March 2022 Issue of In Business Magazine

APR. 2022

Belonging: The Secret Sauce of a Robust DEI Strategy

Our

Bioscience Economy How this sector is transforming who we are

Mentoring to Benefit Business Enchantment: Empowering a Brand This Month’s Guest Editor

Richard J. Gray, M.D.

CEO of Mayo Clinic in Arizona

Estate Planning for

Closely Held Businesses $7.95 INBUSINESSPHX.COM

THIS ISSUE Arizona Small Business Association

The future.

Pioneered in Arizona.

The Arizona Commerce Authority is helping our state’s manufacturers grow and prosper through meaningful programs like the Arizona Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Arizona MEP). Using a proven approach that combines decades of leadership, manufacturing, operational and business expertise, Arizona MEP offers custom, hands-on solutions to help clients achieve their goals. Whether you’re looking for minor improvements or a major transformation, we provide the right knowledge, skill set and flexibility to support your team. Join the more than 375 manufacturers in Arizona who have chosen Arizona MEP to help enhance their business.

Learn more at azcommerce.com

INVEST IN ARIZONA.

INVEST IN YOUR COMMUNITY. Arizona Gives is a statewide event of giving that has raised $30.1 MILLION for Arizona nonprofits since 2013.

arizona Gives day

april 5-6, 2022

FIND YOUR CAUSE AT AZGIVES.ORG Your donation on these days can help your favorite organization win a cash prize!

Arizona Gives Day

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APRIL 2022

18 GUEST COLUMNISTS

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19

Ryan Companies, Building Stories of Impact This month spotlighting Ryan Companies, Tyler Butler’s series explores the myriad ways businesses give back and the positive ways their programs impact our community.

54 DEI Is Where It Starts Debuting a semi-regular series on diversity, equity and inclusion, Joanna C. de’Shay discusses the secret sauce of a robust DEI strategy: belonging!

COVER STORY

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Our Bioscience Economy: How this sector is transforming who we are

Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap spawned the bringing together of the many disparate institutions across sectors, across companies, from government to academia to industry. We talk to many of those institutions about their game-changing contributions to our economy.

FEATURE

40

Nine Reasons Your Company Should Create a Mentoring Program in 2022

Bert Thornton and Dr. Sherry Hartnett discuss how creating a good program will help businesses thrive despite the turbulence ahead this year.

52

Elevated Marketing – Empowering a Brand with Enchantment

22

From the Top

72SOLD creator Greg Hague treats the status quo as just a baseline for disruptive improvement in his industry.

24

Healthcare

“Business Community Would See Return on Investment in Brain Health” and “Re-Examining Burnout: Symptoms and Workplace Prevention Tools”

26

Technology

“Cybersecurity Checklist for a Safer 2022,” “Mobile Ordering Apps Trend Impacts Local Businesses in Arizona” and “High-Tech ‘Smart Fitness Studio’ Enters Phoenix Area”

41

Books

New releases give fresh insights on business thinking.

42

53

Feature articles in Spanish and English on Liderazgo / Leadership and Finanzas / Finance

55

Design for Productivity

New Realities of Today’s Workforce

Seth Morgan discusses demographics and corrections through a business lens.

DEPARTMENTS

11

Guest Editor

Richard J. Gray, M.D., CEO of Mayo Clinic in Arizona, introduces the “Biosciences” issue.

12

Feedback

Christopher Cano, Stacy Cline and Jim Gmelich respond to In Business Magazine’s burning business question of the month.

13

About ASBA

CRE

“VDC Leading the Way in Creating Sustainable Buildings,” “Abrazo to Build Med Campus in W. Phoenix,” “Rehab Hospital Breaks Ground in Peoria,” “New CRE Firm Addresses Arizona’s Growing Need for Healthcare Facilities,” “Korman Communities, RXR Make Phoenix Debut with Flexible Living Multifamily Development” and “Peoria’s Largest Master-Planned Community Site Draws Developer”

Jane Cavalier Lucas explores six characteristics of an enchanted brand.

Dala Al-Fuwaires offers office design options that can make a difference.

PARTNER SECTION

Startups

“Caribou: Childcare & Community” and “Family Tradition Inspires Leila’s Empanadas”

Briefs

48

En Negocios

Economy

High market demand makes 2022 a great year to sell, according to Brian Bond, who discusses aspects for sellers to consider.

49

Legal

Attorney Ben Graff explores zoning, regulations and objectives in cities’ plans for luxury vs. affordable housing.

56

Nonprofit

Successful alumni outreach can ignite constituent engagement.

57

Assets

2022 e-tron GT by Audi Plus: Zero-waste mailers can help companies boost their brand image.

The Arizona Small Business Association (ASBA) fosters and

“JPMorgan Chase Invests in Second Chance Hiring,” “Dailies Top Stories,” “Local Standouts Recognized for Achievements and Philanthropy,” “Adamo Ed Offers innovative Micro-School Model” and “Banks and Credit Unions: Understanding the Differences”

empowers a thriving small business community by advocating for public policies that ensure a pro-business policy and regulatory environment to help small businesses prosper. dynamic education and mentoring

Five Tips for Easier Business Tax Filing

opportunities to business owners to

by Apex CPAs & Consultants

ASBA brings relevant and

improve their business knowledge, solve problems and, ultimately, become more successful. We accomplish this by offering our members valuable programs, unparalleled commitment to their success, and the convenience and efficiency of our products and services. ASBA is on the cutting edge of what is happening right now in the business community.

From education and advocacy to resources, mentoring and meaningful partnerships, we engage our members with relevant interactions at every touchpoint.

By staying on top of current trends, we ensure the tools we offer, as well as the extensive breadth of insights delivered, are valuable to the businesses we represent while significantly boosting the organic growth of our membership base.

Find ASBA on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AZSmallBIZ

Running a business is hard and often requires you to wear many hats. Managing your business consuming when it’s time to file your business

prior to year-end (September or October) to project your taxable income. This not only gives

filing season and beyond.

you six months to plan for the tax but also the

Tip #1 – Meet Regularly with Your CPA

before year-end. This is a habit successful

You should be working with your CPA all year

opportunity to make tax-reducing decisions business owners practice religiously.

Tip #4 – Separate Personal and Business Expenses

tax time but throughout the year. By working with

Keeping your business expenses separate

your CPA, you can better understand how your

from your personal expenses will save you time

business is performing and they can provide

and stress when filing. If your business and

recommendations to improve profits and cash flow while reducing your tax liability. If you hear from your accountant only around tax filing time or they offer only basic tax and bookkeeping

personal expenses are not separate, you can run into major issues if the IRS audits you. It is vital that your business have its own separate bank account and credit cards.

services, we recommend you find a new one. A CPA who is more advisory in nature will be worth

Tip #5 – Payroll

the investment if you want to grow your business.

Tip #2 – Go Digital/Paperless and go digital. This will allow you to keep track

We recommend hiring a reputable payroll service. The tax payments and filings can get complicated, and one misstep will have you responding to tax notices from various government entities, which can be burdensome.

of all your income and expenses throughout

We love the entrepreneurial spirit of business

the year and help you stay organized. Having

owners. We understand them and can help turn

everything digitized will allow you to easily find

their challenges into opportunities, resulting in

documents and receipts as well as manage © 2022 ASBA. A publication of the Arizona Small Business Association. For more information or to join ASBA, please contact us at www.asba.com. Section designed by the Arizona Small Business Association.

This starts with clean books throughout the year. You should meet with your tax professional

income taxes. Here are five things you can do throughout the year to help you during the tax

It’s time to retire the shoebox full of receipts Central Arizona 11811 N. Tatum Blvd., Suite P-195 Phoenix, AZ 85028 p. 602.306.4000

Tip #3 – Perform a Tax Projection before Year-End

finances can be especially important and time-

long, not just during tax filing season. If you don’t have a CPA, it is time you get one. A CPA is a trusted advisor to a business owner not only at

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59 Arizona Small Business Association

APR. 2022

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INBUSINESSPHX.COM

16

By the Numbers

In the top 10 cities for startups, Phoenix rivals Silicon Valley as a tech hub.

58

Power Lunch

Terra Tempe – Grounded in Southwest Inspiration

66

Roundtable

Denise McClintic discusses estate planning for closely held businesses.

Total U.S. life sciences employment increased 5.3% year-over-year in January, exceeding U.S. nonfarm employment growth of 4.7% over the same period, according to CBRE’s recent “Growing Talent Pipeline Fuels Life Sciences Revolution Amid Challenging Equity Markets” report. cbre.com

Together, we’ll find new possibilities The health and well-being of your employees matters. UnitedHealthcare is here to help you guide them toward brighter days ahead. From finding new ways of controlling costs to connecting them with medical care and mental health support, it’s good to have a health plan that’s on their side — and in your corner.

Learn more at uhc.com

Insurance coverage provided by or through UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company or its affiliates. Administrative services provided by United HealthCare Services, Inc. or their affiliates. Health Plan coverage provided by or through UnitedHealthcare of Arizona, Inc. B2B EI211205447.0 12/21 © 2021 United HealthCare Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 21-1202769-A

Words

OUR CONTENT CREATORS

Apr. 2022

VOL. 13, NO. 4

RaeAnne Marsh Editor, In Business Magazine RaeAnne Marsh became editorial director of Phoenix-based InMedia Company in 2010 and helped launch Valley-wide business resource In Business Magazine. Her journalism career began more than 20 years ago, when she left California and 12 years of teaching to transplant in Phoenix’s vibrant entrepreneurial environment, and includes incorporating her own business, Grammar & Glitz, Inc., through which she has taken writing and editing gigs with business and media clients nationwide.

Holding the magazine to strong editorial standards, she says, “New businesses are founded, out-of-staters bring new strengths, established businesses evolve and expand — all of which contributes to the dynamic vitality that I see as the mission of In Business Magazine to be the voice of and vehicle to nurture, in each monthly edition. It is my challenge to ensure each edition is packed with relevant information on a broad spectrum of issues, aimed at a readership that runs the gamut from entrepreneurial startup to major corporation.”

Edgar R. Olivo Editor, En Negocios As editor of the Spanish section of In Business Magazine, Edgar R. Olivo shares weekly content for Spanish-preferred small-business owners in Phoenix. As a first-generation Latinx and native-Arizonan, Olivo’s upbringing was filled with similar challenges that Latino communities in Arizona face when they engage with the economy. An entrepreneur and nonprofit executive, he is leading the charge to help strengthen a diverse, inclusive and sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem in

Publisher

Rick McCartney

Editor

RaeAnne Marsh

En Negocios Editor Graphic Design

Edgar Rafael Olivo Benjamin Little

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dala Al-Fuwaires Brian Bond

Mike Hunter Jane Cavalier Lucas

Tyler Butler

Denise McClintic

Paul Caiazzo

Julie Moeller

Ashley Cerasaro

Timo Moeller

Christine Davis

Seth Morgan

Joanna C. de’Shay Jaime Dunaway-Seale Carrie Collins Fadell Benjamin Graff Greg Hague

Nancy Treser Osgood Angela Phillips Alexander Robinson Bert Thornton Barry Wurzel

Sherry Hartnett

Arizona. His work is nationally recognized for establishing programs that help advance equitable economic recovery, and increase generational wealth for Latinx/Hispanic small business owners in Arizona.

