoy an elevated summer staycation experience featuring a newly refurbished pool complex, summer dining specials and spa discounts, and a complimentary Kids for All Seasons program. Weekday rates start from $189 per night June 1 though Aug. 31, 2018.

TO BOOK: 480-513-5039 or fourseasons.com/scottsdale GILA RIVER HOTELS & CASINOS AT WILD HORSE PASS THE DEAL: The AAA Four Diamond Awarded Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino features refreshed accommodations, delectable dining, a lively nightlife, and poolside entertainment – all with no resort fees.

TO BOOK: wingilariver.com or 520-796-4900 GILA RIVER HOTELS & CASINOS AT VEE QUIVA THE DEAL: Take a break from your busy life with a sanctuary

staycation at Vee Quiva Hotel Casino, located at the foot of beautiful South Mountain. This AAA Four Diamond Awarded retreat features boutique rooms, delicious dining, an oasis pool, and the best gaming found in the Valley.

TO BOOK: wingilariver.com or 520-796-4900

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STAYCATIONS GCU HOTEL THE DEAL: Vacation at West Phoenix’s newest stay-and-play destination, the GCU Hotel. Enjoy urban eats at Canyon 49 Grill, where kids eat free Friday and Saturday nights, play games on its patio and enjoy poolside movies. From June 1 - Aug. 5, stay Friday and get Saturday night half off.

TO BOOK: gcuhotel.com/hotel-offers HERMOSA INN THE DEAL: The Hermosa Inn, a AAA Four Diamond hotel nestled in the heart of Paradise Valley, offers its popular Summer in Paradise Getaway from May 20-Sept. 30, 2018. With rates starting from $149, plus tax and resort fee, this getaway includes overnight accommodations, two drink tickets upon arrival, $25 daily food and beverage credit, daily poolside treats, upgrade upon arrival based on availability and early check-in/late checkout, based on availability TO BOOK: hermosainn.com/offers HOTEL VALLEY HO THE DEAL: Book the Stay2Play Package at the iconic Hotel Valley

Ho in Old Town Scottsdale and receive an arrival amenity, welcome drinks, complimentary parking, $20 in nightly resort credit and a complimentary room upgrade upon arrival (based on availability). Available for stays from May 28 to Aug. 31.

TO BOOK: 480-376-2600 or hotelvalleyho.com HYATT REGENCY SCOTTSDALE RESORT & SPA AT GAINEY RANCH THE DEAL: From 10 pools and a 2.5 acre water playground to dive-in movies, summertime memories are waiting for you at Hyatt Regency

Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Gainey Ranch. Book now and take advantage of a $50 nightly resort credit by using special offer code “Cool50” when booking online or ask for the Resort Credit Package.

TO BOOK: 480-444-1234 or scottsdale.regency.hyatt.com JW MARRIOTT CAMELBACK INN RESORT & SPA THE DEAL: Nestled on 125 acres at the base of Mummy Mountain

amidst peaceful surroundings and breathtaking gardens, Camelback Inn will be serving up its Casitas & Ritas summer package for a zest of summer fun and relaxation. Rates start from $179 and the package is available May 21 through Sept. 7, 2018.

Use promo code ES7 when booking.

TO BOOK: camelbackinn.com JW MARRIOTT DESERT RIDGE RESORT & SPA THE DEAL: Splash into savings for a good cause this summer

with the Splash into Summer package, with a portion of the proceeds benefitting the Children’s Miracle Network. Last year, JW Marriott Desert Ridge raised more than $30,000 for CMN as a result of the package. Rates start from $169 and package is available May 10 through Sept. 4, 2018. Must use summer promo code SPU when booking.

TO BOOK: jwdesertridge.com JW MARRIOTT STARR PASS RESORT & SPA THE DEAL: Back by popular demand, plan on sipping signature

margaritas this summer by booking the Margarita Package, a refreshing summer package worth savoring. The Margarita Package’s rates start from $169. Package is available June 15 through Aug. 31, 2018. Must use summer promo code ZJL when booking.

TO BOOK: jwstarrpass.com.

