What Is Your Favorite Characteristic of Your Community or Region?
In my current role, I focus primarily on business attraction efforts for the Boise MSA. I do sales and marketing to national site location consultants and corporations. I could not ask for a better product to sell. The thing I love most about this great place is the people and connectivity. We call it Boise Kind. With a population of 850,000, it is still a place where people smile when you pass on the sidewalk. Where you might end up sharing a great dessert with the table next to you at your favorite restaurant, when you came in as strangers and leave as friends. At a local coffee shop, you can buy a cup for a stranger and leave the note on the wall. Business leaders in Boise are happy to take a call and be a mentor to the next generation or encourage the growth of another business. We have a true sense of community here and a culture of caring for your neighbor.
What Is Your Economic Development Superpower?
I think my economic development superpower is a skill I learned from my mentor, Cliff. I learned how to step back and look at the full situation of a project—what are the key factors that are preventing success, and how do we creatively solve that problem with the tools we have? One example was when we were working with Micron on supplier recruitment to support their $15 billion expansion in the Boise region. I realized that this effort was going to be more extensive and more expensive than what we could likely do on our own. I developed a comprehensive supplier recruitment strategy and collaborated with our counterparts in New York State, where Micron has another significant project. We worked together with the NY team to participate in the Semicon West tradeshow and host a reception in conjunction with Micron for all of the suppliers we were targeting for further U.S. expansion. It has been a great experience and resulted in some early success for new projects landing in Boise.
What Wisdom Would You Share With Another Economic Developer?
Be generous with your partners. This is a team sport. It takes so many people and organizations for projects to come together and be successful. Just as we called our colleagues in New York for Micron and offered to partner on a shared goal, we have worked to be generous with our own communities to share information about projects that can further the efforts and give credit to everyone. At the end of the day, we all win when one of us is successful on a shared goal.
What Do You Love Most About Your Job?
I really enjoy the opportunity to help shape the future of the Boise Metro – I love working to create a vibrant local economy with good jobs for future generations. I have an incredible team I get to work alongside every day along with an incredible board, business community and our city partners all make doing this work a lot of fun.