“I believe today is a moment for leading big change. Business ownership is a critical means to build community and individual wealth. I hope my work will demonstrate to the Latino community that the entrepreneur ecosystem in Arizona has their back.”

Guest columns are feature articles presented as a special, limited series as well as regular, ongoing series in In Business Magazine.

Tyler Butler

Guest Columnist – Social Impact

A long time corporate social responsibility practitioner, Tyler Butler is known for her expertise in creating, launching and developing successful social impact programs. Her commitment

ADVERTISING Operations Louise Ferrari Business Development Louise Ferrari Cami Shore Events

Amy Corben

More: Visit your one-stop resource for everything business at inbusinessphx.com. For a full monthly calendar of business-related events, please visit our website.

Inform Us: Send press releases and your editorial ideas to editor@inbusinessphx.com

to rallying people together to make a positive difference has created sustainable signature programs empowering people to give back in a myriad of ways globally. Butler operates under the ethos of “each one teach one,” and so her contributions to In Business Magazine provide her with an outlet to share the best of what companies are doing to aid humanity. Butler looks to shed light on good corporate citizens and share stories about the magic they are creating through their generous outreach efforts.

Joanna C. de’Shay

Guest Columnist – DEI Joanna C. de’Shay is executive director of Diversity Leadership Alliance, the premiere education training organization in Arizona dedicated to eradicating racism, bias and prejudice. DLA’s goal is to create an inclusive community where each person is equally respected and empowered.

De’Shay is an avid servant leader who was born in Accra, Ghana, on the western coast of Africa to a Nigerian father and a Russian mother. An immigrant herself, she believes in being a part of the solution to disrupt systems and is on a mission to create bridges and partnerships by educating companies, nonprofits and educational organizations on the vital need for diverse voices and fresh perspectives.

Don Henninger

Guest Columnist – Metro

As a 35-year newspaper veteran in Arizona, Don Henninger has always made journalism his passion as well as his career. Facts matter — especially in this day and age — and information is the foundation that enables citizens to be positive participants in their communities at all levels. Henninger has been fortunate to serve as a community leader and continues in that role today as director of the Scottsdale Coalition of Today & Tomorrow, which convenes leaders to work on issues in that city, and as a member of several nonprofit boards in the Valley.

Bruce Weber

Guest Columnist – Capacity

Bruce Weber sees In Business Magazine as a valuable forum for topics relevant to our business and nonprofit community. “I am deeply interested in organizational capacity and what makes organizations successful and impactful in the work they do. In my work in the community for more than 16 years, I have worked with all sizes of organizations and leaders in helping their businesses grow and expand their impact. My previous careers with Microsoft and Hewlett Packard involved working with business integration partners to design strategies to engage new markets. In today’s complex world, I enjoy exploring the possibilities and opportunities that change can bring.”

8

APR. 2022

President & CEO Editorial Director Financial Manager Office Manager Accounting Manager

Rick McCartney RaeAnne Marsh Tom Beyer Allie Schimmel Todd Juhl

Corporate Office InMedia Company

45 W. Jefferson Street Phoenix, AZ 85003 T: (480) 588-9505

info@inmediacompany.com

www.inmediacompany.com Vol. 13, No. 4 In Business Magazine is published 12 times per year by InMedia Company. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to InMedia Company, 45 W. Jefferson Street, Phoenix, AZ 85003. To subscribe to In Business Magazine, please send check or money order for one-year subscription of $24.95 to InMedia Company, 45 W. Jefferson Street, Phoenix, AZ 85003 or visit inbusinessphx.com. We appreciate your editorial submissions, news and photos for review by our editorial staff. You may send to editor@inbusinessmag.com or mail to the address above. All letters sent to In Business Magazine will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication, copyright purposes and use in any publication, website or brochure. InMedia accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or other artwork. Submissions will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. InMedia Company, LLC reserves the right to refuse certain advertising and is not liable for advertisers’ claims and/or errors. The opinions expressed herein are exclusively those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the position of InMedia.

InMedia Company considers its sources reliable and verifies as much data as possible, although reporting inaccuracies can occur; consequently, readers using this information do so at their own risk. Each business opportunity and/ or investment inherently contains certain risks, and it is suggested that the prospective investors consult their attorney and/or financial professional. ©2022 InMedia Company, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission by any means without written permission by the publisher.

INBUSINESSPHX.COM

Apr. 2022 In Business Magazine is a collaboration of many business organizations and entities throughout the metropolitan Phoenix area and Arizona. Our mission is to inform and energize business in this community by communicating content that will build business and enrich the economic picture for all of us vested in commerce.

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS Kristen Merrifield, CEO Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits (602) 279-2966 www.arizonanonprofits.org Jess Roman, Chief Executive Officer Arizona Small Business Association Central Office (602) 306-4000 www.asba.com

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Steven G. Zylstra, President & CEO Arizona Technology Council One Renaissance Square (602) 343-8324 www.aztechcouncil.org

Because every detail makes a difference.

Visit StearnsBank.com/Phoenix Call (480) 314 - 4200

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Anne Gill, President & CEO Tempe Chamber of Commerce (480) 967-7891 www.tempechamber.org Our Partner Organizations are vested business organizations focused on building and improving business in the Valley or throughout Arizona. As Partners, each will receive three insert publications each year to showcase all that they are doing for business and businesspeople within our community. We encourage you to join these and other organizations to better your business opportunities.

The members of these and other Associate Partner Organizations receive a subscription to In Business Magazine each month. For more information on becoming an Associate Partner, please contact our publisher at info@inbusinessphx.com.

ASSOCIATE PARTNERS Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce ahwatukeechamber.com Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry azchamber.com Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce azhcc.com The Black Chamber of Arizona phoenixblackchamber.com Chandler Chamber of Commerce chandlerchamber.com Economic Club of Phoenix econclubphx.org Glendale Chamber of Commerce glendaleazchamber.org Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce phoenixchamber.com Greater Phoenix Equality Chamber of Commerce gpglcc.org Mesa Chamber of Commerce mesachamber.org North Phoenix Chamber of Commerce northphoenixchamber.com Peoria Chamber of Commerce peoriachamber.com Phoenix Metro Chamber of Commerce phoenixmetrochamber.com Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce scottsdalechamber.com Scottsdale Coalition of Today and Tomorrow (SCOTT) scottnow.com Surprise Regional Chamber of Commerce surpriseregionalchamber.com WESTMARC westmarc.org

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RICHARD J. GRAY, M.D., MAYO CLINIC

A Biosciences Economy

Dr. Richard Gray is CEO of Mayo Clinic in Arizona, the No. 1 hospital in the state as ranked

by U.S. News & World Report for nine consecutive years and recognized on the national honor roll for five consecutive years. He is a professor of surgery and has been a part of Mayo Clinic for 26 years.

Prior to being appointed CEO in 2019, he worked as a surgical oncologist, specializing in treating patients with breast cancer, melanoma and sarcoma. mayoclinic.org

Bioscience may be redefining the economy in Phoenix — and even statewide. It spans sectors, connecting institutions from universities to hospital networks to private companies.

In December, Mayo Clinic acquired 228 acres of land adjacent to our campus in North Phoenix, paving the way to develop a transformative biotech and life sciences corridor called Discovery Oasis.

The goal is to attract complementary biotech businesses to the area to advance science, target disease, increase jobs and strengthen the state’s reputation as a medical destination. By creating a culture of collaboration centered in a bioscience neighborhood, Discovery Oasis will help advance the practice of medicine by providing space for a melting pot of various scientific endeavors. The concept furthers Mayo’s mission of addressing humanity’s most serious and complex medical challenges while fueling local and state economic growth. Arizona, as one of the fastest-growing bioscience states in the U.S., is fertile ground for Discovery Oasis. That, coupled with Mayo Clinic’s commitment to grow in Arizona and catalyze bioscience growth, offers a unique and beneficial opportunity for Mayo Clinic, the City of Phoenix, the State of Arizona, and Arizona State University, our collaborator in the Mayo Clinic and ASU Alliance for Health Care.

Mayo Clinic is pleased to be part of the future of Arizona. And I was pleased to discuss our plans and our involvement in the Phoenix bioscience community for this edition’s cover story with In Business Magazine editor RaeAnne Marsh as she reached out to many of our collaborators.

The cover story explores the purposeful plan of creating a bioscience hub in Phoenix — from its inception to its continuing growth.

Strategies for growth within a company often include mentoring. It’s proven effective for both productivity and employee engagement. Bert Thornton and Dr. Sherry Hartnett examine this further in “Nine Reasons Your Company Should Create a Mentoring Program in 2022.”

Denise McClintic shares some banker’s expertise on “Estate Planning for Closely Held Businesses” to help ensure that assets, including business interests, are handled appropriately upon death or disability of a business’s principal.

And Joanna de’Shay begins a semi-regular feature series on diversity, equity and inclusion this month as she makes the case for the secret sauce of a robust DEI strategy being a healthy sprinkling of belonging.

Along with the usual healthy mix of smaller articles covering commercial real estate, healthcare, technology and varied other business-focused topics, we’re also given a view into a program JPMorgan Chase created that offers a workforce pipeline for itself as an employer and an employment lifeline for people with a criminal background in the Briefs article “JPMorgan Chase Invests in Second Chance Hiring.”

This is an exciting issue to be part of and I’m glad to help bring it to you. Enjoy the read.

EN NEGOCIOS Manténgase informado sobre temas empresariales en español a través de En Negocios, artículos para los lectores de habla hispana en el área metropolitana de Phoenix.

Visite inbusinessphx.com/ ennegocios para más información.

Stay informed on business topics in Spanish through En Negocios, articles for Spanish-speaking readers in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Visit inbusinessphx.com/ ennegocios for more information.

Sincerely,

Richard J. Gray, M.D. CEO, Mayo Clinic in Arizona Vice President, Mayo Clinic

CONNECT WITH US: Story Ideas/PR: editor@ inbusinessphx.com

Scientific Facts Greater Phoenix is known for its growth and being a beacon

the bioscience community. Their

— bioscience. Over the years, we have come to be known as one

commitment to this sector and

of the hubs for bioscience, with initial founders like TGen and

expansion in the Greater Phoenix

others. Today, we are elevating this sector to new heights — not

area is exactly what early stakeholders saw as the future for our

just through scientific advances, but also through expansion of

region. For us to become the hub and to be seen as a leader in

buildings, partnerships and collaborations that are increasingly

bioscience, it is the involvement of renowned institutions like Mayo

making the Valley a known destination.

that is quickly demonstrating to the world that we are open for

We want to thank Dr. Richard Gray and Mayo Clinic for their

Photo courtesy of

leadership and investment in

of opportunity for business, innovation and — more specifically

DON’T MISS OUT!

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business.

Business Events/ Connections: businessevents@ inbusinessphx.com Marketing/Exposure: advertise@ inbusinessphx.com Visit us online at www.inbusinessphx.com

—Rick McCartney, Publisher

Let us know what you think of this issue of In Business Magazine. Email our publisher at feedback@inbusinessphx.com.

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SPEAKING OUT

Please share some of the benefits your mentoring program brings to your company.

EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS QUESTION GENERATED INPUT ALSO FROM: Amy Rushall Faculty Professional Development Program Director Northern Arizona University Lyn Hart Workforce Resilience Program Coordinator Arizona Department of Child Safety Please visit April’s Feedback entry on our website to learn from these businesses’ strategies and experience.