L’AUBERGE DE SEDONA, A DESTINATION HOTEL THE DEAL: This summer, L’Auberge de Sedona is the perfect

getaway for cooler weather and scenic relaxation. Unwind in luxe accommodations starting at $305 per night and enjoy scenic creekside dining at Cress on Oak Creek, nature-focused spa and wellness treatments at L’Apothecary Spa, and customized hikes with The Hike House.

TO BOOK: lauberge.com MOUNTAIN SHADOWS THE DEAL: Enjoy Arizona’s newest resort located in the heart of

Paradise Valley, in the shadows of Camelback Mountain. Arizona residents enjoy pricing that includes parking, resort fees and luxury accommodations, all for one low price starting from $119 nightly.

TO BOOK: 480-624-5424 or mountainshadows.com OMNI MONTELUCIA THE DEALS: “Fee-Free Summer” at Omni Montelucia offers rates

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starting at $135 per night (promo code PKGFRE). Take advantage of an incredible value this summer, fee free. With “Sunsational Sundays,” receive a 10 percent discount for a one-night stay, 20 percent discount for two nights and a 30 percent discount for three to five nights off the best flexible rate. Add in an enticing lineup of Joya Spa specials, unique culinary experiences, live entertainment , three sparkling pools, breathtaking views of Camelback Mountain poolside and you have the perfect getaway.

TO BOOK: omnimontelucia.com

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STAYCATIONS ROYAL PALMS RESORT AND SPA THE DEALS: The Royal Summer Retreat starts from $229 per night and includes $50 T. Cook’s dinner credit, resort fee and parking (over $100 value). Booking code: RPSUM. Arizona Residents Offer, starting at $169 per night, includes up to 25 percent off best available rate, based on length of stay. Booking code: AZRES (for one or two nights) or AZRES1 (for three or more nights). Valid stay dates for both deals are May 16-Sept. 20.

TO BOOK: royalpalmshotel.com

THE SCOTTSDALE RESORT AT MCCORMICK RANCH, A DESTINATION HOTEL THE DEAL: The Scottsdale is offering “Rockin - Staycations” this summer with $89 room rates and for just $10 more, breakfast for two. Groove poolside to live music and rock ‘n’ roll themed movies on the weekends or get your game on with backyard fun like lifesize beer pong, cornhole, horseshoes, and ping pong.

TO BOOK: destinationhotels.com/scottsdale-resort

TALKING STICK RESORT THE DEAL: Through Aug. 31, 2018, Talking Stick Resort will offer its “Playcation for Locals” special. With rates starting from $99 Sunday through Thursday and $149 Friday and Saturday, the special includes no resort fee, a $25 or $50 credit based on length of stay and discounts on cabanas, daybeds, The Spa at Talking Stick and various local businesses.

TO BOOK: 866-877-9897

THE DEAL: Rates as low as $99 per night or $189 per two nights.

THE CAMBY THE DEAL: Kick off the ultimate staycation at The Camby with

nightly rates starting at $119 and a $25 food and beverage credit, using promo code SUM. Locals enjoy hotel amenities exactly like nothing else like Tipsy Tea Party, Check In. Jam Out. and Wade Poolside Bar. This urban playground is conveniently located near the best local dining, shopping, nightlife and attractions.

TO BOOK: thecamby.com THE PHOENICIAN THE DEAL: Following an extensive transformation, The Phoenician is back, introducing a new way to staycation with a variety of premiere and enhanced amenities for every member of the family. Discover a refreshing, approachable luxury along with signature summer specials throughout the resort. Rates start at $169 per night, with complimentary self-parking. Ask for rate plan SUMMER. HOW TO BOOK: thephoenician.com/offers or 480-941-8200

WE-KO-PA RESORT & CONFERENCE CENTER The deal includes waived resort fee, $10 casino free play, and 25 percent discount on regular priced spa services per stay. Twonight package also features $50 food and beverage credit. Subject to availability from May 1 through Aug. 31.

