Top Companies Choose Tucson, Poised for Growth
Amazon
Companies Choose Tucson Region Offers Established Employers Room to Grow By Jay Gonzales
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For the last several years, the Tucson region has been building a base of stable employers that now has economic development experts and site selectors beaming at the possibilities. As the nation climbs out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tucson is a region that sees itself as “resilient” because of the employment gains made with companies like Raytheon Missiles & Defense, Caterpillar, Amazon and others. “It’s very difficult to say some places are COVID-proof,” said Steve Eggen, a retired Raytheon Missile Systems executive. “If you look at what’s happened, there have been some pretty substantial impacts. But, I
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think you can say we have a certain resiliency in our community that lends itself to being responsive, being quick to act, being able to provide the kinds of things that are now more in demand than they were previously.” In 2004, Sun Corridor Inc., then known as Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities created an Economic Blueprint that was later updated to emphasize four industry clusters as targets for relocation and expansion. The clusters are now aerospace and defense, bioscience and healthcare, renewable and mining technology, and transportation and logistics. Joe Snell, president and CEO of Sun Corridor Inc., said those clus-
ters are a fit with the region’s talent base and efforts to strengthen it further. “If we can get the right talent, companies will follow that. Labor drives all market decisions. It has for a long time.” In all, 72 companies have relocated or expanded in the region over the last five years, bringing in 16,125 jobs, according to Sun Corridor Inc. Notably, Tucson has seen the recent expansion of Raytheon Missiles & Defense, the arrival of Caterpillar’s Surface, Mining & Technology Division, three Amazon centers and autonomous truck driving startup TuSimple, among many developments. Just this fall, continued on page 70 >>> www.BizTucson.com