FEEDBACK QUESTION: Let us know what you want to know from the Valley’s top business leaders. editor@inbusinessphx.com

For all past Feedbacks go online to inbusinessphx.com and see what Valley executives think on various business topics.

APR. 2022

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CHRISTOPHER CANO

STACY CLINE

JIM GMELICH

Director of Artistic Operations and the Marion Roose Pullin Opera Studio Arizona Opera Sector: Arts

Corporate Sustainability senior director GoDaddy Sector: Technology

Culture Champion CHASSE Building Team Sector: Construction

The Marion Roose Pullin Opera Studio of Arizona Opera is currently celebrating its 15th season.

Over the past 15 years, Arizona Opera has auditioned thousands of gifted hopefuls who long to come to Arizona to have a first-hand experience working on one of the most respected operatic stages in the country singing secondary and leading roles in Arizona Opera’s mainstage offerings.

Singers, pianists and aspiring stage directors come to work with world renowned casts and creatives to hone their craft, learning from some of the most respected individuals in the operatic industry, all the while developing their own sense of artistry and discovering their own artistic voices over the course of two seasons in residency.

In addition to being seen on stages in Phoenix and Tucson, Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artists are the artistic ambassadors for Arizona Opera through various opportunities and performances throughout the country.

Many former and current Studio Artists have gone on to make major debuts in some of the major opera houses and festivals in the world.

We launched mentoring as a component of our Empower by GoDaddy program in 2017.

Our approach at GoDaddy is to apply what we do best — being digital teachers and coaches; mentors and relentless advocates — as we focus on supporting the unique needs of entrepreneurs around the world.

Internally, our goal is to create a thoughtful, high-impact experience for our employee volunteers that allows them to live our vision and mission daily, and to help employees experience first-hand how they can give back to communities and improve lives.

Employee mentors teach workshops, run small-group coaching sessions and work one-on-one with small business owners to help turn their entrepreneurial goals into reality.

There’s a menu of opportunities and options available to participate — whether an employee has a lot of time to give or a little — and we’re proud to partner with organizations locally, like Better Business Bureau® Serving the Pacific Southwest, to further extend our program offerings and support local economies.

Mentorship programs bring enthusiasm, energy and excitement to the job both for the mentor and mentee and provide a boost for the business’s overall culture, not to mention for its clients or other target audiences. It also brings innovation. We formalized our biggest mentorship project — our internship program — in 2008. It has served to support the growth and development of nearly 200 individuals in the local construction industry to date, many whom we’ve hired ourselves.

Our focus is fixed on not only teaching but learning, the hallmark of any good mentorship program. Everyone has a role and, though our seasoned teammates have more industry experience than our interns, our growth and development as professionals is impacted by the interns that we serve, and vice versa.

Good programs require variety — the spice of life — so ours offers field work, project management, preconstruction, project coordination, marketing and business development over the course of time. Passion, partnership, and reputation are the foundation of our company and at the heart of our internship program.

Arizona Opera azopera.org

GoDaddy godaddy.com

CHASSE Building Team chasse.us

A seasoned recitalist, orchestra soloist and collaborative pianist, Christopher Cano has performed throughout the US, Mexico, Israel, Europe, and the Far East. He has prepared singers for appearances at the renowned venues internationally; and similarly for orchestral appearances. As a collaborative artist, he has played in the masterclasses acclaimed of such luminaries as Licia Albanese, Fedora Barbieri and Anna Moffo.

Stacy Cline is GoDaddy’s Corporate Sustainability senior director responsible for driving the strategic direction of GoDaddy’s ESG efforts, social impact programs, CSR processes and initiatives, and engagement across cultures to create business value.

Her passion for inclusive entrepreneurship is evident in her experiences running the Empower by GoDaddy program that equips entrepreneurs in underserved communities with the resources and networks needed to accelerate their journeys.

Jim Gmelich is Culture Champion at CHASSE Building Team, an employee-owned local general contractor with more than $400 million in Arizona projects annually. A former client and both a former education and nonprofit leader, Gmelich directs professional and leadership development and career progression while cultivating, promoting and celebrating CHASSE’s extraordinary culture.

Sign up for the monthly In Business Magazine eNewsletter at www.inbusinessphx.com. Look for survey questions and other research on our business community.

QUICK AND TO THE POINT

DAILIES TOP STORIES

‘In Business Dailies’ Most Views Last 30 Days Here are the stories with the most views over the past 30 days (prior to press time) that were features in our In Business Dailies. The In Business Dailies hit email inboxes twice each weekday — at 9:30 a.m. and updated at 4:30 p.m. Sign up today at www.inbusinessphx.com/dailies-signup

JPMorgan Chase Invests in Second Chance Hiring JPMorgan Chase recently brought to Phoenix its Second Chance program, previously launched in Chicago and Columbus. Operating in collaboration with Phoenix-based nonprofits to provide career coaching and more, the community-based hiring model Phoenix will help remove barriers for qualified people with criminal backgrounds to secure employment at JPMorgan Chase — if their histories fit within industry regulatory guidelines and their criminal backgrounds have no bearing on the job requirements — further building an inclusive hiring pipeline.

Says Mike Cunningham, managing director and an operations executive for JPMorgan Chase in Phoenix, “In our market, we hire customerfacing operational jobs such as credit card collection and credit card lending. Once they get their foot in the door [as employees], then the sky’s the limit to expand and make it a career.”

For its application process, JPMorgan Chase is proactively “banning the box” on job applications and removing all questions about criminal backgrounds from job applications. “This allows them to have a fair review for the job,” explains Monique Baptiste, who leads Chase’s firmwide Second Chance efforts. “Once they get a conditional offer, we add the regulatory requirement of background checks.” The offense is evaluated to see if it meets the FDIC’s “minimus threshold” of what is permissible in the banking industry. This, she notes, is what makes having a legal aid partner a critical piece of the program. “Applicants have assistance in how to make their case and put their best foot forward to explain why their history does not pose a risk to the firm.”

As of February, 10% of new JPMorgan Chase employees in the U.S. — more than 2,100 in 2020 — are Second Chance hires.

In April last year, the firm joined a group of major employers and national organizations to launch the Second Chance Business Coalition as part of its commitment to give people with criminal backgrounds a second chance by supporting their reentry into the workforce, community and local economies. The SCBC has grown to include about 40 companies from across industries that are dedicated to second chance hiring and career advancement.

Policymakers and businesses increasingly recognize that providing education, skills training and employment opportunities to people with arrest or conviction histories helps reduce recidivism, and, with people connected to a job instead of re-offending, this increases public safety, builds stronger communities and strengthens the economy.

And studies bear out the benefit to the employer: higher rates of retention than in the general workforce, as these employees demonstrate a real passion for employers who gave them that second chance.

Chase’s partnership with a legal aid partner offers opportunity beyond its own firm.

“Applicants also have the opportunity to work with a legal partner to get an FDIC waiver — the FDIC’s process to have this person’s criminal background, essentially, waived for them to continue to have opportunity in any company within the banking industries,” says Baptiste.

“We’ve really invested in the knowledge of our legal aid partners to prepare and empower these applicants to put their best foot forward and remove all these legal blocks that may come in down the line as they’re continuing to move in their career.”

—RaeAnne Marsh

Economy & Trends | Cover Story | March 2022

The Ripple Effect: How Nonprofits Build Our Economy

by RaeAnne Marsh “Based on Arizona and U.S. national statistics on impact of the nonprofit sector, it’s very clear that it is an economic driver in terms of workforce development generating economic potential,” says Richard Tollefson, founder and president of The Phoenix Philanthropy Group.

Growth & Enterprise | inbusinessphx.com | March 23 2022

Williams-Sonoma Leases Facility in Glendale Creating More Than 2,400 Jobs inbusinessPHX.com The Arizona Commerce Authority and the City of Glendale announced today that Williams-Sonoma, Inc., the world’s largest digital-first, design-led and sustainable home furnishings retailer, has leased a 1.25-million-square-foot facility in Glendale.

Economy & Trends | Guest Columnists | March 2022

Affordable Housing Is an Employment Issue

by Don Henninger Why is it that, when trying to solve problems, communities often wait until they are at the edge of a crisis before acting? That’s where things are now where it comes to affordable housing. The alarm bells are sounding. But the truth is, they have been ringing now for a few years and it looks like many cities in the Valley have not been listening.

Growth & Enterprise | inbusinessphx.com | March 15 2022

Goodwill Breaks Ground on First-of-ItsKind Adult High School in Phoenix inbusinessPHX.com Governor Doug Ducey this morning welcomed Goodwill’s first Excel Center in Arizona at a groundbreaking ceremony.

“Arizonans who are past the eligible age to attend high school and never got a diploma should have all the same opportunities to pursue the career of their choosing,” said Governor Ducey at the groundbreaking.

“This brick-and-mortar, tuition-free academy designed to help adult learners get their high school diploma will only accelerate Arizona’s skilled workforce.”

JPMorgan Chase jpmorganchase.com

As part of its Second Chance program, providing job opportunities for people with a criminal background, JPMorgan Chase in Phoenix is collaborating with St. Joseph the Worker, Arouet Foundation, Friendly House, Maricopa County Smart Justice Program, Fresh Start Women’s Foundation, Hope Lives and Community Legal Services to provide these job seekers with key resources, such as legal services, job search support and mentorship.

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QUICK AND TO THE POINT

LOOKING GOOD

Local Standouts Recognized for Achievements and Philanthropy ACHIEVEMENTS

NAIOP Arizona Honored at Industry Merit Awards The Arizona Chapter of NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, was named 2022 Large Chapter of the Year at the annual Chapter Merit Awards. It also won an award for a record Highest Number of New Members among the 52 chapters across the U.S. and Canada last year, adding more than 270 new members in 2021. naiop.org

Have Her Back One of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies Have Her Back has been named to Fast Company’s

Adamo Ed Offers Innovative Micro-School Model Adamo Education is the “next evolution of learning,” combining elements from traditional, online and home school education models to create a positive, personalized environment where children love to learn, according to its founder and CEO Tamara Becker, an educator with 25 years of experience in traditional, charter, online and hybrid school models.

The multi-age micro school is a concept similar to the one-room schoolhouse from decades ago. Innovated for flexibility, the micro school might meet for a few hours each day or for three full days a week depending on the needs of students, families and their teachers.

Annual List of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies for 2022. Founded in 2019 by Caroline Dettman, Pamela Culpepper and Erin Gallagher, Have Her Back is a womanowned, minority-led culture consultancy working with companies to tackle equity for all historically excluded groups differently and authentically driving change in corporate workplaces and in culture. haveherback.com

Camelot Homes Receives Top Honors in Homebuyers’ Choice Awards At the 27th Annual Homebuyers’ Choice Awards, Camelot Homes received first place in the nation for Purchase Experience in the medium builder category. The familyowned luxury homebuilder also received second place for Design Experience, and at least a top five placement for all other categories in which they were nominated. camelothomes.com

PHILANTHROPY

ProShred Arizona Benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters of Arizona ProShred Arizona raised more than $1,300 for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Arizona and was able to shred and recycle more than 6,000 pounds of documents and files at its recent annual shred event. bbbsaz.org proshred.com/greater-phoenix

Cox Techs Install Critical Technology for the First 3D Printed Home in Arizona Cox Communications, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, recently installed Cox Home Security and other critical technology for the first 3D-printed home in Arizona. Cox worked directly with the homeowners to provide all the technology the family would need to fully enjoy their new home on move-in day. The Cox services are donated for one year. Everything else was gifted to the family. Total value of the services donated and goods received by the family is more than $15,000. cox.com • habitat.org

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All instruction is led by teachers who hold a valid license to teach in the State of Arizona, and Adamo Education works in partnership with EdKey, Inc., a large charter school network, to strengthen minds using proven, evidence-based, engaging digital curriculum aligned to state standards. This digital platform empowers students to complete assignments on their own time and continue progressing remotely, if needed.

