Member News October 2026 Archives - Arizona Technology Council

ASU Partners with Purdue and Tennessee to Build Next-Generation Nuclear Workforce

Image: InBusiness PHX inBusinessphx After 20 years of flat growth, America’s demand for electricity is exploding, creating demand for safe, scalable nuclear reactor technology. Small modular reactors and microreactors are emerging to meet that need and driving a national nuclear resurgence, but there is a severe shortage of nuclear-literate engineers, managers and policymakers. Thr...

Pima JTED Guest Blog: Started an Economic Engine. Now We Must Expand It to Meet Unprecedented Demand

Image: BizTucson BizTucson In 2005, I learned something from educator Kathy Prather and then-Superintendent of the Tucson Unified School District Roger Pfeuffer that stopped me in my tracks: Pima County was about the only county in Arizona that did not have a Joint Technical Education District (JTED). Because of that, our local students were missing out on state enrollment funding for ...

Employee Spotlight – Leslie Marquez

Image: Linkedin Inside the Council with Leslie Leslie Cooper Marquez is a dynamic marketing and communications professional with 20 years of experience spanning in-house and agency roles. Her expertise bridges multiple industries, including non-profit performing arts, legal, mortgage technology and investment banking, where she has led impactful campaigns and strategic initiatives. Originally ...

FPT Guest Blog: One Store, Many Systems: How Connected AI Turns Dealership Silos into a Single Operation

It is Monday morning at a multi-rooftop dealer group in the Valley, and the general manager opens the weekly leadership meeting with three screens on the wall. The sales tool flags a customer as ready to trade up and ranks her at the top of the follow-up list. The service system shows she declined a repair last month and left a low survey score after the same visit. The inventory report...

NAU Opens New MPaCT Lab, Expanding Arizona’s Semiconductor Research and Workforce Capabilities

Image: NAU Northern Arizona University FLAGSTAFF, AZ — Northern Arizona University (NAU) officially opened its new Microelectronics Processing and Characterization Testing (MPaCT) Lab with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 17, marking a major step in the university’s efforts to support Arizona’s rapidly growing semiconductor industry. NAU President Dr. José Luis Cr...

BC Automation Guest Post: Before You Trust Industrial AI, Can You Trust Its Data?

Image: BC Automation BC Automation Engineering Perspectives Thomas J. Schwieters | Founder & Chief Technologist, BC Automation The model is only as good as the fidelity of the observation. We don’t go to a symphony wearing earmuffs while standing around the corner. Yet we’re asking AI to understand manufacturing processes using data that has already been filtered, scale...

Westmarc Announces Kristin Allen As New President And CEO

WestMarc To lead the organization’s next era of leadership, economic vitality and strategic impact GLENDALE, AZ, October 13, 2026 – WESTMARC named Kristin Allen as its new president and CEO. Allen, CEO of Global Ties Arizona, will take the helm on Dec. 2, 2026, bringing a proven track record spanning two decades of building partnerships, developing programs and engaging stakeho...

Comcast Business Guest Blog: Gartner® Report: 2026 Strategic Roadmap for Enterprise Networking

Comcast Business Enterprise networking is evolving to support AI-driven workloads, requiring a shift from manual operations to more automated, software-driven, and adaptive environments. Organizations must modernize networks incrementally by aligning teams, investing in AI-ready infrastructure, and adopting unified operating models that integrate networking, security, and cloud. W...

New Taiwan Office in Phoenix Strengthens $21.2B Trade Relationship

InBusinessPHX Arizona and Taiwan celebrated another significant milestone in their expanding partnership as the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office officially opened its new office in Phoenix, Arizona. Governor Katie Hobbs joined leaders including Dr. Chia-Lung Lin, Taiwan Minister of Foreign Affairs; TECO Phoenix Director General Kevin Chiao; Ingrid Larson, Managing Director, ...

Governor Hobbs, Maricopa Community Colleges And Arizona Commerce Authority Celebrate Grand Opening Of Aerospace & Defense Future48 Workforce Accelerator

Arizona Commerce Authority MESA, AZ (October 6, 2026) – Today, Maricopa Community Colleges and Chandler-Gilbert Community College (CGCC) joined Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA), and industry partners to officially celebrate the grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Arizona’s first-of-its-kind Aerospace & Defense-focuse...