TO BOOK: 480-789-5320 or wekoparesort.com WESTIN KIERLAND RESORT & SPA THE DEAL: The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa welcomes Valley

locals to an unforgettable subzero summer escape, featuring splashy savings, freezing family fun and Instagram-worthy arctic adventures. Guests may enjoy the resort’s Big Chill Package with rates starting from $159 with a $50 per room, per night dining credit, joined by a summer-long chill series led by the resort’s dedicated “fun” team.

TO BOOK: 480-624-1202 or kierlandresort.com WIGWAM THE DEAL: Among the most beautiful properties in the region,

The Wigwam created the Centennial Thank You package to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of its Organization House. The package includes luxurious accommodations and a $100 credit per night redeemable for on property activities including Red Door Salon & Spa and dining.

TO BOOK: wigwamarizona.com or 623-935-3811. Promo code is THANKYOU.

WIGWAM

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Many Places To Go, One Place To

Stay

Enjoy luxury at an unmatched value with all-suite accommodations featuring a separate living area with sofa sleeper & private balcony, mountain views, nearby hiking trails, numerous pools, a water slide, cabana rentals, tennis courts, seasonal kid’s poolside activities, Troon golf course, full-service spa & salon and convenient on-site dining options. We’re your perfect, hassle-free destination.

For reservations, please visit tapatiocliffshilton.com or call 1-800-HILTONS

1 1 1 1 1 North 7th Street | Phoenix, Arizona 85020 © 2017 Hilton Worldwide

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@pointehiltontap

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ARIZONA ENERGY CONSORTIUM

A VIEW FROM

THE TOP

What’s happening in Arizona’s energy industry and where are we going in the future?

By CHRIS DAVEY and MICHELLE DE BLASI

T

he Arizona Energy Consortium (AEC) is a business consortium that promotes the growth and development of Arizona’s energy industry. Since 2011, the AEC has worked to strengthen the energy industry by providing a forum for its diverse base of members to increase business opportunities, while reducing barriers to development by supporting certainty and consistency of policy. Our members include a broad range of energy industry experts – from developers to technical consultants, construction companies, mining companies, financial institutions, manufacturers, utilities and service providers. The AEC serves as a place for new businesses to integrate into the community, opportunities are created to increase retention of the businesses we attract to the state.

The AEC utilizes a proactive approach in its initiatives.

In May, the AEC will release an update to the 2012 Arizona Energy Roadmap – a plan for Arizona’s energy industry – with an emphasis on policy certainty, continued innovation and the potential expansion of regional Southwest energy markets. In September 2018, the AEC will host the Southwest Energy Conference, a gathering of significant energy

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industry experts discussing the continued expansion of the regional markets, how innovation plays a role and the potential impediments. Through these collaborations with key stakeholders in Arizona and the region’s energy industry, the AEC helps shape the initiatives that promote innovation and strengthen the diversity of our energy industry while continuing to ensure secure and stable electricity pricing.

The AEC is also a robust place for energy industry members to network and grow their businesses. At the bimonthly Energy Drinks networking events, a member company is provided the opportunity to host the event and speak about their company.

Many business deals and relationships are formed at these events.

At the AEC’s Monthly Forum meetings, member companies are periodically invited to speak about their projects, services or technology to showcase their company’s expertise to an audience of potential customers. Additionally, our Member Resource Guide provides member companies the ability to provide detailed company-specific information to initiate business development.

CHARGED UP: Chris Davey and Michelle De Blasi, co-executive directors of the Arizona Energy Consortium, at the McMicken Battery facility in Surprise.

PHOTO BY MIKER MERTES, AZ BIG MEDIA

...the AEC helps shape the initiatives that promote innovation and strengthen the diversity of our energy industry while continuing to ensure secure and stable electricity pricing.

WHAT’S NEW IN ARIZONA’S ENERGY INDUSTRY? With the fast-changing landscape of the energy industry, the AEC provides a collective voice for industry stakeholders and the ability to share ideas to move the industry forward. One of the many services the AEC provides to its members is to continuously monitor changing policies and provide opportunities to share this knowledge, as well as provide opportunities to interact with influential speakers and stakeholders from the private and public sectors.

Arizona has a diverse energy portfolio comprised primarily of natural gas, coal, hydroelectric power and nuclear energy.

