AZBusiness Sept/Oct 2018

CONNECT » GUIDE » INSPIRE

SEPTEMBER // OCTOBER 2018

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Arizona’s Most Admired Companies excel in leadership, culture, social responsibility and innovation

MOST ADMIRED COMPANIES

42

ARIZONA TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL

89

MEETING PROFESSIONALS INTERNATIONAL

105

AZ BIOINDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

121

Front row, from left: Bill Lavidge, LAVIDGE; Dave Allazetta, UnitedHealthcare; Michael Kennedy, Gallagher & Kennedy; and Rick Smith, Axon.

Back row, from left: Julie Tomich, American Express; Susan Gerard, Maricopa Integrated Health System; Ben Danner, Washington Federal; and Deborah Akinsipe,Vanguard.

Table of Contents 6

Trendsetters

12

CEO Series

14

Banking

18

Law

22

Women’s Health

A LOOK AT THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA’S BUSINESS COMMUNITY

18

I

t’s an impact that cannot be denied.

Consider these highlights from the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s “DATOS: The State of Arizona’s Hispanic Market” report, which will be presented at a Sept. 28 breakfast: • Maricopa County has the fifth-largest Hispanic population among counties in the U.S. at 30.3 percent.

• The Hispanic population in Arizona increased 62.4 percent from 2005 to 2015. It tripled from 1990 to 2015.

28 Arizona Mining

22

Marketing

36

38 Small Business

42 Most Admired Companies 81 Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce 89 Arizona Technology Council

121 Arizona Bioindustry Association

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Arizona’s Most Admired Companies excel in leadership, culture, social responsibility and innovation

2

THE HEART OF HEALTHCARE

22

ARIZONA SOCIETY OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

66

WESTMARC

81

36 On the cover:

CONNECT » GUIDE » INSPIRE

SEPTEMBER // OCTOBER 2018

Front row, from left: Bill Lavidge, LAVIDGE; Dave Allazetta, UnitedHealthcare; Michael Kennedy, Gallagher & Kennedy; and Rick Smith, Axon.

Back row, from left: Julie Tomich, American Express; Susan Gerard, Maricopa Integrated Health System; Ben Danner, Washington Federal; and Deborah Akinsipe,Vanguard.

AB | September - October 2018

• In 2017, total Hispanic consumer spending in Arizona was $45 billion, which is the equivalent economic impact of hosting 90 Super Bowls each year.

• In 2015, there were an estimated 123,000 Hispanic-owned businesses+ in Arizona. One of those businesses is DP Electric, a true Arizona success story that Dan Puente started out of his garage in 1990 and now employs more than 300. DP Electric is one of Arizona’s Most Admired Companies, which are profiled inside the pages of this issue of Az Business.

40 Dining

105 Meeting Professionals International

• Hispanics make up 31 percent of the Arizona population.

Front row, from left: Bill Lavidge, LAVIDGE; Dave Allazetta, UnitedHealthcare; Michael Kennedy, Gallagher & Kennedy; and Rick Smith, Axon.

Back row, from left: Julie Tomich, American Express; Susan Gerard, Maricopa Integrated Health System; Ben Danner, Washington Federal; and Deborah Akinsipe,Vanguard.

Also inside this issue, we take a closer look at the economic force that Arizona’s Hispanic population has become.

“No matter how you count, Hispanics in Arizona and nationwide are growing in numbers and spending power,” said Gonzalo A. de la Melena, president and CEO of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Enjoy this issue of Az Business, which casts the spotlight on both the present innovators in business with Arizona’s Most Admired Companies of 2018 and the future of Arizona’s economy with a special report from the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

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

SHOUT-OUTS GOEPPINGER NAMED 2018 WOMAN OF THE YEAR Kathleen Goeppinger, PhD, president and CEO of Midwestern University, will be honored for her community leadership, philanthropy and her impact on education and the West Valley on October 2.

“I am excited to honor Dr. Kathleen Goeppinger as West Valley Women’s 2018 Woman of the Year,” said Lisa E. Platt, CEO Kathleen and chief connection officer for West Valley Goeppinger Women. “Dr. Goeppinger is active in the community, well known, respected and empowers those around her. Under her leadership, Midwestern University’s Glendale Campus has grown into a world-renowned Osteopathic Medical School. I love that she gives with her heart to make the world a better place.”

The community is invited to honor Dr. Goeppinger at the Oct. 2 event. Information is available at westvalleywomen.org.

BANNER CEO AMONG ‘100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN HEALTHCARE’ Peter Fine, who has led Banner Health through significant growth and transformation, was named to Modern Healthcare’s 2018 list of the “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare.”

The recognition program acknowledges and honors individuals who are deemed by Peter Fine their peers and the senior editors of Modern Healthcare to be the most influential individuals in the industry, in terms of leadership and impact.

“I am proud to see Banner Health represented among the top leaders of the health care industry,” said Fine. “This recognition is a reflection of the exceptional clinicians, support staff and leadership team who I have the privilege to work with.”

VIRGINIA G. PIPER CHARITABLE TRUST HITS $400M IN GRANTS Talk about impacting a community. The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, a private foundation that honors the legacy of Virginia Galvin Piper, has achieved a grantmaking milestone by investing more than $400 million in nonprofits and programs since its inception. Piper Trust began awarding grants in 2000 and awards approximately $22 million annually to Maricopa County nonprofits.

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AB | September - October 2018

President and CEO: Michael Atkinson Publisher: Cheryl Green Vice president of operations: Audrey Webb EDITORIAL Editor in chief: Michael Gossie Associate editor: Steve Burks Intern: Noelle Schon Contributing writers: Dennis E. Campbell | Dina de Leon James E. Garcia | Katharine Longo | Jesse A. Millard | Erin Thorburn Steven G. Zylstra ART Design director: Bruce Andersen Art director: Mike Mertes MARKETING/EVENTS Marketing & events manager: Cristal Rodriguez Marketing specialist: Gloria Del Grosso Marketing designer: Justie Lim 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 | Tom Patterson AZ BUSINESS ANGELS AZ BUSINESS LEADERS Director of sales: Sheri Brown AZ HOME & DESIGN Director of sales: Kim Bailey 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 2018 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.

Arizona’s

home for the

BEST

of Broadway asugammage.com

AB | September - October 2018 5

Michael James Scott (Genie) & Ensemble. Photo by Deen van Meer. © Disney

TRENDSETTERS

15 MOST

PROFITABLE COMPANIES IN ARIZONA

These are the 15 most profitable companies in Arizona, according to Owler. Owler collects actual revenue numbers for public companies and aggregates thousand of member responses to estimate the revenue of private companies.

1. Avnet

Leader: William J. Amelio, CEO Estimated revenue: $17.4 billion

2. Republic Services

Leader: Donald Slager, president and CEO Estimated revenue: $10 billion

3. Western Refining

Leader: Jeff A. Stevens, president and CEO Estimated revenue: $8.6 billion

4. Banner Health

Leader: Peter Fine, president and CEO Estimated revenue: $7.1 billion

5. U-Haul

Leader: Edward J. Joe Shoen, CEO Estimated revenue: $7 billion

6. PetSmart

Leader: J.K. Symancyk, CEO Estimated revenue: $6.3 billion

7. Insight

Leader: Kenneth Lamneck, president and CEO Estimated revenue: $6 billion

8. Best Western

Leader: David Kong, CEO Estimated revenue: $6 billion

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AB | September - October 2018

Beer distributors deliver tremendous economic value to Arizona. Here’s a look at the numbers:

$237.1

million

Wages and salaries

$3.9

34

Distributor facilities

2,986 Employees

million

Economic impact on communities — support of charities, local events and economic development

$283.7

million $1.5 billion

Federal, state and local taxes

Total economic impact

9. Southern Copper

Leader: Oscar Gonzalez Rocha, president and CEO Estimated revenue: $5.8 billion

10. ON Semiconductor

Leader: Keith D. Jackson, president and CEO Estimated revenue: $5.5 billion

11. Magellan Health

Leader: Barry M. Smith, chairman and CEO Estimated revenue: $5.5 billion

12. Sprouts Farmers Market Leader: Amin N. Maredia, CEO Estimated revenue: $4.5 billion

13. Amkor Technology

Leader: Stephen D. Kelley, president and CEO Estimated revenue: $4.3 billion

14. Microchip

Leader: Steve Sanghi, president and CEO Estimated revenue: $3.9 billion

15. Discount Tire

Leader: Michael Zuieback, CEO Estimated revenue: $3.8 billion

How many people in the Valley became millionaires by selling their homes?

Timing is everything when it comes to buying and selling real estate. It can make the difference between a smart deal that turns you into a millionaire and a not-so-smart one that causes you to go bankrupt. PropertyShark researched how many people became millionaires just by selling their homes since the turn of the century. Not surprisingly, San Francisco ranked No. 1 with 381 people who became millionaires just by selling their homes after 2001. And in the Valley?

­­— 86 —

became millionaires by selling their homes in Scottsdale

— 48 —

got rich selling their homes in Phoenix

— 36 —

made millions selling their Paradise Valley homes

AB | September - October 2018 7

TRENDSETTERS

THE BEST

AND WORST JOBS HEADING INTO 2019

Here’s how to

maximize golf as a sales tool

One of the pillars of sales is “know your audience.” And if you’re using golf as a tool to increase your chances of making a sale, you had better know what kind of golfer you’re selling. Each golf course brings different pros and cons and each golf course fits a potential client’s golf game better than others. The trick is to know their game. Jonathan Crist, an associate at Communication Links, offers some suggestions that could help you seal the deal: SCRATCH GOLFER

NOVICE GOLFER

“We-Ko-Pa Golf Club for the scratch golfer who values the game and plays frequently,” Crist offers. “Two of the best courses in the state will challenge the good player. No homes to distract you from your golf game or your sales goals.”

“Papago Golf Course for the novice golfer who enjoys being out on the course, but isn’t concerned with his game,” Crist offers. “Many holes are close together, which means you can play errant tee shots from benign desert or other fairways instead of searching for lost balls all day.”

AVERAGE GOLFER “Grayhawk Golf Club for the average golfer who loves a good time,” Crist says.

“Great hang after the round. Not many golf courses have restaurants that serve dinner.

Grayhawk has two.”

As students head back to classes, they might be wondering what to study. In the 30th edition of the “Jobs Rated” report, CareerCast’s list of the 10 best jobs heading into 2019 reflect an ongoing shift toward STEM professions. On the downside, innovation has hurt some professions. The report utilizes criteria such as income, outlook, environmental factors, stress and physical demands to rank the professions.

CAREERCAST’S 10 BEST JOBS

Genetic counselor $77,480 Mathematician $103,010 University professor (tenured) $76,000

Occupational therapist $83,200 Statistician $84,060 Medical services manager $98,350 Data scientist $114,520

Information security analyst $92,600 Operations research analyst $81,390 Actuary $101,560

CAREERCAST’S 5 WORST JOBS Corrections officer $43,510 Disc jockey $31,500 Broadcaster $40,910

Advertising salesperson $49,680 Pest control worker $34,370

HOW ATTRACTIVE IS TELECOMMUTING IN ATTRACTING TALENT? For Arizona companies battling • Of all age groups, workers aged 18-34 find for talent in today’s tight job telecommuting most market, a new survey from appealing.

Robert Half shows offering telecommuting options might be • 74 percent of Phoenix the key to enticing professionals. workers says there are But it may not be the secret downsides to telecommuting, sauce. Here are some findings: including people abusing the benefit (23 percent), feelings of isolation (17 percent), loss of face time with co-workers (16 percent), interpersonal relationships suffering (10 percent) and no one to bounce ideas off (8 percent).

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AB | September - October 2018

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e v i t ea

TRENDSETTERS

Cr s t i u s r pu It might surprise you to find many of Arizona’s greatest business leaders spend their spare time pursuing creative endeavors. Here are some of those multi-tasking visionaries:

Ginger Price

Theodore C. Cooke

Charles S. Price

Does your boss judge you for lunch breaks?

Kristen B. Rosati

Merl Waschler

THEODORE C. COOKE, general manager, Central Arizona Project: “I enjoy music — listening, writing, arranging and performing — and photography, both artistic pursuits that help to balance my more technical and data-driven work life.”

CHARLES S. PRICE, member, Dickinson Wright: “For more than 20 years I have played the harmonica at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix with a band now called the Repeat Offenders.

Playing with the band enables me to tap into creativity, presence of mind, musical expression and nonverbal communication — a great counterbalance to “thinking like a lawyer.”

GINGER PRICE, owner, Ginger Price Dentistry: “I’m a creative, so when I’m not seeing patients, you can find me in my studio sculpting with glass and clay.”

KRISTEN B. ROSATI, partner, Coppersmith Brockelman: “I love to paint. The bigger the canvas and the brighter the paint, the better. My work is not hanging in museums, but my husband and my law partners have been very indulgent in providing display space.”

MERL WASCHLER, president and CEO, Valley of the Sun United Way: “Photography makes me more attuned to everything happening around me. It requires a blend of artistry and technical attention that is uniquely challenging and satisfying.”

Rather than appear lazy in front of their boss, a study shows many employees opt to skip their lunch break, even though it can have a negative impact on their ability to perform and general well-being.

“The study found that almost 20 percent of employees are worried their boss judges them when they take a lunch break,” says human resources expert Rob Wilson, president of Employco. “Thirteen percent worry that their coworkers judge them for taking a break.”

Sadly, Wilson says that these fears are not unfounded.

“The same study found that bosses do indeed judge employees for taking breaks.

Twenty-two percent of bosses believe that employees who take regular lunch breaks are not as hard-working as employees who do not, and 34 percent of bosses say that they take into account how often an employee takes lunch breaks when they evaluate job performance.”

PHX is One of the Most Cyber-Insecure Airports in America • San Diego International Airport According to a new report from Coronet, a cloud security company, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is one of the most cyber-insecure in the nation. Coronet identified both device vulnerabilities and Wi-Fi network risks at America’s top 45 most-traveled airports over a five-month span. The most secure: Chicago-Midway International Airport. Here are the The 10 most cyber-insecure U.S. airports:

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AB | May - June 2018

• John Wayne Airport-Orange County Airport • William P. Houston Hobby Airport • Southwest Florida International Airport • Newark Liberty International Airport • Dallas Love Field • Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport • Charlotte Douglas International Airport • Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport • General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport

AB | September - October 2018 11

CEO SERIES

REDEFINING AN INDUSTRY OfferPad disrupts the residential real estate sector and offers a glimpse into the future of homebuying

By MICHAEL GOSSIE

W

ho is going to bet against a residential real estate company whose leadership team has purchased, renovated, rented or sold more than 100,000 homes?

Certainly not investors. Since it was founded in 2015, Gilbert-based OfferPad has raised more than $410 million in equity and debt, is projected to buy and sell more than $1.5 billion of single-family homes over the next year, has an eyepopping 94 percent customer satisfaction rating and is redefining an industry.

So how does it work?

“Our approach fundamentally changes the way people buy and sell homes,” says Jerry Coleman, co-founder and co-CEO of OfferPad. “Instead of paying for the renovations needed to sell a home and waiting four or five months for closing, we buy homes from those who want to sell quickly and for a guaranteed price.”

With OfferPad, homeowners complete an online form and receive an offer on their home within a day or so. Homeowners pick their closing date. OfferPad then makes necessary renovations and lists the home for re-sale on its online platform. The formula is working. After just three years in business, OfferPad is on pace to generate close to $1 billion in revenue this year.

Az Business talked with Coleman to find out how OfferPad is disrupting an industry.

Az Business: Who are OfferPad’s customers?

Jerry Coleman: We are dealing with an on-demand customer. Our typical customer shops at Amazon instead of brick-and-mortar retail. They stream Netflix instead of renting a movie. But 12

AB | September - October 2018

PHOTO BY MIKE MERTES, AZ BIG MEDIA

RECORD OF SUCCESS: OfferPad was founded by Brian Bair and Jerry Coleman, who — over the past decade — have become pioneers in the unprecedented growth of the single-family rental industry.

we’ve found OfferPad also appeals to anyone who sold a house before and has experienced how hard it is going through that process. They like what we are doing.

AB: What benefits does OfferPad give the consumer?

JC: In a traditional home sale, you don’t know when the home is going to close, you don’t know how much it’s going to close for, you might need to do renovations while you’re still living in there, you’ll have to deal with strangers coming through your home for showings and you’re limited in how fast you can move. OfferPad is all about providing the customer a seamless experience and a much faster close.

AB: What has been the reaction from those in the traditional real estate industry?

JC: We started OfferPad because we

saw this as a massive value-add for the homeowner. We are very aware of what disruption can mean in this industry, but that’s not our focus. Our focus is on providing the best experience for the homeowner. We pay millions and millions of dollars in commissions to agents who sell our re-listed homes. We are very agentfriendly. This was more about us saying, “Hey, there’s another option needed.”

AB: Where do you hope to take OfferPad? JC: Our long-term goal is to bring this model to as many homeowners as we can, grow the volume we are doing in the eight markets we are in now and open up new markets. We want to be able to offer the same economic homeowners would get from a traditional sale as they would get from us. The end goal is to provide a onestop solution for our customers.

AB | September - October 2018 13

BANKING

MONEY Here’s how the interest rate hikes impact your personal finances

By MICHAEL GOSSIE

I

t’s an announcement that makes many people shudder.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates twice this year and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has indicated that two more increases could be on the way, which could have an indirect impact on the prices you pay at when you fill up your car, get groceries or go out to dinner.

“Interest rate hikes trickle down to consumer spending habits,” says Joel Johnson, FirstBank’s president for the East Valley. “When the Fed decreases rates, the goal is to get people to spend more.

When the Fed increases rates, the opposite happens. Folks spend less since they have less disposable income and more money is going towards interest, and that can have a ripple effect on local businesses and retailers. The positive thing about higher rates is they can help slow inflation, normalize or bring down costs and provide consumers higher credit deposit rates, enabling them to save more.”

Here’s the underlying good news about the rate increases, according to Matt Gilbreath, senior vice president and regional manager at Alliance Bank: the Fed’s increases are due to the strength of the economy – unemployment is at historic lows and most sectors are enjoying strong growth and earnings. The Fed has indicated they will increase rates from historic lows back to something a bit more normal due to the economy not only regaining it’s footing, but really heating up.

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AB | September - October 2018

“This is a balancing act for the Fed as they don’t want to raise rates too fast or too high that it has a negative effect,” Gilbreath says, “but they do want to keep a lid on inflation and get things back to a level that’s in line with a strong economy.”

While the Fed’s moves show confidence in the economy, many consumers are still left to ask, “how will these interest rate hikes impact my money?”

“There is good news and not-so-good news for consumers,” says Kim Dees, senior vice president and Southern Arizona retail division manager for Washington Federal. “The good news is those working to build their savings will see higher rates, which will help achieve those savings goals. The other side of the rate hikes for consumers is the cost of borrowing funds is rising.”

TALKS

While there have been noticeable increases in interest rates, Gilbreath says it’s important to remember that rates are still at historic lows.

“With that being said, consumers will feel the effects through rising interest rates for mortgage loans and car loans,” Gilbreath says. “Floating rate loans such as credit cards or home equity loans will go up as well.”

has raised its policy rates.

• New car interest rates have risen in line with the increase in the Fed’s rates, which may explain some slowdown in car sales, but the upward move in the Fed’s policy rates have not hurt U.S. car sales in a material fashion.

• Despite higher credit card rates, U.S. consumer spending remains robust as evidenced by the 4 percent growth rate in the second quarter of 2018.

But banks are seeing some impact.

“Refinance activity is dropping off significantly as rates move higher,” says Sean McCarthy, regional chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank. “The June forecast from the Mortgage Bankers Association sees the 30-year mortgage rate reaching 5 percent either later this year or early next year. They still expect the volume of mortgage originations for purchases to be around 5 percent higher for all of 2018.

Conversely, refi volume is expected to be more than 20 percent lower than last year.”

Isaac M. Gabriel, a partner at Quarles IMPACT SO FAR & Brady in Phoenix, explains that while According to Anthony Chan, Chase’s mortgage lending rates are not set by the managing director and chief economist, Fed, mortgage rates often rise as the Fed we are starting to see some of the impact raises rates. of the interest rate increases, but it’s not “When mortgage rates rise, mortgage hurting the robust economy. payments simply become more expensive,” • Due to tax cuts and U.S. employment Gabriel says. growth — the U.S. unemployment is at For example, a $300,000, 30-year just 4 percent — there hasn’t been a plunge mortgage, with a 4 percent interest rate in mortgage originations, even as the Fed would have a monthly payment of $1,432.

AB | September - October 2018 15

BANKING

If the rate rises to 5 percent, the payment increases to $1,610, a difference of $178 per month.

“The end result is individuals may not be able to afford a larger mortgage loan,” Gabriel says. “Similarly, individuals with adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) will see their mortgage payments increase as a result of any increase on the mortgage lending rates. Increased rates can also put downward pressure on home prices, due to the fact that buyers cannot afford the same amount of debt due to the higher rates.”

The impact of the Fed’s actions isn’t only felt by consumers. The impact of interest rate hikes on businesses is similar to the impact on consumers.

“For new loans, interest rates have noticeably risen over the last year, but they are still at historic lows,” Gilbreath says. “If businesses have floating rate debt, they will see an increase in interest expense and also an increase in interest earned on savings.”

MANAGING RATE INCREASES So what should consumers do to reduce the impact of interest rate hikes in the future?

“Borrow less and pay down faster,” says Douglas W. Cole, director of investment management at Wilde Wealth Management Group. “That might not be an option for some. Where possible, transfer credit card balances to lower rate cards.”

For balance transfers, Cole says a good strategy is to review options for new cards that use zero-percent interest as a teaser. He says to also look at possibilities for fixed-rate, fixed-term alternatives to refinance debt. Lending Tree and Goldman Sachs’ “Marcus” are two alternatives.

“Consumers should focus on eliminating their debt and work to pay off those credit card balances on a monthly basis,” Dees says. “Not having to pay all that interest will be a huge savings in the long term. In turn, take advantage of the higher savings rates. This boost in rates will help achieve your savings goals.”

Chan says consumers should keep in mind that the Fed has said it views the neutral policy rate — the rate at which real Gross Domestic Product is growing at its

trend rate and inflation is stable — around 2.9 percent and appears to be signaling that it may overshoot that rate by as much as 0.5 percent.

“As a result, a typical consumer that has outstanding loans with variable rates should estimate the burden of this debt at this higher rate,” Chan says. “If the burden of the rate is too much, they should strive to pay off some of this debt. But if the monthly payments with the higher rate are still not likely to have a material negative impact, then they could relax a bit.”

Here’s the bottom line, according to experts: The healthy economy should offset the hurt that might otherwise be felt from the Fed’s hikes.

“Consumer buying power will be impacted, but that should be offset by better wages and a healthy job market,” Johnson says. “So don’t panic. This is a built-in mechanism to maintain equilibrium. Rates will go up, recessions will hit, rates will go down and life will go on. Control the controllable and be prepared for anything.”

“For new loans, interest rates have noticeably risen over the last year, but they are still at historic lows,” — Matt Gilbreath

Anthony Chan 16

Douglas W. Cole

AB | September - October 2018

Kim Dees

Isaac M. Gabriel Matt Gilbreath

Joel Johnson

Sean McCarthy

AB | September - October 2018 17

LAW

ADDED SECURITY Here’s how Arizona businesses can remain compliant with the nation’s toughest data breach reporting law

By MICHAEL GOSSIE

I

s there anything worse for a business than having its data breached?

Yes — having to report that breach under an amended Arizona law that went into effect in August and requires companies to notify consumers affected by the breach within 45 days of a data breach or face up to $500,000 in penalties. If more than 1,000 Arizona residents are affected, businesses must notify the attorney general and the three largest nationwide consumer reporting agencies.

“The law is quite broad and applies to all Arizona businesses that own, maintain or license computerized data that includes personal information,” says Stephanie Webb, an associate at Radix Law. “Accordingly, all businesses maintaining any personal information of employees or customers on a computer should be aware of the law and its requirements.”

According to Joe Clees and Ryan Mangum of Ogletree Deakins, any business that operates in Arizona and owns, maintains, or licenses unencrypted and unredacted computerized personal information could be impacted. Personal information includes an individual’s first name — or first initial — and last name in combination with any of the individual’s following information: Social security number, driver’s license number, health insurance account number, passport number, taxpayer identification number, or financial account numbers; A private key unique to the individual that is used to authenticate an electronic record;

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AB | September - October 2018

Health information and history; Biometric data generated from a measurement or analysis of human body characteristics, such as a fingerprint; • Personal information also includes a username plus password for online accounts, according to Scott Bennett, a partner at Coppersmith Brockelman.

be better positioned to investigate massive breaches in the future and assist consumers to protect their assets from theft.”