Opening its first micro school in Fountain Hills, Adamo Education has plans to expand to Gilbert, San Tan Valley, Scottsdale, Chandler, Mesa and Queen Creek.

—Mike Hunter Adamo Education adamoeducation.org

Banks and Credit Unions: Understanding the Differences Bank or credit union? That’s a question most will have when deciding where to begin their financial journey.

Credit unions are often misunderstood. In fact, some common misconceptions about credit unions are that strict requirements exist for membership and that credit unions don’t have up-to-date technology. Both may have been true in the past but are no longer the case.

With OneAZ Credit Union, for instance, anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in Arizona is eligible to join. And technology enables banking “whenever and wherever” thanks to mobile banking apps that put credit unions at least on par with national banks.

For-profit versus not-for-profit: Unlike traditional banks, credit unions are not-forprofit. That means credit unions can put their profits back into their services, resulting in lower account fees and lower interest rates on loans. Because they are usually based in the local community, credit unions also tend to have more flexibility in decision making.

Local and community-based: Banking with a local credit union keeps money circulating in the local community. Local deposits fund local loans made to local residents or businesses, which strengthens the economy of the town, county and state where the transactions take place. The local aspect is also a differentiator between national banks and community banks.

Lower rates: Credit union members traditionally have access to lower interest rates for home and auto loans. Because credit unions are not-for-profit, they’re able to return their earnings back to members in the form of lower interest rates and lower fees. This translates to lower monthly payments and extra savings.

FDIC versus NCUA: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures traditional banking institutions for up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership type should the bank fail. Similarly, the National Credit Union Administration provides member protection for credit unions.

Because members own a share in their credit union, NCUA guarantees up to $250,000 per share owner, per insured credit union, for each account ownership type if the credit union closes or goes into a conservatorship.

Another difference derives from the fact that the relationship with the banker is built on the client being a member rather than a customer.

“Our ultimate goal is to improve the lives and financial well-being of our members, not maximize the stock price for stockholders,” says Kim Reedy, president and CEO of OneAZ Credit Union. “We’ve been helping Arizonans for over 70 years and remain dedicated to supporting social programs and economic development in our communities.”

—Mike Hunter OneAZ Credit Union oneazcu.com

NAIOP Arizona has won a national award 15 out of the past 16 years. Besides being named Large Chapter of the Year several times, the chapter has also won the Chapter Merit Awards in recent years for Education, Membership, Communications, and Government/Legislative Affairs. naiop.org

Lastassia “Lady La” Eidson Founder of Mahalo Made, Member since 2013

Next Level Banking for your business is here.

Seamlessly transition between your desktop and smartphone to access your business accounts wherever you are, whenever you want.

With the new OneAZ Mobile Banking app, you get access to enhanced features, including:

Account Management

Payment Scheduling

Business Credit Card Controls

Serving over 10,000 Arizona businesses.

Connect with a OneAZ business banker at OneAZcu.com/Business.

Insured by NCUA Data rates may apply.

Merchant Services

Cash Management

METRICS & MEASUREMENTS

Phoenix Is a Top 10 Startup City

Rivals Silicon Valley as tech hub

by Jaime Dunaway-Seale

Jaime Dunaway-Seale is a data writer at Clever Real Estate, a free agentmatching service that has helped consumers make smarter real estate decisions through its library of educational content and data-driven research. listwithclever.com

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In the past decade, Phoenix has developed into a technological hub to rival that of Silicon Valley. The capital city’s rise as an innovation center has made it one of the fastest-growing metros in the United States, with job growth exceeding the national average by 44%.

This is among several key findings in a new study from Clever Real Estate, “2022 Data: What Are the Best Cities to Start a Business,” that ranks Phoenix as the seventh-best city in the U.S. to start a business.

Once seen as an area with limited investment dollars, the metro has secured nearly $2 billion in venture capital funding since 2015, driving the area’s growth. Homegrown startups such as Carvana, Offerpad and Thredup have found success in the region, causing larger companies to take note.

The metro has become a popular expansion location for many businesses — including DoorDash and Zoom — because of the state’s business-friendly tax policies.

In 2018, Arizona became the first U.S. state to create a financial services sandbox allowing entrepreneurs to test innovative products in the market for two years before obtaining required authorizations. Then in 2021, the state legislature reauthorized an angel investment tax credit that makes raising money easier for Arizona startups.

The competitive tax environment mitigates operating costs, making the metro one of the cheapest places to do business. Phoenix also offers an affordable cost of living for employees,

who drive companies’ success. Housing costs in Phoenix are 126% lower than neighboring Los Angeles, while grocery and healthcare expenses are 18% and 22% cheaper, respectively, according to a report from the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (www.gpec.org/ startup-ecosystem).

Plus, with the area’s more than 300 days of sunshine, hungry entrepreneurs in Phoenix can find work-life balance exploring the metro’s many parks or craft breweries.

THREE REASONS PHOENIX IS A TOP CITY FOR BUSINESS

Employment Growth: Employment growth is a sign of surging business, and Phoenix added jobs at a rate of 5.6% over the last 12 months. That’s the fifth-highest rate among all cities Clever studied.

Affordable Workforce: The Phoenix metro area is home to just under half of all Arizona universities, including Arizona State — named by U.S. News & World Report last year as the most innovative university in the U.S. for the seventh consecutive year.

The educational community provides a local, specialized workforce that is one of the most affordable in the country.

Employees make an average of $51,851 annually, which is 18% less than the national average ($63,363).

Low Startup Costs: Phoenix is one of the cheapest places to start a business with an LLC filing fee ($50) that’s three times lower than the national average ($154) and an incorporation fee ($60) that’s twice as inexpensive. Such low startup costs allow funding to last longer, giving businesses more time to get off the ground.

Top 10 Metro Area Rankings Ranking by … … Overall

… Job Growth (U.S. average 3.9%)

… LLC Filing Fee (U.S. average $154)

… Inc. Filing Fee (U.S. average $135)

1. Las Vegas, Nev.

Las Vegas, Nev. (8.5%)

Phoenix, Ariz. ($50)

Denver, Colo. ($50)

2. Salt Lake City, Utah

Orlando, Fla. (7%)

Denver, Colo. ($50)

Oklahoma City, Ok. ($52)

3. Orlando, Fla.

Austin, Tex. (7%)

Kansas City, Mo. ($50)

Louisville, Ky. ($55)

4. Miami, Fla.

Los Angeles, Calif. (5.8%)

Detroit, Mich. ($50)

Kansas City, Mo. ($58)

5. Atlanta, Ga.

Tampa, Fla. (5.6%)

St. Louis, Mo. ($50)

St. Louis, Mo. ($58)

6. Tampa Bay, Fla.

Phoenix, Ariz. (5.6%)

Louisville, Ky. ($55)

Phoenix, Ariz. ($60)

7. Phoenix, Ariz.

Seattle, Wash. (5.6%)

Salt Lake City, Utah ($72)

Detroit, Mich. ($60)

8. Jacksonville, Fla.

Boston, Mass. (5.6%)

Las Vegas, Nev. ($75)

Salt Lake City, Utah ($72)

9. Denver, Colo.

Denver, Colo. (5.2%)

Los Angeles, Calif. ($75)

Las Vegas, Nev. ($75)

10. Kansas City, Mo.

Portland, Ore. (5.2%)

San Jose, Calif. ($75)

Orlando, Fla. ($78.75)

The 10 best metros for startups boast a booming business climate with 8,428 business applications filed per 100,000 residents in the last five years. That’s 42% more than the studied city average (5,931).

Source: realestatewitch.com/best-startup-cities-2022

Women- and minority-owned firms comprise about 68% of all firms in the Phoenix metro area, according to U.S. Census data. https://bit.ly/3IYGL3c

ENTREPRENEURS & INNOVATORS

Caribou: Childcare & Community Taking to heart the advice, “Create a product that people need,” Dinali de Silva and Jordan Kong founded Caribou last year to provide “reliable childcare.” Says de Silva, “Childcare in America is a fragmented and broken system. The current options are either too expensive for the average family or don’t offer the one-to-one attention that young kids need.

At Caribou, we believe you shouldn’t have to choose between personalized childcare from a nanny and the social benefits from a daycare center. With Caribou, your child gets a new friend to play with and you can be rest assured that your child is being cared for by a mother in your community.”

Caribou matches stay-at-home moms looking to provide care with families looking for childcare. “Our care providers go through a rigorous onboarding process which includes an interview with a Caribou team member, ID verification and background check,” de Silva explains. “As a care seeker, once you’ve registered, you’re able to scroll through care providers that are pre-vetted and matched based on your preferences.”

Recognizing that childcare is a very high-consideration service and establishing trust with care seekers and care providers as a new company in this space can be a challenge,

the Caribou team spent a lot of one-on-one time from the get-go in talking and working with the care providers and care seekers to ensure the process was going smoothly and working together to create the most seamless experience.

“Over time, as we’ve been able to grow in the Greater Phoenix area, partnering with amazing local organizations and working with the community, we’ve been able to build trust in the space.”

—RaeAnne Marsh Caribou withcaribou.com

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Owner and chef Leila Beltrame started putting her artisan empanadas and Brazilian cheese rolls on the market last November, launching with an event to benefit a local nonprofit. “They are healthy food options because they do not contain any type of preservative,” she says, noting they use the best ingredients available, including organic.

“We sell them frozen so the customer can eat the perfect portion size they like and when they wish.”

Beltrame founded the company in March last year, and says the biggest challenge since the beginning was to find confidence the public would like her products. “In order to understand the market and how people would react to our empanadas, we did a series of prototypes and sold them to neighbors, friends, and whoever would like to taste them,” she says. “The input from the people that bought during this phase was invaluable for us to make decisions on what would be the products at the beginning and what we needed to change or adapt to get more traction

on sales. It also helped us to determine the price range we could sell our products and also validate some of the assumptions related to production.”

Now, pointing out that April 8th is National Empanada Day, she says the company has a series of other products and additional flavors in the pipeline.

Her inspiration for starting this company came from a passion for cooking along with a desire to open a meaningful company that provides options of healthy and delicious food and also supports small business — as part of her distribution model — and kids in need. The company partners with the H.E.L.P. Snackz program that fills the hunger gap by providing meals to local students through daily afternoon nutritional snack bags. “Growing up, my family’s farm encountered devastation from losing crops to frosts on multiple occasions, and it was thanks to Nona’s (my grandma) knowledge of preserving and preparing food, that we were able to survive destruction and rebuild,” Beltrame shares.