Arizona’s Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff (REST) requires regulated utilities to provide 15 percent renewable energy by 2025. Although hydroelectric power has been the dominant source of renewable generation capacity, the utilization of other renewable resources, such as solar, continues to grow; Arizona is now ranked third in the nation for installed solar capacity. As many tech companies and data centers are demanding renewable energy to power their facilities, Arizona must consider the environmental and health benefits of renewable energy, while also considering it as an economic development driver for the industries the state wishes to attract.

Arizona’s Energy Standard Modernization Plan, recent proposal being considered by the Arizona Corporation Commission, would change the REST to a Clean Resource Energy Standard and Tariff (CREST). The Modernization Plan provides that “Arizona’s economy become powered by clean energy sources that make up at least 80 percent of the state’s electricity generating portfolio, by 2050, with the ultimate goal being 100 percent.” The plan would require that “Each year, affected utilities will file a CREST Implementation Plan describing their strategy to achieve their goal of reaching 80 percent use of clean energy sources and a

Compliance Report detailing their progress.” Clean energy sources would include generation resources that operate with zero net emissions beyond that of steam, including nuclear, hydroelectricity and energy efficiency.

The Modernization Plan seeks to provide updates to such areas as Arizona’s policy framework, clean energy, energy storage, forest health/biomass, dispatchable clean energy, energy efficiency, electric vehicles and energy planning. It has yet to be determined how much of the Modernization Plan will be adopted or implemented; however it is a positive first step in the state adopting an energy policy, something it has not had in many decades.

While Arizona’s utilities provide a strong diverse portfolio of reliable, inexpensive power, there remain many opportunities for growth. Some of the key areas of advancement opportunities in Arizona’s energy industry include energy storage, development of regional markets and electrification of vehicles.

ENERGY STORAGE The inherent lack of capacity and intermittent nature of the available renewable technologies, coupled with federal and state support, are the primary drivers for the organic and mandated growth in storage technologies. That said, energy storage allows utilities to maximize the benefit of all generation resources, while at the same time providing the ability to better manage supply and demand during times needed most by the market.

Electricity from intermittent resources, such as solar PV and wind that only produce power during certain times of the day, can be stored at peak generation and utilized during peak demand. As energy storage technologies continue to improve and become more cost effective, both the customer and the utility will benefit through a more efficient and cost-effective utilization of grid resources.

Although Arizona does not currently impose a mandated procurement requirement for energy storage, Arizona’s utilities are actively developing energy storage in an attempt to better understand the advantages and drawbacks. However, if implemented, the modernization plan would require a target of 3,000 MW of deployed energy storage by 2030.

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ARIZONA ENERGY CONSORTIUM REGIONALIZATION Arizona has many opportunities to take advantage of its vast lands, lower electricity rates and less expensive permitting processes to further develop as a regional energy hub. While traditionally Arizona utilities have focused on providing power within the state, a strengthened system may in turn provide greater energy security and continued reliability for the broader region. Arizona needs to determine how it wants to participate in and contribute to the regional framework.

A program that is currently in development to strengthen the western states’ transmission system and improve reliability costeffectively is the Western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM). The EIM “is a real-time energy-only market offered by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) to any balancing authority area in the western United States.” Its promoted goals are to provide “a low-cost, low-risk option that balances load and resources automatically and economically.” The CAISO and PacifiCorp initiated the EIM on November 1, 2014 to balance energy supply and demand in real-time over six states. Since the EIM was implemented on an existing platform, the result, according to the CAISO, is a reliable, flexible, and scalable system.

The EIM is anticipated to expand – Arizona Public Service entered the EIM in October 2016, and the Salt River Project is expected to join the EIM by 2020. It is important for Arizona to maintain a seat at the table where regional issues are being discussed;

Arizona has

many opportunities

to take advantage of its vast lands, lower electricity rates and less expensive permitting processes to further develop as a

regional energy hub.

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Arizona stakeholders must provide input so that decisions impacting Arizona and its ratepayers are not being made by those outside of the state. The AEC will continue to monitor the development of the EIM and its impacts on Arizona’s energy industry, and where appropriate provide a forum for affected stakeholders to have a constructive conversation.