Beyond protecting consumers, Webb says the goal of the new law is to encourage businesses to strengthen their cyber defense measures. So what can be done to reduce the risk of a breach?

IMPACT ON BUSINESSES “A breach under the law is unauthorized access to that personal information,” Bennett says. “Common examples of breaches are the loss or theft of a mobile device, data emailed to the wrong person and employees snooping in company computer files.”

The motivation behind the passage of HB 2154 was to penalize businesses that exercise poor cyber data management while improving protections for consumers. By implementing a data breach notification deadline, establishing law enforcement standards and raising the potential fines — the total penalty is capped at $500,000, a substantial increase over the previous cap of $10,000 per breach — for offending businesses, Arizona now has one of the strictest security breach laws in the country, according to Webb.

“Consumers have a right to know when their sensitive information has been breached so they can protect themselves from financial loss,” says Attorney General Mark Brnovich. “A key component of the legislation was notification to the attorney general’s office of a breach. My office will

REDUCING RISK “There are many steps that businesses can take to reduce risk,” says Susie Ingold, a shareholder at Burch & Cracchiolo. “One often overlooked step is strengthening internal security practices through your employees. Every employee plays a critical role in protecting the company’s network and confidential data, from performing individual tasks to identifying and reporting problems that could lead to a data breach. Providing mandatory employee training to educate them on data security and privacy practices, emerging security risks, proactive identification and reporting of issues can help reduce the company’s risk of a data breach.”

According to Clees and Mangum, effective data security requires a multifaceted approach consisting of technical, personnel and physical barriers to access.

Technical barriers: These include measures like encryption, dual authentication, password protection, limiting collection, access, storage, and retention of data, and keeping software and hardware, such as anti-virus protection, up to date.

AB | September - October 2018 19

LAW

Scott Bennett

Mark Brnovich

Robin B. Campbell

Personnel barriers: Hackers will find ways to circumvent technical barriers through employee error. Training employees to recognize and avoid cyber scams that disclose passwords, clicking on threatening links, using weak passwords and storing data on insecure repositories — Gmail, Dropbox, etc. — is critical.

Physical barriers: Simple measures such as locking doors, securing physical files, and keeping access restrictions up to date, will also prevent data breaches.

“A (business) should develop a comprehensive, but understandable ‘Incident Response Plan’ that has been tested in advance of a breach to ensure a timely and effective response,” says Robin B. Campbell, co-leader of the Data Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice Group at Squire Patton Boggs. “While regulators understand that technology cannot protect against every possible breach, they are generally less tolerant of mishandling of a breach response, which can be avoided with good planning.”

Joe Clees

Susie Ingold

STAYING COMPLIANT To compound the issue, data breach laws differ from state to state, so Webb says a company conducting business in multiple states is bound by the laws of those states and must become familiar with requirements of each in the event of a cybersecurity breach.

“After a breach happens, one important initial step is identifying the states of residence of all affected individuals, which can usually be assessed according to their mailing addresses,” Bennett says. “Many states’ laws apply to any breach of the personal information of their residents, regardless of whether the company that experienced the breach does business in that state.”

When a business experiences a data breach, Bennett says it should: Stop the breach. This might require bringing in an expert in computer forensics.

Notify insurance carriers.

Meet the requirements of all applicable breach laws.

Ryan Mangum

Stephanie Webb

Consider ways to reduce the risk of harm to affected individuals, such as by offering to pay for credit monitoring and ID-theftprotection services. That is not required by Arizona law but protects both the affected individuals and the business.

Take corrective action to prevent the same kind of incident from happening again. That might include disciplining the employees involved, providing additional training, or enhancing computer security features.

“Companies doing business in Arizona that also collect personal information should take note of, and understand, the amended law and analyze whether their existing information security controls are adequate to protect against a data breach,” Ingold says. “Businesses must also be proactive in investigating a possible security system breach and ensuring that, when necessary, timely notice is provided to affected individuals under the new data breach law.”

WILL CYBER INSURANCE HELP? Your standard commercial insurance policy is written to insure against injury or physical loss and will do little, if anything, to protect you from a data breach.

So how can cyber insurance protect businesses?

Cyber liability insurance covers lawsuits stemming from events like data breaches and denial of server attacks,” says Jennifer Chenault, sales executive at Lovitt & Touché. “These such lawsuits are not covered by a standard commercial liability policy.”

Electronic data is not considered tangible property, therefore any damage is not considered property damage, Chenault says. In addition, most policies exclude damage to data with an electronic data exclusion, which eliminates coverage for claims based on the loss, damage corruption or inability to use data.

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AB | September - October 2018

So what does cyber insurance cover?

“Cyber and privacy policies cover a business’ liability for a data breach in which the firm’s customers’ personal information, such as Social Security numbers or credit card numbers, is exposed or stolen by a hacker or other criminal who has gained access to the firm’s electronic network,” Chenault says. “The policies cover a variety of expenses associated with data breaches, including notification costs, credit monitoring, costs to defend claims by state regulators, fines and penalties and loss resulting from identity theft.”

AB | September - October 2018 21

HEALTHCARE

BORN LEADERS The number of women running healthcare companies in Arizona grows as they bury archaic stereotypes

By NOELLE SCHON

T

here are many layers that make up a woman. She is a daughter, a wife, a sister, a mother, a grandmother and a niece. She can be the breadwinner, the caretaker, or even both. But now, she is also a leader.

Women are the main decision makers for their families when it comes to healthcare and they make up the greater half of the industry’s workforce. As of 2017, 50.7 percent of new medical school enrollees were women, exceeding the percentage of men for the first time, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Even so, 26 percent of all executive positions in healthcare are filled by women, despite their overwhelming presence in the field.

But Arizona women have made considerable ground in closing the gap.

Some women say that the medical field has become less of a male-lead workforce and more as an equal-opportunity field.

“Over time, women have had the ability to achieve executive leadership positions by the nature of applying some academic learning as well as life experience, and bringing that to the organization and applying a leadership that is different,”

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AB | September - October 2018

says Sharon Lind, CEO of Banner Ironwood Medical Center and Banner Goldfield Medical Center.

Banner Health is a trailblazer, with eight if its 14 Arizona-based CEOs being women.

Healthcare brands like Red Mountain Weight Loss and SottoPelle are also headed by female founders and CEOs. “I think women tend to be nurturers, so that runs well with careers in healthcare,” says Dr. Suzanne Bentz, the medical director and owner of Red Mountain Weight Loss. “That being said, there’s a lot of barriers to women in healthcare.”

Those barriers include stereotypes that physicians, leaders, executives and CEOs in healthcare are traditionally men, Bentz says.

Bentz adds that despite these “hardfought stereotypes, women are excelling and succeeding.”

Some women procure the position as the original founder and visionary of the company, while others work their way to the top, starting out low on the totem pole and building up to CEO. But all of them show the power of the next generation of women.

ATTRACTION TO FIELD The healthcare field has many moving parts that interlock at its core mission: healing people. But the complex, opportunist field is not for the faint of heart.

For clinicians, nurses and executives alike, no two paths to a career in healthcare look exactly alike.

Kim Post, HonorHealth’s CEO for the

Suzanne Bentz

Sharon Lind

Hospitals Division and chief clinical officer, was introduced to the medical field at an early age due to her younger sister’s chronic illness. She traveled with her mother to see the pediatricians, physical therapists and speech therapists who treated her.

“It just became very comfortable to me,” she says. “My mom worked in hospitals all of her life and it just became a natural path for me.”

Initially setting her sights on becoming a physical therapist, Post decided last minute to go into nursing because it would afford her more time with her patients, a decision she says she has never regretted.

Her experience as a nurse and frequent weekly visits to hospitals as CEO gives her an insight she may not have had otherwise, understanding how her decisions ultimately affect her patients.

Kim Post

Traci Pritchard

Judy Rich

Dr. Traci Pritchard, the current president of the Arizona Medical Association and a radiologist, discovered her love for the fast-paced hospital atmosphere while she was studying to go into finance. During her studies, she worked at a hospital in the evenings to earn money and felt a rush of energy every time she stepped foot inside.

Understanding that a desk job wouldn’t satisfy her and intrigued by the doctors she worked with, she switched her major to pre-med and later got accepted into medical school.

“It wouldn’t sustain me forever,” she says, regarding her business and finance studies. “I knew I wanted to get involved in something deeper and more intellectual.”

For Judy Rich, the president and CEO of the Tucson Medical Center, her decision to become a nurse came with the passing of her father only three days after her high school graduation. But her love for people married well with the decision.

“I don’t think I would have chosen nursing if I didn’t already have a passion and a personality to want to help people,” Rich says, adding, “It wasn’t a complicated thing for me. I didn’t think about it long and hard.”

But like other women in her position, Rich experienced the pull of being a mother and working woman and the nagging doubts that came with it. A single mother, Rich worked as a nurse

AB | September - October 2018 23

HEALTHCARE at night after her children were asleep to make ends meet. Working and taking care of her children came with what she called a “series of tradeoffs,” but she never underestimated the power of showing up; a sentiment that has turned into her motto.

Dr. Bentz initially received her degree in nutrition as both a part of an interest in health and a passion for people struggling with their weight.

“As a young child, I suffered from childhood obesity, so that had an impact on me,” Bentz says. “I think out of that pain, I created my passion for helping people come back.”

Realizing that she wanted to do more for the community, she went to medical school and entered the medical field more than 25 years ago and ultimately founded Red Mountain Weight Loss several years later.

Lind, who holds a master’s degree in business administration, made her break

into the field after spending time as a financial officer in retail.

“Healthcare, for me, provided more complexity,” she says. “It’s ever-changing and the complexity is very fascinating to me, so I embrace the opportunity to be in an organization that’s influencing healthcare.”

Her interest in the growing field and her passion for helping people segued into an extensive history of executive leadership in healthcare, overseeing multiple hospitals across the United States in her career.

QUALITIES OF LEADERSHIP Many industry trailblazers hope having strong, dedicated women healthcare leaders and role models will inspire the next generation of women to follow in their footsteps.

Each woman leader in healthcare describes qualities that she hopes to have, and most say that leaders are

WOMEN HEALTHCARE LEADERS PAM KEHALY, president and CEO

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona

“I believe in leadership by example. That means in every aspect of your life – professional, personal, social – you strive every day to live the values that you believe in.

The way we lead our lives is a powerful statement to others.”

LEADERSHIP:

24

CYNTHIA PRICE, MD SkinScience

MOTIVATION: “Being

a physician is truly the highest honor.

As science is an ever-changing field, you get to continually learn and expand your knowledge base.”

AB | September - October 2018

Pam Kehaly

Cynthia Price

LAURA ROBERTSON, CEO

Banner Health Desert Medical Center and Banner Health Carson Children’s Medical Center ADVICE: “I like to tell people, ‘Don’t be afraid.

Be courageous. Try something different.’

Those new experiences and new roles will only increase your knowledge and your experience. Try different things, be courageous and also lead change.”

patient, humble, fearless, transparent and compassionate. All of these tie into the hard part of being a leader: making the tough decisions, taking risks and providing a vision for the future.

For several women healthcare leaders, their leadership meant making big changes, like completely reworking the hospital’s budget and bringing stakeholders to the table to agree on their new approach to patient care; a feat easier said than done.

“I think the No. 1 quality for me has always been honesty and integrity and a certain transparency,” Rich says, emphasizing a need to be open to change, criticism and new opportunities.

Since one’s health is such a personal, delicate thing, having these qualities and leading in this way makes the hospital run much smoother for both the patients and staff. Showing the patients

Laura Robertson

Carolann Tutera

CAROLANN TUTERA,

Anne Walter

ANNE WALTER, MD

owner and CEO

Dermatology & Skin Surgery Specialists

“You need to be compassionate with your employees.

You need a vision that they follow, you need to be effective in communicating with them and you need an open-door policy with them.”

ADVICE: “You must enjoy what you are doing. Healthcare is an extremely important field, but it can also be stressful at times.

Don’t underestimate your contribution to your patients and their families.”

SottoPelle

LEADERSHIP:

AB | September - October 2018 25

HEALTHCARE the human behind the executive’s desk with transparency and unabashed vulnerability is what makes a hospital like Rich’s run so efficiently.

Another unique, but crucial, quality is being a team player and not just a coach. Lind gives her team members the platform to provide their thoughts on the hospital’s vision, saying that their thoughts and opinions shape the entire hospital. She also emphasizes the importance of explaining the reason behind each decision to her team.

“I have a strong belief that we’re in it for a higher purpose and to enrich the lives of others,” she says. “When you share that leadership fingerprint with others, they get an opportunity to know me in a deeper way.”

FUTURE LEADERS For women looking to break into the medical field and procure leadership roles, it may seem like an impossible feat. But

with a little guidance from the experts, it doesn’t seem so impossible. In fact, all of the women in leadership positions now had a role model within the healthcare field who served as a catalyst in their path to leadership.

Dr. Pritchard advises women to understand and acknowledge their professional currency and value to a company early on, citing the fact that women often undervalue their worth as employees.

“Early on, take the risk and put yourself in the position where you’re willing to risk your job if you demand being valued,” she says. “The sooner you start doing that at a younger age, the more your professional currency goes up.”

As an ever-evolving field, healthcare keeps its workers on their toes, so being open to ambiguity and accepting of change is important; a skill that both Post and Lind says was important to have.

At the same time, Post also recommends working in the present and

WOMEN HEALTHCARE LEADERS PEGGY CHASE, president and CEO Terros Health

“Look for things beyond what you currently do. See where your interests are. What is it that you think that you’re good at? Where are areas where you want to expand?”

ADVICE:

26

Peggy Chase

HEATHER CHOWANIEC BRUMMETT, president and owner Balanced Physical Therapy

ADVICE: “Realize that you will be a business owner, wife, mother, daughter and homemaker all in one. It’s challenging, but with the right spouse and supportive family, it is possible.”

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Heather Chowaniec Brummett

ANNE-MARIE FEYRER-MELK, MD Optimal Heart & Stroke Prevention Center Center

MOTIVATION: “I have always likened the draw to become a physician as a noble and true calling, worthy of a lifetime of learning and of effort, worthy of patients who bare their bodies, hearts and souls to you as precious.”

leaving no task unfinished.

“You should always set your sights on doing a really good job in the role you’re in before you want to move on,” Post says. “You can’t leave a mess behind you.”

A diligent work ethic such as she describes helped build a solid reputation for Post within HonorHealth, who joined as a staff nurse and steadily climbed the ladder to her executive leadership role. With healthcare always evolving, remaining consistent and reliable will leave an impact on people.

“In general, women have to remain confident, surround themselves with supportive role models and keep reaching for that ceiling,” Dr. Bentz says. “Training, education and persistence are what it’s all about, and a belief in yourself.

“And then, of course, passion,” she continues. “You’ve got to be passionate about what you’re doing. It’s my passion that drives everything that I do.”

Anne-Marie Feyrer-Melk

Debbie Flores

DEBBIE FLORES, CEO

Banner Health Del E. Webb Medical Center and Boswell Medical Center MOTIVATION: “I

went into human resources because I am very much a people person and healthcare is very much a people industry. What we do is touch lives and take care of patients, so I think it was a good fit for me.”

Kelly Helms

KELLY HELMS, MD Arizona Women’s Care

ADVICE: “I think patients and peers appreciate a doctor that can speak the truth, whether it is good or bad news. This helps build trust and respect between all parties.”

Hey there, overachiever.

How many of these boxes can you check?

Overwhelm Competing priorities Guilt No time for self-care Trying to make everything perfect Constantly second-guessing myself

Would you like to check these boxes instead?

I am more relaxed I am happier I have clearer focus I take great care of myself I can relax my inner perfectionist I have more confidence

My name is Nikki Berkel, and I work with busy professionals and moms to help them move from feeling overwhelmed and stressed to creating lives that are fulďŹ lling and happy.

To learn more visit my website

www.nikkiberkel.com

or call me at 602-319-1904

EAST VALLEY ARIZONA MINING UPDATE

COUNT ON

COPPER As demand for renewable energy drives the need for more of the metal, mining will continue to power Arizona’s economy

By ERIN THORBURN Next time you make a call on your cell phone, drive a car and kick up the AC, remember to thank copper.

In the words of Jonathan Ward, spokesperson for Resolution Copper, “Without copper, we would all be living in the Stone Age.” Thanks to copper mining, we remain happily embedded in the 21st Century, but that’s not all we should be thankful for. In our small portion of the desert, Arizona mining has a huge impact on our state, on the Southwest and on the rest of the world.

From modern luxuries to renewable energy to the integrity of our national security, copper is one of Arizona’s most valuable export industries and commodities.

Stephen Higgins 28

Dave Sferra

AB | September - October 2018

Jonathan Ward

COPPER IS KING IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT From the time it was discovered in 8700 B.C., copper was the reigning, sole metal known to man for almost five millennia.

As a result of its excellent electrical conductivity, copper’s most common use is in electrical equipment such as wiring and motors. Because it corrodes slowly, copper is used in roofing, guttering and as rain spouts on buildings. It is also used in plumbing and in cookware and cooking utensils.

With even more time behind us, mankind continues to turn to this most precious of metals as the demand for renewable resources rapidly increases.

“As the world transitions away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, demand for copper is expected to rise globally,” Ward explains. “As a major copper producing region, the State of Arizona’s copper demand can be expected to increase accordingly. In particular, as solar energy systems and electric vehicles become cheaper, the demand for those technologies increases, and since they require a lot of copper, that helps boost its demand as a global commodity.”

In fact, according to the Copper Development Association, renewables containing copper cable, wiring and tubing can produce a copper usage intensity ranging from four to six times higher than traditional electric generation and fossil fuels.

What renewables are we talking about here?

Wind turbines, solar photovoltaic systems, geothermal and hydropower. These renewable applications reported an increase in usage from 8.3 percent to 12.1 percent between 2008 and 2012 alone, according to CDA. Copper essentially dominates the makeup of wind turbines, collectively responsible for producing 64 gigawatts (4.5 percent of demand) of electricity in the U.S. per year.

“Copper isn’t only utilized inside wind turbines the size of a city bus, which are constructed with copper coils, windings and power connectors to bring power down from the poles,” explains Stephen Higgins, vice president of sales and marketing at Freeport McMoRan. “It’s also in the grounding wire to protect from lightning strikes.”

Similar to the rise in renewable wind energy, statistics demonstrate that the demand for solar is currently soaring with a compounded annual growth rate between a 60 percent and 70 percent. And, like the monolithic turbines dotting Interstate-10

headed west, neighboring photovoltaic systems are also primarily dependent on copper with approximately 5.5 tons of copper per MW. If copper is king, think of solar in Arizona as its queen where renewable energy is concerned.

“Arizona is the sunniest state in our nation,” Ward says, “in addition to being a leading copper producer, it seems only natural that our state’s copper should be used in solar power to meet rising demand for clean energy. By harnessing the power of the desert sun using the copper in solar panels, we can lower our energy bills and have cleaner air at the same time.”

While copper heavily contributes to creating renewable energy sources, there’s another predominate green technology trend on the rise: the EV — electric vehicle. Did you know that whereas a traditional gasoline vehicle contains 50 pounds of copper, the average electric vehicle contains 183 pounds of copper, according to the Arizona Mining Association? It’s more than simply the EVs alone, however, that place a high solicitation on copper.

“EVs are a driver behind many markets,” says Dave Sferra, manager or market analysis for Freeport-McMoRan Inc. “EVs need charging stations, which means additional copper content. EV power walls and grids are predominately copper installations, whether as home charging stations or quick chargers on highways (which are also copper intensive).”

ALL THE KING’S HORSES AND ALL THE KING’S IMPACT Although copper clearly impacts the growth and prosperity of renewable energy sources, there are infinitely more areas and industries in which copper is preponderated. In fact, 65 percent of the United States’ copper output is attributed to Arizona mining. Not only is this a higher percentage than any other state, according to the AMA, hard rock mining also yields an economic impact of $4.29 billion for Arizona — the majority of which is from copper mining.

Copper mining impacts Arizona’s local economy as an influential export, as well as creating a surplus of mining jobs. The influence of copper in supporting positive economic growth and job creation is not confined to our state.

AB | September - October 2018 29

ARIZONA MINING

Building construction, for example, is one of the highest copper consuming markets in the U.S. and Canada at 42 percent, according to a 2016 International Wrought Copper Council report. Perhaps not surprisingly, coming in second is consumer and general products at 22 percent.

“Energy consumption is certainly high, in the U.S.,” Ward says, “with electrical devices and appliances such as air conditioning units, refrigeration (including refrigerators in the home), televisions and home electronics.”

Other top copper usage industries include national security, industrial machinery, aerospace and even healthcare.

“Although public health is not a huge copper consuming area yet,” Higgins says, “copper has anti-microbial quality. Hospitalacquired infections can be significantly reduced by copper-touch surfaces.”

And, adds Ward, “Copper is a fundamental element of modern medical devices and used in electrified scalpels that self-cauterize during surgeries.”

Even beyond public health, copper can be a preventative measure for potential public health issues.

“Copper pipes in plumbing last far longer than plastic and they completely avoid the kind of lead contamination problems that have plagued Flint, Michigan,” Ward says.

“Copper plumbing also prevents bacterial infections. such as Legionnaires’ disease.”

COPPER CROWNED JEWELS “One relatively obscure use of copper in Arizona is for hand-crafted metal art,” says Ward, “Copper has been used in art for millennia, from jewelry to sculpture.”

From the Valley to Sedona and Flagstaff and Tucson, you can find diverse examples of copper artistry.

“Copper doesn’t rust and is easily made watertight,” Ward says. “Outdoor copper art ages with a natural patina that gives it a unique rustic charm. In addition to fountains made of 100 percent copper, Joseph Ward also crafts a variety of indoor art made of the red metal, including wall hangings and decorative fixtures for homes.”

Copper is certainly beautiful to behold as an artistic expression, magnanimous in its diversity, but there is something even more impressive about this native-rich metal.

“Copper is 100 percent recyclable,” says Higgins. “It can be recycled over and over again.”

This is a remarkable distinction compared with other conductive material.

“Moving forward,” Higgins says, “copper will continue to play a major role in energy efficiency and applications.”

BY THE NUMBERS $4.29 $1.23 BILLION: 12,000: payroll of Arizona mining BILLION: Total companies

Number of direct mining industry jobs in Arizona.

Total economic impact of hard rock mining industry in Arizona.

8 MILES: Amount of copper

wire in a Boeing Apache Helicopter produced in Mesa.

31,800: Number of indirect

jobs generated by the mining industry in Arizona.

$2.77 BILLION:

Purchases by mining companies from Arizona-based suppliers.

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65 PERCENT: Amount of

copper output for the United States that is mined in Arizona.

$102,860:

Labor income per mining worker, more than double the $49,820 for all Arizona workers.

$482 MILLION:

Total Arizona state and local taxes generated by mining companies and employees.

AB | September - October 2018 31

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ARIZONA MINING

REVERSAL

OF

FORTUNE What could scrapping Obama’s mineral withdrawals mean for Arizona?

By ERIN THORBURN

W

hen mineral withdrawals — blocking mineral access on federal land — were established during the Obama administration, the backlash was nothing less than catastrophic to places like Northern Arizona’s breccia pipes, which hold the nation’s largest source of high-uranium ore.

“America’s nuclear power plants are clean and release no carbon emissions, making these deposits in Northern Arizona an almost perfect remedy for our electricity-dependent nation,” says Steve Trussell, executive director of the Arizona Mining Association.

In a release published by the Arizona Mining Association, Myron Ebell, director for the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, had this to say about the effects of mineral withdrawals: “The negative effects of largescale withdrawals of federal lands from mineral entry extend far beyond depressing mineral production in the United States.

These withdrawals also destroy high-paying jobs, undermine rural economies, and contribute to locking up the vast federal estate.

Revoking the withdrawals made by the previous administration is a good first step, which should be followed by a comprehensive review of all the lands that have been withdrawn over many decades.”

In response to the lasting impact of the mining withdrawals on the mining industry and surrounding communities, the Arizona Mining Association, the Southern Arizona Business 34

AB | September - October 2018

Association, other withdrawal advocates and members of Congress sent a letter to President Trump and agency heads. The letter requested a comprehensive review of all mineral withdrawals implemented by the previous administration, furthermore requesting a reversal of any that are shown to be without merit.

“As of now, there is no certainty on a withdrawal reversal timeline,” says David P. Kimball, III, shareholder and head of Gallagher & Kennedy’s Environmental and Natural Resources Practice Group.

“In light of this

Myron Ebell

David P. Kimball

administration’s willingness to reevaluate the withdrawal, it has given us an opportunity to identify rules and regulations to reconsider the current mining restrictions.”

Going back to the breccia pipe geological formations: The current mining restrictions mandate that no uranium can be mined from the strip for 20 years, according to Kimball, who explains that this equates to a whopping 1 million acres currently withdrawn.