Says Beltrame, “My family and I are elated to bring this traditional Latin-American flavorful cuisine to the community and give back to others in need, living by the mantra ‘Let’s eat well, together!’”

—RaeAnne Marsh Leila’s Empanadas leilasempanadas.com

Caribou co-founder Dinali de Silva says part of the business’s mission is to “create a community!

Because we know that no matter what the world throws at us, families are anchors. And when those anchors join forces, no parent or child ever needs to feel alone and adrift again.”

Photos courtesy of Caribou (top), Leila’s Empanadas (bottom)

Family Tradition Inspires Leila’s Empanadas

PROPERTY, GROWTH AND LOCATION

GET REAL

Images courtesy of City of Buckeye (top, right), Callaway Architecture (middle)

VDC Leading the Way in Creating Sustainable Buildings As the industry continues to overcome the aftermath of the pandemic, in addition to today’s supply chain issues, leaders are seeking better efficiencies within the workplace now more than ever before. In a larger effort to keep up with the high demand of commercial real estate projects, implementing virtual design & construction (VDC) within their processes can benefit general contractors and other industry professionals.

The technological resource takes a modernized approach to project management. It utilizes digital resources to create a visual model of a project prior to it being physically constructed, significantly reducing the chance for unnecessary error. Additionally, it provides a more accurate representation of the materials needed for the project, giving those on the job a better idea of the exact cost rather than overordering and wasting materials.

More sustainability: One of the leading issues within the construction industry is the waste of materials. Whether it’s overordering or needing to rework jobs, these are common examples of missed productivity. VDC’s technology can help ensure that sustainable and energy-efficient materials are being integrated from the ground up, significantly reducing the potential risk of having to restart projects or fix any issues that may occur later within the timeline due to oversights during the planning phases.

Better transparency: From the start, VDC offers transparency in projects as it enables leaders to foresee any issues prior to breaking ground while providing an exact overview of what materials and products are needed. This level of transparency can be highly valuable during the various phases of a project’s process, especially throughout the design and construction phases. In the design phase, all parties involved in the project can see, in real-time, the materials and tools that are needed throughout the building schedule.

Collaboration: VDC allows for real-time collaboration to ensure all key players can find and integrate the most cost- and energy-efficient products from start to finish. Crosscollaboration between subcontractors is increased as everyone involved stays updated on all phases of the project. With VDC, everything is modeled and integrated together, therefore allowing all parties to collaborate and communicate together in real-time.

Increased cost efficiency: Because the technology identifies everything needed for a project upfront, VDC helps keep production on schedule, which is one of the top performance objectives managers seek to achieve. Additionally, VDC can provide post-construction benefits by providing building managers with valuable insight and information that helps them run their structure sustainably and at its peak performance.

Thanks to VDC’s in-depth and detailed 3D models, building managers receive a vault of knowledge and information that enables them to better maintain it, ensuring that it runs as efficiently as possible and the need for updates or repairs down the road can be pushed out farther into the future.

VDC’s benefits go beyond the initial groundbreaking and has been proven to provide cost-effective and eco-friendly solutions every step of the way. The implementation of VDC will support the efforts from contractors, designers and project managers alike in creating a more sustainable construction industry.

—Barry Wurzel, founder and president of Wurzel Builders (wurzelbuilders.com)

by Mike Hunter

Abrazo to Build Med Campus in W. Phoenix Abrazo Health has acquired property to develop a medical campus on 27 acres near the southwest corner of I-10 and Verrado Way. The initial phase of the development is expected to break ground in 2022.

Plans for the campus include a medical office building, ambulatory services and an acute care hospital. Abrazo Health anticipates that its new medical campus will be a health care anchor for this fast-growing area and a driver of economic activity. abrazohealth.com

Rehab Hospital Breaks Ground in Peoria Adolfson & Peterson Construction, a top national construction management firm and general contractor, and Reunion Rehabilitation Hospitals, a system of state-of-the-art inpatient rehabilitation hospitals — with support from America Development & Investments LLC, a leading healthcare real estate developer based in Dallas — recently broke ground on a new, 49,128-square-foot hospital in Peoria that will offer inpatient rehabilitation care for people with debilitating illnesses and injuries such as stroke and brain injury, as well as other complex neurological and orthopedic conditions. a-p.com • americadevelopment.com • reunionrehabhospital.com

New CRE Firm Addresses Arizona’s Growing Need for Healthcare Facilities As the Phoenix area continues to see the nation’s fastest growth, demand for medical services is also rising. To help clinicians provide the care the Valley needs, long-time commercial real estate broker Trisha Talbot recently launched Doc Properties, a real estate investment services firm that serves healthcare practices and investors in a booming property sector.

Scottsdale-based Doc Properties assists clients with facilities ranging from ambulatory surgical centers and urgent care properties to medical office buildings. The firm also identifies opportunities for adaptive reuse and helps clients build to suit. docproperties.com

Through virtual design and construction, contractors can create a visual model of a project prior to it being physically constructed, enabling a more accurate representation of the materials needed for the project and giving those on the job a better idea of the exact cost rather than overordering and wasting materials.

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PROPERTY, GROWTH AND LOCATION

Peoria’s Largest Master-Planned Community Site Draws Developer Castle Hill Partners, an Austin-based community developer, purchased the 5,261-acre master-planned community project known as Saddleback Heights. The parcel is the largest remaining undeveloped master planned community project site in the city of Peoria, Arizona.

“This is one of the highest-quality sites for a new master planned community we have seen in our search of the major U.S. growth markets,” says John McKinnerney, principal with Castle Hill Partners. “We are excited to begin our development journey with the City of Peoria and create a lineup of high-quality builders that will allow us to provide a variety of new home options and desirable community amenities for future residents.”

Saddleback Heights was initially planned in the 1990s.

Castle Hill Partners has immediate plans to commence development of the site. The purchase marks the developer’s first master-planned community development in Arizona. Land Advisors Organization professionals Greg Vogel, Ryan Semro, Bret Rinehart, Mike Schwab and Wes Campbell represented Vandon Partners, LLC, a partnership between Diamond Ventures and VT LandGroup, the seller in the transaction.

The property is set amongst the natural Sonoran Desert foothills in the northwest Valley, providing panoramic mountain views, excelling schools, parks, trails and significant open space, and is only minutes to the popular Lake Pleasant recreational area. Located in the immediate path of growth

along Highway 74, the development is adjacent to the popular Vistancia community and only 15 minutes from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s $12 billion computer chip fabrication plant, which is expected to open in 2024.

“Saddleback Heights is one of the last remaining development opportunities of its size in the Phoenix MSA,” says Greg Vogel, CEO of Land Advisors Organization. “Castle Hill’s development expertise and ability to execute a project of this scale will certainly ensure its success and provide muchneeded new residential options to accommodate the West Valley’s growing employment base.”

—Mike Hunter Castle Hill Partners castlehillco.com Land Advisors Organization landadvisors.com

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Korman Communities and RXR have completed the purchase of their first property in the Phoenix market: AVE Phoenix Terra at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Fillmore Street. The newly opened 348-unit, seven-story, professionally managed, Class A residential mid-rise features luxury apartments, fully furnished apartments, 60,000 square feet of amenity space, and 7,000 square feet of retail space.

It introduces AVE’s flexible-living option to the market — fully furnished apartments, complete with furnishings, fully accessorized kitchens, linens and utilities — for month-tomonth leases, which will support its relocation boom.

“Our fully furnished apartments are a comfortable, temporary living solution for companies who need corporate housing for their employees and transferees for 30 days or more,” explains Lea Anne Welsh, COO of Korman Communities and president of AVE. “We’re also a great solution for individuals who are renovating their home, in between homes, or rethinking their current living situation.”

Korman Communities, a Philadelphia-based, fifth-generation, 100-year-old real estate company operating multifamily and hotel brands AVE and aka throughout the United States and in London, and RXR, a New York-based investor and developer that manages $22.4 billion in commercial and multi-family properties nationwide, were aligned in their goals to bring a best-in-class multi-family product to Greater Phoenix.

“We’ve been looking at the Phoenix market for a few years now because it’s a desirable area where people want to live and work,” says Bradley Korman, co-CEO of Korman Communities. “This acquisition will represent the first of many new ventures for us in this market.”

“We’re proud to partner with the Korman organization in providing our residents with a world-class living experience filled with amenity-rich programming, state-of-the-art technology, and ‘five-star’ service,” says Scott Rechler, chairman and CEO of RXR. —Ashley J. Cerasaro Korman Communities korman.com RXR Realty rxrrealty.com

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Landsea Homes Corporation officially broke ground in March on three new communities in Arizona: El Cidro in Goodyear (201 single-family homes), Rev at Eastmark in Mesa (90 single-family homes) and The Villages at North Copper Canyon in Surprise (315 single-family homes). landseahomes.com

Photo courtesy of Castle Hill Partners

Korman Communities, RXR Make Phoenix Debut with Flexible-Living Multifamily Development

MINDING THEIR BUSINESS

‘I Bend Spoons,’ Says 72SOLD Creator Treating the status quo as just a baseline for disruptive improvement

by Greg Hague

• 72SOLD is growing at more than 400% annually, and is widely expected to IPO within three years.

• Hague Partners is the 72SOLD affiliate in Arizona, with more than 400 agents across the Valley.

• 72Gives.com is the philanthropic arm of the company.

• The average sale price of homes sold using 72SOLD was 8.4% above the MLS average. That means sellers walked away with an average of 8.4% more than if they sold the traditional way.

average of 8.4% higher prices for our sellers.

We started with a clean slate and reinvented the way homes are sold. Like I learned in my early days in real estate, it’s not about “me” or how “good” I am. It’s about “you” and what I can do for you, which always, always, has to be about a new, differentiating, better way that’s intuitively better. Most of the time when we meet home sellers and they learn about our program, they ask, “Why isn’t everyone doing it?” That’s when we know we’re on the right track.

Gandhi said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Back when my dad made me shut down my first disruptive real estate program (because of objections from his agents), I learned that if you expect to effect change, you’d better be able to take flak from those you force to change. But it’s okay when you realize you’re doing good for consumers and, ultimately, your competitors will be doing it, too.

Obsessions come in many forms. We can be obsessed with good things, like our kids, our passions and our relationships.

We can become obsessed with bad things, like regret, revenge or raisins (they’re really not bad; I just don’t care for them).

My obsession is positive, consumer-based disruption.

Amazon did it. Uber did it. Carvana is doing it. Those firms disrupt industries for the benefit of consumers — those who are served by that industry. That’s what I hope to be my legacy.

While others in my industry may use spoons, I bend the damned things.

72SOLD 72sold.com

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72SOLD founder Greg Hague was attacked by a bear, crashed his motorcycle in Africa, was a drummer in a popular rock band, and force-landed his private plane on a remote island in the Atlantic where he was stranded for several days. Hague also received the No. 1 score on the Arizona Bar Exam at 60 years old after being out of law school for more than 35 years.

Photo courtesy of 72SOLD

STATS AND FACTS ABOUT 72SOLD

There’s a popular scene from the 1999 blockbuster hit movie The Matrix in which Keanu Reeves (Neo) interacts with a child who appears to bend a spoon with his mind. As he hands the spoon to Reeves, the young boy says, “Do not try to bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth … There is no spoon.”