ELECTRIC VEHICLE INNOVATIONS As more electric vehicles (EVs) are produced by manufacturers to meet the demand of consumers, the generation profile will need to adjust to those demands. The widespread adoption of EVs will not be effective if the infrastructure and electricity rates are not in place to support the adoption. Arizona policies have encouraged charging infrastructure and technology innovations; however, there are policy opportunities to further encourage and prepare for increased market penetration of EVs. Although Arizona’s utilities are working diligently to plan for increased electricity demand, it is not yet known how this increased infrastructure would be funded by the regulated utilities.

The AEC recognizes that the energy industry is much broader than just power generators, so a strong and diverse energy portfolio will be attractive to retaining our current industries, as well as attracting other industries. The AEC will continue to work with all stakeholders to provide a reasonable voice in reducing barriers to development by supporting certainty and consistency of policy.

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ARIZONA ENERGY CONSORTIUM

POWER

MOVE Regional play gathers momentum with renewable and solar energy playing a key role in the shift

By JESSE A. MILLARD

U

tilities have been trading wholesale energy for decades among one another, but these markets are beginning to play a larger role as utilities adopt more renewables and see the benefits of regional collaboration.

With the Western Energy Imbalance Market, utilities across the Southwest and West are collaborating to efficiently serve their customers. This market has grown increasingly useful for states like California as it adopts more renewable energy, which has been benefitting Arizona in turn.

The Western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) is a wholesale energy trading market that allows participating utilities around the West to buy and sell energy among one another. If one market is generating too much energy, it can sell its energy to the market next door.

California ISO launched the western EIM in 2014 with Oregonbased PacifiCorp joining as the first utility participant. Then, Las Vegas-based NV Energy joined in late 2015, Arizona Public Service and Bellevue, Wash.-based Puget Sound Energy joined in October 2016 and Portland General Electric joined in November 2017.

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BUY LOW, SELL HIGH Since joining the EIM, APS has seen benefits beyond what it initially forecast before joining the market, says Brad Albert, vice president of resource management at APS. “It’s been, overall, a good experience that’s contributed some significant savings to our customers,” Albert says. After its first full year participating in the EIM, APS saved $30.5 million, which was passed on to the customers, the utility states.

APS is able to purchase cheap or negative-priced energy from California, especially during this time of the year, by participating in the EIM, Albert says.

California has developed an over-abundance of PV solar energy, which often leads to the state having too much power during the

middle of the day when the sun is up. So Arizona occasionally gets paid to use that energy, or purchases that power at a cheaper rate than what it would cost APS to generate its own power in Arizona.

So, in the middle of the day, APS will be importing California’s overproduction of renewable energy to Arizona, Albert says.

When the sun eventually goes down, those renewables aren’t producing as much energy and customer demand is at its highest.

That’s when utilities like APS can start exporting energy to California in those early evening hours at “significantly higher prices than what we produce,” which is the other source of APS’ savings that stem from the EIM, Albert says.

This doesn’t happen every day, Albert mentions, but it does happen often during the hotter parts of the year.

APS has always participated in wholesale energy markets, Albert says, but the EIM is a bit different.

“The energy imbalance market took (energy trading) to another plateau, another level, because it helps to facilitate more efficient trading activity. It’s more automated,” Albert says.

For APS, participating in the Energy Imbalance Market is about efficiency and how the utility can pass on savings to customers by purchasing cheaper energy. APS imports energy from cheaper sources more often than it exports energy, Albert explains. The utility is focused on bringing the best benefits to its customers by participating in this wider market.

The Salt River Project currently has plans to join the California ISO Energy Imbalance Market by April 2020.

SRP is gearing up its IT and software tools to start communicating with the other utilities in the EIM, says Mike Clester, manager of power supply and trading at SRP. SRP expects to see the same types of revenues and cost savings that APS is currently experiencing through its participation in the EIM, Clester says.

Engaging in the EIM won’t be SRP’s first time operating in the wholesale energy markets. By participating in the EIM, SRP will be fine-tuning its operations to get that last piece of possible sales opportunities and revenue, Clester says.