“What was so disappointing,” Kimball says, “was that the highest-grade uranium that would have been profitable for power and defense needs was shut down. In addition, the withdrawal countered the congressional act of 1984 in which we agreed upon no mining in 40 percent of the land and Congress compromised that 60 percent of the remaining land could be mined for high-grade uranium deposits.”

According to Kimball, the onemillion-acre withdrawal from the Northern Arizona mining strip in 2012 was in violation of the federal government’s own environmental statement, which

in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and Environmental Impact Statement clearly stated that no environmental impacts would have been caused as a result of mining uranium deposits.

With tens of millions of dollars lost from the elimination of all but one operating mining source on the strip, what could a reversal mean for Arizona’s mining industry?

For one, it could allow our nation’s nuclear power industry to utilize its own uranium sources. Currently, 92 percent of uranium used in the U.S. comes from foreign sources. Not only is this an economic game-changer for Arizona, the secondary advantages of mining withdrawal reversals could offer mass employment opportunities for the mining industry and the added assurance that uranium mining could once again be under the jurisdiction of the heavily monitored Environmental Protection Agency, as opposed to the majority of foreign bodies that are not equally bound to environmental laws.

As we wait for the fate of mining withdrawal reversals, what happens in the interim?

“We can educate ourselves on the truth surrounding the environmental implications of mining withdrawals,” Kimball suggests. “There was no public health risk. Federal action was taken without taking into account the local economic impact, which has been significant. It’s time to find the story behind the story.”

Steve Trussell AB | September - October Ocotber 2018 35

MARKETING

Katharine Longo Marketing

L

ast month, Instagram made waves by announcing its newest feature to the social networking platform: IGTV. The social network’s new long-form video platform rivals YouTube and has been quickly adopted by brands and influencers around the globe. Users are able to post video content up to an hour in length with most brands opting for videos that are ten minutes or less.

After testing the new platform for nearly a month, we are sharing our tips for how brands can effectively use IGTV.

WHAT IT IS IGTV is a video platform within the popular social networking app, Instagram. Located within the app itself or through its own standalone app, brands and influencers are now able to upload and create long-form videos for their followers to enjoy. Unlike YouTube or Facebook Watch, IGTV is designed specifically for mobile. This means all videos are uploaded vertically, so creators can essentially record content via their smartphone and upload directly to the platform.

HOW TO USE IT 1. Post relevant content: This may seem obvious, but brands should upload content that is relevant to their audience.

If you are a beauty blogger, try uploading a skincare tutorial; if you are a podcaster, use IGTV to upload your newest episode. The options are endless, but at the end of the day, your target audience should be driving the type of content you are sharing.

2. Think IG stories, but longer: If you are having a difficult time getting started, start with the content you are already 36

AB | September - October 2018

sharing. IGTV is essentially a long-form version of Instagram Stories. So, if you are sharing multiple stories at once, try condensing them into one IGTV video.

3. Share important information: There are a couple of different ways brands can go about sharing content, and again, it mostly depends on what your audience wants to see. For example, if you are a marketing focused company, share breaking industry news and how this may affect your audience. No matter what your niche is, you want to be a resource for your followers so they keep coming back for more.

4. Don’t overthink it: Ultimately, you want your content to be natural, relevant and relatable. Don’t worry about creating overly polished videos with professional equipment.

Leave that for YouTube. The beauty of Instagram has always been the fact that you can literally pick up your smartphone, capture a moment and share it with the world, and that same concept should be applied to IGTV. LOOKING AHEAD While there currently aren’t “commercials” or advertising placements on IGTV, we can only expect Instagram to allow brands to place pre-roll and in-stream ads for videos uploaded to the platform in the future. Since the platform is so new, there is a great deal of unexplored opportunity for brands to capitalize on and reach new audiences.

Katharine Longo is the social media manager at The James Agency.

AB | September - October 2018 37

SMALL BUSINESS

MASTER CRAFTSMAN Minas Zistatsis helps style the best-dressed men in Phoenix at Brothers Tailors & Clothing MASTER AT WORK: Master Tailor Minas Zistatsis does the final press on a custommade suit at Brothers Tailors & Clothing in Phoenix.

PHOTO BY BRUCE ANDERSEN, AZ BIG MEDIA

By MICHAEL GOSSIE

T

hink of Minas Zistatsis as an artist with a needle and thread.

“I want you to look good,” Zistatsis says in the accent that lingers from his upbringing in Sopiki, Greece.

“That’s my talent that I’ve developed over the years. I want to be sure I apply that talent to whoever gives me a chance.”

Since 1994, Zistatsis has been dressing the most dapper men in Phoenix. Out of Brothers Tailors & Clothing, which is located along Central Avenue near Camelback Road, Zistatsis has passionately created bespoke suits for everyone from chief executive officers to the Phoenix Suns broadcast team to high school students in need of a suit for prom.

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AB | September - October 2018

“Our goal is to deliver custom-made suits, tuxedos, jackets and shirts that are perfect,” Zistatsis says. “We utilize the latest fabrics and the latest styles to handmake garments to perfection. There is nothing else like that.”

Zistatsis was born near the GreekAlbanian border and started tailoring clothes with his brother when he was 16 years old. They started tailoring pants, then moved on to shirts, skirts, hats and then jackets. They would design clothes from both provided fabrics and their own fabrics. The brothers would work from 6 a.m. to midnight to make sure the hand-crafted clothing was always delivered on time.

“I am a tailor and I am a stylist as well,” Zistatsis says. “For people who are looking for the latest styles, I deliver that because I stay on top and ahead of current trends.”

While Zistatsis says he doesn’t allow himself or his styles to live in the past, he can create or reconstruct any garment that customers want.

“You show me any picture from the 1920s, 1930s, 1960s, 1970s and I can make you that garment,” Zistatsis says.

“But I also look at the future into what the young people like and what the people who like to look young like and make sure I incorporate the latest styles and trends into our designs.”

But don’t think you have to break the bank to visit the master tailor.

“I make sure to buy the best designs and fabrics for a variety of price points,” Zistatsis says. “We are centrally located in the business district and I want to be sure most people who walk in can find something to buy. I don’t just cater to people with an open price point, I cater to everyone who wants to be well dressed, regardless of price point.”

So what does Zistatsis say every sharpdressed man should have in his closet?

“The one item everyone should have is a nice charcoal gray suit,” Zistatsis says. “It’s a classic look, it’s timeless and it works for any occasion. If you need my help creating that suit, I will do all I can to deliver something that is excellent. That’s always the goal.”

BROTHERS TAILORS & CLOTHING LOCATION 4776 N. Central Ave., Phoenix PHONE 602-277-2402 HOURS Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; closed on Sundays.

ONLINE brotherstailors.com

AB | September - October 2018 39

DINING

PRIME TIME Lincoln, a JW Steakhouse brings inventive and mouthwatering menu to the Valley

By MICHAEL GOSSIE

I

n a Valley landscape crowded with steakhouses, Lincoln, a JW Steakhouse, located at the JW Marriott Camelback Inn Resort & Spa, stands alone.

Led by Executive Chef Paul Millist, a charming Australian who has twice won the Award of Culinary Excellence for the JW Brand, Lincoln is a modern American steakhouse that features classic Prime steakhouse cuts from Cedar River Farms and Snake River Wagyu.

Everything about Lincoln is Instagram-worthy. From the Table Towers of oysters, shrimp, lobster and king crab on ice to the spectacular views of Camelback Mountain, you will be the envy of your social media followers with every pic you post.

But don’t get so caught up in creating social media envy that you miss out on the food. There isn’t a word that can adequately describe the deliciousness of Lincoln’s steaks. Maybe one: Perfect.

One of the secrets to Lincoln’s supremacy is that its hand-cut steaks are perfectly seared at 1,200 degrees in the Valley’s only Josper Charcoal Oven, which is fired by extremely high-heat hardwood charcoal, creating a unique crust to lock in flavor and tenderness. The steaks are served with the JW steak butter and can be further enhanced with a selection of house-made sauces, such as the Maker’s Mark green peppercorn, the classic béarnaise and the garden parsley chimichurri. But propelling the steaks from sensational to stratospheric are an incomparable array of tantalizing add-ons, including king crab Oscar, garlic shrimp or crab cake crust, which allow guests to create a truly one-of-a-kind steak.

Here’s what truly separates Lincoln from the competition. It’s not just the steaks (which are all out of this world), it’s the nonsteak dishes that pack so much deliciousness that you’ll forget you’re in a steakhouse.

• Th e tuna-avocado poke with soy mustard vinaigrette ($16) is so robust and so flavorful that you’ll want to order a second. But save some room for the exquisite main courses and desserts.

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• The lobster “escargot” ($19) is a new twist on an old dish and is a cannot-miss starter.

• Convince someone at your table to order “Schnitzel on the Bone” ($27), which is the most creative and most flavorful presentation of berkshire pork you will ever see.

• Desserts are decadent, dramatic and made for sharing, but after one bite, you won’t want to share. You’ll quickly learn why the Classic JW Cheesecake ($14) has developed a cult following in London. But don’t let the hype over the cheesecake prevent you from indulging in Betty’s Bread Pudding ($10). It’s a show stopper itself.

What takes Lincoln to the next level of excellence is the ambience. Inspired by the sprawling ranches in Arizona and California, Lincoln boasts floor to ceiling windows on two sides of the restaurant, creating a seamless transition from indoors to outdoors, allowing diners spectacular views of the Arizona sunsets. Be sure to make your reservation to take advantage of that feature.

Bar 1936 mirrors Lincoln with a robust signature selection of homegrown cocktails, focusing on house-made mixers and craft ice cubes.

It all blends together perfectly to create one of the Valley’s finest dining experiences.

Lincoln, a JW Steakhouse Hours: 5 p.m.-9 p.m., Sundays through Thursdays and from 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights.

Phone: 480-905-7979 Online: lincolnrestaurantpv.com

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Most Admired Companies Leadership excellence, social responsibility, customer opinion, workplace culture, healthy environments and innovation separate MAC winners from the rest

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of 2018

By MICHAEL GOSSIE

A

lot has changed in the workplace since the Most Admired Companies program debuted in 2010. The #MeToo movement has changed the way in which colleagues interact. Millennials have become a force in the workplace. And the battle for talent has become a war.

“Most Admired Companies is the most comprehensive and prestigious annual corporate awards program in Arizona,” said Denise Gredler, founder and CEO of BestCompaniesAZ and co-founder of the Most Admired Companies program. “To win, a business must demonstrate excellence in its leadership, corporate culture, vision, innovation, customer relations and community engagement through corporate social responsibility programs.”

AZ Business magazine and BestCompaniesAZ team up to present the Most Admired Companies program each year and the primary goal it to find and recognize those organizations that excel in these five key areas: • Customer opinion • Innovation • Leadership excellence • Social responsibility • Workplace culture Based on those five pillars of excellence, a selection committee comprised of Az Business magazine’s editorial and management team, BestCompaniesAZ’s leadership team and professionals from a wide range of industries rated and selected the most accomplished and prestigious companies in Arizona. Members of the reviewing committee included Stephanie Burchfield of Burchfield & Wolin Public Relations, Mary Hall of CultureWise Consulting and a member of Arizona Conscious Capitalism, and Rose Stanley of Sun State Equipment, formerly with WorldatWork.

With hundreds of nominations representing the most innovative, impactful and successful companies in Arizona, being one of the Most Admired Companies for 2018 shows that the companies profiled on the pages that follow truly represent the best in Arizona business.

Do you lead what you believe is one of Arizona’s Most Admired Companies? Do you work for one of Arizona’s Most Admired Companies? Do you do business with a company that you consider one of Arizona’s Most Admired Companies? If you want to nominate a company for the 2019 Most Admired Companies awards, visit azbigmedia.com.

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Most Admired Companies 2018 ARIZONA CHARTER ACADEMY

AMERICAN EXPRESS

Most Admired Company: 2010-2018 Top Arizona executive: John Standring, senior vice president What it does: Largest credit card issuer by purchase volume.

Admirable trait: American Express encourages its colleagues to express, discuss, organize, and celebrate according to various interests and identifications, totaling 3,942 colleagues who participate in 11 diversity networks. Each network inspires a culture of inclusion. American Express also cultivates a unified, healthy and fun community to work in through a number of Healthy Living programs and initiatives. American Express understands to be truly healthy is not just your body, but also your mind, family, financials and more.

MELISSA HOLDAWAY ARIZONA CHARTER ACADEMY

Most Admired Company: 2016, 2018 Top Arizona executive: Melissa Holdaway, COO What it does: ACA is a K-8 public Title I charter school.

Admirable trait: ACA values diversity. Its student population is made up of 17 percent African-American, 52 percent Hispanic, 4 percent mixed and 27 percent Caucasian. ACA’s employees mirror similar statistics as they represent virtually every age and race.

Diversity is celebrated through cultural diversity nights and other events that provide opportunities for students to showcase their cultures. While more than 80 percent of ACA students live at or below the poverty line, ACA outperforms all the schools in its area.

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

Most Admired Company: 2011, 2013-2016, 2018 Top Arizona executive: Derrick Hall, president and CEO What it does: Major League Baseball team.

Admirable trait: A big focus of the organization is helping the Arizona community. This season, the D-backs and the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation surpassed $55 million in giving to the Arizona community since its inception in 1997. The Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation focuses its efforts on three main areas of need: homelessness, indigent healthcare and children’s programs of all types, including education and youth baseball field development. Each employee receives one paid day each quarter to volunteer for community service.

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

AMERICAN EXPRESS

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Most Admired Companies 2018

AXA ADVISORS SOUTHWEST Most Admired Company: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 Top Arizona executive: Dillan Micus, executive vice president What it does: Leading provider of financial services for consumers and businesses Admirable trait: In 2015 AXA won the Governor’s Volunteer Service Award for its dedication to volunteerism, fundraising and general community service.

Since its inception in 2012, AXA Southwest’s “Weekend Jetaway” has grossed more than $600,000 for local charities and it continues to build momentum every year. Dreamt up by a few AXA financial advisors and staff in 2011, Weekend Jetaway has turned into a highly anticipated charity event with more than 1,000 guests.

BELLA INVESTMENT GROUP

AXON AXON

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Rick Smith, CEO and founder What it does: Develops technology and weapons products for law enforcement and civilians. Its flagship product and former namesake is Taser Admirable trait: Axon cultivates a positive organizational culture that aligns with its futuristic mission. Each Axon office is designed with science fiction elements in order to inspire employees when they walk into work each day.

Axon’s CEO pays out of his own pocket to send all 1,100 employees to see new “Star Wars” films each time they hit theaters. An annual all-expenses-paid trip to the Grand Canyon is also offered to employees.

BELLA INVESTMENT GROUP

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Crystal Finch DeHoag, president What it does: Property management company.

Admirable trait: In 2017, Bella Investment Group launched an initiative called the Bella Initiative of Grace Fund. The fund was created because Bella believes “that generosity is compelling and contagious.” The mission of the fund is to enable Bella team members in their efforts to boost organizations that help extend grace to those in need, especially in the areas of poverty, health and housing. Team members are encouraged to serve as “champions” of organizations aiding underserved populations and they can nominate organizations to receive a grant from the BiG Fund.

AXA ADVISORS SOUTHWEST

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Most Admired Companies 2018 CBRE

BLOOD SYSTEMS

Most Admired Company: 2015-2018 Top Arizona executive: Dave Green, president and CEO What it does: Provides blood, blood components and special services to patients in nearly 600 hospitals across the country.

Admirable trait: Blood Systems’ transfusion medicine research team is among the most respected and productive in the world.

Blood Systems Research Institute (BSRI) continues to mature and advance in its mission to improve transfusion quality and outcomes worldwide. BSRI led research on approximately 50 different projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S Department of Health, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as other private foundations and private industry partners.

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Paul Komadina, senior managing director What it does: Full-service real estate services company.

Admirable trait: In December 2017, CBRE Phoenix relocated to a new, 75,000-square-foot office space at The Esplanade. The new office is part of CBRE’s global Workplace360 initiative, the company’s leading-edge approach to workplace strategy designed to promote flexibility, mobility and productivity through technology-enabled, 100 percent free address and paperless offices.

Employees are no longer tethered to assigned desks or cubicles, but instead choose from a variety of collaborative and private work settings that align with their changing needs throughout the day.

CANCER TREATMENT CENTERS OF AMERICA, PHOENIX

Most Admired Company: 2012-2014, 2018 Top Arizona executive: Robert Gould, president and COO What it does: Comprehensive cancer treatment hospital.

Admirable trait: World-class physicians continue to make breakthroughs with evidence-informed procedures. Dr. Sharad Chandrika is the first and currently the only physician in Arizona trained to offer patients photodynamic therapy (PDT). PDT uses light to eliminates tumor metasteses in the throat or airways to improve the patient’s breathing, coughing, and risk of pneumonia while they receive traditional treatment. Medical Oncologist Dr. Alan Tan, is using talimogene laherparepvec – or T-VEC therapy – to fight melanoma, one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer.

CBRE

BLOOD SYSTEMS

CANCER TREATMENT CENTERS OF AMERICA, PHOENIX

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Most Admired Companies 2018

CHARLES SCHWAB

Most Admired Company: 2013-2018 Top Arizona executive: Bernie Clark, executive vice president and head of Schwab Advisor Services What it does: Provides help with financial planning, investments, retirement planning and more.

Admirable trait: Leadership@Schwab is how the company defines what it means to be a great leader at Schwab. More than a single program or class series, it’s an on-going, multi-year initiative with several integrated tracks and experiences to help Schwab’s people and their business thrive. It includes self-guided learning, targeted development programs, team working sessions, organizational processes, and support to help individuals develop their leadership style and practice new behaviors.

CHARLES SCHWAB

CRESA

Most Admired Company: 2014-2018 Top Arizona executive: Gary Gregg, managing principal What it does: Corporate real estate advisors specializing in tenant representation.

Admirable trait: Cresa gives back to the community that has given to them for the past 19 years. Cresa allows its team members to actively participate in philanthropic activity with no limit on time away from the office. As a firm that prides itself on its collaborative culture, Cresa especially likes pulling together for a worthy cause.

Cresa as a company has put in more than 5,000 hour of volunteer time, more than $1 million donated to date and has supported more than 100 charities.

DP ELECTRIC

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Dan Puente, founder and CEO What it does: Commercial electrical contractor.

Admirable trait: “The growth of our people is the growth of our company,” says Dan Puente, founder and CEO of DP Electric.

Established by Puente in 1990, DP Electric began with one truck and a workshop in a utility room off Puente’s garage. It has since grown exponentially to service major construction projects throughout the state of Arizona, with revenues exceeding $65 million and a work force of more than 300. For employees starting in the electrical trade, the company covers up to four years of schooling.

DP ELECTRIC

CRESA

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Most Admired Companies 2018

DIGITAL AIR STRIKE DIGITAL AIR STRIKE

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Alexi Venneri, co-founder and CEO What it does: Digital Air Strike is a leading social media, intelligent messaging and digital engagement company.

Admirable trait: The past two years have been monumental for Digital Air Strike in terms of delivering powerful innovation. The premier innovation for 2018 is Digital Air Strike’s Response Path product. This new tool combines the power of AI with human intelligence to help businesses generate more leads, close sales faster and improve customer service. It also allows customers to create and deploy AI-driven bots across multiple messaging channels easily.

DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES

Most Admired Company: 2011, 2013, 2018 Top Arizona executive: Steve Bayans, vice president What it does: Issues the Discover Card and operates the Discover and Pulse networks.

Admirable trait: Employees are offered annual health evaluations for themselves and their domestic partners. Discover has an onsite fitness center, jogging path, basketball and volleyball courts, employee assistance plans (EAPs) and an onsite EAP counselor, and health screenings. Discover’s campus in Phoenix also has an onsite Health Services Center with a physician’s assistant and registered nurse. Employees can receive treatment on a walk-in basis.

DUN & BRADSTREET

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executives: Robin Serna, senior director of sales; Maria Sirvas, vice president of customer service What it does: Provides commercial data, analytics and insights for business.

Admirable trait: In 2018, Dun & Bradstreet was named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the seventh year in a row by Ethisphere, Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality by the Corporate Equality Index and ranked No. 13 on the MUSE list of the “30 Greatest Companies to Work For This Year.” Dun & Bradstreet also offers adoption assistance, reimbursing employees for the cost of adopting a child.

DUN & BRADSTREET

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Most Admired Companies 2018 FIRSTBANK

EDWARD JONES

Most Admired Company: 2016, 2018 Top Arizona executive: Dave Long, principal What it does: Financial services firm that focuses solely on individual investors and small-business owners.

Admirable trait: Because of the clear direction provided by the firm’s most senior principals, all leaders across the firm align to a value system that fosters respect, transparency and a client-centric focus. Fortune magazine named Edward Jones the No. 5 Best Company to Work For in 2018, a recognition based primarily on direct feedback from associates. The firm’s internal surveys validate Fortune’s findings, with nine out of 10 associates believing leaders “create an open and trusting environment.”

Most Admired Company: 2011, 2018 Top Arizona executive: Bryce Lloyd, market president What it does: FirstBank is the third-largest privately held bank in the U.S. Admirable trait: FirstBank and the Arizona Alliance of Nonprofits started Arizona Gives Day, a 24-hour online giving initiative, in 2013. The bank invested nearly $1 million to spur donations and provides an innumerable amount of time, talent and resources to promote the campaign. For instance, in March 2018, FirstBank employees pumped free fuel for more than 100 commuters in Arizona, encouraging them to “give it forward” to a charity of choice on Arizona Gives Day.

GALLAGHER & KENNEDY

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Michael Kennedy, co-founding partner, shareholder, member of the board of directors and owner.

What it does: Full-service law firm.

Admirable trait: The firm’s overarching commitment to family has resulted in nearly 60 percent of its workforce serving in their roles for 10 or more years. G&K’s workplace culture is focused on providing opportunities for employees to lead healthy lives.

Free access to gym facilities, biometric screenings, flu shot clinics and mental health counseling programs are just a few examples.

Structured career development programs and monthly professional development lunches are also in place.

FIRSTBANK EDWARD JONES

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Most Admired Companies 2018

GOODMANS INTERIOR STRUCTURES

Most Admired Company: 2011, 2014, 2018 Top Arizona executive: Adam Goodman, president and CEO What it does: Commercial furniture dealership.

Admirable trait: Every aspect of Goodmans is focused on changing the community. Its office space is used by Good Inc. participants, its warehouse is used by GoodTHREADS, its salespeople promote GoodART, its designers work on Goodmans Eye for the Good Guy and its operations team manages AIM to Make a Difference. Even money that could have been used on a Goodmans’ 60th anniversary party was redirected toward 60 gifts to people in the community who employees felt were making a difference.

GPS INSIGHT

GPS INSIGHT

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Rob Donat, founder and CEO What it does: Vehicle and fleet tracking.

Admirable trait: #GPSILife began a few years ago to help foster GPS Insight’s internal culture. Employees refer to themselves as GPSI’s (pronounced gypsy). This group helps organize social events and company parties, philanthropy in the Phoenix area, support groups for employees in need, orientation for new employees and much more. Rather than giving customer gifts during the holidays, GPS asks for suggestions for charitable donations, yielding a three-year approximate combined total of $600,000 in charitable donations.

GREENBERG TRAURIG

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Nicole M. Goodwin, managing shareholder What it does: Full-service law firm.

Admirable trait: Greenberg Traurig’s cultivation of a supportive, stimulating environment that encourages collaboration, professionalism, diversity and trust is personified by its commitment to its women lawyers’ success. GT created the Greenberg Traurig Women’s Initiative (GTWI), which includes a firm-wide women’s affinity group encompassing recruiting, retention and business development. Greenberg Traurig takes thoughtful action to address issues such as maintaining a healthy work-life balance, breaking the glass ceiling, mentoring, creating and maintaining healthy lifestyles and giving back to the community.

GREENBERG TRAURIG

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GOODMANS INTERIOR STRUCTURES

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Most Admired Companies 2018

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY CENTRAL ARIZONA

Most Admired Company: 2016-2018 Top Arizona executive: Jason Barlow, president and CEO What it does: Nonprofit homebuilder for low-income families.

Admirable trait: To help streamline the on-boarding of Habitat’s more than 12,000 volunteers, Habitat created a shortened volunteer orientation utilizing online video that helps volunteers get an overview of the mission, as well as sign up for volunteer opportunities immediately following the presentation.

Habitat employed this same strategy to reduce the number of calls to the Family Services team regarding home warranty issues. In each case, Habitat delivered the important information to the respective audience, while still delivering on it’s brand promise.

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY CENTRAL ARIZONA

HOMEOWNERS FINANCIAL GROUP

Most Admired Company: 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016-2018 Top Arizona executive: Bill Rogers, founder and CEO What it does: Full-service mortgage banking company.

