TRENDSETTERS Advancing three places from a year ago, Arizona was ranked as the No. 9 state for business in Chief Executive magazine’s 13th annual Best & Worst States for Business survey. The Chief Executive rankings ‘BEST & WORST reflect CEO perceptions STATES FOR of best and worst states based on a range of key BUSINESS’ measures. Arizona benefited because CEOs rank it highly in several key industries, and for its favorable living environment. In state rankings by industry, Arizona fared well in five of seven categories tracked, including No. 4 in retail, No. 5 in energy/utilities, No. 6 in technology/ telecommunications, No. 7 in pharmaceuticals/medical products and No. 9 in healthcare.
ARIZONA RANKS NO. 9 AMONG
The top five states for 2017, in order, are Texas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Indiana.
THE GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS FOR SENIOR HEALTH Arizona seniors are seeing improvements in clinical care – a 30 percent decrease in preventable hospitalizations since 2013 – according to United Health Foundation’s 2017 America’s Health Rankings Seniors Report. But despite the gains, the state still ranks only No. 23 for senior health, according to the report.
How do customers rate Phoenix banks? J.D. Power recently released its 12th annual U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study, which measures customer satisfaction with retail banks, based on responses from more than 78,000 retail banking customers of 136 of the largest banks in the United States. How did the largest Phoenix-area banks perform? Here are the Top 7, scored on a 1,000-point scale: 8
AB | July - August 2017
1. FirstBank....................866 2. Chase.........................827 3. U.S. Bank.................... 817 4. BBVA Compass............ 813 5. Bank of America.......... 810 6. Wells Fargo.................804 7. Bank of the West.........797
Local tech attorney makes dinner a whole lot better Roza Ferdowsmakan, a local tech attorney and entrepreneur, launched a mobile app in the beginning of July that connects local chefs and farms to the community. The application, "bites.," will help bring a local chef into your home to cook you a meal using farm-to-table ingredients sourced from local farmers. Ferdowsmakan says the mobile app empowers both chefs and the farmers by exposing them to the community. Users can ask the chefs questions about each ingredient and learn how to prepare dishes as the chef prepares a meal within their home. Chefs of all skill ranges, from students looking for experience, the at-home cook or the pro can use the app to meet local foodies interested in learning more about locally sourced bites and unique ways to cook them. Interested? The beta (test) version of the mobile app is available for download by registering on the app’s site, bites.mobi. After registering, you’ll be sent a link for a download through the iOS and Google Play stores. The beta version is only available in Phoenix, but the app will release across the country on Oct. 1.