I see business that way. You can’t look at “the spoon,” which is the way an industry operates, as anything other than a baseline. It’s the spoon you are about to bend. The unbent spoon is merely the baseline for change.

When I first got into real estate, I worked for my dad in Cincinnati. As a new agent, I found it difficult (actually impossible) to convince home sellers to sell with me when they could choose from among many highly experienced, wellknown competitors.

So, I devised a program that sellers couldn’t say no to. I called it “Make Every Agent Your Listing Agent.” Typically, when you list a home, if the commission is 6%, your listing agent splits it with the agent who represents the buyer. I told sellers I would pay the entire 6% to any agent who procured the buyer.

The only question sellers ever asked me was, “What’s in it for you?” My answer was that I might earn the full 6% if I found a buyer. If I didn’t, “you” (the sellers) would hopefully be thrilled with me for making your home so salable. Therefore you’d probably buy a home through me (where I’d earn 3%) and refer your friends to me for years to come. Every seller I met with said, “Of course we would do all that.”

My business skyrocketed, until my dad (for whom I worked) called me into the office and shut it down. Why? Not because it was a bad program, but because the other agents in his firm complained to him (vociferously) that “The boss’s son has gone rogue” and “He’s taking all the listings away from us unfairly with a gimmick.” Dad told me he couldn’t afford to lose all his sales agents because of me … even though the program was pretty darn smart.

That program was my epiphany in real estate and business.

Look at how the other guy is doing business and “invent” a product, process or strategy that “blows your competitors away” because your customers can’t say no to it.

I’ve done this often over the years, mostly in real estate. And that’s the foundation for 72SOLD. Sellers hate daily showings, so we eliminated them. Sellers hate to decide on offers day after day before every possible buyer has had a chance to make an offer, so we arranged for sellers to see offers from every possible buyer all at the same time. Sellers also often don’t want to move right away when they close, so we arranged for them to stay up to six months.

And of paramount importance, sellers want to know they are getting absolute top dollar, over market value for their home, so we developed a competitive auction-like-process that (according to a one-year independent study) resulted in an

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Expecting Your Organization to Win While Stuck in Reverse?

Problem Solving & Innovation? Different Gear.

Creative & Collaborative Mindset? Different Gear.

Mental & Physical Health? Different Gear.

To the Nervous System, Chronic Stress IS Reverse.

To be focused and productive, your leaders must know how to shift out of reverse and into the right gear whenever the stress of change or challenge downshifts them.

Kinessage® Mindful Resilience teaches leaders to neurologically shift both their physiology and mindset to quickly return their focus to modeling and managing a healthier culture and business.

Give your leaders the skills they need to drive your business forward, and ready to face the next curve with greater resilience.

Leadership Resilience Consulting & Training: C-Suite to Supervisors Kinessage LLC 602.617.9737 • www.kathleengramzay.com/contact

YOUR BENEFIT IN BUSINESS

Re-Examining Burnout: Symptoms and Workplace Prevention Tools

WELL WELL WELL

Business Community Would See Return on Investment in Brain Health The death of beloved comedian Bob Saget in January of 2022 shocked and saddened the world. The loss was compounded in February when we learned that Bob passed away due to an untreated and undiagnosed head injury. The authorities concluded that Bob hit his head at some point, thought nothing of it and went to sleep, instead of seeking medical attention for his head injury. The grief and loss the Saget family is faced with is devastating and unimaginable.

Sadly, it’s compounded by the knowledge that this is a scenario that will play out in houses all across America as the year unfolds. Brain injury (a bump, blow, or jolt to the head) is all too common. In fact, in the United States, a traumatic brain injury occurs every 15 seconds.

The compounding lack of investment in brain health education, brain injury prevention, and post-injury community supports will almost certainly guarantee that brain injury will continue to be the number one cause of death and disability in adults and children. For those who survive a brain injury, the costs of medical treatment and lost income quickly add up. Estimated in 2010, the lifetime economic cost of TBI, including direct and indirect medical costs, was estimated to be approximately $76.5 billion. Employees who are struggling with the sudden onset of caregiving duties after a loved one sustains a brain injury is also a concern to businesses large and small as top employees experience a loss in productivity or leave the workforce entirely to assist in recovery and care.

Bob’s family has asked that the love and laughter he brought to the world be his legacy. Given the astounding impact of brain injury, both personal and financial, I would ask that leaving us with a renewed urgency to understand and prevent brain injury also be part of Bob Saget’s incredible legacy. —Carrie Collins Fadell, MPA, CEO of the Brain Injury Alliance of Arizona (biaaz.org), a statewide nonprofit that supports survivors of all types of acquired brain injury, and chair-elect of the United States Brain Injury Alliance (usbia.org)

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Employees are tired of being burned out, and no industry has been spared. Employees have solely carried the burden of their burnout for far too long.

Although tools to recognize the signs of burnout are extremely important, it is imperative that organizations recognize and take responsibility for how they’re contributing to employee burnout.

BURNOUT WARNING SIGNS

For many, the first stage of burnout starts with good intentions and a heavy emphasis on work, but can progress toward more serious consequences if work-life balance is not prioritized. Here are signs that may indicate increased risk for burnout: • Sleep issues, such as insomnia, restlessness and nightmares • Physical exhaustion, fatigue or feeling run down • Shifting toward a more cynical, negative or disconnected view of one’s job • Feeling less sympathetic toward others • Feeling a greater lack of appreciation • Increased irritability, frustration or moodiness • Becoming more withdrawn • Reduced productivity • Changes in eating habits • Physical symptoms, such as stomach aches, backaches, headaches, etc.

Individuals experiencing these concerns can talk to a primary care provider or therapist, who can help them find strategies to address their symptoms.

WORKPLACE BURNOUT PREVENTION TOOLS

Employers can help by taking steps to assess how their workplace structure, environment and culture may be contributing to employee burnout.

Here are a few ways to do that: • Research and learn how burnout may be impacting employees. Emerging data, resources, experts and tools are readily available to support this process.

• Welcome feedback and community engagement. Workers know pain points best. Survey and engage in discussion directly with frontline employees and encourage their honest feedback.

• Work culture should include well-being.

Management and HR should have the tools they need to assess and recognize signs of burnout, and be able to advise or refer to the appropriate

The blood vessels in the brain become less elastic or more rigid with age, meaning a bump or blow to the head that was seemingly inconsequential at a younger age can be deadly as a senior.

resource. Leadership should model and take this “practice what you preach” role seriously by talking about mental health at work and promoting provided resources.

• Offer comprehensive resources.

Leadership should think outside the box and not just offer what might have been the “status quo” for the company or industry. Parental leave coverage, mental health support apps and behavioral health offerings through employee assistance plans (EAPs) are easy ways to support workers who are likely to be at greater risk for burnout.

• Assess workload and set realistic expectations. Many professions are rooted in a culture that rewards behaviors that lead toward burnout. Reviewing expectations can help expose workplace cultures that create a path to burnout.

Looking closely at workload distribution can also shed light on situations where the most weight is being carried by a few.

• Make meaning and connection.

Employees who can connect their role with a greater mission report less burnout and greater job satisfaction. Leadership should take the time to clearly communicate the company’s goals and mission and have conversations that explain how each role contributes to that bigger picture.

Although employers may feel the need to make immediate change, creating and fostering a proactive approach to preventing burnout is a long-term, dynamic process that takes time and continued practice. But investing in employee mental health pays off and makes a difference in the lives of millions. Employee mental health is something that Advanced Recovery Systems, a physician-led behavioral health care company, has been monitoring throughout the pandemic and developed the Nobu app to help address the urgent mental health needs of the U.S. workforce.

In order to adequately address burnout, employers and employees alike must take responsibility for what leads to this devastating syndrome. Ultimately, some will find the only way out is through more drastic change. For others, simple tweaks and adjustments can go a long way. Whatever the case, why take the risk when there are so many ways to intervene and provide support?

—Angela Phillips, Ph.D., LICSW, telehealth and clinical content director with Advanced Recovery Systems and Nobu Health and Wellness (www.therecoveryvillage.com)

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678790-20

LIFE CAN CHANGE PRETTY QUICKLY. LET US HANDLE THE OTHER STUFF, SO YOU DON’T MISS WHAT MATTERS MOST.

INNOVATIONS FOR BUSINESS

Mobile Ordering Apps Trend

Cybersecurity Checklist for a Safer 2022 Cybersecurity will continue to be a significant concern in 2022 as threats and ransomware reports have had a sharp upturn over the last two years.

There are myriad items to consider in the quest for cybersecurity hygiene, but here’s a few to contemplate: Instill a business-first security mindset.

I believe that security is an enabler to making companies go faster. A business-first mentality enables stakeholders to lead the digital transformation and adopt a modern workplace without compromising security or business continuity. It’s about arming CISOs with everything that’s needed to drive action on the ground.

Secure the cloud. Many companies assume cloud security for their data falls under the responsibility of their Cloud Service Provider (CSP), but that’s not always the case. Businesses leveraging cloud services who experience a breach still must manage the reputation and financial fallout, whether it was their “fault” or not. Cloud Customers should implement both technical (like data encryption) and administrative controls (policy and procedures) based upon the type of cloud architecture in use.

Know the business’s talent and security gaps. Security deficiencies are costing businesses billions of dollars in losses. Businesses lacking staff or training put themselves at a higher risk and should determine when a trusted MSSP, like Avertium, could assist with skills or cycles gaps.

Employee training. Eighty-eight percent of data breach incidents are caused by employee mistakes.

A report by Infosec indicates that about 97% of the people in the world cannot identify a phishing email, while 1 in 25 people click such emails, thus falling prey to cyberattacks. These mistakes can take manpower and deep pockets to get out of. —Paul Caiazzo, CISO, SVP of Corporate Communications with Avertium (avertium.com), a leading Managed Security Service Provider that serves as a trusted advisor as well as providing products and services to protect companies large and small from ransomware, threats, various malware attacks and malicious behavior that cyber criminals employ

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Mobile apps are rapidly taking over as the preferred way for consumers to place an order with local businesses. More than 66% of consumers stated they prefer using digital wallets and apps with brands they like.

Local businesses in Arizona such as coffee shops and restaurants had to adapt quickly to catch up with the trend of mobile payments. Copper Creek Cookies is an example of a local Arizona business that is part of the mobile ordering apps trend. This femaleowned cookie brand wanted to provide a superior customer experience for its Tucson-based business.

Copper Creek Cookies owners Joyce Schulte and Tami Peek decided to launch an app to stay connected with their customers digitally. They also wanted to make it easier to customize orders. After launching a “Starbucks”-like app with convenient ordering and loyalty rewards tracking, Copper Creek Cookies now suggests its customers download the app (pictured) and place orders on their phone to capture the full potential of the brand. Customers can easily re-order from their previous purchases and are suggested with matching items to make their experience more personalized. Deliveries can be requested in the branded app due to the mobile app provider Orda’s partnership with DoorDash.

Driving the trend is the fact that it is now affordable and accessible for businesses to launch an app using a mobile ordering app builder like Orda. The way it works is businesses use a simple drag-and-drop builder to design their app.

They choose their menu and color scheme and branding. The whole process takes around five minutes. Businesses can customize their unique app with a marketplace of third party integrations and features, such as DoorDash and Instagram.