Admirable trait: In 2013, HFG’s President Pat Lamb and CEO Bill Rogers cofounded the Care Fund, a nonprofit foundation with one mission: to financially support Arizona families who endure financial hardship while experiencing serious illness or injury of their children. The Care Fund provides mortgage, rent and housing expense relief during a child’s health crisis. The Care Fund has granted $1.2 million (equivalent to 108 years of monthly mortgage payments) and ensured that more than 550 families could remain in their homes.

HOMEOWNERS FINANCIAL GROUP

ISAGENIX INTERNATIONAL

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Travis Ogden, CEO What it does: Multi-level marketing company that sells dietary supplements and personal care products.

Admirable trait: Since 2012, Isagenix and its employees, customers, and independent distributors have raised nearly $10 million for Phoenix-based Make-A-Wish, helping the nonprofit grant 938 wishes worldwide to children with critical illnesses. Isagenix also serves as the sole corporate sponsor of the Better Business Bureau’s BBB Ethical Athlete Scholarship. A $50,000 investment allows the group to recognize a male and a female high school athlete in Arizona every month of the school year for doing the right thing.

ISAGENIX INTERNATIONAL

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Most Admired Companies 2018 JE DUNN CONSTRUCTION

Most Admired Company: 2016-2018 Top Arizona executive: Brad Schenck, senior vice president What it does: Commercial construction company.

Admirable trait: Outside of their professional lives, JE Dunn’s employees spend time throughout the year volunteering with many different organizations. Each employee volunteers an average of 86 hours per year, which is more than three times the national average. Through their efforts, along with the Dunn Family Foundation, JE Dunn was able to support over 300 nonprofits last year. These include organizations supporting causes like educational and youth development, healthcare research, sustainability efforts, arts and cultural foundations, home and neighborhood improvements and more.

JDA SOFTWARE

Most Admired Company: 2016-2018 Top Arizona executive: Girish Rishi, CEO What it does: Software company providing supply chain management, manufacturing planning, retail planning, store operations and collaborative category management solutions.

Admirable trait: The JDA Winning Leadership program is focused on developing female leaders and highlights JDA’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. The 12-month program brings global women together for multi-day development workshops and educational sessions meetings to learn how to increase their leadership impact. Participants get 360-degree feedback and are assigned a mentor. At the end of the program, they give a presentation to executives.

JLL

Most Admired Company: 2015, 2018 Top Arizona executive: Pat Williams, senior managing director What it does: Specializes in real estate and investment management.

Admirable trait: In 2012, JLL was one of the first firms in its sector to announce public sustainability targets. Having achieved these targets within the five-year timeframe set, the firm announced a new sustainability leadership ambition in June 2018. With a 30-year horizon, the firm has committed to setting a science-based target by 2019 and has introduced goals across each of the four pillars of building a better tomorrow: Clients, people, workspaces and communities.

JDA SOFTWARE

JE DUNN CONSTRUCTION

JLL

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Most Admired Companies 2018 KITCHELL

JENNINGS STROUSS

Most Admired Company: 2016-2018 Top Arizona executive: John C. Norling, managing attorney What it does: Law firm that offers strategic guidance in corporate transactions and litigation matters.

Admirable trait: Jennings Strouss has always been equipped to evolve and adapt to change. Understanding that the way people communicate and find information today is largely online, the firm expanded its digital footprint. Fortunately, the Internet is available 24/7 and gives people a starting point for finding what they need. The firm embraces social media, storytelling, video/ visual content, blogging and public relations to help ensure clients have up-to-date information on legal issues that affect their business.

Most Admired Company: 2013-2018 Top Arizona executive: Jim Swanson, CEO What it does: Handles all aspects of the construction business, from concept through ribbon-cutting and beyond.

Admirable trait: Encouraging visionary thinking, Kitchell’s internal “New Ventures Committee” reviews internal business proposals that require capital investment. Borne of this process are employee-owned innovations such as an off-site prefabrication facility (the first in the Southwest), Kitchell Fleet Services (Kitchell not only maintains its own fleet, but Kitchell does it for many others in the Valley); and a thriving facilities management business that has tripled in size and scope over the past three years.

LAVIDGE

Most Admired Company: 2011, 2013, 2016-2018 Top Arizona executive: Bill Lavidge, CEO What it does: Advertising and public relations company.

Admirable trait: In addition to the company leader’s commitment to the community, as an agency overall, LAVIDGE provides pro bono services to several nonprofits, including Treasure House, Gratitude America, the Arizona Nurses Association, the Heard Museum, Children’s Cancer Network, FBI Phoenix Citizens Academy Alumni Association and Gabriel’s Angels. Moreover, LAVIDGE forgoes holiday gifts and instead provides a monetary donation to a select nonprofit on behalf of its clients through its annual holiday giving program.

LAVIDGE KITCHELL

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Most Admired Companies 2018

LANETERRALEVER

Most Admired Company: 2014, 2017, 2018 Top Arizona executive: Beau Lane, CEO What it does: Full-service marketing and advertising agency.

Admirable trait: Tenured LaneTerralever employees are encouraged to improve their work-life balance by customizing their schedules, including working remotely for multiple days a week. To further accommodate parents, LaneTerralever maintains a kid-friendly office, which even hosted daily, kidfriendly movies during the recent teachers strike. New parents on staff are supported by innovative parental leave policies and LaneTerralever’s recently christened nursing room offers new moms a private space to pump or breastfeed while in the office.

LOVITT & TOUCHÉ

LOVITT & TOUCHÉ

MAGELLAN HEALTH

Most Admired Company: 2015-2018 Top Arizona executive: Charles Touché, CEO What it does: Insurance agency offering personal lines, property and liability protection, employee benefits, claims administration, workers compensation and more.

Admirable trait: In 2017 alone, Lovitt & Touché committed more than $600,000 to local charitable and professional associations through donations and sponsorships. Lovitt & Touché is on track to meet or surpass that in 2018.

Lovitt & Touché also encourages employees to raise money for and participate in local charitable events for organizations such as the Ability360, American Diabetes Association, Make-a-Wish Foundation, American Heart Association, Lupus Foundation and St. Vincent de Paul.

MAGELLAN HEALTH

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Barry M. Smith, chairman and CEO What it does: Managed healthcare company, focused on behavioral healthcare.

Admirable trait: Magellan’s commitment to making healthcare more accessible and easier to manage has resulted in many new innovations. Its Virtual Care Solution offers digital programs to identify and support those with medical and behavioral health conditions. Magellan’s SmartScreener digital application gives providers a quick way to identify members’ behavioral health risks before they result in an ER visit or admission. Magellan’s DCBT software delivers therapy through confidential interactive sessions. Members complete sessions anywhere, at any time, using a computer, tablet or smartphone.

LANETERRALEVER

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Most Admired Companies 2018

MARICOPA INTEGRATED HEALTH SYSTEM

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Steve Purves, president and CEO What it does: General medical and surgical facility. It is also a teaching hospital.

Admirable trait: The health system has served the greater Phoenix community for more than 140 years, providing care for 16,500 inpatients and roughly 400,000 outpatients annually. It includes the Arizona Burn Center, a Level I Trauma Center, two behavioral health hospitals and 13 Family Health Centers. The patient population is almost 75 percent minorities and approximately 60 percent are served through Medicaid.

MIHS also is a major physician training center, with 700 medical student rotations per year.

MARICOPA INTEGRATED HEALTH SYSTEM

MCCARTHY BUILDING COMPANIES

Most Admired Company: 2010, 2018 Top Arizona executive: Justin Kelton, president, Southwest region What it does: It is the oldest privately held national construction company in the country.

Admirable trait: McCarthy’s corporate and social responsibility is cultivated through a team known as Heart Hats and is not driven by a top-down mandate dictating how community service should be conducted. An example of the corporate-level Heart Hats’ philosophy was launched at the firm’s 150th anniversary during each division’s annual employee seminars, where an afternoon was spent building bikes and wagons. Each division selected the charities within their community to receive 150 bikes and 150 wagons.

MOBILE MINI

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Erik Olsson, president and CEO What it does: Portable storage company.

Admirable trait: Mobile Mini has invested heavily in the area of innovation. With MM Connect, its state-of-the-art customer portal, customers are empowered for growth through better business insights that allow them to determine where and when they need Mobile Mini and how much they need to spend to get there. Mobile Mini Tank + Pump Solutions allows customers to manage their rental equipment and compliance of their waste streams easily and efficiently with MM EnviroTrack, its proprietary tracking system for its customers.

MCCARTHY BUILDING COMPANIES

MOBILE MINI

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Most Admired Companies 2018

MORTENSON

OH PARTNERS

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Robert Nartonis, senior vice president What it does: Design-build, project development, turn-key development, general construction, construction management and program management.

Admirable trait: With more than 15 years of industryleading Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) experience, Mortenson is considered the industry leader in implementing these technologies. With in-house 3D laser scanning capabilities, Mortenson can easily transform projects into BIM models. In addition, Mortenson uses virtual reality on all projects. Virtual reality models provide high-level details, allow users to easily visualize their future spaces and eliminate user requested changes during or after construction.

OH PARTNERS

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Brad Casper, executive chairman What it does: Marketing and communications firm.

Admirable trait: OH has numerous employee development programs that have worked to develop a positive and productive work environment. Programs such as semi-annual 360-degree performance reviews, employee attitudinal surveys, ongoing new employee benefits, numerous formal and informal recognition programs, ongoing offsite “play” and team-building sessions and annual and merit pay raises and bonuses. In addition, OH University is a comprehensive online curriculum that allows all OH employees the opportunity to develop themselves and advance their careers.

PHOENIX CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL

Most Admired Company: 2010, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018 Top Arizona executive: Robert L. Meyer, president and CEO What it does: The region’s premier pediatric center, providing hope, healing and healthcare for children.

Admirable trait: Phoenix Children’s Hospital is progressive and anticipatory in an industry that is slow to adapt to change. Under the CEO’s leadership, Phoenix Children’s has become a driving force and national leader in pediatric healthcare, on the forefront of innovation. One recent example of innovation is the Phoenix Children’s Data Lake. Data from more than 65 systems stream into Phoenix Children’s Data Lake, an effort that has yielded astounding improvements in patient care.

PHOENIX CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL

MORTENSON

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Most Admired Companies 2018

PIONEER TITLE PIONEER TITLE

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Keith Newlon, founder and owner What it does: Provides title insurance, escrow, account servicing, trustee sales, as well as builder-related trust services.

Admirable trait: Rooted in Arizona and family-owned means building a company with that that philosophy at Pioneer Title’s core. Pioneer Title Agency shares a belief in supporting other local businesses, even when there is an additional cost to do so. Pioneer Title’s leadership has a deep belief in reinvesting directly into each of the local communities, keeping money in Arizona and with Arizonans whenever possible. Work local. Buy local. Support local.

QUARLES & BRADY

Most Admired Company: 2014-2018 Top Arizona executive: Nicole Stanton, office managing partner What it does: Full-service law firm for businesses and individuals.

Admirable trait: The firm was honored by the Arizona Diversity Council with the first-ever Corporate DiversityFIRST Leadership Award for its outstanding accomplishments in the promotion and advancement of diversity through inclusion and strong leadership. The firm recruits at institutions with high percentages of diverse lawyers and regularly attends minority job fairs.

Minority scholarships and internships are offered and provided to those who qualify, in order to develop potential talent.

RYAN COMPANIES US

QUARLES & BRADY

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Rick Collins, regional president What it does: Ryan has developed and constructed more than 18.5 million square feet of office and industrial space in Arizona.

Admirable trait: Ryan is heavily focused on the culture of the organization and has implemented several programs to increase employee engagement. Ryan’s Emerging Leaders Group (ELG) facilitates and fast-tracks the personal and professional development of emerging leaders through specialized training and curriculum, mentorship and recognition. Another initiative at Ryan is the Women’s Inclusion Network. The purpose of the network is to encourage and support the development of women.

RYAN COMPANIES US

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AZ TOTEM ART

Custom Bird Feeders and Totems made from repurposed architectural materials

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Most Admired Companies 2018 SONORA QUEST LABORATORIES

STORE CAPITAL

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: Chris Volk, president and CEO What it does: Leader in middle market real estate capital and net lease solutions.

Admirable trait: For more than 30 years, Volk has created real estate mortgage and lease solutions for businesses that use real estate in their daily operations to produce their sales and profits. Collectively, those companies have supplied more than $15 billion in financing to the chain restaurant, education, fitness, convenience store and other industries. Volk is also the creator of the V Formula, a revolutionary equation for analyzing business models and the benefits of asset investments to grow shareholder wealth.

Most Admired Company: 2010-2018 Top Arizona executive: Dave Dexter, president and CEO What it does: Schedules and conducts thousands of diagnostic lab tests daily.

Admirable trait: Sonora Quest Laboratories’ values and ethical behaviors serve as the cornerstone of its leadership development.

Every leader participates in the company’s leadership development program: Leadership Excellence through Accelerated Development (LEAD). In 2017, Sonora Quest rolled out a four-day, offsite Leadership Journey program for all leaders within the organization. Leaders receive training and coaching to become catalyst leaders — those who can spark professional growth of employees by helping them develop vital skills, shared knowledge and outstanding attitudes.

SUNDT CONSTRUCTION

Most Admired Company: 2010-2018 Top Arizona executive: G. Michael Hoover, president and CEO What it does: Construction services.

Admirable trait: Sundt is making efforts to attract young people into the trades and ensure that existing workers receive ongoing training so they can become master builders. Sundt recruits from top schools in the region to help students launch their careers with hands-on internships. Last year, Sundt partnered with Central Arizona College to train the next generation of craft workers. Its investment includes supplies, equipment and Sundt employees serving as adjunct professors. Sundt also works in partnership with school districts to construct career and technical education centers.

SONORA QUEST LABORATORIES

STORE CAPITAL

SUNDT CONSTRUCTION

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Most Admired Companies 2018

SUNTEC CONCRETE

UMB BANK

Most Admired Company: 2015-2018 Top Arizona executive: Jerry Barnier, CEO What it does: Commercial concrete construction company.

Admirable trait: Recognizing that the employees are at the center of the company’s success, Suntec has implemented many programs to build an outstanding culture and workplace environment. Just a few of these practices include continued education programs, living out the company’s motto – “Teach.

Train. Expect.” In addition to employees having the opportunity to attend fully sponsored and extensive industry training and classes, employees can transition to industry-related teaching roles that allow them to learn and grow as their knowledge base expands.

Most Admired Company: 2015-2018 Top Arizona executive: Jim Patterson, CEO, UMB Bank Arizona What it does: Provides a comprehensive suite of banking products and services.

Admirable trait: Under the Community Reinvestment Act, UMB has an ongoing commitment to its neighboring communities and achieved an “outstanding” rating in the most recent public evaluation conducted by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. In Arizona, UMB has impacted the American Corporate Partner’s #GiveThem20 campaign, the Heart Walk, St. Mary’s Food Bank, Scottsdale Boys & Girls Club, Phoenix Art Museum, Project CURE, American Cancer Society, Child Crisis, Sons of Arizona, Teach for America and Valley of the Sun United Way.

THE CORE INSTITUTE

USAA

Most Admired Company: 2017, 2018 Top Arizona executive: David Jacofsky, MD, CEO What it does: Provides best-in-class orthopedic care.

Admirable trait: The CORE Institute is an acknowledged leader in healthcare innovation. From its development of unique informational technology systems that permit physicians to make real-time, evidence-based decisions and arrive at the best outcomes for patients, to the establishment of clinicallyintegrated networks and payor reform models, The CORE Institute is impacting healthcare on a global scale. In 2011, The CORE Institute and Banner Health entered into a joint venture creating the BannerCORE Center for Orthopedics, which has expanded to five Banner facilities.

Most Admired Company: 2015-2018 Top Arizona executive: Greg DeBernard, regional vice president What it does: Provides military members and their families with insurance, banking and investment services.

Admirable trait: USAA offers on-site fitness centers and break areas including a live plant wall and wall of water relaxation area, recreation/energy zones, on-campus covered basketball court, half- price healthy food options, free fitness group exercise classes and exercise programming, My Helper concierge service, medical and dental insurance, paid maternity and paternity leave and emotional assistance programs. In addition, employees can pursue paid education and development opportunities through USAA’s education assistance program.

UMB BANK

USAA

THE CORE INSTITUTE

SUNTEC CONCRETE

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Most Admired Companies 2018

UNITEDHEALTHCARE

Most Admired Company: 2010-2018 Top Arizona executive: David Allazetta, CEO, UnitedHealthcare, employer and individual What it does: Offers employer, individual and family health insurance plans.

Admirable trait: Innovation is at the heart of UnitedHealthcare’s commitment to helping provide people with more personalized, convenient and easier-to-use resources to simplify the healthcare experience. UHC’s efforts to use technology and data to help improve health outcomes and modernize the health system solve important issues for consumers. For the ninth straight year, UnitedHealth Group ranked first in innovation in its sector in Fortune’s 2018 “World’s Most Admired Companies” list.

VANGUARD

VANGUARD

VIP MORTGAGE

Most Admired Company: 2011, 2013-2018 Top Arizona executive: Matthew Walker, principal What it does: Offers mutual funds, ETFs, financial advice and related services.

Admirable trait: Two members of Vanguard’s Corporate Diversity and Inclusion team in Arizona recently created and launched an Inclusion Campaign to start a global dialogue around an important key message: “Inclusion is for everyone.

Help Vanguard be a place where all crew belong, and join the conversation!” The purpose of this interactive campaign is to increase dialogue around inclusion and the sense of belonging all crew feel at Vanguard. In the first two weeks of the campaign launch, more than 750 crew joined the dialogue.

VIP MORTGAGE

Most Admired Company: 2013, 2016-2018 Top Arizona executive: Jay Barbour, founder and president What it does: Specializes in home loans, refinancing and reverse mortgages.

Admirable trait: VIP’s primary focus — restoring the reputation of the mortgage industry — could never be accomplished without “people with HEART doing more together than they ever could alone.” HEART is the acronym for VIP’s core values — Heart, Effective urgency, Absolute respect, Rewarding performance, Total integrity — and anchors and guides every action, interaction and decision VIP’s employees make every day. In 2016, VIP created a philanthropy component to the company’s benefits program, giving employees 16 hours of paid time off for volunteer efforts.

UNITEDHEALTHCARE

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Most Admired Companies 2018

VEREIT

WASHINGTON FEDERAL

Most Admired Company: 2017, 2018 Top Arizona executive: Glenn Rufrano, CEO What it does: Full-service real estate investment operating property company with real estate industry management of retail, restaurant and commercial real estate assets.

Admirable trait: To manager the significant amount of materials required to manage VEREIT’s diverse portfolio, it integrated a partnering vendor’s platform to consolidate all content. This software, Property Capsule, centralizes and automates property data, allowing brokers, tenants and employees to access site plans, interactive maps, detailed property data, photos and marketing materials for VEREIT’s properties. Numerous aspects are now proprietary to VEREIT because of the innovations its team developed during the software’s integration.

VEREIT

Most Admired Company: 2017, 2018 Top Arizona executive: Mike Brown, Arizona regional president What it does: Bank holding company.

Admirable trait: In 2014, Brown was named Washington Federal’s first-ever Arizona regional president. Since taking the reins, Brown has overseen the acquisition of 13 Bank of America branches, growing the bank’s footprint to 31 branches statewide. Under his stead, total loan production since 2014 is $1.2 billion, including $790 million in commercial and $427 million in mortgages. He also launched a national franchise finance division from the Scottsdale headquarters in 2018 and opened the first-ever regional headquarters for Washington Federal in Scottsdale in 2017.

WILLMENG CONSTRUCTION

Most Admired Company: 2018 Top Arizona executive: James Murphy, president and CEO What it does: Locally owned and operated building contractor, specializing in ground-up and tenant improvement projects.

Admirable trait: Willmeng places great importance on supporting local nonprofit organizations and consistently donates time, talents and resources. In recent years, Willmeng has been a huge community influencer by associating with more than 40 organizations. As a result of its philanthropic practices, Willmeng was named a 2017 Social Impact Finalist by the W.P. Carey School of Business Spirit of Enterprise Awards for their work in the community.

WILLMENG CONSTRUCTION

WASHINGTON FEDERAL

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SHAPING ARIZONA The Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s 22nd edition of ‘DATOS: The State of Arizona’s Hispanic Market’ unveils the latest economic trends shaping the Hispanic market in Arizona and nationwide

GROWING FORCE: DP Electric, one of Arizona’s Most Admired Companies for 2018, is one of an estimated 123,000 Hispanic-owned businesses in Arizona. Dan Puente started DP Electric out of his garage in 1990 and the company now employs more than 300.

PROVIDED PHOTO

2018

ARIZONA HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

ECONOMIC

FUERZA Hispanics in Arizona and nationwide are growing in numbers and spending power

By JAMES E. GARCIA

W

hile the rate of Latino population growth in the U.S. has slowed since the Great Recession, experts say it’s still increasing at an impressive rate.

Of the 2.2 million people added to the nation’s population between 2016 and 2017, Hispanic accounted for slightly more than half of that growth. Today, the U.S. has 59 million Hispanic residents, a figure expected to nearly double by 2060, according to U.S. Census projections.

Arizona is home to nearly 2.3 million Hispanics, or 31 percent of the state’s 7 million residents, making this is one of nine states with a population of at least 1 million Hispanics, according to the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s “DATOS: The State of Arizona’s Hispanic Market” report.

“No matter how you count, Hispanics in Arizona and nationwide are growing in numbers and spending power,” said Gonzalo A. de la Melena, president and CEO of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

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In 2016, Maricopa County had 1.3 million Hispanics. In Phoenix, Hispanics are 40 percent of the city’s population, a majority of which consists of people of color.

One reason the Hispanic population continues to boom is its relative youth. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly one-third of Hispanics nationwide are under 18. In Arizona, the median age of Hispanics is 25, as compared to 41 for nonHispanic whites.

In a clear sign of things to come: Among the state’s K-12 student population, Latinos are nearly 50 percent of the total, meaning a greater percentage of the state’s future workforce will be Hispanic.

Although high school graduation rates among Hispanics have increased substantially, not enough Latinos are finishing high school or earning high education degrees.

“The one thing we need to focus our energy on is the educational attainment of all people, and in particular people of Latino descent,” said Arizona State University President Michael Crow, who is making a big push to recruit more Hispanic students. “Our economic success will depend on the realization of the American dream for all ethnic groups.”

The fast-growing Hispanic workforce is boosting home sales.

From 2000-2017, Hispanic-owned households in the United States increased by 76 percent, going from approximately 4 million to 7 million. Latinos are predicted to make up just over half of new home buyers between 2010 and 2030, according to the 2017 State of Hispanic Homeownership Report.

About two-thirds of U.S. Hispanics are of Mexican origin – followed, respectively, by Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Central Americans and South Americans. About one-third of Arizona Hispanics are foreign-born, while 15 percent of Hispanics statewide are undocumented immigrants.

While immigration from Central America has been rising, the number of Mexicans migrating to the U.S. has dropped dramatically in recent years as Mexico’s expanding economy adds jobs and the U.S. immigration authorities pursue an unprecedented enforcement crackdown against immigrants.

Michael Crow

Gonzalo A. de la Melena

HISPANIC INCOME Arizona ranks sixth for the highest Hispanic household income for Hispanic-dense states (states with a Hispanic homeownership rate of at least 50 percent and where Hispanics account for at least 10 percent of the population). Here’s how they rank: Illinois

Florida

$51,706

$44,042

Utah

Arizona

$47,167 Texas

$44,579 Kansas

$44,297

$43,637 Idaho

$40,802 New Mexico

$38,924

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ARIZONA HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

REVOLUTIONARY Arizona native is changing the way small business owners conduct bilingual training

EDGAR OLIVO: “The goal (of Compass CBS) is to become a mainstream bilingual education resource.”

PROVIDED PHOTO

By DINA DE LEON

A

rizona native Edgar Olivo is revolutionizing bilingual training for local small business owners by providing a roadmap for becoming self-sustainable and philanthropic.

As the oldest of 11 siblings, Olivo is a first-generation college graduate who came from humble beginnings. His parents are working-class immigrants from Mexico. Growing up in Maricopa, Olivas recalls the mobile home where they lived didn’t have a front door for a time.

Still, he grew-up with an appreciation for a love of family and the strong work ethic his parents taught him.

With a background in both business and accounting, Olivo said he decided several years ago, “I could probably invest in myself and do something to help the world.”

He began to pursue his dream of becoming a leader in bilingual business consulting. In 2011, he founded Compass Career & Business Solutions, LLC. and went from a job as a supervisor at Casino Arizona to become a bilingual business development strategist and training consultant.

