than 50 businesses and educational organizations employ over 7,000 employees on site. I think that’s a real success story.” The UA Tech Park at Rita Road is one of the leading research parks in the nation and in 2001 was recognized as Outstanding Research Park by the Association of University Research Parks. “I’ve been given the opportunity to work on some exciting and impactful projects and I hope I’ve attacked every one with both passion and a thoughtful approach to the issues,” Wright said. “I believe in empirical-based decisionmaking, where I look at all the options, assemble all the facts, then make a decision and move forward with it. I call it constructive ambiguity. And if you suffer a defeat, you take a couple steps to the left or right and keep going, frequently turning that defeat into a victory. You don’t rest on your laurels; you keep pushing the envelope. “I think of myself as a ‘communitarian’ who follows what my mentor Congressman Mo Udall taught me about a sense of principles and a responsibility
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to make wherever you are a better place than it was before you got there.” Wright joined the University of Arizona in the late 1980s and served in several capacities, including director of the Office of Community and Public Service, assistant to the president and senior officer for Community Affairs and Economic Development. Prior to joining the university, he served as chief of staff to U.S. Representative Morris K. Udall and staff consultant to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. Throughout his career, Wright has received many awards. In 2018 that included Greater Tucson Leadership’s Man of the Year and the Paul Fannin Award from the Arizona-Mexico Commission. Though now retired, Wright said, “I don’t intend to ramp down to zero speed. I’m on the Regional Transportation Authority advisory committee and will still serve on the board of the Arizona-Mexico Commission. There might be some consulting to help bring international companies to the Tucson area and I have a business idea (proprietary
at the moment) that I’m kicking around. I don’t intend to retire into an inactive lifestyle – but I also don’t plan on getting up with the chickens every morning and getting home each day after dark.” In looking back as he looks ahead, Wright said, “UA Tech Park at Rita Road is almost fully occupied now, so I anticipate a need for further expansion, another building or two. And the whole village concept of residential and retail onsite has a viable future as tech parks morph into innovation districts where people live, work, learn, stay and play. “I also feel that The Bridges development – where Interstates 10 and 19 converge in close proximity to the airport, the university and downtown – is really set to take off. That project is at the point where it’s going to happen and it will be transformational for the university and Tucson. I’d like to hang around a bit longer to see the first blade go in the ground for construction, but I leave at a good time and feel good about where we are.”
Biz
Winter 2019
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