Member News: June 2021
GPEC named top economic development org for 5th straight year
For the fifth year in a row, the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC) has received a 2021 Mac Conway Award for Excellence in Economic Development by Site Selection magazine. The Mac Conway Award, named in honor of Site Selection founding publisher, H. McKinley “Mac” Conway, is awarded to the top 20 local and regional U.S. economic development groups of 2020. GPEC was named a Top EDO by Site Selection for the first time in 2016, when the award was renamed from “Top Economic Development Groups in America” to “Mac Conway Award for Excellence in Economic Development.” Read more >>
Sheila Kloefkorn named top 100 marketing & advertising leader
Sheila Kloefkorn, President/CEO of KEO Marketing Inc will be honored as a Top 100 Marketing and Advertising Leader at the 2021 Global MARsum conference in Las Vegas. She will also be featured as a speaker on a panel entitled, “The Internet of Things: Bringing Marketing to Everything We Touch” on Thursday, July 1, 2021. MARsum is an annual conference that brings together some of the best and brightest minds in the marketing, advertising, and retail sectors to address critical topics that pertain to the industry.
Intel’s biggest water facility hits a milestone: 1 billion gallons recycled
The new water recycling plant at Intel’s Ronler Acres campus in Hillsboro, Oregon, recently surpassed the billion-gallon mark, underscoring the company’s global efforts to reuse the water it needs for advanced computer chip manufacturing. Intel’s billion-gallon milestone in Oregon precedes events focused on the climate currently underway at the U.N. General Assembly. Intel’s global commitment to wise water use — through a combination of reuse and recycling, conservation and community-based restoration — is a key element of the company’s 2030 Sustainability Goals. Read more >>
WebPT co-founder joins Flinn Foundation board
Heidi Jannenga, one of Arizona’s most accomplished health-care-technology entrepreneurs, has been elected to the Flinn Foundation board of directors. Jannenga, co-founder of Phoenix-based WebPT, the leading software provider for electronic medical records and practice management for rehabilitation therapists, brings to the board premier expertise in the clinical and business currents shaping Arizona’s health care and technology sectors.
Carvana debuts on Fortune 500 list after 8 years
Carvana, the leading e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars, today debuted on the Fortune 500 at no. 483; one of the fastest growing tech companies added to the prestigious list. In just eight years, Carvana revenue has grown 1000x; $4.6 million in revenue in 2013, to $5.587 billion in revenue in 2020. Based on organic growth alone, only Amazon and Google made it to the Fortune 500 faster. Carvana is one of the youngest companies to make the 2021 Fortune 500 List, and its trajectory proves that its people, through their passion, determination and commitment to customers, powered this significant milestone. Read more >>
ASU outpaces goals as part of national coalition of innovative universities
The University Innovation Alliance (UIA), a national consortium of public universities working to improve student success, announced that it has exceeded the graduation target. Arizona State University is a founding member of the UIA. At its launch in 2014, the UIA presidents set a goal to graduate an additional 68,000 students above their baseline projections over the course of 10 years, and committed that half of those students graduated would come from low-income backgrounds. Six years in, the UIA schools have exceeded that goal by graduating an additional 73,573 students, increasing the number of graduates from low-income backgrounds by 36% and graduates of color by 73%. The institutions are now projected to graduate a total of 136,000 students by 2023. Read more >>
Digital Air Strike named top 5 healthiest employer and great place to work
Digital Air Strike, the leading social media, intelligent lead response, and consumer engagement technology company, has been named a top five Healthiest Employer by the Phoenix Business Journal. In addition, Digital Air Strike has also been certified as a Great Place to Work, earning the designation for the fourth year in a row with the highest score in the company’s history. The awards are a testament to Digital Air Strike’s unparalleled culture and unique benefits, including weekly Zoom yoga classes, monthly awards, lunches with the CEO, regular employee-led team-building activities, summer half days and free lunch Fridays. Read more >>