As the CEO of Compass, Olivo created the Compass Club, which provides its members with technical training, advocacy, and professional networking opportunities. The six-month curriculum includes training based on the most frequently asked questions regarding how to grow a business. Members are held to the highest ethical and participation standards as they’re taught 84

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to profit from their business for 30 days without the presence of the owner.

Because business owners enter the Compass Club at all different stages, said Olivo, the roadmap includes various levels ranging from Pioneer to Voyager. Upon graduating and receiving certification from the program, each business works with Compass to create its own team, sales goals, and marketing strategies. Olivas said his vision is to create a sea of certificates that will build the community. This year, Compass will host its first ever banquet and awards dinner to highlight the progress and achievements of its members.

Leading training sessions at Compass CBS, Olivo said he often flashes back to when he was helping his siblings with their homework or guiding his Spanish speaking parents through their careers as self-employed workers.

“The goal (of Compass CBS) is to become a mainstream bilingual education resource,” said Olivo, who wants all of the businesses associated with Compass to serve as a resource for the community through profit and reinvestment into the causes they care about.

Driven by his passion for education, training and writing (he is a published author), Olivo plans to attend law school soon so he can serve as an on-site business attorney for Compass, even as he continues serving the wider Hispanic community.

ARIZONA HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

ASU’s Morrison Institute’s new director inspired by commitment to civic engagement

By DINA DE LEON

A

ndrea Whitsett thinks often of her grandmother’s guiding words: “You will not be idle.”

As the new director of the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University, Whitsett said she was brought up in a family that has always valued education and civic engagement.

Her late grandmother, Julieta Saucedo Bencomo, was a fiercely dedicated activist and community leader in the Valley. In 1979, Bencomo was appointed to serve as the first Latina on the Arizona State Board of Education, and in 1985 ASU named her one of Arizona’s 100 Most Influential People.

“I would characterize her more as an activist at heart,” said Whitsett, explained how her grandmother’s integrity, civicminded nature, and passion for education have served as a guiding force in her own life. “I spent so much time at her house growing up, and if I wasn’t busy I was going to be asked to clip and sort coupons or shell pecans.”

With a bachelor’s from Yale University and a Master of Arts in Nonprofit Studies from ASU, Whitsett started her career at Morrison as a research assistant 10 years ago. She now oversees one of the state’s premier think tanks for independent, non-partisan research, analysis and public outreach.

“I have always felt that it is a position of strength and privilege to be able to communicate in a meaningful, credible way to people of all different political

persuasions,” said Whitsett. “I personally prefer having an impact and voice through that type of organization.”

Given the growing influence of the state’s fast-growing Latino population, Whitsett, who is half-Latina, said Morrison plans to grow its Latino Center for Public Policy.

Joseph Garcia, who runs the Latino Center and also serves as director of communication and community impact, said there is a dire need for the Center, especially given Arizona’s changing demographics and its impact on the Institute’s other major research areas.

“The future of Arizona is Latino,” said Garcia, who added, “… you know we’re going to be a minority majority state much sooner than the rest of the nation by about 15 years. So, what’s happening here in Arizona the rest the country is going to be going through later.”

Meanwhile, Whitsett’s wider goal is to “strive to make Morrison Institute’s work timely and relevant to ongoing policy conversations in such a way that our objective research and analysis is on the table when important decisions are being made – whether the decision is that of a voter, an elected official or a business, education, nonprofit or community leader.”

Whitsett adds that she’s committed to leading the Morrison Institute buoyed by her own desire to make a difference and leave a lasting legacy, not unlike the legacy of her beloved grandmother.

PROVIDED PHOTO

ANDREA WHITSETT: “I have always

felt that it is a position of strength and privilege to be able to communicate in a meaningful, credible way to people of all different political persuasions,” says the new director of the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University.

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ARIZONA HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

H I G H LI G HTS O F TH E 2018

REPORT

T

his year, the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce will release its 22nd version of “DATOS: The State of Arizona’s Hispanic Market,” the chamber’s annual report on the latest economic trends shaping the Hispanic market in Arizona and nationwide.

The trends highlighted in DATOS speak to a new and vibrant socioeconomic paradigm with far-reaching implications for the multicultural consumer, entrepreneurial marketplace • In 2015, the Supplemental Nutrition and corporations across the state and Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly country. Here are the highlights from known as food stamps, lifted 2.5 million the 2018 DATOS report: Latinos above the poverty line.

• F rom 2004 to 2014, Hispanic firsttime enrollees in college increased by 246,000 while White college enrollment decreased by 144,000.

• Maricopa County has the fifth-largest Hispanic population among counties the U.S. at 30.3 percent.

• Hispanics are 31 percent of the Arizona population and nearly 18 percent of the U.S. population.

• In 2015, Hispanic immigrants living in Arizona contributed $1.4 billion to Medicare and Social Security, and Hispanic immigrants nationwide contributed $57.5 billion to Medicare and Social Security.

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• F rom 2000-2016, Hispanic high school completion rate increased 28 percentage points, from 63 percent to 81 percent.

•C redit history is the biggest reason Hispanics are turned down for mortgages.

•N early 22 percent of Latino households with children have food insecurities.

• I n U.S. counties with large Hispanic populations, 29 percent of people reported having low access to grocery stores.

• Seventy percent of Latinos believe that global warming is mostly human caused, according to a 2017 survey.

• From 2012 to 2016, the percentage of obese Hispanics in Arizona grew from 30.9 percent to 35.2 percent, while the percentage of obese Whites in Arizona grew from 23.1 percent to 26.2 percent.

• From 2012 to 2016, the percentage of Hispanic adults with health insurance increased from 62.4 percent to 77.2 percent, while the percentage of white adults with health insurance increased from 84.1 percent to 91.6 percent.

BY THE NUMBERS • Despite Hispanics comprising 41.3 percent of the total population in Phoenix, Hispanics only comprise 16.9 percent of the total Phoenix police force.

• In Arizona, 2.9 percent of Hispanics in 2016 relied on public transit compared with 6.5 percent of blacks and 1.5 percent of whites.

• Only one-third of the Latino population in the United States live within walking distance of a park, compared with almost half of the white population.

• In 2016, 36.5 percent of Hispanic children in Maricopa County lived below the poverty level, compared with 10.7 percent of white children.

• Sixty-six percent of foreign-born Hispanics say deportation is a serious concern for their families.

- Highlights compliled by Paul Padilla

According to the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s 22nd edition of DATOS: The State of Arizona’s Hispanic Market:

51:

From 2016 to 2017, Hispanics accounted for 51 percent of the United States total population growth.

62.4:

Hispanic population in Arizona increased 62.4 percent from 2005 to 2015. It tripled from 1990 to 2015.

70:

Seventy percent of Hispanics and 53 percent of whites oppose expansion of the border wall.

76:

From 2000-2017, Hispanic-owned households in the United States increased 76 percent, from approximately 4 million to 7 million.

79:

Seventy-nine percent of Hispanics nationwide in 2016 were enrolled in college, compared with 86 percent of whites.

123,000:

In 2015, there were an estimated 123,000 Hispanic-owned business in Arizona, a majority of which are owned by Hispanic women.

45 billion:

In 2017, total Hispanic consumer spending in Arizona was $45 billion. Nationwide, Hispanic consumer spending is $1.5 trillion.

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OPEN FOR

BUSINESS

The state’s entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to creating a business-friendly environment helps ARIZONA’S TECHNOLOGY SECTOR BOOM

2018

ARIZONA TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL

THE STATE OF THE

ARIZONA TECHNOLOGY SECTOR

A

rizona’s technology sector is booming, and our community has never been stronger than it is today.

Technology companies such as GoDaddy, Benchmark, Carvana, Axon and Infusionsoft have Arizona as their headquarters, helping attract top-level talent across the world to our state. The startup community is growing rapidly because of a plethora of resources such as the coworking spaces CO+HOOTS and Galvanize, and an uptick in investment capital.

Through the work of leaders in this community, a protechnology government, and emerging sectors such as artificial Intelligence, blockchain and cybersecurity, Arizona has established itself as one of the premier locations for innovation. Phoenix is well-positioned to meet our goal of becoming a leading technology hub, especially when considering the rising cost of living in the “traditional” U.S. technology cities.

Recently published reports corroborate the progress, including the Arizona Technology Council’s Industry Impact Report conducted by eImpact, Greater Phoenix Economic Council’s and CBRE’s The Phoenix Tech Story and CBRE’s Scoring Tech Talent in North America. Collectively, these reports show a growing technology workforce of 168,211 jobs, more than 8,000 technology companies operating in the state, a pattern of innovation and an engagement of diverse stakeholders. Arizona has proven itself to be a catalyst for the technology industry.

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Steven G. Zylstra Technology A PRO-TECHNOLOGY GOVERNMENT LEADS THE WAY One of the key reasons for this success has been Gov. Doug Ducey’s focus on Arizona being “open for business.” It’s more than a campaign slogan; it’s a promise he and others have upheld. The governor has created a business environment that is welcoming to businesses of all sizes, especially those in the technology industry. The commitment to a technology-friendly environment has not stopped with our governor. It is something shared by many of our legislators.

One of the primary goals of the Council is to work with our members and the Legislature to develop and pass pro-technology legislation that benefits the economic development of the state.

In past year, there have been a number of major legislative wins for the technology community.

One of the most significant legislative wins has been the recapitalization of the Angel Investment Tax Credit program.

Over the past three years, the Council succeeded in gaining the necessary support to pass the measure. Arizona’s technology community rallied to lobby for recapitalization, which resulted in $10 million being put back into the program. This program is critical to the Arizona startup community, as it helps to incentivize investment for startups. It does this by giving investors a 30 percent state credit on qualifying investments, or 35 percent for investments in rural or bioscience startups.

Another major legislative milestone was the extension of the Research & Development (R&D) tax until 2021 to maintain base credit levels, which were due to sunset in 2018. The refundable R&D tax credit program gives the Arizona Commerce Authority the ability to approve refunds up to $5 million in any calendar year for companies with fewer than 150 employees. This credit remains a key driver of our competitiveness in the U.S. market, as it is the top research and development tax credit in the nation.

Working with the Arizona Astronomy Consortium, the Council also was successful in negotiating an amendment to a bill that threatened Arizona famed dark skies. Working with Sen. Sonny Borrelli and Lamar Advertising, technology leaders were able to protect the dark skies while still accomplishing Lamar’s economic development goals featuring lighted highway billboards in AB | September - October 2018 91

ARIZONA TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL Arizona is business-friendly, offers a competitive advantage in regard to cost and has a deep talent pool.

Organizations like PADT and Honeywell are also exploring new ways to develop end-use parts for the aerospace sector with metal 3D printing. There are a number of innovative technologies developing in this area that will revolutionize manufacturing in Arizona, which is home to about 5,000 manufacturing companies.

Additional organizations innovating in the space include Titan Mohave County. While the measure allowed electronic billboards Industries, Carbon 3D and Stratasys. within a 40-mile radius of Bullhead City, the Council fought to ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) AND MACHINE LEARNING: limit the number of billboards to 35, cap the illumination to AI and machine learning soon will creep into every piece of 200 nits and restrict the areas where billboards are permitted. software and connected device imaginable, as many companies With potential statewide implications, the amendment includes are implementing or experimenting with the application. In our language that encourages the advertising industry to minimize state, there is a great deal of research occurring at the university light pollution and to use modern, state-of-the-art technology level. The University of Arizona has an entire lab dedicated to this that mitigates the impact of light from electronic billboards. research, which provides hands-on learning for its students, while In education, Ducey made a significant commitment to ASU’s Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes is devoting improving Arizona schools, as well as improving compensation attention to both AI and machine learning. Both universities are for our children’s most important resources, teachers. In January, producing top talent who will apply this technology to future the governor announced a plan to restore recession-era cuts to innovations of their own. There are also many applications of this a key part of the school funding formula. The plan includes the technology in sectors such as marketing, with companies like restoration of $371 million in District Additional Assistance Digital Air Strike implementing intelligent messaging and machine and Charter Additional Assistance, phased-in over five years for learning into its digital marketing tools, and cybersecurity, where needed school items such as desks and textbooks.

WiZR has developed an industry-leading, AI-based computer Ducey also introduced the 20x2020 plan, providing a vision technology with Internet of Things integrations.

20 percent boost in teacher pay over the next three years – AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES: This is a sector where Arizona really including 10 percent in the 2018 school year – and a significant shines. We lead the nation in the operation and testing of increase in flexible dollars to Arizona schools for support staff, autonomous vehicles after our state government paved the way new textbooks, upgraded technology and infrastructure. Both the for these innovations. Some of the largest technology companies 20x2020 plan and the recession-era cuts restoration have been in the world, including Waymo, Lyft, GM, Veyo and Intel, are fully supported by the Arizona technology community because honing autonomous vehicle technology in the Valley. As these the future of our industry depends on the education of our youth. innovations progress and are proven, the opportunity for this In STEM education, we are seeing a serious commitment by sector to flourish becomes massive. the federal government to fund at the state level those programs FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY (FINTECH): Financial technologies that motivate children and parents to get more involved in like blockchain and cryptocurrency have incredibly promising STEM education and develop the skills necessary for careers in applications. For instance, a decentralized exchange system using technology. U.S. workforce entrants in recent years have lacked blockchain would help individuals avoid corrupt and greedy STEM skills, which is why our dependence on foreign talent governments in developing countries. As the sector matures and has been so high. To help develop solutions, Sandra Watson, Arizona legislators open up to exploring the technology, we will president and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority, and I see an influx of blockchain companies emerge. FinTech expands were nominated by the governor to attend the inaugural White far beyond blockchain and cryptocurrency but this technology House State-Federal STEM Education Summit in June. The summit is the hottest in the sector at the moment. There are a number of provided an opportunity to work with the federal government to very promising companies currently in Arizona’s FinTech sector, help them understand which programs have the most impact in including BillingTree, Desert Financial Credit Union, CardFree allowing children and young adults to explore in-demand career and Upgrade, as well as a number of startups with exciting paths and allocate resources towards those programs. blockchain innovations such as KryptoPal and Sweetbridge.

Arizona is business-friendly, offers a competitive advantage in EMERGING SECTORS MAKING A HUGE IMPACT regard to cost and has a deep talent pool. The technology industry is One of the reasons our state has been so successful in attracting rapidly expanding and, thanks to outstanding education programs new business, as well as top STEM-educated talent, is the offered by many schools, talent is becoming readily available to emergence of new and exciting technology sectors. These fields are businesses. Arizona is well-positioned to claim its place in the among the fastest growing in Arizona, accelerating the technology national playing field of competitive technology markets. industry and adding jobs. They signal innovation and future This is just a snapshot of the exciting things going on in our opportunities in a variety of disciplines: technology sector today. Our community continues to grow with ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING (3D PRINTING): 3D printing is an the Council leading the way, advocating for technology development industry in which Arizona has proven to be a leader. Arizona State and growth, as well as influencing public policy to match Arizona’s University (ASU) early last year opened the Southwest’s largest technological and economic goals. We are well on our way to additive manufacturing research center, the Manufacturing competing with the nation’s leading technology hubs.

Research and Innovation Hub. The center boasts $2 million in cutting-edge plastic, polymer and metal 3D printing equipment.

Steven G. Zylstra is president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council.

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all companies are tech companies In this day and age, tech is everywhere in every company. The tech industries are growing to meet the needs of consumers and BestCompaniesAZ is there to make sure you’re a part of it!

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bestcompaniesaz.com/tech

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ARIZONA TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL TECH TRAILBLAZER: In June, PADT

announced its new on-demand manufacturing service, creating a “3-D printing factory” here in the Valley.

PROVIDED PHOTO

BUILT TO

INNOVATE

Arizona continues to break ground with on-demand 3-D manufacturing facility

By AZ BUSINESS

A

rizona continiues to be a trailblazer when it comes to threedimensional printing.

Realizing the long-term promise of 3-D printing to replace traditional manufacturing as a way to make production parts, Phoenix Analysis and Design Technologies (PADT) announced the launch of On-Demand Manufacturing with Carbon. As a certified production partner of Silicon Valleybased Carbon, PADT can now deliver to its customers cost-effective, quality parts in volumes of between 2,000–5,000 in about one week, using Carbon’s Digital Light Synthesis (DLS) technology and the Carbon production system.

“Since we started in 3-D Printing almost 25 years ago, we have dreamed of the day that we could use additive manufacturing to move beyond prototyping and deliver production parts to our customers when they need them, the way they need them,” says Rey Chu, co-founder and principal of PADT. “Carbon’s DLS technology has made this possible by giving us a faster process that creates parts with the same properties as injection molding.”

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Core to on-demand manufacturing with Carbon is Carbon’s proprietary DLS technology, which changes the way companies design, engineer, make and deliver products. Carbon’s novel approach uses digital light projection, oxygen permeable optics, and programmable liquid resins to produce parts with excellent mechanical properties, resolution and surface finish. A significant advantage of using the approach is that no tooling is required. High-quality parts are produced without the time or expense of creating molds, and shapes that cannot be made with injection molding can be created using Carbon’s DLS technology.

“Our goal is to deliver true, scalable digital fabrication across the globe, enabling creators to design and produce previously unmakeable products, both economically and at scale,” said Dana McCallum, head of production partnerships at Carbon.

“PADT has a long history in the industry and a strong reputation for engineering excellence. We’re thrilled to have them as a certified Carbon production partner.”

PADT’s on-demand manufacturing is backed up by in-house product

Rey Chu

Dana McCallum

development, inspection, simulation and injecting molding expertise. All parts are produced under its quality system, and its in-house Computer Numeric Control (CNC) machining lets the company complete any critical feature creation onsite with no delays.

PADT’s Digital Manufacturing Facility, the Southwest’s first true “3-D printing factory,” is now open to customers.

LEARN MORE For more information about on-demand manufacturing with Carbon, visit padtinc. com or call 800-293-PADT.

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ARIZONA TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL

PATENT

PENDING

Arizona inventors secure intellectual property protection with the help of volunteer attorneys and law students

By MARIANNE TROST

I

nnovation in Arizona continues to thrive, but not all entrepreneurs can afford the cost of securing and protecting their intellectual property rights. Two forward-thinking programs in Arizona are helping inventors overcome this hurdle.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLINIC Startups and ongoing businesses around the state are tapping into the free legal resources of a clinic at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law that has exhibited tremendous growth over the last several years under the leadership of Allan J. Sternstein. An attorney and professor at the law school, Sternstein teaches Patent Law, Patent Litigation and Intellectual Property Law, and spotted the opportunity to create a win-win for law students, entrepreneurs in need and even law firms representing entrepreneurs.

The clinic pairs qualified inventors and start-up companies with law students who work under the supervision of volunteer attorneys to help the next generation of qualified inventors protect their patents, trademarks, trade secrets and copyrights.

Pre-qualified clients of the law school’s Intellectual Property Clinic receive pro bono legal services including formation of a corporate entity, drafting IP-related agreements such as NonDisclosure Agreements needed to start a business, conducting patent infringement searches, counseling on the patentability of inventions, counseling on the strength of a trademark and the best trademarks to choose, guidance on how to avoid infringing on 98

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Tim Fontes

Allan J. Sternstein

the rights of others, and legal counsel on a myriad of issues that inventors and start-up companies face. Students in the Clinic also draft patent and trademark applications for filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and can be part of the US Patent and Trademark Office’s (USTPTO) Law School Certificate Program.

“The clinic fills a critical need in helping inventors protect their intellectual property so that their inventions and products can be successfully brought to market,” Sternstein says. “That’s good for everyone.”

Word about the success of the clinic and its reputation for being one of the top in the country has spread to inventors as far away as New Hampshire, Florida, Texas and California. Entrepreneurs from any state can reach out to the clinic for assistance, as long

When asked why he volunteers his time, Fontes, who completed his undergraduate degree in computer information systems at ASU and his law degree at the University of Arizona, says that the clinic gives him an opportunity to give back to the community and help inventors who may potentially have developed the next life changing idea.

The Arizona Public Patent Program (APPP), operated by the clinic, serves as the “hub” for qualified inventors in Arizona who want to be paired with a pro bono attorney licensed to practice before the USPTO to assist with the filing or prosecution of a patent.

Law students, under the supervision of a patent attorney, conduct patent searches to determine whether an invention is patentable. If it is, the inventor is then matched with a pro bono attorney who will help them write and file a patent application with the USPTO. “The APPP program is a great example of how universities, ARIZONA PUBLIC PATENT PROGRAM the government and volunteer attorneys in the private sector Sternstein, law students and volunteer intellectual property can work together to support the next generation of innovation attorneys and agents also help qualified inventors tap into a in Arizona,” says Sternstein. “It’s a win-win for everyone. Law second program that is focused specifically on pairing Arizona students have an opportunity to work on real cases and perform inventors with volunteer Arizona patent attorneys and patent patent searches on actual inventions. Volunteer attorneys have agents to assist in drafting patent applications. access to the assistance of law students. And inventors are able to Tim Fontes, an attorney with Am Law 100 firm Polsinelli who protect their intellectual property in a cost-effective way.” is licensed to practice before the USPTO, has been volunteering Arizona’s program is a model for the rest of the country. for the past year.

“There is so much innovation and creativity coming out of “There are a lot of creative, talented entrepreneurs in Arizona and around the country with great ideas,” Fontes says. “Protecting Arizona’s tech and healthcare sectors,” says Fontes. “But inventors are at risk if they can’t afford to patent their ideas. The APPP their inventions is key to making sure they have a strong foundation on which to build their businesses, take their products program fills that critical need.”

The potential is limitless, Sternstein and Fontes agree, but more to market, or show a potential investor that they have protected volunteer attorneys are needed. the ideas at the core of their inventions.” as there are enough law students and experienced supervising attorneys willing to donate their time.

More than 100 inventors have received assistance through the clinic including inventors of every-day household gadgets, the creator of an advanced electronic guidance system, the inventor of a sophisticated vaccine and its use that successfully targets skin cancer tumors, and even an inventor of therapeutic uses for microvesicles generated and isolated from stem cells.

Sternstein says the potential of the clinic is tremendous and only limited by the number of students and volunteer supervising attorneys. “Arizona’s Clinic already has a reputation that has attracted entrepreneurs from around the country. I would love to see the clinic grow even more.”

LEARN MORE

Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship Clinic • Inventors wishing to protect their patents, trademarks or copyrights and apply for pro bono legal services through the clinic should visit arizona.edu/intellectual-property-clinic Arizona attorneys interested in volunteering with the Intellectual Property Clinic should email Allan J. Sternstein at asternstein@email.arizona.edu

Arizona Public Patent Program • Inventors interested in applying to be matched to a pro bono patent attorney and who meet the qualification standards can find more information at azpublicpatentprogram. arizona.edu/qualifying-assistance.

• Patent attorneys licensed before the USPTO interested in volunteering can find more information at azpublicpatentprogram.arizona.edu/volunteer-attorneys

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TIME TO PLAY Arizona’s groundbreaking FinTech sandbox could attract and grow more innovative companies

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By JESSE A. MILLARD

A

rizona is leading the way in facilitating innovation in the financial services industry as the first state in the nation to enact a groundbreaking regulatory FinTech (financial technology) “sandbox.”

In Arizona’s sandbox, startups, entrepreneurs, and even established companies can launch products on a limited, temporary scale to consumers to test innovative products, services, business models, and delivery mechanisms in the real market without incurring the regulatory costs and burdens that would otherwise be imposed.

“When you create something new, you need a new set of rules for that technology,” says Sandra Watson, president and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority. “Arizona is at the forefront of this effort. Because of the new FinTech sandbox law signed by Gov. Doug Ducey in March of this year, we’re confident FinTechs will find success in Arizona much sooner than anywhere else in the country.”

Attorney General Mark Brnovich drafted the bill that created this sandbox and Representative Jeff Weninger sponsored the bill.

“The idea of a regulatory fintech sandbox is not new, and while it’s being discussed at the federal level, Congress is moving at a glacial pace,” says Attorney General Mark Brnovich. “Arizona has always been a state for big ideas and this is just one more place where we are trailblazing in entrepreneurship and innovation. I hope to see the sandbox serve as a catalyst for capital investment in Arizona and provide opportunities for Arizona businesses and consumers to thrive.”

Within the sandbox, FinTechs will be able to offer products to Arizona consumers on a limited scale. Those businesses won’t have to go through a major regulatory process to test the products, saving time and money.

“The idea of (the sandbox) is that you can test in a limited market space with these FinTech products to see if you have something viable,” says Steven Killian, director of government relations at the Arizona Bankers Association.

Then, if a FinTech sees success within Arizona’s sandbox, it can go through the same regulatory process other financial services have to go through with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The United Kingdom, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and Australia currently house regulatory sandboxes. The U.S. federal government has looked into creating one in the U.S., but it’s been dragging its feet, Killian says. Now, Arizona is leading the way.