Navy Awards $22.9B to 17x Tomahawk Output Raytheon

Image: Rtx.com Tech Times The U.S. Navy on Monday awarded Raytheon a $22.9 billion contract — the defense arm of RTX Corporation — to ramp Tomahawk cruise missile production from roughly 60 units per year to more than 1,000 over seven years, a 17-fold increase representing one of the most expansive single-weapon production commitments in American history. The contract, issu...

BC Automation Guest Blog: P1: From SCADA to the Intelligent Plant: Plantwide Visibility

Image: BC Automation BC Automation Part 1 of 3 Bringing Utilities, OEM Packages, Process Areas, and Production Systems Into One Operational View Most industrial plants already have plenty of automation. What they often lack is a coherent view of it. A packaging line has its own PLC and HMI. A chiller package has another. Boilers, compressors, refrigeration, wastewater, mixers, va...

ProtosEQ Introduces Frontline™, a New Way for Organizations to See Workforce Stress Before It Becomes a Performance Problem

ProtosEQ Frontline™ gives leaders a simple, real-time view of workforce stress and energy without creating another complicated employee survey or collecting unnecessary personal information. PHOENIX, Ariz. — October 1, 2026 — ProtosEQ, a human performance intelligence company focused on understanding how people operate under pressure, today announced Frontline™, a simplified ...

Tech Parks Arizona Recognized Among Nation’s Top Innovation Districts

Image: Tech Parks Arizona Tech Parks Arizona TUCSON, Ariz. – Tech Parks Arizona has been recognized as one of the nation’s leading innovation districts in a new national report from the George W. Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative. The analysis highlights the nation’s strongest innovation districts as powerful economic engines where higher education i...

ASU’s London Expansion Builds a New Talent Bridge to Arizona

Image: InBusiness PHX inBusinessphx Michael Goodwin was less than a minute into his remarks when he made clear to the audience of 300 or so gathered for the opening of ASU London, a new independent, U.K.-degree-awarding higher education provider founded by ASU, exactly why they were there. “We’re here to celebrate the opening of what we believe will become one of the pioneering n...

Arizona Defense Manufacturer Raytheon Secures $20.7B Missile Production Contract

Image: InBusiness PHX inBusinessphx Raytheon, an RTX business, will accelerate production of AMRAAM missiles to record-setting levels under the terms of a five-year multi-year contract with two option years valued up to $20.7 billion awarded as part of the Department of War’s Arsenal of Freedom. This contract follows the landmark agreement between Raytheon and the Department of War...

Electronics distributor Avnet moves into 156,000-square-foot Tempe office

Image: Avnet CEO Phil Gallagher at the company’s new headquarters in Tempe. Jim Poulin | Phoenix Business Journal Phoenix Business Journal When Avnet Inc.⁠ CEO Phil Gallagher walks down the halls of Avnet’s new Tempe headquarters, he sees a modern open office space that fosters collaboration among the company’s employees. Avnet’s new headquarters reinforces the globa...

ASU extends nation-leading innovation streak to 12 years as Arizona schools see rankings shift

Image: Arizona State University remains the nation’s most innovative school, according to U.S. News & World Report. File Photo Phoenix Business Journal Phoenix Business Journal Arizona State University and the University of Arizona tied with 10 other schools at No. 121 in the 2027 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings. At the same time, ASU stretched its nation...

Comcast Business Guest Blog: The 2026 Comcast Business Cybersecurity Threat Report

Comcast Business Comcast Business analyzed 79.3 billion cybersecurity events detected between March 2025 and February 2026. With AI now accelerating both the volume and sophistication of attacks, it is essential for enterprises to launch a layered cybersecurity defense that pairs advanced technology tools with human-led expertise to help protect their business. In this yearR...

Pima Community College: Where Southern Arizona’s Workforce Begins

Image: Pima Community College Pima Community College Pima Community College is working alongside industry partners to build the talent, training, and technology infrastructure Southern Arizona’s growing economy needs. Southern Arizona’s economy is evolving, and Pima Community College is evolving with it. Growing industries like advanced manufacturing, aerospace and defense, cyb...