The latest case study of 10 local shops that have joined this trend is available at getorda.com/blog/ posts/10-coffee-shop-mobile-apps.

—Christine Davis, vice president of Orda (getorda.com)

High-Tech ‘Smart Fitness Studio’ Enters Phoenix Area On March 3, a new “smart fitness studio” opened at 4626 N. 16th Street in Phoenix that relies on artificial intelligence and robotics instead of dumbbells, treadmills, etc. The exercise machines adjust a person’s workout to his/her strengths and weaknesses in real time, thereby helping people get the most out of their workout and avoid injury.

Additionally, the proprietary “Exerbotics” machines make the workouts harder as a person gets stronger, so there is no plateau period. The plan is to open another location within the year in the old town Scottsdale/Arcadia (Phoenix) area.

The Exercise Coach’s personalized programs are optimized for efficiency, requiring only two 20-minute workouts per week. The Exercise Coach’s robotic exercise technology is combined with the guidance of certified coaches to provide a comprehensive workout, regardless of initial fitness level. The studios blend personalized strength and interval cardio training in each session.

When people join an Exercise Coach fitness studio, they receive a unique code. In the first

The Exercise Coach is the No. 1 fastest-growing personal training franchise in America, according to Entrepreneur Magazine.

session, they do a range of motion and a strength test to determine a baseline. That information is imported into a computer. Each client’s customized workouts are curated based on this important information. The equipment targets “type II muscles” — those that tend to weaken as people age. This equipment uses electromagnetic technology, instead of weights.

Exerbotics equipment featured at Exercise Coach locations are *Crossfire: (A stretching machine for hamstrings — in some locations), leg press, chest/row, Nucleus: (an abdominal and lower back machine) and shoulder press/pull down.

The Exercise Coach was founded in 2000 and began franchising in 2011. The Exercise Coach established an exclusive relationship with the Exerbotics technology company in 2014. The franchise has more than 140 U.S. locations and more than 35 locations in Japan.

—Julie and Timo Moeller, owners of The Exercise Coach (exercisecoach.com) Photo courtesy of Orda (top right)

TECH NOTES

Our

Bioscience Economy

How this sector is transforming who we are

by RaeAnne Marsh

“If you look at Phoenix of old — if the pandemic had happened in the Phoenix of old — we’d have immediately launched into a recession, like a lot of other top markets have launched into a quasi-recession. But because Phoenix is so diversified in so many industries, the city manager announced last week we have a $76-million surplus this year. Not in a recession. We are moving stronger than we ever have before because we’ve focused the last decade on absolute diversification, with biosciences being a leading sector,” said Christine Mackay, community and economic development director at City of Phoenix, in an interview for this story in late February.

“We have top-ranked healthcare organizations that provide top-notch care, are innovative and known for research excellence,” says Claudia Whitehead, bioscience healthcare program manager in the City of Phoenix’s Economic Development Department. The long list includes Mayo Clinic, Banner Health and Phoenix Children’s Hospital. On the academic stage, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, The University of Arizona, Grand Canyon University, Creighton University and Tufts are powerhouses with their own innovators and support systems in Phoenix. And, of course, leading research institution TGen (Translational Genomics Research Institute) makes its home in Phoenix.

And if that’s not enough to draw more companies into our bioscience and healthcare industry, there’s an extra edge Phoenix has: “We’re attractive to companies outside because we have a business plan to work together,” Whitehead notes, referring to Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap.

“Arizona is the only state that has a blueprint like this,” she says, pointing to the Phoenix Bioscience Campus — which was renamed last month Phoenix Biomedical Core as a truer reflection of its essence — as one of its great accomplishments.

Christine Mackay, community and economic development director at City of Phoenix, says, “When you look at what Phoenix did in creating the PBC here in Downtown Phoenix — although bioscience and healthcare were happening all around us, it really was the first time someone had driven a stake in the ground and said, ‘We’re going to claim this as ours. And this is going to be a strategic move forward in attracting companies.’ And the acquisition and the creation of the 30 acres and the very strategic focus to go after TGen, to go after Dr. Jeffrey Trent … I mean, talk about a time when it took an entire village. This wasn’t the city doing it by itself; this was the state and the county and private sector and foundations and healthcare and the city and others really working to recruit him back to Phoenix. And Phoenix built the TGen building and Dr. Trent is in there and he’s been there since the building opened in 2006. That really was that launch pad for Phoenix to claim this sector as its own.”

Phoenix had to overcome a kinetic energy that had become established in that realm, as this anecdote Mackay shares illustrates: “We would be recruiting at Bio International in the early 2000s, and other cities — Boston and San Francisco, Atlanta, Washington, Philadelphia — each would pat us on the head and say, ‘Aren’t you guys just cute.’ They were 100 years in the market, 40 years in the market, 50 years in the market.” Their message to the Phoenix delegation was, “Yeah, guys, we’ve got this sector sewn up. Please don’t even try. There’s just not much you can do there,” Mackay recalls, relating that, instead, “True to Arizona mentality, we just put our heads down and said, ‘Yeah, sorry about your lock. We’re going to invade in your territory.’ And we did. And it was because we all worked together. It was a sector that, as Mayor Gallego likes to say, ‘The cure for cancer’s going to come through Phoenix.’ And that was the mantra starting in 2001.”

“The City of Phoenix has been very intentional about working with our partners to diversify the economy,” says Mayor Kate Gallego. Stressing the importance of having industries that will thrive regardless of what’s

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happening with the economy, she notes, “Healthcare and bioscience is one where there both an economic and human impact that benefit the city and our residents.”

Pointing out that not only is this an industry that produces higher-wage jobs so one can really have a career and supports people from a wide variety of academic backgrounds, but, she continues, “It’s one that really makes sense for our city given our great university, community colleges and private-sector partners.”

There’s a quality-of-life aspect, as she says, “I also want to make sure that, if our residents have a difficult medical diagnosis, they can get the very best treatments in this community. It’s exciting to me that people come from all over the world to get neurological treatment in this city. It is great news that you can participate in clinical trials and other drug development, therapy development and development of medical devices right here in this community.

“Before I ran for office, I worked with someone whose child had a really hard time gaining weight. TGen helped them with diagnosis and treatment,” Gallego relates, noting the value of parents sleeping better knowing can get treatment for their children.

And, to the point of this article, there is also an amazing economic impact. “The industry has a multiplier of 2.27; for every dollar in, there’s an additional $1.27 generated into our economy. The employment multiplier is 5; for every bioscience job created, they create an additional four jobs,” Gallego says. “That helps strengthen and diversify our economy.”

Regarding other economic sectors that add benefit to and are benefited by growth in the biosciences, Mayor Gallego relates, “Phoenix is now known as an area of excellence for developing, building, designing medical and healthcare facilities. We have many of the top architecture and engineering firms that work on these projects that tend to be very technical. We have construction firms that are sought after all over the country to build hospitals and advanced facilities. We’ve seen a direct capital investment of more than $3.5 billion since 2019, and the growth of 5.5 million square feet of primary facilities. That also is an area I feel Phoenix is a leader nationally and is recognized for building some of the best facilities. In addition to staffing them.”

Collaboration among many parties enabled Phoenix Bioscience Core to become a reality. But credit for spearheading the effort goes to the Flinn Foundation and its creation of the Bioscience Roadmap.

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ARIZONA’S BIOSCIENCE ROADMAP The Flinn Foundation had been predominantly a healthcare foundation for the State of Arizona since the 1960s, having been funded by cardiologist Robert Flinn and his wife, Irene. But as the millennium came to a close, there were a number of new foundations cropping up in Arizona, especially in the Phoenix area, that were also interested in funding healthcare and human and social services in Arizona. “We saw that as an opportunity for the Flinn Foundation to go more deeply in one specific area of healthcare and try to make a bigger difference through our philanthropic dollars and programs and systems,” says Brad Halvorsen, executive vice president of the Flinn Foundation.

A long period of research and talking with community leaders about areas within health where the foundation could make the biggest difference pointed it to the biosciences.

The Flinn Foundation had, of course, some familiarity with that sector.

“But,” Halvorsen says, “we were told Arizona had a lot of assets in the biosciences — this is 20 years ago — and there’s a good amount of excellence in Arizona and if were somehow well organized and properly funded, bigger things could happen. So, at that point, the Flinn Foundation decided to go specifically into biosciences, where we previously were funding in the broader healthcare world.”

In 2002, the Flinn Foundation commissioned Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap — which was really a comprehensive SWAT analysis that was done on Arizona’s bioscience sector — from Battelle Memorial Institute, which has a unit that specializes in building regional high-technology economies.

The purpose was two-fold: to give the Flinn Foundation a better idea of what was happening in biosciences and how it could make the biggest difference, and to have Battelle give back a strategic action plan of goals, objectives and action steps that could help Arizona build a framework to take the next steps to strengthen and advance its bioscience sector.

Before the end of that year, the Bioscience Roadmap was launched.

It was informed by a steering committee that had been put together earlier that year of science leaders, community leaders, business leaders, government leaders to help Battelle understand what we had here. Noting it was not just the Flinn Foundation but a community effort, Halvorsen says, “Once launched, it really galvanized as a statewide plan that various groups and institutions involved in biosciences at the time were really galvanized around, and we’ve been orchestrating ever since.”

The Roadmap addresses strategies meant to build Arizona’s research base; a hub of entrepreneurial enterprises and entrepreneurial-based ecosystem, bioscience talent; build current jobs and future jobs; and more.

“It’s a massive plan that hits on all spectrums of developing a bioscience base, from the research end over to the commercialization end, and the other aspects that are important as well, like workforce development, for instance,” Halvorsen says.

“When the Roadmap first came together, it really was a convening point to bring together the disparate groups that make up a healthy bioscience sector,” Halvorsen says. A steering committee was created to oversee the process with Flinn. And once the Roadmap plan was available, numerous committees were created, made up of groups from all around the state to work on specifics of various aspect of the Roadmap. Some

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were science committees that worked on collaborative plans for areas like cancer research or bioengineering; others were more business oriented, like communications or workforce development; some looked at how to generate more risk capital for Arizona; some were even government relations. “Those committees and the steering committee brought together institutions around the same table that might not have done so before — institutions that were working on the same thing or had similar goals that would start to work together collaboratively.”

Mayor Gallego was a city council member at that time, and she represented the biomedical campus. “We looked all over for the right partners as we grew it,” she relates. “When I visited Wexford Science and Technology in Baltimore, I felt like we found the right partner. They understand how to support innovative companies and create the right environment where people can come together, where they have the right programming, the right business support.” The important question to address: How do you connect medical experts with experts in running a business and recruit them to come to Downtown Phoenix?

“We also try to support our companies in growing and getting investment.

We host a large delegation at the annual Bio International Conference. To brag a little bit as mayor, we had three of our bioscience startups as finalists at the Bio International Conference competing with companies from all over the world. So, it’s great news that we have these amazing companies and I hope it’s a point of pride for our residents that we’re helping them to grow.

And we are pleased to help connect companies with the resources they need, whether it’s investment, or partners at our Pinnacle system to try to market or do trials. So, I hope our companies feel supported.

“Sometimes I have gotten involved when someone needs to recruit a top scientist or hear about options for schools, if they’re moving their kids here.”