This sandbox can be a huge magnet for attracting more FinTech startups to Arizona, which has economic developers like Watson and her team excited.

“Because we’re the first state in the country to create the FinTech sandbox, this will position Arizona to be a global

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leader in innovations, including cryptocurrency and blockchain technology,” Watson ssays. “These entrepreneurs who are working on these technologies need to be able to continue to develop them without the burden of overregulation. Arizona gives them the space to innovate.”

When the sandbox was going through the process as a bill, Killian told lawmakers that this FinTech sandbox will be like having a minor league baseball team from which to farm talent in Arizona.

Local banks will be able to see the latest FinTech innovations in their own back yard instead of scouring out-of-state markets for the latest and greatest in financial technology, Killian says.

He mentions that FinTech innovations aren’t competitors to banks, because the entrepreneurs and technology innovators creating these solutions aren’t bankers. They want to have their innovation benefit a bank, so they can move on to their next innovation, he says.

The FinTech sandbox will draw innovators from across the U.S., and if they find they’ve developed a viable product within Arizona, they can pitch it to banks, sell it to banks and continue on as an innovator, Killian says.

Currently, it can take a startup several months and tens of thousands of dollars in fees, compliance costs, and legal expenses to navigate the regulatory maze in just one state. This slowmoving and expensive process is unacceptable in an industry like FinTech that is rapidly changing and developing.

“Time and money could force a lot of, especially smaller companies, the smallest startups, to not be able to get in and get their product going,” says Weninger, who sponsored the bill.

And by the time the product moves through the regulatory approval process, it could be too late for the product to find success in the marketplace, he says. Someone could beat the smaller firm to market, or it’s no longer the right time to launch such a product.

This sandbox is going to make things much quicker. Also, having the Attorney General’s Office overseeing everything will make it safe for consumers, Weninger says.

FinTechs will be able to submit applications to the marketplace this year, Weninger explains. He expects large incumbent banking organizations and startups to apply to get into the sandbox to play.

“I think the sandbox is going to take some people by surprise by how effective it is,” Weninger says. “I could see Arizona in a couple of years having more startups located here, having other big players that are relocating assets here and trying to start a new thing. And I think it will be a healthy competition because I think you’ll see a lot of states copying this next year.”

A LOOK AT THE REGULATORY SANDBOX PROGRAM Mark Brnovich

Doug Ducey

Steven Killian

Sandra Watson

Jeff Weninger 102

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Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s office provided this overview of the first FinTech Regulatory Sandbox: • The Office of the Attorney General is responsible for approving and providing entry of applicants into the sandbox.

• The sandbox program will be administered by the Civil Division of the office.

• The regulatory sandbox will likely be active and ready to accept applications by late 2018.

• Application fee amounts will be determined by the Attorney General’s Office at a later date.

• Sandbox participants must provide detailed information regarding their service or product on a form prescribed by the Attorney General’s Office.

• Sandbox participants will have 24 months after their approval date to test their innovative financial product or service.

• A sandbox participant may be granted an extension of up to one year upon request to the Attorney General’s Office.

• Consumers must be Arizona residents.

• The sandbox provides caps on the numbers of individuals who may participate in a particular sandbox agreement and caps on the amount of loans that may be issued.

• The Arizona Consumer Fraud Act guides all products and services offered in the sandbox and any product offered in the sandbox must comply with all statutory limits and caps in Arizona law related to financial transactions.

• The program ends on July 1, 2028.

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2018

HOW BIG IS THE

ECONOMIC IMPACT OF MEETINGS AND EVENTS?

MPI

LESSONS LEARNED MPI AZ president focused on providing quality education for both meeting planners and suppliers

By ERIN THORBURN

S

omething old, something new, and with Meeting Professionals International - Arizona Sunbelt Chapter, there’s always something exciting to do.

Az Business sat down with MPI AZ President Danielle Adams, who leads the 300-member chapter of the largest meeting and event industry association worldwide, to find out about past, present and future plans, events and educational opportunities enjoyed and anticipated by local MPI members.

It’s going to be a busy year for Adams as she leads MPI members through a number of action-packed Arizona chapter happenings.

Az Business: What are you most looking forward in your role as t MPI AZ president?

Danielle Adams: I’m most looking forward to going back to the basics by redesigning this year’s educational programs with a focus on providing quality continuing education for both planners and suppliers.

DANIELLE ADAMS: “I’ve asked all of our leadership teams to think out of the box, be open to creative change, redesign many chapter programs and continue to move MPI AZ into the future while maintaining our chapter culture,” says the president of Meeting Professionals International - Arizona Sunbelt Chapter.

PROVIDED PHOTO

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The Arizona Sunbelt Chapter promotes excellence in the meeting industry through education, certification, advocacy and business alliances via our members.

Our education team has already kicked off this year with a program focused on emergency preparedness that took place in July. This and other hot topics such as event wellness, effective meeting marketing, meeting and event design, the ins and outs of request-for-proposal processes and Convention and Visitor Bureau partnerships are just some of the educational topics we’ll be providing this year.

AB: Which local chapter events are you excited about for 2019?

DA: We are excited to bring back EduCon again this year. As a weekend retreat, EduCon will take place at Civana Carefree Resort in Carefree, which will provide our members core educational content, networking, and destination site visits that will help planners and suppliers learn how to build on the basics of event planning and elevate their learning. We’ll also be bringing back our holiday party, spring fundraiser and the annual golf tournament, where we partner with our friends at HSMAI. AB: What makes the Arizona Chapter of MPI an asset to educating, encouraging and fostering engagement within the local meeting and event planning community?

DA: The Arizona Sunbelt Chapter promotes excellence in the meeting industry through education, certification, advocacy and business alliances via our members. We believe this so much it’s the first thing you see on our website.

Our alliances and partnerships within the local community produce experiences that inspire, educate and energize others.

We work hard to lead the community in professional development which connects our industry professionals and foster real engagement.

AB: How do these powerful relationships in MPI translate to boosting the health and economic vitality of Arizona’s hospitality and event planning industries?

DA: Ask many meeting professional in and outside of Arizona and they will all tell you Arizona is one of the best

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Here is the board of directors for that Meeting Professionals International - Arizona Sunbelt Chapter installed to lead the association in 2018-19.

PRESIDENT: Danielle Adams, independent planner IMMEDIATE PAST PPRESIDENT: Lee Smith, HMCC, Hotel Valley Ho VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS: Melanie Volkers, CHSE, The Hermosa Inn VICE PRESIDENT OF EDUCATION: Jacqi Marth, Destinations & Details EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Joanne Winter.

THE DIRECTORS: Sukki Jahnke, Tempe Chamber of Commerce Donna Robinson, independent planner Kerri O’Brien Rose, independent planner Dennis Campbell, Gaining Edge Cathy Clifton, CMP, CMM, Experient.

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"I knew back in 2001 when my company joined MPI that I wanted to be a member, get involved, one day sit on the board of directors and eventually serve as a chapter president." ­DANIELLE ADAMS

places to hold meeting and events.

Why? Because in our backyard we have first-class hotels, conference centers and venues, local and International airports, state-of-the-art production companies, experienced tour operators, travel professionals, ground transportation, event design and exhibit companies.

Together, we showcase our abilities to our clients and visitors around the world.

Together we are unified in providing a unique Arizona experience. Industry associations and organizations such as MPI AZ create business alliances, partnerships and opportunities for business growth and development by bringing together all of these individuals to keep Arizona meeting.

AB: What has been one of the biggest wins in your role as MPI AZ president?

DA: While no win is ever truly mine, I’ve challenged all of our leadership teams to think big this year. Redesigning educational programs, development of new sponsorship opportunities, refocusing on industry education, new networking events and global social media engagement are just some of the areas we’ve made big improvements.

We will continue to move this chapter into the future, however, we will always maintain our Arizona chapter culture.

AB: If you had to pick one word to encapsulate MPI AZ goals going into 2019, what would it be?

DA: Forty and fabulous. In May of 2019, members from across this amazing organization will celebrate the MPI Arizona Sunbelt Chapter 40th anniversary as an organization.

We’ll be taking a look back at our founding members, past events, committees, the board of directors, 110

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events and our members to see how each and every one made us the award-winning chapter we are.

Together, members past and present will celebrate the success of Arizona’s accomplishments within MPI Global and the impact we’ve made on our industry here in the Valley. Forty looks good.

Arizona, including our neighbors to the north and south of the Valley, all offer true destination experiential value.

AB: How has your role with MPI strengthened your career?

DA: I knew back in 2001 when my company joined MPI that I wanted to be a member, get involved, one day sit on the board of directors and eventually serve as a chapter president.

In doing so, I knew a lot of volunteer hours were required to meet such goals. What I didn’t realize early on was every one of the hours I spent with other members on committee calls, writing agendas and planning events was exposing me to countless networking opportunities for career advancements.

My time volunteering with the organization allowed me to reach leadership goals that maybe weren’t possible within my current organization. Additionally, I was able to volunteer in areas where I wasn’t a subject matter expert to strengthen my skill sets.

Working with many experienced meeting professionals has also opened many doors for job offers.

I’m thankful that not one but two job offers were leads from my MPI community.

STANDOUT WINNERS Meeting Professionals International – Arizona Sunbelt Chapter recognized its members who went above and beyond to volunteer for the chapter. Here are the 2018 winners: PLANNER OF THE YEAR: Julie Wong, CMP, The Event Concierge SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR: Melanie Volkers, CHSE, The Hermosa Inn & LON’s SPONSOR OF THE YEAR: Flagstaff CVB RISING STAR AWARD: Donna Robinson, CMP, independent planner HOST VENUE OF THE YEAR: Little America Flagstaff COMMITTEE OF THE YEAR: EduCon, Katie Dreifus, chair EDWARD E. SCANNELL AWARD: David Rosenbaum, CHME, CIVANA Carefree CHAPTER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Rowan Pickering, Event Team, Inc. PRESIDENT’S ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Becky Bulkley, MPI AZ

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MPI

BREAK-OUT Valley offers many unique venues that take corporate meetings to the next level

Cricket Barrientos Greg FrĂŠsquez 112

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Kate Hastings

Mark Schnepf

Rachele Vincent

SPACE

By ERIN THORBURN

I

t doesn’t require much imagination when seeking out unique meeting venues in the Valley of the Sun. Simply visit the Desert Botanical Garden, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, historic Sahuaro Ranch and similar destinations that come equipped with a natural, compelling desert backdrop. And, while ambiance is everything, members of the Arizona Sunbelt Chapter of Meeting Professionals International are also embracing the unique offerings of meetings and events locales such as Topgolf, Dave & Buster’s and ISM Raceway, which are perfectly suited for team-building events, corporate meetings, entertainment and more.

WHY UNIQUE? Maya Angelou once said, “You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot — it’s all there.” The quote helps to answer the “why” when it comes to choosing a more unique meeting venue option. Unique, for many, translates to “memorable.”

Sometimes, it’s the literal physical construct — architecture — of a place that locks into the layers of attendees’ minds.

“Taliesin West was built specifically for its site,” says Kate Hastings, director of events at the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. “It’s uniquely Arizonan and a site of continuous experimentation and innovation. Simply being in this space is inspiring.”

For destination meetings and events, an experience in a place like Taliesin West is key.

In addition to imbibing the design majesty of a legendary figure like Frank Lloyd Wright, attendees can seep in the history and ambiance of Arizona’s Sonoran Desert landscape.

“We work with many destination management companies and event planners across the country who are looking for iconic locations for their clients who are seeking exclusive and special experiences,” Hastings explains. “It’s special to be able to stand in the same place that Frank Lloyd Wright stood, AB | September- October 2018 113

MPI

watching the sunset from Taliesin West. People resonate with the organic design and natural setting of this beautiful and historic place.”

While history and natural elements are supremely attractive to businesses, so is offering meetinggoers an entertaining experience.

“Our unique event space and food buffets are uniquely positioned to encourage team-building by offering meeting space options, upgraded technology and entertainment,” says Cricket Barrientos, special events manager at Dave & Buster’s. “We offer 180 games on the gaming midway, three championship-sized billiards tables, 80 TVs for sports viewing and private event space to accommodate 10 to 2,000 guests.”

What meeting and event planners are increasingly discovering is that “extras” are everything to the modern meeting climate. Attendees, especially destination meeting guests, don’t want to camp out in a hotel room. Elevating the energy level of an event atmosphere is crucial, particularly if it lasts for a series of days, experts say.

“Topgolf has an energetic atmosphere that simply cannot be matched,” says Topgolf Scottsdale DIrector of Sales Rachele Vincent. “The traditional meeting atmosphere is simply no longer fitting the bill for the culture of the current workplace. What better place to eliminate generational barriers than Topgolf? We take an ageless game like golf, that is truly beloved, and streamline it to make it easy and fun to play for all.”

The same energy level is true for the newly upgraded ISM Raceway.

“At the track, businesses and organizations will have all the amenities they would need to host a successful event,” adds Greg Frésquez, communications manager for ISM Raceway, “with the added value of great meeting areas in our ROLL-BAR and Curve, while enjoying delicious food and drink options from our partners.”

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EVEN MORE IN STORE Again, the simple advantage of breathtaking desert landscapes combined with built-in amenities places Greater Phoenix venues in prime position to play event host.

From numerous sports-related entertainment and shopping opportunities to recreational options and state parks, there is something to appeal to every taste.

“Phoenix offers a vibrant cultural and artistic community,” Hastings says. “Scottsdale is one of the nation’s favorite playgrounds, Tempe houses the nation’s largest university, and most of our state is still wild and open for visitors who want an authentic experience of the American West while still ‘roughing it easy.’”

Places like Schnepf Farms, which can host everything from intimate gatherings to largescale events, serves as a perfect example of “roughing it easy,” as a self-contained venue. The 300-acre farm in Queen Creek has much to offer in the way of rustic agritainment — even newly renovated Airstreams, Silver Streaks and Spartans that are available for a “glamping” (glamorous camping) experience.

In the West Valley, Glendale offers a similar old-world environment with modern amenities.

“You can start off in the Westgate Entertainment district,” says Barrientos, “and venture down to the Old Town Glendale for unique antique shopping with a small-town feel.”

Frésquez sums up what makes unique venues in Phoenix exceptional.

“Arizona boasts top-ranked hotels, resorts, golf courses and serves as a premier destination for world-class sports and entertainment,” he says. “Rivaling other major states, Arizona has renowned shopping and culinary offerings, all easily accessible via the excellent freeway system.”

10

UNIQUE VENUES TO TRY

As home to many unique meeting venues, the Greater Phoenix area has been host to events for notable businesses, nonprofits and a wide range of industries — healthcare, technology, agriculture, aerospace and more.

Here are a few of the Valley’s most coveted and captivating venues to try to your next meeting: Dave & Buster’s: Each Dave & Buster’s has a full-service restaurant and a video arcade.

Information: daveandbusters.com Desert Botanical Garden: The DBG is a 140acre botanical garden located in Papago Park.

Information: dbg.org ISM Raceway: The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually.

Information: ismraceway.com Mesa Arts Center: The 210,000-squarefoot facility is the largest comprehensive arts campus in the state.

Information: mesaartscenter.com Musical Instrument Museum: Opened in April 2010, MIM is the largest museum of its type in the world.

Information: mim.org OdySea Aquarium: OdySea is the largest aquarium in the Southwest United States and spans more than 200,000 square feet.

Information: odyseaaquarium.com Rawhide Western Town & Event Center: Rawhide is an authentic replica of an 1880’s town complete with a Main Street, gunfights, stagecoach and train rides.

Information: rawhide.com Schnepf Farms: This fourth-generation farm is well known for its pumpkin festival and its you-pick peaches.

Information: schnepffarms.com Taliesin West: Taliesin West was architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home and school in the desert from 1937 until his death in 1959.

Information: franklloydwright.org Topgolf: Topgolf offers fun point-scoring golf games for all skill levels, an upscale bar food and drinks, great music and more.

Information: topgolf.com

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DYNAMIC DOLLAR The money spent by visitors is likely the most powerful spent in your community

W

ith all the recent talk about tariffs and trade wars, I was inspired to opine about the often misunderstood and undervalued powerful economic driver — the tourism dollar.

There, I said it. The tourism dollar is the most “powerful” dollar spent in a community. I know I’m going to get some rebuttal mail from elected officials, government staff professionals and Chamber of Commerce executives. Before you hit the “send” button, I did NOT say, the most “important” dollar, only asserted the most “powerful” dollar.

Mind you, I recognize the most important dollar spent in a community is local wages that generate property and sales taxes. Jobs and taxes provide stability for sustaining the costs of essential services that government entities provide: police, fire, utilities, quality of life amenities like parks and museums, as well as transportation, education and much more. In effect, the taxes generated by those wages (including property taxes) and the spending of “net” income for goods and services (sales taxes) provides a sustainable stream of revenue to government entities so they, in turn, can provide community services. Job growth in a community helps to grow funding for services and the historical baseline dep endability of those tax revenues, provides the foundation for bond debt capacity of a government entity to expend capital for amenities likes parks, museums and enhanced education resources.

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Dennis E. Campbell, MPI

IMPACT OF TOURISM Enter tourism spending — leisure visitor or conference attendee. Visitor spending generates sales taxes (most states in the United States have a sales tax) and lodger’s or “bed tax” (rates vary by jurisdiction) through hotel and motel stays. I’m leaving the Airbnb and VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owners) stays out of this discussion. Hotels collect the lodger’s tax and remit it to the local government, which then decides the allocated use of the lodger’s tax, which could be tourism promotion funding through a Destination Management Organization or Convention and Visitors Bureau, bond debt for convention center capital improvements or expansions, special interest projects and/or mixed into the general fund of the government entity. It should be noted that some governmental legislation does specify/restrict what these lodger’s taxes may be used for.

Now for the case of the most powerful dollar. If we set aside leisure visitors’ impact and just examine the meetings event business, conference attendees spend dollars earned OUTSIDE the community in which those dollars are being spent. On average, conference attendees spend $1,500-$2,000. Those dollars are either wages earned elsewhere, or organizational dollars (in the case of reimbursement allowances) earned from other sources and geographical locations. These are NEW dollars that will circulate multiple times within the community, before they leave the community. This known among economists as an economic multiplier. These new dollars are spent on ground transportation, (taxis, Uber, rental cars, light rail, public transportation), hotel stays, restaurants, museums, attractions and retail goods. All of these NEW dollars are spent with local businesses and generate sales taxes. In addition, event organizers of conferences spend greater sums on audio visual services, food and beverages, group ground transportation, general labor, as well as other goods and services. In those cases, they still engage local jobs (wages). As a small example, I was giddy when the trend of “farm to table” hit the local scenes with restaurants buying from local farmers. This isn’t just about the fresh ingredients and supporting local businesses; it’s also about keeping the powerful dollar circulating longer in the local community, before that dollar leaves.

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MPI BACKBONE OF ECONOMY Some argue that tourism Jobs are low-wage jobs. I’m reminded of a quote from the famous NFL coach, Vince Lombardi.

Paraphrasing: “The quality of any person’s life must be a full measure of that person’s personal commitment to excellence and to victory, regardless of his/her field of endeavor”. Translation and message: If you are a dishwasher or housekeeping attendant at a hotel and you excel at your duties and have no interest in advancing to management or other higher income roles, you can still be proud, have quality of life and achieve your personal goals. And, by the way, these folks buy groceries, cars, furniture, even homes that generate taxes. Why criticize an industry that provides innumerable entry level jobs that many employees are happy to have for the entirety of their working years. On the other hand, I am also personally aware of dozens of tourism executives that started in those entry level roles, had an appetite for advancement and now earn incomes in the six figures. We must remind ourselves that an individual’s station in life and their definition of success and significance does not have to be a high-profile, high-wage job. In fact, the entry level wage roles are the backbone of delivering service excellence and essential for attracting the “powerful” dollar of tourism to your community.

Let’s peel the layers of the onion back a bit further on this.

Starting with the easy and working our way to the more complex for busting myths. Lodger’s tax rates: They’re all over the map.

Orlando, Las Vegas, New York, San Francisco and others are among some of the highest rates in the U.S. and their room rates can cause a Maalox moment for most of us. So why do hotels in other destinations with lower room rates (on average) and much lower lodger’s tax rates than competitive destinations, resist raising the rate so more funds can flow into destination sales and promotion and into city coffers? In part, it’s a lack of confidence that the increased collections would be reinvested back into improving tourism related attributes of the community and tourism promotion. The fear is that much of the new rate increase collected would end up in the general fund and allocated for funding programs that would not benefit tourism growth for the community. It is that simple. In some cases, hotel support for raising a lodger’s tax rate is fractured by those that support bond debt for convention centers and museums and those that believe all lodger’s tax should be reinvested in destination promotion.

SIZE MATTERS Convention centers. Depending on the type of event, a convention center may make a “per-event gross profit,” in the case of “gate” shows, like home improvement expos, dog shows, boat or RV shows and even concerts. These rvent organizers pay for exhibit space and charge the public to attend. Very little meeting space is used. These events are targeted to local attendees and desirable for convention center operators. In the meetings market, conventions or conferences that are too big to meet in a single hotel and have heavy meeting space and exhibit space requirements look to convention centers.

These are events whose attendance will be 99 percent from outside the community (even the state). This is where the sticky and complex debate of convention center funding and revenue shortfalls lives. By the way, conventions that meet in a convention center, as a rule, will also use blocks of rooms in 118

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WHAT IS MPI? MPI: Meeting Professionals International (MPI) is the largest and most vibrant global meeting and event industry association. The organization provides innovative and relevant education, networking opportunities and business exchanges, and acts as a prominent voice for the promotion and growth of the industry. MPI membership is comprised of approximately 18,500 members belonging to 70 chapters and clubs worldwide.

INFORMATION: mpiweb.org ARIZONA CHAPTER: Active since 1979, the Arizona Sunbelt Chapter is MPI’s 13th largest chapter in the world.

The organization is comprised of 330 members throughout Arizona, representing a mix of corporate, association, government and independent meeting planners, suppliers who provide a variety of products and/or services to the meeting and hospitality industry as well as student and faculty from our local colleges and universities. The local chapter offers members educational, networking, and community volunteer opportunities, plus industry certification and professional growth opportunities.

INFORMATION: Contact Executive Director Joanne Winter at 602-277-1494 or visit the chapter website at mpi-az.org

multiple hotels within walking distance or a short shuttle ride of the convention center. Convention centers should not be viewed or evaluated as profit centers or break-even venues. Rather, convention centers should be viewed as an organ (say the heart) to use an anatomy metaphor. The convention center pumps revenue (blood) throughout the rest of the body (community businesses) carrying oxygenated blood (revenue) which in turn generates the aforementioned taxes (and jobs), which also provide essential government services. Instead of just focusing on the direct space rental revenue or food and beverage revenue, weighed against the operational costs, community leaders should account for the hotel, restaurant, attraction and retail revenue that the convention center made possible. If the rental costs are subsidized through discounts and incentives, the other organs (community businesses) benefit, ergo more sustainable jobs, using the power of lodger’s tax and sales tax revenues.

Size does matter in convention centers, if the community has the hotel inventory to support the size, which is a delicate balance that all communities wrestle with. As I pen this article, dozens of cities are continuously seeking to fund and justify expanding their convention center capacity to attract larger conventions to pump more oxygenated blood (revenues) through the community.

Dennis E. Campbell is a trainer, coach and speaker in the meetings industry and served in multiple senior roles in the travel/tourism and large-event venue sectors, including Southwest Airlines, VisitABQ and EXPO New Mexico.

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2018 » AZBio.org

POSSIBILITIES The Arizona Bioindustry Association celebrates 15th year of impacting the world through life sciences

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ARIZONA BIOINDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

PROGRESS AND

POTENTIAL The Arizona Bioindustry Association celebrates 15 years of impacting the world through the life sciences

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he Arizona Bioindustry Association, Inc. (AZBio) has been supporting life science innovation and life science innovators in Arizona since 2003. As a nonprofit membership organization, AZBio is the combination of hundreds of companies working together to help Arizona become a top-tier bioscience state and to discover, develop and deliver lifesaving and life-changing innovations to people in Arizona and around the world.

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Joan Koerber-Walker Arizona BioIndustry Association

CATALYSTS FOR GROWTH Globally, the biggest news of 2003 was that the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium, led in the United States by the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NHGRI) and the Department of Energy (DOE) had completed the full sequence of the human genome.

“The completion of the Human Genome Project should not be viewed as an end in itself. Rather, it marks the start of an exciting new era — the era of the genome in medicine and health,” said Dr. Francis Collins in the April 14, 2003 press release.

“We firmly believe the best is yet to come and we urge all scientists and people around the globe to join us in turning this vision into reality.” Collins was the director of NHGRI in 2003 and is today the director of the National Institutes of Health.