SRP will have access to one generator in another market that may be cheaper than one of its own generators, Clester says.

“That’s the operational excellence piece of it, that we’re really running our system as optimally as we possibly can. That’s going to save us money and make us money,” Clester says.

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ARIZONA ENERGY CONSORTIUM

Participating in the EIM will also enable further addition of renewable energies into SRP’s portfolio, Clester says. Instead of always calling on natural gas generators to keep up with the fluctuation of loads when renewables become intermittent, SRP will have a bigger pool of resources to pull from in the EIM, Clester says.

“All together, we can better handle those deviations in generation,” from renewables, he says.

GROWING MARKETS The western EIM is set to grow beyond SRP’s looming entrance and two recent additions in April.

Seattle City Light, Los Angeles Department of Power & Water and the Balancing Authority of Northern California/SMUD are all slated to join the EIM between 2019 and 2020 alongside SRP. Since California has been an early adopter of renewable power sources, like PV solar, the state has embarked sooner into this wider regional market than other places to combat against renewable intermittency issues, Clester says. “(California utilities) needed help from their neighboring utilities, so they’ve actually asked us again to help with this issue,” Clester says about participating in the EIM and its future growth.

As time moves on and SRP adopts more renewables, the market will need to grow more, Clester says. No one has announced plans to join the EIM since SRP’s announcement, but Clester imagines there will be more utilities joining beyond 2020.

With the possibility of wider adoption and growth of the western EIM, and this idea of a regional grid, the leaders at the Arizona Energy Consortium wish to make sure that Arizona’s voice and priorities are heard.

“Arizona stakeholders need to maintain a seat at the table where the expansion of the CAISO and other regional issues are being discussed,” says Michelle De Blasi, co-executive director of the Arizona Energy Consortium and director at Fennemore Craig. “As the markets evolve, it is imperative Arizona contributes to the conversation. We cannot afford to have decisions impacting Arizona and its ratepayers being made by those outside the state.”

De Blasi mentions that leaders in California may have ideas on how Arizona participates in such a way that influence’s the state’s energy mix. And this could have an impact on Arizona’s utility rates, she says.

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Brad Albert

Mike Clester

Chris Davey

Michelle De Blasi

Energy Consortium, says Arizona needs to be thinking about how the state benefits from participation in a regional energy market and focusing how the market could be a win-win for everybody.

In order to do that, say Davey and De Blasi, Arizona needs to ensure it has a seat at the table and that its needs are considered.

Local utilities are working within the EIM on a voluntary basis, aiming to exceed the maximum benefit and efficiency for Arizona customers.

“It’s a market that is providing (APS) benefits, and we’re able to derive efficiencies from it. But it’s a voluntary market. We can dial in and adjust how we participate in that market, so we can make sure that it is always serving the interests of Arizona customers first,” Albert says.

CONNECTING THE SOUTHWEST With more energy trading happening and the possibility of the market growing even more over time, are Arizona’s transmission lines up to the task?

Arizona’s connection with California is robust, SRP’s Clester says, but the connections with the Eastern part of the state and beyond aren’t as large.

There are projects on the horizon that will add more lines in and connections in Arizona.

The SunZia Southwest Transmission Project consists of two 500kV transmission lines and substations and will run more than 500 miles from New Mexico to Arizona.

The lines in New Mexico will stem from wind-energy rich areas and will deliver energy across the Southwest.

There’s also the Southline Transmission Project, which is aiming to add a route along existing corridors of transmission lines from south of Las Cruces, New Mexico and south of Willcox, Arizona while upgrading lines where possible.

Upgrades are becoming an important piece of creating the Southwest into a larger, regional market.

Davey says that much like the U.S. transportation infrastructure, the transmission system is in need of upgrades. He mentions the large amount of activity with projects like Southline, SunZia and the Ten West Link, are evidence of the need for more upgrades in energy infrastructure.

“If regional play comes to fruition, in order for Arizona to best capitalize on that and take advantage fiscally and from improved efficiencies, we need to ensure our in-state transmission system supports everything going around us,” Davey says.