TGen partners with Semiconductor giant on public health
In a deal that links two of Arizona’s emerging industries, an Asian semiconductor giant will underwrite research by a Phoenix genomics institute to track infectious-disease outbreaks, including variants of the COVID-19 virus. The grant from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. will help TGen, the Translational Genomics Research Institute, monitor current and future pandemics. The funds will help further TGen’s genomic sequencing or analysis of the virus, enabling the identification of specific variants. So far, TGen has identified the genetic sequence or composition of more than 21,000 COVID-19 samples in Arizona. Read more >>
Honeywell awarded contract to provide technologies for electric jet
Honeywell Aerospace was recently awarded the contract to provide cockpit technologies for Lilium’s first eVTOL (Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing) aircraft. German company Lilium selected Honeywell to produce the avionics and flight control systems for the 7-seat Lilium Jet. The aircraft is the first electric vertical take-off and landing jet in development since 2015, according to Lilium’s website. Honeywell’s system will be responsible for controlling the jet’s moveable parts, including the 36 control surfaces and ducted fans that provide its maneuverability in each stage of flight. Read more >>
UACI partners with Concord General Contracting for startup competition
One promising startup team will be sponsored and provided with the resources, facilities, services and expert guidance to grow their businesses. In alignment with its mission to fuel Arizona’s economy, UACI unites with collaborators across region providing startups with tools and resources necessary to launch a business. The University of Arizona Center (UACI) for Innovation’s Launch Program fueled by Concord General Contracting, will award a startup team that is on an active mission to solve a significant business or social challenge through a business, the opportunity to access a complimentary year’s entry into UACI’s incubator program. Read more >>
Botco.ai named TiE50 Award winner at TiEcon
Botco.ai, the leading HIPAA-compliant conversational marketing solution, has been selected as a winner in TiEcon’s TiE50 Awards Program. Botco.ai was recognized for its innovation in using AI technology to drive conversational marketing at scale. The company is one of 152 winners worldwide, but the only winner from Arizona. Winners of this award gain visibility and exposure to sponsors, partners and investors, including venture capitalists and angel investors. Winners also have access to thousands of dollars in credits from partners like Google Cloud, IBM Cloud and Freshworks. Read more >>
EnPower, Inc. welcomes new VP of operations and manufacturing
Phoenix-based EnPower, Inc., an advanced lithium-ion battery technology company, announced the appointment of Earl Wiggins as vice president of operations & manufacturing. Wiggins will lead the company’s multi-phase expansion plan to scale its patented electrode technology in cells for various electric mobility applications. Wiggins brings over 30 years of operations and technical leadership spanning both the energy storage and computer hardware industries, most recently serving as senior director of cell production at Tesla Motors. Read more >>
NAU ranks as 7th best college in the nation for veterans to attend
Northern Arizona University was recently named as one of the best colleges in the nation for veterans to attend. Coming in at the No. 7 spot on Military Times’ 2021 Best For Vets: Colleges list, NAU has a variety of resources and support for the military-connected community. Such resources include the Military Spouse Scholarship, John Joyce Scholarship and the Ray Sparks Scholarship for Veteran Business Students. Other government funding programs include a tuition waiver for service members who received a Purple Heart citation, the Arizona Military Relief Fund established after 9/11 and the Arizona Veterans’ Donation Fund. Read more >>
Phoenix startup Qwick back on track after a tough pandemic year
Qwick operates a tech platform that connects bartenders, servers and wait staff to jobs on demand, but this work dried up during the pandemic. The Qwick team had 54 employees at the start of the pandemic. The pandemic forced Qwick to reevaluate its operations and try new things in order to survive. It partnered with the military, grocery stores and hospitals to get Qwick professionals working again until the food service jobs came back. CEO Jamie Baxter said that despite all the problems, the company still eked out 5% revenue growth from 2019 to 2020. Read more >>