In Arizona, a $500 million strategic investment by the State of Arizona into university infrastructure in 2003 began a new era of industry growth. Arizona State University broke ground on the Biodesign Institute and announced that Dr. George Poste would head the institute.

The state’s investment would later also support building the BIO5 Institute at The University of Arizona, which opened in 2006, and the Applied Research and Development Building at Northern Arizona University, which opened in 2007, and other research facilities. In 2017, the State of Arizona renewed its commitment to building the state’s innovation ecosystem and approved an additional $1 billion in bonds for university research infrastructure.

In 2003, the City of Phoenix began construction of the first new building on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus. Over time the campus would grow to include the headquarters of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), the UA College of Medicine-Phoenix, the Health Sciences Education Building, the University of Arizona Cancer Center at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, the UA Biomedical Sciences Partnership Building and more.

More than $526 million has been invested by the partners on the 30-acre campus since 2003.

Lasting impact, the kind that spans generations, depends on a series of strategic investments and commitments made by both the public sector and the private sector. So, in 2003, in recognition of the commitment to build a viable biosciences industry in Arizona, the Arizona Bioindustry Cluster was reincorporated and changed its name to the Arizona Bioindustry Association, Inc. The board of directors included bioscience company executives, university leaders, individuals from state and local agencies and suppliers working together to help facilitate growth through member benefits, education programs and events, business networking, public policy and entrepreneurial endeavors. For 15 years, members of AZBio’s board of directors

have led the organization as it works with AZBio members and the community to help Arizona realize its potential and become a top-tier bioscience state.

PROGRESS Measurements of progress can take many forms and often focus on data that is readily available. Economic factors can be readily accessed from government reports and extrapolated to estimate economic impact. Business success is often measured in market caps of companies and the value of IPOs and acquisitions. Quantifying the value of innovations is often harder to measure, but has the potential to deliver the greatest impact of them all.

Based on economic data from the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and TEConomy Partners, Arizona is one of just 15 states that grew biotech employment by 5,000 or more during the period from 20022016. The Flinn Foundation, also working with TEConomy Partners, published a report that showed Arizona’s

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AZBIO

According to BIO, the 1,310 Arizona-based biotech and med tech firms supported 25,686 jobs in 2016.

combined biotech and hospital job gains at 58 percent for the period. According to BIO, the 1,310 Arizona-based biotech and med tech firms supported 25,686 jobs in 2016. Arizona’s annual average wage for biotech and med tech (non-hospital) was $77,807, which is $32,726 higher than Arizona’s average wage. A study released in June of 2018 by BIO shows that the U.S. bioscience industry reached $2 trillion in annual economic impact in 2016, while maintaining accelerated venture capital investment and job growth numbers. Among U.S. technology sectors, the bioscience industry has held a leading position as an economic driver and job generator. Based on Arizona’s share of the national employment and wage data, this equates to an estimated annual economic impact of $23.16 billion contributed by Arizona’s biotech and med tech sector (not including hospitals) in 2016.

Investors in AZBio member companies have also seen notable successes. Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. was acquired by Roche for $3.4 billion in 2008. Abraxis Biosciences was acquired by Celgene for $2.9 billion in 2010. The combined acquisition values of Molecular Profiling Institute (Caris), Cord Blood Registry (AMAG Pharmaceuticals), Ulthera (MERZ) and Calimmune (CSL Behring) add another $1.6 billion to the mix.

The numerical impacts of life-changing and lifesaving innovations may be harder to measure, but if you ask the people who 124

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are living longer and better lives because of them, these are what they value most.

AZBio members include Arizona’s leading research institutes, universities and hospital systems, as well as both global life science leaders and exciting emerging growth companies that are developing and delivering solutions that can detect disease at the earlier stages when treatment is more likely to be effective, preventing disease with vaccines, treating chronic diseases like diabetes and Crohn’s disease more effectively so patients can manage their health, fighting the deadliest cancers, and manufacturing treatments and surgical interventions that help to manage pain, keep our hearts beating, our blood flowing and that deliver critical medicines when they are needed.

REALIZING OUR POTENTIAL Over the last 15 years, Arizona’s biotech and med tech industry has made considerable progress compared with where we started from. The exciting fact is that our potential for future progress is even greater. Measuring on a percentage basis when you started off small can be misleading. That is why AZBio’s leaders look at both our progress against where we started and how we compare with other states of a similar population (our population peer group). While we consistently show growth against our own baseline, we are falling behind as compared with the economic impact of our peers.

If the number of companies, employment statistics and wages are the measure of economic results, investment is the driver.

The level of investment into our research enterprises directly impacts their ability to attract and retain the research teams that can fill our pipeline of future innovations.

The level of investment made into our emerging growth companies, directly impacts their ability to attract talent and to build up the facilities needed to bring their products to market. Arizona’s levels of life science investment are consistently below where they need to be if we are to realize our potential.

This is why AZBio continues to advocate on behalf of the Technology Research Initiative Fund (TRIF) that was created under Pop.301 so that our universities can continue to attract and retain world class research talent.

AZBio travels around the United States connecting with potential funding sources for Arizona life science companies and created the White Hat Life Science Investor Conference to bring them to Arizona in 2014, hosted it again in 2016, and will host it this year in October of 2018. It’s a strategy that is working. Since the beginning in 2014, companies that presented at White Hat have reported almost $200 million in funding.

It is also why AZBio has partnered with the Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation (OTEF), the Stetson Family Office and the Healthcare Impact Foundation (HCIF) to launch a capital campaign to support a $200 million endowment (AZ-HCIF) that can be a resource to fund innovative young life science companies in Arizona forever.

Joan Koerber-Walker is president and CEO of the Arizona Bioindustry Association, Inc.

Accelerating Life Science Innovation Creating Lasting Solutions The Healthcare Impact Foundation – Arizona (AZ-HCIF) is the first in 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 (HCIF).

AZ-HCIF is designed to provide a perpetual stream of funding for ARIZONA life science innovations and the ecosystem that supports our life science innovators.

AZ-HCIF investments into our community will be directed by the AZ-HCIF Trustees each year to the projects and life science companies with the greatest potential for lasting impact.

As an evergreen endowment, AZ-HCIF will have the ability to support direct expenditure grants to the non-profit entities that support the innovation process and direct investments into emerging life science companies so that they can move forward faster on the journey from the research laboratory to the patient.

Best of all, when these investments pay off, they help to grow the endowment so that there are more dollars available to support tomorrow’s innovators too.

Learn more about the capital campaign at AZHICF.ORG AB | September - October 2018 125

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ARIZONA

BIOSCIENCE WEEK WHAT: Join Arizona’s bioscience and healthcare community for Arizona Bioscience Week, September 30 - October 6, 2018. It is your opportunity to connect, to engage and to learn how life science innovators are making life better today and for generations to come.

DETAILS: azbio.org/azbw2018

MONDAY

OCTOBER 1, 2018 LEADING WOMEN: Biotech and Beyond — Arizona’s Bioscience Community has a great cross section of great women leaders. Join us for cocktails, connections, and a stimulating conversation with some of biotech’s leading women hosted by AZBio and Perkins Coie. This event will take place on Monday, October 1, 2018 from 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.

PUBLIC HEALTH LAW CONFERENCE OCT. 3-4, 2018 — THE 2018 PUBLIC HEALTH LAW CONFERENCE, which takes place Oct. 3-4, will include more than 40 sessions exploring law and policy pathways to improving access to health care, protecting vulnerable populations against health risks and injury, developing protections against discriminatory practices and strengthening efforts of local, tribal and state public health agencies.

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TUESDAY OCT. 2, 2018

FAMILY OFFICE FORUM — The Family Office Forum will be presented by one of the nation’s leading peer to peer family office networks. This event will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. The Family Office Forum is by invitation only and will be held on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus.

THURSDAY OCT. 4, 2018

WHITE HAT LIFE SCIENCE INVESTORS CONFERENCE: Join AZBio to meet a new generation of biotech and healthcare pioneers at White Hat Investors 2018, the biotech and healthcare investor conference that showcases the best of the Rocky Mountain and Southwest Region at the Phoenix Convention Center on Oct. 3 and 4 at the high point of Arizona Bioscience Week.

WEDNESDAY OCT. 3, 2018

CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE — The AZBio Awards ceremony celebrates Arizona’s leading educators, innovators and companies. Join AZBio for an inspirational celebration of the best of Arizona’s bioscience industry at the Phoenix Convention Center’s West Ballroom. Tickets are required for the AZBio Awards.

Join the celebration from 3 p.m.–8:30 p.m.

FRIDAY

OCT. 5, 2018 BIOSCIENCE FAMILY NIGHT AT THE ARIZONA SCIENCE CENTER: AZBio invites you and your family to celebrate the Arizona bioscience industry at Arizona Science Center. This special celebration is free of charge to members of AZBio’s bioscience community, AZBio member companies and their families and guests.

The Arizona Science Center will be available for the evening to enjoy.

AZBIO

CELEBRATING

A LIFETIME OF ACHIEVEMENT Bioscience Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement Daniel D. Von Hoff, MD, FACP

Physician in chief and distinguished professor Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen)

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rizona’s Life Science and Business Community will come together to honor Dr. Daniel Von Hoff with the Arizona Bioscience Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Dr. Von Hoff is being recognized for a career that includes pioneering new treatments for some of the deadliest cancers, his leadership of prestigious organizations, his mentorship of generations of physician researchers, and his work with innovative companies that share his passion for developing new treatment options for patients. This body of work combines to create his greatest achievement, each extra hour, day, or year that a cancer patient has with the people they love and who love them.

The impact Dr. Von Hoff has made can not be measured. It extends to every patient he has cared for and beyond to the patients he may never meet but who will benefit from the innovations that he has shepherded along the long journey of discovery and development so that they have better options and more hope for a longer, healthier life.

In addition to his work at TGen, Dr. Von Hoff holds the Virginia G. Piper distinguished 130

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chair for innovative cancer research at HonorHealth Clinical Research Institute, is medical director of research at McKesson Specialty Health and is the chief scientific officer for US Oncology Research specializing in phase I clinical trials. He is also professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale Dr. Von Hoff has helped more than 120 anticancer drugs move from bench to bedside.

His major interest is in the development of new anticancer agents, both in the clinic and in the laboratory. He and his colleagues were involved in the beginning of the development of many FDA approved agents we now use routinely, including mitoxantrone, fludarabine, paclitaxel, docetaxel, gemcitabine, irinotecan, nelarabine, capecitabine, lapatinib, vismodegib, nabpaclitaxel, nal-IRI and many others.

His clinical trial work has led to the approval of three of the four drugs approved by the FDA for treatment of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. At present, he and his colleagues are concentrating on the development of molecularly targeted therapies, particularly for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

In the world of science and medicine, the publishing process is an essential

component in how information on new innovations are validated and shared. Dr. Von Hoff has published more than 734 papers, 141 book chapters and more than 1,170 abstracts.

He has also earned several awards for his outstanding contributions to cancer research that have led to significant improvement in patient care. Those include: • The 2009 Stand Up to Cancer Dream Team Grant Award for pancreatic cancer.

• The 2010 David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology for outstanding contributions to clinical cancer research.

• The 2011 Scripps Genomic Medicine Award for his “pioneering efforts” in sequencing, or spelling out, the DNA of patients with rare cancers.

• The 2016 Giants of Cancer Care Award.

• The 2017 Columbia Gold Medal for Outstanding Achievements in Clinical Medicine.

For a lifetime of leadership, vision, and commitment to making life better for patients in Arizona and around the world, Dr. Daniel D. Von Hoff is being honored with the 2018 Arizona Bioscience Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement.

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WHAT DOES A

WIN LOOK LIKE?

Jon W. McGarity Bioscience Leader of the Year Michael E. Berens, PhD

Professor and director Cancer and Cell Biology Division, Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen)

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r. Michael E. Berens has relentlessly pursued the collaboration and expansion of Arizona’s bio science infrastructure.

Under the leadership of Bob Case and Berens, the Arizona Bioindustry Cluster was born in 1997. While at the Barrow Neurological Institute, Berens was the first to lead the cluster and for more than 20 years has been a leading voice in Arizona’s bioscience community.

Early on, he was a catalyst, sparking the interest of Arizona’s politicians and industry leaders and encouraging them to gather the resources and make the investments needed bring TGen to Arizona and begin what would become the Phoenix Biomedical Campus.

He continues to be active in the technology and public policy sectors and is a past member of the AZBio board of directors and past chairman of the Arizona Technology Council.

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In everything he does, Berens embraces a collaborative approach to his outreach with research, public/private partnerships, health care providers and individuals to promote not only the advancement of the bio science space, but Arizona’s leadership role as well.

He mentors and guides students and young researchers and has long served as a “go-to” resource for Arizona’s business leaders.

His grasp of human nature, ability to bring people together and his “what does a win look like?” mantra makes him an Arizona bioscience leader that key initiatives recruit for their teams.

“Dr. Berens was the first person to help me see the promise and potential of Arizona’s emerging bioscience industry,” shared Joan Koerber-Walker, president and CEO of AZBio. “Great leaders are great communicators. He has spent countless hours advocating for our community, our bioscience industry, and for the patients who will benefit from the discoveries and innovations that translational research can deliver. His quiet, unassuming style helps us all to put things in perspective as he encourages us to explore new ways to get better outcomes.”

In addition to his role as deputy director for research resources at TGen, Berens serves as director of the Cancer and Cell Biology Division and professor in the Brain Tumor Unit. The Brain Tumor Unit at TGen studies cancers that originate in the brain and cancers that metastasize to the brain. Specific anatomic and physiologic aspects of the central nervous system establish unique interactions between tumor cells and host cells, which his team pursues with the intent of bringing new treatment approaches to these devastating diseases. Three pillars of study dominate the landscape of the BTU’s research: Invasion Biology, Treatment Development,

and Correlative Studies to Clinical Trials.

Berens received his PhD from the University of Arizona. His academic career has included appointments at the University of Zurich, the Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University, the University of California at San Francisco, and the Barrow Neurological Institute.

At BNI, he served for 12 years as senior investigator and director of neurology research. He currently leads a translational research program in brain tumors that includes preclinical therapy development, novel treatment target discovery, and the study of malignant cell motility; early stage clinical trials in patients with malignant glioma, informed by genomic and proteomic profiling (theranostic biomarkers), demand major portions of his attention. His research program includes collaborations with Barrow Neurological Institute, Mayo Clinic, multi-institutional consortia and laboratories in Seoul, Tokyo, Sydney and Bergen, Norway. In addition, he serves on editorial boards for scientific journals and committees that support governmental agencies, professional societies, and non-profit organizations.

Berens’ current research is funded by the National Institutes of Health and private medical Foundations, including the Ben & Catherine Ivy Foundation. He holds four patents and founded two for-profit ventures: Creative Scientific Methods Inc., and Avolix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. For his leadership in the scientific community, the Arizona Bioscience Community and his unswerving commitment to building collaborative solutions that continue to move our community forward year after year, Dr. Michael Berens is the 2018 Jon W. McGarity Arizona Bioscience Leader of the Year.

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FIGHTING SKIN CANCERS Arizona Bioscience Researcher of the Year Clara Curiel-Lewandrowski, MD The University of Arizona Cancer Center

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kin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. It is estimated that more than 5 million new cases are diagnosed each year — more than all other cancers combined.

One in five Americans will get skin cancer in his or her lifetime with potential significant consequences in morbidity and mortality.

Detecting skin cancer before it becomes a serious problem is a team effort. Individuals should discuss with their primary provider their risk for developing skin cancer and perform self skin examination at home. When patients have multiple risk factors a more detailed assessment by a Dermatologist might be indicated.

The best way to prevent skin cancer is to be sun smart especially here in Arizona.

This is one of the very few cancer you can prevent in your lifetime. When you are out in the sun, cover up, use sunscreen, and reapply it frequently.

Prevention and early detection are essential in the fight against skin cancers, but when they occur, we rely on Arizona’s leading researchers and clinicians.

Clara Curiel, MD, is a professor and vice chair of Dermatology for the University of Arizona College of Medicine. She holds joint roles as the Director of the Multidisciplinary Cutaneous Oncology

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Program and the Clinical Director for the University of Arizona Cancer Center’s Skin Cancer Institute.

The Skin Cancer Institute (SCI) unites the University of Arizona Cancer Center’s many skin cancer prevention endeavors, bringing together innovative research, clinical care, education, and community outreach.

Since joining the UA Cancer Center in 2005, Dr. Curiel has impressed her colleagues with her immense talent, tireless work ethic, and overwhelming motivation to fight skin cancer.

“Throughout her career, Dr. Curiel has provided exceptional and compassionate care to patients, translated basic science into innovative clinical applications, led ground-breaking clinical trials, and invented several technologies,” shared Dr. David Alberts, founding director of the University of Arizona Cancer Center’s Skin Cancer Institute. “Dr. Curiel’s career trajectory has always been remarkable, and we expect her to continue to reach new heights. In my more than 45 years in academic medicine, she is one of the most brilliant investigators with whom I have had the pleasure to work.”

Dr. Curiel’s research interests are in photobiology, early skin cancer detection, biomarker development, and primary prevention. She has taken the initiative to

address important clinical gaps in the skin cancer prevention field through innovative clinical study designs and effective execution of clinical studies.

Dr. Curiel has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles and has 5 patent applications. At the University of Arizona, she has trained more than 35 graduate and postdoctoral students. She has served as the principal investigator of 17 clinical trials, with the vast majority being investigator-initiated studies as part of the UA NCI/DCP Cancer Chemoprevention Consortium Agreement, PO1 Skin Cancer Prevention studies, and sponsored studies.

Dr. Curiel is also the sponsor for novel IND indications for approved drugs in the skin cancer field.

“Dr. Curiel’s work is an excellent example of the value created through the combination of scientific and clinical research,” said Joan Koerber-Walker, president and CEO of AZBio. “Incidences of skin cancer are on the rise. This makes the work Dr. Curiel is doing for both cancer prevention and cancer treatment an important part of the fight against skin cancers.”

For her commitment to pushing the frontiers of science for the betterment of people in Arizona and around the world, Clara Curiel-Lewandrowski, MD is the 2018 Arizona Bioscience Researcher of the Year.

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USING OUR BRAINS Michael A. Cusanovich Bioscience Educator of the Year Heather Bimonte-Nelson, PhD Professor, Arizona State University Department of Psychology Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium

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eather Bimonte-Nelson had an idea nine years ago to bring neuroscience to third-graders who might not ever encounter advanced psychology. From that brainchild, the ASU Brain Fair for Children was born.

Her message to the students, “Knowledge is power. You can do anything in the world that you set your mind to! If you work hard in school, you can come to Arizona State University, you can go to college, you can be a scientist!”

Over the last decade, this program has offered more than 7,000 third- through fifth-graders an understanding about the wonders of the brain, science, and the advantages of pursuing college. The Brain Fair for Children, run through the ASU Department of Psychology, with efforts from faculty, staff, and students have also brought more than 2,000 children to ASU, most from Title I schools in the Valley. Their goal: to show students that education gives them the power to decide their futures.

Heather Bimonte-Nelson, PhD, is a professor in the behavioral neuroscience program in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University, the co-Director of the research education component of the Arizona Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center, and an active member of the Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium. Her

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most prized role as a scientist is mentor and teacher; she has mentored more than a dozen doctoral students and more than 100 high school and undergraduate students in her laboratory. Bimonte-Nelson’s goal in mentoring students is to help them find their science passion, to learn that the truth in nature drives exemplary scientific discovery, and to attain the knowledge that it is more important to be honest, use your voice, and be brave, than it is to be perfect.

For more than two decades, BimonteNelson has conducted preclinical evaluations of multiple domains of cognitive function as related to aging, with a special focus on transitional and surgical menopause, and exogenous and endogenous hormone exposures across the lifespan. She has published more than 70 peer reviewed manuscripts evaluating hormone effects on the brain and behavior from early development until old age, with her earlier work showing that female brain organization is actively feminized by estrogens, and that estrogen exposures across the lifespan impact the female phenotype. The overarching goal of her research is to optimize the health of women into old age, encompassing discovery of menopause and hormone therapy lifetime trajectories to attain this mission. Moreover, she recently edited a book on the behavioral

neuroscience of learning and memory.

“The ability to question, to explore, to discover and to apply it in a way that makes life better are the hallmarks of great researchers,” shared Joan Koerber-Walker, president and CEO of AZBio. “The ability to inspire others to join in the journey and ensure that future generations will continue to do so are the hallmarks of a great educator.”

Heather Bimonte-Nelson excels in both of these areas. Just ask her students.

“Dr. Bimonte-Nelson is a true inspiration to all of the students’ lives she touches, from second-graders learning about brain cells for the first time to doctoral students completing the final steps of their dissertation,” said Stephanie Koebele. “Her outreach efforts in the community as well as service to students at the university level are truly exceptional.”

“I honestly cannot think of a more inspiring educator and will do my best in my future in academia to emulate her, both as a professor and a research mentor,” said Victoria Woner.

For her commitment to developing the next generation of inquiring minds, Heather Bimonte-Nelson, PhD of Arizona State University is the 2018 Michael A. Cusanovich Arizona Bioscience Educator of the Year.

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AIMING HIGH AZBio Public Service Award Ronald E. Shoopman Retired brigadier general United States Air Force

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etired United States Air Force Brigadier General Ronald E. Shoopman was a recognized and accomplished leader long before Arizona had a bioscience industry. As it emerged, he has devoted his talents and expertise to help our bioscience industry grow to where it is today and to where it can be tomorrow.

The Air Force core values — integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do — are a commitment each airman makes when joining the Air Force America’s veterans often bring the core values they have lived by in the service into civilian life. Shoopman, a former general officer and wing commander of the 162nd Fighter Wing, commanded the International F-16 Training Wing for the United States Air Force and is a notable example of this.

INTEGRITY FIRST Shoopman is well known in the Arizona leadership community for his sense of fairness, his ability to build consensus and an ability to bring people together to achieve shared goals.

SERVICE BEFORE SELF Former Gov. Jan Brewer appointed Shoopman to an eight-year term on the Arizona Board of Regents in March 2014. He currently serves as chair of the board and chair of the Regents Executive

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Committee and Regents Award Selection Committee. Regent Shoopman is an exofficio member of the Finance, Capital and Resources Committee, Audit Committee, Academic Affairs and Educational Attainment Committee and the Research and Health Sciences Committee. He also represents the Arizona Board of Regents on the Campus Research Corporation Board. His additional board service includes the Center Center for the Future of Arizona and chair of Southern Arizona’s Making Action Possible Dashboard.

Shoopman served as president and CEO of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council (SALC) from 2004-2018. Under his leadership, the group has doubled in size and has compiled an impressive list of accomplishments. The nearly 150 CEOs of SALC are actively involved in creating a vibrant future for the Tucson region and state of Arizona by engaging the critical issues of education, infrastructure, healthcare, governance, as well as science and technology.

EXCELLENCE IN ALL WE DO As chair of the Arizona Bioscience Roadmap Steering Committee, along with vice chair Mark Slater, PhD, of the HonorHealth Research Institute, Shoopman leads a coalition of more than 90 executives in guiding activities designed to achieve the Roadmap’s objectives.

The Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap is a long-term strategic plan originally commissioned by the Flinn Foundation in 2002 and updated in 2014 with the goal to make Arizona globally competitive and a national leader in select areas of the biosciences by 2025.

He has been a strong advocate for building Arizona’s educational infrastructure in our K-12 educational systems, at our community colleges and at Arizona’s three public universities. He is also a founding board member of Tucson Values Teachers, which is an education and business partnership created to address the issues of the teacher workforce and positively impact the quality of the region’s education system.

Shoopman is the founding co-chair of the Arizona Bioscience Board (ABB), along with bioscience industry veteran Mara Aspinall. ABB is led by CEOs in multiple industries and is dedicated to improving the availability of venture capital in Arizona to help drive the growth of the state’s innovation economy.

For his commitment to building a thriving bioscience community in Arizona and his work on behalf today’s and tomorrow’s life science innovators, Brigadier Gen. Ronald E. Shoopman (USAF Retired), chairman of the Arizona Board of Regents, is being honored with the 2018 AZBio Public Service Award.

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ON A MISSION TO CURE THE INCURABLE Arizona Bioscience Company of the Year

Calimmune

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hen CSL Limited, the world’s 5th largest biotechnology company, acquired Arizonabased Calimmune in August 2017, the biotechnology leader’s CEO, Paul Perreault, said, “Calimmune’s scientific accomplishments are impressive.”

Those accomplishments included accelerating the promise of gene therapy to liberate patients from chronic and currently incurable diseases.

Calimmune, now fully integrated within CSL, had extensive expertise and more than 200 patents in viral vector and novel delivery technology, and therapeutic product design and manufacturing, which they developed into a potent gene therapy platform with the potential of broad application in a wide variety of indications.