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ARIZONA ENERGY CONSORTIUM

POWER PLAYER ARIZONA IS DOMINANT IN ENERGY, BUT THE ROAD HASN’T BEEN EASY

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rizona is a nationwide leader in the energy sector. Our state began rising as an innovator in the solar industry in the early to mid-2000s, and after a few setbacks during the Great Recession, Arizona wasted no time in developing its dominance in the alternative energy space. In 2017, the Phoenix Business Journal reported the state ranked third in the nation for installed solar capacity—a jump from seventh the previous year. We diligently promote alternative energy through top-notch initiatives, organizations and utility companies, and the Arizona Technology Council consistently advocates for the diversification of Arizona’s energy supply.

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One of the state’s most influential energy organizations is the converting to natural gas. Additionally, a total step back from coal Arizona Energy Consortium (AEC). This entity was established to can’t be expected at this point. While the Obama administration provide a voice for Arizona’s energy industry and was created by had an initiative to shut down coal plants over time, the Trump the city of Phoenix as a result of a grant. However, the city realized administration wants to bring coal back. Although a resurgence the AEC should exist statewide, so the Council assumed leadership of coal realistically can’t happen long-term, it can impede the implementation of more recent alternative technological of the organization in 2011. Ultimately, it evolved from a Council developments in the short term. committee into a separate 501(c)(3) in April 2015. In addition to Another means of energy sector acceleration critical to the providing a voice for the energy community, the AEC also promotes industry is advancement through legislation. The Council collaboration within the energy sectors, advances economic excels at legislative advancement by continually advocating initiatives that support technological development and provides for diverse energy solutions via its annual Public Policy Guide. essential input in strategizing the industry’s growth in our state.

Michelle De Blasi, a co-executive director of the Most importantly, the AEC developed a AEC, uses her expertise to update the guide to flexible roadmap for the future of Arizona’s ensure all positions benefit Arizona’s energy energy solutions that are designed to adjust to sector. This guide not only discusses methods the state’s continued growth. The map has been to increase energy capital but emphasizes essential for leveraging Arizona’s strengths the importance of a secure water supply to in energy to promote economic development, sustain energy initiatives. It also details the as well as reducing reliance on fuels that significance of taking advantage of Arizona’s create carbon emissions. The roadmap is the natural gas, adopting a more robust approach to premier outline for our state’s ability to achieve energy development and creating a regulatory a more diverse energy mix, increase export environment that embraces future innovation. potential, create higher-wage jobs in Arizona Steven G. Zylstra In terms of technological developments, and maintain low-cost energy—all of which Technology there is a fundamental link between technology are prominently displayed in AEC’s mission investment and energy. It’s essential for statement.

Arizona to possess predictable energy markets to gain the While Arizona continues to thrive in solar energy production necessary investment capital. For this to occur, Arizona and manufacturing, we experienced some setbacks that forced Corporation Commissioner Andy Tobin developed Arizona’s us to reevaluate how we approach energy. The Greater Phoenix Energy Modernization Plan. The plan is a comprehensive update Economic Council (GPEC) was behind the energy industry that focuses on eight key topics: policy framework, clean energy, propelling Arizona as a manufacturing leader for solar. Despite these efforts, the Great Recession wiped out much of this energy storage, forest health, dispatchable clean energy, energy progress. The Obama administration also impeded progress by efficiency, electric vehicles and energy planning. placing a tariff on China, and many of the rebates available from As technology continues to improve, alternative energy will the federal government for people who installed solar panels become less costly and more accessible to Arizona residents dissipated. Additionally, policy disagreements between the and businesses. Even though the state has experienced some Arizona Corporation Commission and the solar industry led to a turbulence in the energy sector over the years, it’s important to downturn as well. remember Arizona remains one of the nation’s leaders in energy Although many of these disagreements still stand, the solutions. The Council is dedicated to the continued evolution increased use of alternative sources of energy in Arizona is of our energy industries, and we can look forward to a more inevitable. Arizona Public Service runs one of the largest utility sustainable future. solar scale operations in the country, and most power plants Steven G. Zylstra is president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council. run by it, Salt River Project and Tucson Electric Power have been

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