The 35th anniversary of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC) presents an opportune time to reflect on three-plus decades of significant growth and change. Today, the driver of economic development covers 20-plus jurisdictions, has attracted billion-dollar projects to the region and continues to enrich communities far and wide throughout the Valley. 


MORE NEWS: What Prop 479’s passage means for the Valley’s future


“It comes down to the people and the talent we have in this organization,” says Chris Camacho, president and CEO of GPEC. “We bring people in that care and are constantly curious about improving the knowledge base that helps the community and helps them do their job.”

Az Business gathered GPEC’s leadership team to discuss the tailwinds, headwinds and metamorphosis that has led to the organization’s success. This collective brain trust shares about the future of Arizona’s economy, how the election results will impact growth and infrastructure and market trends heading into 2025. 

GPEC roundtable participants:

• Chris Camacho, president and CEO 

• Kristen Stephenson, senior vice president of research and analytics

• Thomas Maynard, senior vice president of business development 

• Tim Bourcet, vice president of corporate development and community engagement

Az Business: As leaders at GPEC, how do you see the state’s economy evolving in the near future, particularly with regard to growth and infrastructure development?

Kristen Stephenson: Metro Phoenix has been performing very well lately in its economy. We were one of the fastest markets to recover from the 2020 COVID-induced recession and we saw growth continue earlier this year when the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its comparisons among metro areas. We were the top performing, both in terms of unemployment rate decreases, as well as seeing substantial job additions. 

Many of the intentional investments in our region in the last decade have shifted away from consumption-based jobs into more base economy jobs — like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and other companies, which provided us some insulation against economic shocks, allowing us to continue to outperform the nation.

AB: Affordability has long been a defining strength of the Greater Phoenix area, but with rising costs, particularly in housing and land value, how might this shift impact the region’s competitiveness?

KS: I would say that while affordability has caught up from an index standpoint against other major U.S. markets when you look at market value, which is modern infrastructure, talent, opportunity, access and location, there aren’t many markets that have all those ingredients. Even though affordability has changed, we believe the market value is still an exponentially competitive value proposition compared with other places.

AB: Land values in Phoenix have traditionally been more affordable compared to other regions, but that dynamic is shifting. How do you see this change impacting our growth and development moving forward?

Chris Camacho: We added Pinal County to our partnership over the last year. In part, we wanted access to additional lands so that our clients would have a multitude of opportunities. Over the last five or six years, there’s been a stronger alliance with Mexico. As we see the global supply chain shifting, Mexico will be a key ingredient to that, as will Pinal County and our suburban markets like Maricopa, Queen Creek and Buckeye. These are now part of the industrial ecosystem that didn’t exist even five years ago.

AB: Metro Phoenix has built strong collaborative relationships across its communities, which seems to contribute to its economic success. How have these partnerships been fostered, and how do you anticipate changes in the federal administration and Arizona’s state policies impacting this growth moving forward?

 CC: We intentionally spent a lot of time [on community relationships]. Whenever there’s a new mayor that gets seated, Tim and I meet with these mayors and talk to them about the economy, the challenges that exist and we’ll do a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis, for them. We also have a forum once a quarter, in which all of the region’s mayors come together and talk about key issues — infrastructure, transportation, labor, etc. 

As for what happens with the federal administration, we will wait and see. I think there’s been a lot of speculation around tariffs that give us some heartburn, being that Mexico’s our most significant trading partner — $20-plus billion dollars of trade. We’re also watching the CHIPS and Science Act, which is a bipartisan piece of legislation. We’re going to work with this new administration on border-related issues, economic related issues and we’re optimistic about how Arizona is well positioned for nearshoring and reshoring. We think we’re going to be one of the top markets that gains benefit from them.

Tim Bourcet: In terms of policy, two ballot propositions that government interest was in support of with the support of our board of directors, was Prop 486. It was imperative that we passed, not only for our student workforce development. [If it didn’t] it could have been an excess of a $100 million dollar hit for the Maricopa County Community Colleges. 

Something that we heard from our investors — both on the private side and on the education side — was the importance of Prop 479, the continuation of an existing, dedicated half-cent sales tax in Maricopa County to fund transportation. This will equate to $15 billion over the next 20 years to help continue growth in the region.

AB: How is Arizona’s education system evolving to meet the workforce demands of emerging industries like semiconductors and AI?

CC: I would say education from an optionality standpoint has been very favorable. The last few years we’ve seen a strong uptick in attainment levels. When I first came to Arizona 20 years ago, the quality of the education system was always under evaluation or maybe even nationally wouldn’t have been viewed as an asset. Today, some of the highest-performing high schools are here in Arizona.

KS: Some of the [higher education] plans in place offering bachelor’s degrees in high industries have led to additional opportunities for students. You look at the semiconductor programs that have been developed and the new AI program that’s going to be put in place at the community colleges. These things are helping us grow our workforce.

CC: The Phoenix Medical Corridor, with what Mayo Clinic is doing in North Phoenix alongside Arizona State University (ASU) and its new medical school, or in Downtown Phoenix, where ASU, the University of Arizona, and Northern Arizona University are all partnering together to develop the bioscience core, is a transformation that has surprised many visitors. People coming through Phoenix often remark, ‘I can’t believe this has happened in just the last five years.’

AB: What are some of the business development trends that you’re seeing right now that you’d like to talk about?

Thomas Maynard: One is the increase of our foreign direct investments (FDI) — now up to 27% of our overall pipeline. Pre-COVID, it was hovering anywhere from the 10% to 15% range. It’s not exclusively semiconductor, but that is a big piece of the supply chain. We are also seeing LG building their electric vehicle (EV) facility and the EV battery facility in Queen Creek hit our pipeline. Biolife sciences as well. We think that that’s going to be the next industry that’s to see this huge influx of ‘made in the U.S.’ And we have a great story to tell.

AB: What’s your outlook for 2025 and beyond?

TM: The opportunity is ours to seize where we are from a market perspective and continue to execute on the projects that are here. The work is just getting started. 

CC: For Arizona, it’s how we are investing in the community college and post-secondary system, making sure that we still have that really strong funnel of workforce because that’s a key differentiator that most people take for granted, but is really critical to people like us. We need to keep that flywheel turning. And then probably staying ahead of emerging technology trends.

KS: I think in Metro Phoenix, we should be looking for continued economic success. We’ve all been saying we can’t rest on our laurels, but we’ve done a lot of very intentional planning over the last 10 to 15 years to allow us to continue to grow. So even if there’s unsteadiness in the U.S. economy, Greater Phoenix is still going to have that opportunity to continue to accelerate and be the place that people want to be.