The gene therapy process Calimmune was advancing works by genetically modifying the patient’s own cells to shield and strengthen their immune system or to correct blood cell abnormalities.

The promise of this approach is to create enduring and perhaps life-long protection for individuals living with a broad range of debilitating and currently incurable diseases, such as sickle cell disease.

BEFORE CSL’S ACQUISITION Calimmune was founded in 2006 by serial entrepreneur and University of Arizona graduate Louis Breton; Nobel Laureate David Baltimore, PhD, California

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Institute of Technology; Irvin Chen, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles; Inder M. Verma, PhD, Salk Institute for Biological Studies; and biotech veteran Jon Faiz Kayyem, PhD. The team advanced lead development programs with novel ex-vivo gene therapies for hematologic diseases and has some of the world’s most respected gene therapy developers, clinicians, scientific advisors and commercialization experts committed to its mission.

Today, for diseases that have no cure, medicines and other therapies work to alleviate symptoms or slow the progression of the disease. The journey to develop actual cures takes vison, ingenuity and persistence. It also requires investment.

Along Calimmune’s innovation journey, the earliest investors included the Translational Accelerator Venture Fund (TRAC), led by industry veterans Richard Love; Daniel Von Hoff, MD; Eric Tooker, JD; and John Bentley. Investments from individuals within the Desert Angels, including Harry George, continuously supported the company in its early years. As the company progressed, support for ongoing investment rounds included RA Capital Management, a strategic investment from AbbVie, and syndicate members that included Alexandria Ventures, Cycad Ventures and Numenor Ventures. The company also secured debt financing from angels and Silicon Valley Bank. Calimmune’s research journey was also supported by government

grants, including significant funding support from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine.

CSL FOCUSES ON CURING THE INCURABLE With 22,000 employees driven by the company’s promise to develop and deliver innovative products and programs to people living with rare diseases in the hematology, immunology and specialty therapeutic areas, CSL continues to advance candidates acquired from Calimmune.

“The team has built a robust technology platform and designed a promising hematopoietic gene therapy candidate – CSL 200 – which strongly aligns with our longer-term strategic goals and complements our core competencies and areas of therapeutic focus,” Perreault said. “We believe that our combined strengths have tremendous potential to change treatment paradigms and, most importantly, significantly improve the lives of our patients.”

CSL plans to begin clinical trials next year for CSL200 in sickle cell disease, a disorder caused by a mutation in the hemoglobin gene that causes abnormally shaped red blood cells that obstruct vessels, leading to chronic pain and organ damage secondary to lack of oxygen. The biotech leader’s treatment could potentially help patients by modifying their own stem cells to incorporate a gene able to produce an improved form of hemoglobin.

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AZBIO FAST LANE AWARD WINNERS The AZBio Fast Lane Award recognizes the select few companies that have achieved outstanding milestones in the past 18 months. Significant progress can be measured by clinical results, regulatory approvals, certifications, collaborations, funding awards, product launches, job growth or product sales milestones. Three innovative and groundbreaking companies have earned 2018 Fast Lane Awards from the the Arizona Bioindustry Association.

ADVINOW MEDICAL Today’s healthcare experience is too often defined by high costs, inefficiency, and long wait times—all of which can limit access to care. AdviNow Medical’s do-it-yourself kiosk seeks to transform the patient/provider encounter through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR).

Using AdviNow Medical’s unique tool, patients are guided through selfadministered steps to collect data such as weight, temperature, blood pressure, and blood oxygen, as well as ear, nose and throat images, and chest, lung and abdomen sounds. Follow-up questions are asked until all the information necessary for a clinical differential diagnosis is acquired. The total process typically takes less than 15 minutes.

A complete patient work-up is sent to the provider with a breakdown of predicted

illnesses and treatment options—giving them key details that enhance the patient visit. Every detail of the encounter is autocharted and scribed into the electronic medical record, saving the provider valuable time. The AI also sends the medication and/or procedure orders to the appropriate healthcare partner, and completes the billing process.

“We believe our product can help solve the persistent problem of access to care, by making the patient/provider visit more efficient, allowing more patients to be seen in a day,” says AdviNow Medical CEO and Founder James Bates. “Our tool will also help with accuracy and data collection, which impacts profits and value-based health outcomes.”

The kiosk is currently being used in urgent care centers and primary care clinics in Arizona, with a national launch planned for this fall in retail store-based clinics. AdviNow Medical also has secured partnerships with GlobalMed and Valley Perinatal Services, who will soon begin using the AdviNow tool.

AdviNow Medical’s exciting story is featured in recent editions of Forbes; Healthcare Tech Outlook, where it was named one of the top 10 artificial intelligence solution providers; Silicon Review, where it was named one of the 30 most reputable companies of 2018); and several other publications. AdviNow Medical also won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Healthcare Delivery from the 2018 Healthcare Leadership Awards, which is sponsored by AZ Big Media.

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BIOSYNTAGMA bioSyntagma is a precision medicine company that provides deep data on the uniqueness of each person’s cancer to transform how their cancer is treated. bioSyntagma serves the needs of clinicians, academic researchers, and drug developers to advance the implementation of precision medicine. The company has developed a device that enables researchers and drug developers to physically map cancer tissues for biological markers that predict the response to treatments and outcomes.

Patients often develop resistance to potentially lifesaving medicines during their cancer treatment. bioSyntagma’s suite of platform technologies enables

comprehensive, multi-omic and spatial profiling of tissues to gain a complete understanding of a patient’s cancer. With this information, the patient can be matched with relevant therapies and their physician can get recommendations on how the patients may avoid developing a resistance to specific drug treatments.

Over the last 18 months, bioSyntagma has won 3 SBIR awards totaling $1.2 million between the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH).

They are on track to be the first company with a diagnostic to predict and prevent drug resistance in cancer patients by recommending therapeutic combinations

unique to each patient. To date, they have hit product development milestones on projects with leading pharmaceutical companies and have expanded their research tool to create a much larger platform technology for diagnostics by integrating hardware, software, and artificial intelligence. bioSyntagma is a spin-out from Arizona State University and is based at the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation in Phoenix.

The company’s business model is already generating research revenue and leverages local talent and the significant operating cost advantages available in Arizona.

NEOLIGHT According to the World Health Organization, six out of 10 infants, and eight out of 10 pre-term infants, develop jaundice by default.

If not addressed, neonatal jaundice can affect some of the baby’s brain cells. This may cause the baby to be less active. In rare cases, a baby may develop seizures (convulsions). The effects of this kind of jaundice may also lead to deafness, cerebral palsy and/or other developmental disorders.

NeoLight is an Arizona-based medical device company that develops empathydriven and best-in-class technologies for the newborn care market. The company started off with care solutions for jaundice and is currently working on developing therapeutic and diagnostic solutions for the condition.

What started off as an Arizona State University spin-out, with $7,000 in

funding from the university after winning their Edson student entrepreneurship competition in 2014, has been steadily gaining momentum.

“Putting babies first is at the heart of our mission as a company,” shared NeoLight co-founder and CEO Vivek Kopparthi. “It’s a promise we make to every parent of an infant in need. Our approach always starts with one question – what is best for the baby? This question drives everything we do.”

NeoLight has raised more than $4.5 million from strategic healthcare investors including Dignity Health, Honor Health, Cook’s Children’s, Steve Case, Ben Roethlisberger and others.

The company has also been successful in innovation competitions including taking first prize in the Rise of the West competition (2016), and the Flinn Foundation’s Bioscience Entrepreneurship Program. NeoLight has received

recognition as one of Inc Magazine’s Top 5 promising healthcare startups in the US and the Kairos Society’s Top 50 most innovative companies across the world.

In October of 2017, NeoLight received FDA clearance for its Skylife phototherapy system – a novel innovation that can treat Jaundice in infants with 4x more spectral power while not causing any side-effects.

The technology is also cleared by the FDA for at-home treatment thereby enabling Jaundice treatment by the comfort of home instead of the baby being away from the mom at a NICU in a hospital setting.

Over the past 18 months, the team size more than tripled. To make room for its current and planned growth, the company graduated from the CEI accelerator in Phoenix and now makes its home in a commercial suite at SkySong, the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center.

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INVESTING IN INNOVATION:

AN ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE

By JOAN KOERBER-WALKER

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ver the last 15 years, Arizona’s biotech and med tech industry has made considerable progress compared with its humble beginnings. The potential for future progress is even greater.

Arizonans with the required talent, ingenuity and expertise are driving the engine of health innovation. Support from the State of Arizona and the federal government; from cities, towns, and counties; from industry, venture funds, and nonprofits; and from philanthropists and individual investors is the fuel that keeps the engine running and helps innovation to accelerate.

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FINANCIAL INNOVATIONS Innovation is not limited to the realm of science and technology.

Innovative policy decisions made by Arizona’s elected leaders are making an impact on society and the economy.

• Employment in the Arizona biotech/hospital sector is up 58% from 2002-2016.

• Return on investment from the State of Arizona’s $500 million investment in University Research Infrastructure in 2003 yielded a 7:1 ROI. The $1 billion in new University Research Infrastructure investments approved in 2017 is expected to do the same.

• TRIF, the Technology Research Initiative Fund, has enabled the universities to leverage $5-$7 on every $1 of TRIF investment according to ABOR. • Arizona’s Angel Investment Tax Credit program is an essential instrument in Arizona’s economic development tool box and has proven to be extremely successful with a track record of more than a 2.3 to 1 return on investment. More than $420 million in financing is attributable to this program, in addition to the $62 million raised through the credits for investments. That combined ROI is 1,750% making the total economic impact to the Arizona’s economy an estimated $1.3 billion.

IF IT WORKS – LEVERAGE IT. IF THAT IS NOT ENOUGH, INNOVATE These strategic investments are yielding results. But, we are not the only state that has seen the potential for its life science sector and that is investing to grow it. States like ours are getting results, as measured by comparative economic impact, and in many cases their results are better than ours.

Creating new and innovative solutions that will drive investment into Arizona’s life science industry is the next step towards accelerating our progress and realizing our potential.

At the legislature, reaffirming our commitment to TRIF and maintaining the current allocation in proportion to the funding that was extended for another 20 years is one of the ways we can leverage what we know works.

Arizonans are working to develop a new and innovative opportunity to create more leverage. AZ-HCIF has set a goal to establish a $200 million endowment within the Healthcare Impact Foundation to support $10 million or more of investment annually into early stage life science companies and Arizona’s entrepreneurial ecosystem forever. The AZ-HCIF capital campaign is a way that each of us can have a hand in making a lasting impact.

Arizonans are embracing possibilities and building solutions to address the health challenges of today and tomorrow. Now our opportunity is to innovate on the investment side of the equation to help them get there.

ARIZONA’S

BIOSCIENCE SECTOR Arizona has a sizable and rapidly growing bioscience industry. State bioscience firms employed 25,686 in 2016 in 1,310 individual business establishments. Industry employment has grown by 9 percent since 2014, twice the growth rate of the nation, with four of the five major subsectors adding jobs during the period. Both drugs and pharmaceuticals and research, testing and medical labs have experienced double-digit job growth since 2014. Arizona inventors have been awarded nearly 2,000 biosciencerelated patents since 2014, among the second quintile of states in patent activity. Since 2015, National Institute of Health awards to Arizona institutions have increased, reaching $189 million in fiscal year 2017.

BIOSCIENCE PERFORMANCE METRICS BIOSCIENCE INDUSTRY, 2016 Bioscience Industry Employment Bioscience Industry Location Quotient Bioscience Industry Establishments

ARIZONA 25,686 0.78 1,310

USA 1,743,639 NA 85,702

ACADEMIC BIOSCIENCE R&D EXPENDITURES, FY 2016 Bioscience R&D ($thousands) Bioscience Share of Total R&D Bioscience R&D Per Capita

$459,706 $41,972,205 43% 62% $67 $130

NIH FUNDING, FY 2017 Funding ($thousands) Funding Per Capita

$189,017 $26,150,485 $27 $80

BIOSCIENCE VENTURE CAPITAL INVESTMENTS, 2014-17 ($MILLIONS) $296.42 $66,168.62 BIOSCIENCE AND RELATED PATENTS, 2014-17

1,967 102,862

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EMBRACING POSSIBILITIES What we once thought to be impossible is now becoming a reality or a possibility

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omeone you may know has a deadly disease or a chronic condition. Someone you care about may be suffering from pain or having trouble getting around. Someone you love may be struggling to find or keep their memories. Someone you know needs help to stay healthy.

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By JOAN KOERBER-WALKER HELPING SOMEONE Across Arizona, people in our life science and healthcare community work every day to discover, develop and deliver the cures, treatments and solutions that can help someone.

In our schools, community colleges, universities and medical schools, educators are working to inspire their students and imparting to them the knowledge and skills they will needed to embrace possibilities.

Researchers and clinicians are asking ‘what if’ questions and then working to find the answers.

Teams, within Arizona companies of every size, are working to take these answers and turn them into the cures and treatments that can be used to help someone.

EMBRACING POSSIBILITIES Arizona life science companies are delivering life saving and life changing and lifesaving products and services to people in Arizona today.

The possibilities for the future are equally important. Just as the mapping of the human genome ushered in a new era 15 years ago, today’s researchers, innovator companies and clinicians are making progress in the next era of medicine where breakthrough science and personalized therapies are transforming the way we treat patients and manage our health.

SETTING THE STAGE TRIF, the Technology Research Initiative Fund was created as a component of the Prop. 301 initiatives that Arizona voters passed in 2000. TRIF funds a broad range of research projects and researchers at Arizona’ three state universities. The Arizona Board of Regents reported that for every $1 in TRIF support, our universities leverage $5- $7 more from external sources.

Arizona State University has been awarded more than $8.5 million over five years from the National Cancer Institute to establish the Arizona Cancer and Evolution Center. The grant will establish ASU as a key player and the hub of an international network of research scientists who are dedicated to understanding cancer in an entirely new way.

The All of Us Research Program aims to enroll 1 million or more volunteers nationally and oversample communities that have been underrepresented in research to make the program the largest, most diverse resource of its kind so that researchers can use the data to find new treatments and cures. The effort is part of a new era of medicine to create the most diverse data sets for precision health research to advance knowledge of health and disease. Banner Health and the University of Arizona Health Sciences were among the first organizations selected by the NIH to participate in the All of Us project. A $60 million NIH award supports this multi-year program.

Northern Arizona University invested early TRIF workforce-prep funds in a center for STEM teachers, then won $3 million in federal grants to do more.

SCIENCE FICTION AND SCIENCE FACT Many of the solutions that biomedical researchers and life science companies are working on today were little more than an idea 15 years ago.

Killing off dangerous immortal mutants: There is a wealth of fiction that tells the tale of rogue mutants challenging the good people of earth. While we shiver and shriek, we know that it is just a story. Yet in reality, mutants are very real when it comes to the study of cancers. A unique aspect of cancer cells is that they do not die off the way healthy cells do. Mutations in genes can cause cancer cells to grow faster, spread to other parts of the body, or become resistant to treatment. Cancer cells can ignore the natural signals that AB | September - October 2018 153

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Embracing opportunities is about finding better solutions to help people today and in the future.

tell them to self-destruct thus they do not die off as they should. Instead, they continue to multiply. Scientists call this “cell immortality.” As you read this, researchers are working on harnessing viruses as carriers that will deliver drugs into a tumor cell and kill it or stimulate your natural immune response to do the job. If the mutated cells cannot reproduce and die off, the cancer will shrink away.

Other researchers are working on ways to fix or “edit” mutated genes within cells to get things back on track.

“The Green Mile”: In the 1999 movie, based on a book by Stephen King, a series of events results in the character Paul Edgecombe, played by Tom Hanks being “infected with life.” While Edgecome does age, he does so much more slowly staying alert and active long after the people he knew and loved are gone. In the movie, it is both a blessing and a burden. While this is an intriguing story, thanks to medical innovations, we are living longer. The term “life expectancy” refers to the number of years a person can expect to live. By definition, life expectancy is based on an estimate of the average age that members of a particular population group will be when they die. Based on 2010 census data, life expectancy (measured at birth) of American men and women, for men of all races is 76.2 years and 81.1 years for women. This is a significant increase from the 1930’s when the life expectancy for men was 58.1 years and 61.6 for women.

Based on more recent Social Security estimates children born today will live longer than any other generation. Social Security estimates show that roughly two-thirds will live past 80, and one-third past 90. Almost 10 percent of girls born now will live past 100. Like in the movie, age can be blessing or a burden. Researcher today are exploring a wide range of solutions for age-related health issues including prevention of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, treatments for joint 154

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and organs that are challenges by age, and more with a goal of not only longer life but a better quality of life as we age.

The bionic man: In the 1970’s, the premise of the “Six Million Dollar Man” opened with the line, “Gentlemen we can rebuild him. We have the technology to make the first bionic man.” TV audiences tuned in to see Major Steve Austin, the first bionic man, have a new adventure each week. Today, the futuristic technologies of the 1970’s are taking shape to help real life people. New and advanced prosthetics and exoskeletons are emerging to help people who have suffered catastrophic loss of limbs or mobility.

Researchers in the field of regenerative medicine are working on real world science to generate living tissue and perhaps whole organs in the future. Medical technology companies are continuously developing new and better technologies to keep our hearts beating, our limbs mobile and more.

“The Andromeda Strain”: In the movie, a space age “superbug”, or alien pathogen, continues to mutate until it reaches a stage that could wipe out life on earth.

As the suspense builds, scientists unravel the mystery of how to stop it. In the real world, over use of traditional antibiotics is creating a different kind of superbug.

Defined as strains of bacteria that have changed (or mutated) after coming into contact with an antibiotic, superbugs are ‘resistant’ to the antibiotic to which they have been exposed, which means the antibiotic can’t kill the bacteria or stop them from multiplying. Each year in the United States, at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections according to the CDC. MRSA and other super bugs are the result of decades of often unnecessary antibiotic use. For years, antibiotics have been prescribed for colds, flu and other viral infections that don’t respond to

these drugs. Even when antibiotics are used appropriately, they contribute to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria because they don’t destroy every germ they target.

Bacteria live on an evolutionary fast track, so germs that survive treatment with one antibiotic soon learn to resist others.

Today’s researchers are studying super bugs, to determine how best to treat them.

It is a never-ending quest. Just as we keep learning how to stop them, they keep learning how to survive.

Health ... the last frontier: In “Star Trek,” space was the last frontier. Having the technology to enable human beings to navigate space, and our world here on earth, is truly our greatest challenge. In “Star Trek,” the tricorder was a portable, wireless device that could fit in the palm of your hand and that monitored and diagnosed your health condition. In the real world, we are already seeing apps that can monitor certain vital signs on our smart phones. The quality of telemedicine tools is advancing at a rapid rate, enabling remote consultations between doctor and patient and doctor and doctor. Companies are developing artificial intelligence, or AI, applications to take this data and help us use it better manage our health and to support our medical professionals in helping us when we need them.

HOPE Embracing opportunities is about finding better solutions to help people today and in the future. For researchers, innovative companies, healthcare professionals, and patients, embracing opportunities is the way that we create and sustain hope.

Creativity, imagination and solid science are key ingredients. When they are combined with persistence and significant investments, the results can turn science fiction into science fact.

What if we fail? When we are embracing possibilities, it is a question we need to understand and plan for. We will not always succeed. The next and more inspiring question is the one that drives us forward and motivates us to keep trying.

“What is the benefit to someone when we do succeed?”

Joan Koerber-Walker is president and CEO of the Arizona Bioindustry Association, Inc.

NEVER ENOUGH Each day we have with the people we love is precious, and there are never enough.

When someone we love lives with disease, we do what we can to help; and feel like it is never enough.

Every time as researchers, innovators, and healthcare teams we are not able to conquer a disease in time, we know that for all that we do, until we succeed, it is never enough.

So we keep loving, keep helping, keep working to find answers.

For when we do, someday, it will be enough.

Thank you to all of the family members, friends, caregivers, researchers, innovators, investors, philanthropists, healthcare teams, and, most of all, to the patients who work together to get us to someday.

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THE FUTURE OF HEALTH BEGINS WITH ALL OF US

By AZ BUSINESS

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n May 6 of 2018, the National Institutes of Health opened national enrollment for the All of Us Research Program, a momentous effort to advance individualized prevention, treatment and care for people of all backgrounds, ages 18 and older, regardless of health status. In future program phases, children will be able to enroll, and the program will add more data types, such as genetic data. In addition, program data will broadly be accessible for research purposes. Ultimately, the All of Us Research Program will be a rich and open data resource for traditional academic researchers as well as citizen-scientists— and everyone in between.

The overall aim of the All of Us project is to enroll 1 million or more volunteers nationally and oversample communities that have been underrepresented in research to make the program the largest, most diverse resource of its kind. The effort is part of a new era of medicine to create the most diverse data sets for precision health research to advance knowledge of health and disease. By partnering with 1 million diverse people who share information about themselves over many years, the All of Us Research Program will enable researchers and health providers to more precisely prevent and treat a variety of health conditions.

Precision medicine is an emerging approach to disease prevention and treatment that considers differences in individuals’ lifestyles, environments and biological makeup, including genes.

Participants can access their own health information, summary data about the entire participant community and information about studies and findings that come from All of Us. Volunteers are asked to share different types of health and lifestyle information, including online surveys and data from electronic health records (EHRs), which will continue to be

collected over the course of the program. Numerous safeguards are in place to minimize potential risks to data security and participant privacy.

The surveys will cover a range of topics to learn more about participants’ overall health and habits and where they live and work. The EHR data will offer useful information related to medical histories, side effects and treatment effectiveness.

At different times over the coming months and years, some participants will be asked to visit a local partner site such as Banner – University Medical Center South to provide blood and urine samples and to have basic physical measurements taken, such as height and weight. To ensure the program gathers information from all types of people, especially individuals who have been underrepresented in research, not everyone will be asked to give physical measures and samples. In the future, participants may be invited to share data through wearable devices and to join follow-up research studies, including clinical trials.

The All of Us Research Program, Banner Health and the University of Arizona Health Sciences are enrolling volunteers at nine Banner sites for the historic national effort to improve health and accelerate research. Banner Health and the University of Arizona Health Sciences were among the first organizations selected by the NIH to participate in the All of Us Research Program (formerly called the Precision Medicine Initiative Cohort Program) and have led enrollment as an NIH pilot site since 2017.

LEARN MORE To learn more how you can become part of the All of Us program, call 877-268-2684 or visit allofusaz.org.

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Arizona uses

INNOVATION-BASED SOLUTIONS to tackle the opioid crisis

By AZ BUSINESS

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pioid addiction claims the life of one American every 19 minutes. A rapidly escalating epidemic, the rise in drug addiction is fueling one of the most pressing health crises of the 21st Century, and certainly one of its most complex health problems.

But how do we address the problem? There is much public dialogue and debate surrounding this very question. Solutions are being discussed, changes in policy are being proposed and all the while millions of American lives are hanging in the balance.

Finding solutions to help people today and in the future will take a concerted effort across healthcare ecosystem in partnership with both policy makers and patients.

“The opioid epidemic is one of the most significant public health and safety emergencies our nation and the state of Arizona has faced in a generation — and we continue to lose too many Arizonans to it,” says Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey. “Together, we’ve taken serious actions to address this epidemic by implementing comprehensive legislation that holds bad actors accountable, improves prescribing practices, ensures patient safety, enhances emergency responses and increases access to treatment. We know this fight is far from over, and we aren’t going to let up.”

In October, the federal government stepped in and declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency and followed-up the announcement with a report that includes recommendations on how to fight it. The report specifically notes that “research and development in new technologies and devices to assist in the opioid crisis are emerging, and their development should be encouraged.”

Solutions for complex challenges often already have pieces of the solution available to be deployed. This is especially true as communities come together to tackle the challenge of meeting the very real needs of patients who are suffering from pain and while working to prevent the harm that can result should patients become addicted.

Today, there are many innovative medical technologies available that can help play a role in combating this national crisis. These solutions have the potential to reduce our country’s dependence on opioids through medical devices, apps and diagnostic tests that provide effective pain management solutions and help curb the misuse, abuse and overdose of opioids. There are some even more promising technologies on the horizon.

Medical technology solutions to address this crisis don’t stop there.

Drug delivery and medication management devices can monitor distribution of opioids while apps on smartphones and watches can function as behavioral coaches and reminders. Medication disposal technologies collect unused controlled substances and render them non-retrievable and unusable. Diagnostic tools can monitor pain medication use, helping assure the appropriate treatment for patients who can be helped by medications. Additionally, medical technology companies are developing innovations that are minimally-invasive, enabling patients to return to routine activities in a shorter period of time while experiencing less pain and discomfort after surgery. All of these tools can significantly help to curtail opioid abuse.

Arizona innovators are developing and delivering innovative treatment options that can play a critical role in reducing the need for opioids, and more help is on the way.

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