Saying she hopes people feel like this is the world’s biggest small town when it comes to our bio community, she adds, “But it’s getting a lot bigger” and cites CBRE’s recent report recognizing Phoenix as No. 1 in life science jobs and in the top five in the nation’s emerging life science markets.

A COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENT Noting that’s one of the hallmarks of a successful bioscience hub is a collaborative environment where groups are working with one another, complementing one another’s efforts, Halvorsen emphasizes, “That’s really one of the gems of the whole Roadmap experience: It has brought together groups and individuals to work collaboratively toward common goals. That’s been one of our secret sauce elements.

“So many different aspects of bioscience, from different sciences to the different groups that are commercializing to groups in the ecosystem that are training entrepreneurs and identifying workers — there are so many different elements that must come together in a unified fashion for an industry like bioscience to really thrive. So, the more people get to know each other and work with each other and pool their complementary strengths, the better the industry is going to be.”

Halvorsen points to our hospitals as one of the big partners of the biosciences in Arizona, explaining we have an extensive amount of research that takes place at our hospitals; clinical research involving patients and

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other innovations are coming out of our hospitals; hospitals supply a lot of the clinical arm of the equation as far as the patient base that might have access to new innovations coming about from Arizona bioscience discoveries. “The healthcare system is the endpoint on the spectrum for a lot of what’s being worked on by the university and companies to ultimately be put into use by the hospitals and health providers.

ECONOMIC GROWTH FROM THE BIOSCIENCES One example Mackay cites of growth in this sector in Pinnacle Transplant in North Phoenix, a startup idea 10 years ago that came out of the university. The company harvests body parts and manufactures them to fit exactly the prescription of the surgery that’s about to take place. “It was the idea of a couple of guys whose dad funded it in 2013. They now employ about 200 people, and they’ve spun out other companies. So, the growth of these companies is just astronomical.”

Some new companies marry medical experience with other assets in our community, such as one that addresses a problem the pandemic made unfortunately common as so many people needed to be intubated for breathing. When the intubation comes out, the sputum sprays all over the room; doctors and nurses are covered in sputum, and small aerosol particles coat the room. Two doctors at Dignity came up with the idea to build a patient box. They knew of a company in Phoenix that manufactured trade show booths for which business was understandably down during the pandemic, so a partnership was made between these two doctors and this group with a lot of plexiglass. They built prototypes for the doctors, and still build them today,” Mackay says, describing their solution as a box put over the patient so that, when the tubing is pulled out, the sputum stays in the box.

Says Mackay, “In life sciences, more than any other industry, I would argue that those unique partnerships, those unique startups, that come out of necessity are probably more prevalent than any other industry.”

“Amazing technologies are being developed locally,” Whitehead says, pointing to spinouts from healthcare organizations, the universities and the bioscience community. Support for entrepreneurs includes the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation, located at GateWay Community College, which is internationally recognized. Humabiologics — a company discussed later in this article — may enable medical research to bypass animal trials by using human collagen and is one of the companies to come out of CEI. The ecosystem also includes programs to help support companies as they grow, such as the Mayo Clinic and ASU MedTech Accelerator, which, according to its website, “provides medical device and healthcare IT early-stage companies with personalized business development plans to collaborate with Mayo Clinic and ASU and accelerate go to market and investment opportunities.”

In February, the Flinn Foundation announced participants for its 2022 Bioscience Entrepreneurship Program. A regenerative treatment for

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Alzheimer’s disease, a respiratory-assist device to improve COPD patient care, a blood-based test for colorectal cancer, and a treatment to solve bad dog breath are some of the transformative advances of the seven Arizonabased, early-stage companies competitively selected for the foundation’s program. Each will receive $30,000 in funding support through a nonprofit partner, a personalized learning plan, and connections with the state’s bioscience leaders in business, research and policy.

Much of the city’s economic development is focused on advanced manufacturing, biosciences and healthcare because, Mackay notes, those are the high-wage, knowledge-intensive jobs that have a really strong economic multiplier. It’s not just the one job they create, but it’s the multitude of other jobs that are created to support that one job. “Particularly in biosciences and healthcare, when you look at biomanufacturing and biopharma, infomatics — those companies need so much support,” Mackay says. “They need suppliers, assemblers, manufacturers, software design, technology support — whether it’s on a septic training techniques or sterilization techniques.” Using biomanufacturing as an example, Mackay says every biomanufacturing job the city attracts supports three to four additional jobs. “The economic impact is in the billions and billions of dollars.”

And in terms of spinoffs, TGen may hold the “patient zero” position for the exponential growth of organizations in this sector. It has, alone, spun off 26 new companies, some of which have spun off others of their own.

A regular part of Mackay’s research and development expansion and retention visits is asking the companies where they got their start. And what these startup companies, these thought-leading companies that are growing here in our market, tell her, she relates, is, “I was with U of A’; ‘I was with ASU’; ‘Oh, I was with TGen’; ‘Oh, my company’s technology came out of TGen’; ‘Oh, my company’s technology came out of’ … name another company.

“And that is so indicative of the strategy we started with, which was we were not only going to attract primes but we were going to grow our own.”

Which raises the issue of venture capital. Halvorsen acknowledges there is an abundance of venture capital on the coasts because that’s where the venture capital firms are; in between, less so. “It was a challenge for Arizona [companies] to grow their firms. It’s been a challenge for the Roadmap since its launch,” he says. But venture capital for bioscience firms in 2019 was $198 million — a record for the state — per the Roadmap report of 2020.

The next biennial report is due out this month, and Halvorsen says he’s looking forward to seeing where that comes out in the new data.

INTERCONNECTED WEB OF ECONOMIC IMPACT Stories of individual institutions inevitably demonstrate the interconnected network that pushes the boundaries of trying to define biosciences as an economic sector. Educational programs connect to research connect to commercialized application connect to healthcare practices, each one supporting and benefitting from the others.

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Photo courtesy of City of Phoenix

UA COLLEGE OF MEDICINE – PHOENIX

“It’s exciting to be part of the Phoenix Biomed Campus. It’s a bold experiment, trying to bring together the three universities as well as the research institution TGen with the idea of building a premier scientific research and development — and perhaps a company creation enterprise,” says Guy Reed, M.D., M.S., dean of The University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix, suggesting the potential to supply the positions and life health professionals that are needed to take care of the people in Arizona and to generate discoveries and perhaps develop them into new therapeutics and drugs and algorithms and new devices to improve health for everyone.

Regarding the scope of research, Dr. Reed says, “We live in a rich scientific and medical environment that’s enabled by collaboration between institutions. There’s the PBC itself, which has the three universities and research institutions. And partnerships with clinical entities such as out care systems — Banner, one of largest in country; Phoenix Children’s Hospital, which is one of largest children’s hospitals in the country; and Veteran’s Administration Medical Center, which is one of the fastest growing VAs in the country due to population expansion. And,” he adds, “related to the Western character and maybe this point in time, but collaboration seems easier here than some other places in country I’ve worked — the idea that people benefit when we all collaborate. That has driven a lot of success.”

[Editor’s note: For more about The University of Arizona College of Medicine’s collaborations, partnerships and innovation progress, see this story online at www.inbusinessphx.com.]

Asking rhetorically, “What’s the fundamental knowledge base for medicine, and how does it obtain, develop, promote and expand that knowledge base?” he offers, “Science is the methodology we use to move medicine forward, so our training for students is science based.” UA College of Medicine is one of few medical schools in the country that requires each student to do the equivalent of a thesis — called a “scholarly project” — in

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which they do original research with a mentor, a preceptor, and then write that up. “Half of those get published or presented at national meetings,” Dr. Reed says, explaining, “Students need to understand the existing knowledge in medicine but also experience and learn how to generate new knowledge and evaluate new knowledge, because throughout their lives they will be exposed to new data, new innovations, new discoveries, and they’ll need to be able to evaluate those things critically before they think about their application to patients’ benefit.”

One of the medical school’s strategic initiatives is to further develop and support and build an entrepreneurial culture on its campus. “The entrepreneurial part is not just related to the business aspect but it’s really to help our faculty and students and our staff think about how we can address unmet medical needs through our science, our discoveries, and help develop those things — launch them into tangible products that could be used for patient benefit,” Dr. Reed says.

Thus, there’s continuum of discovery, analysis of need, innovation, development of a product, and then into a company that is designed to be the far end of the research and development cascade. “We’re trying to build that culture on this [PBC] campus so that our Arizona community and even the community beyond Arizona could have the benefit of the innovations and knowledge that exists in a place like that,” Dr. Reed says, citing initiatives that exist in that area: “In our own research building, there’s space for limited startup companies to build; once they scale to a certain level, they would move out into a partner institution — the ASU Wexford Building — where they could scale even further.” Many are developing companies that are raising venture capital or seeking strategic partners.

Notes Dr. Reed, “That continuum of an ecosystem obviously has health benefits, but it also has economic benefits for our community because it creates a place that people with talent in discovery and development want to come and live and work.”

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A partnership opportunity instigated Creighton University’s decision to build a second campus in Phoenix. According to Randy Richardson, M.D., dean of Creighton University, the merger of Banner Health and The University of Arizona left St. Joseph’s without an academic partner; UA had been its academic partner for decades. “St. Joe’s wanted to continue to be an academic medical center, so they were looking for an academic partner,” Dr. Richardson says.

But, he adds, “The more compelling reason it was a good fit was the need for health professions across the board in the Phoenix area, and in Arizona.”

Omaha, Nebraska, home of Creighton University, has one of the higher students-per-capita rates of all states — it’s in the top seven. Arizona is in the bottom seven (“or somewhere around that,” Dr. Richardson modifies).

“So, it was a perfect match.” And the situation of physicians is the same, he observes. “The physician need here was much higher than what we were putting out. For primary care, for specialty care, all aspects of care — physician care, physician assistant care — there’s a huge need.” Additionally, he notes, the population is increasing in Phoenix. “First of all, we’re already

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behind; and second, we’re getting further behind because of the increasing population. For me, that was the more compelling reason that this made a lot of sense — that we need more learners to get a pipeline for physicians here in Arizona.”

The City of Phoenix was a partner with Creighton, Mayor Gallego shares.

“We created a community facilities district to help them with some of the challenges around development and parking. Recently, the city issued hotel development bonds to support the development of a hotel on that campus as well.” Additionally, Gallego notes, the light rail goes right through there, which is a great resource on the transportation side. “None of this happens accidentally,” she says.

Dr. Richardson points to Creighton’s partnership with ASU as one of its most effective actions. “Early on, we started working with their faculty without an agreement in place. Our students were just working with some of their faculty, especially in the biomedical engineering department, and we signed a formal research and faculty sharing agreement with ASU.” Although COVID put a damper on that, a lot is moving forward now

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Photo courtesy of City of Phoenix

CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY

Photo courtesy of Mayo Clinic

in a powerful way, according to Dr. Richardson. “One of the things that was really exciting was to see our students having ideas about products they would like to develop and working with the biomedical engineering department at ASU to develop those products.” Before COVID hit, 13 products had been developed by Creighton students with the help of the biomedical engineering department at ASU. Benefit of the partnership goes in both directions, Dr. Richardson believes, explaining Creighton is using ASU’s faculty to teach a lot of the basic sciences. “We don’t have an undergraduate campus here and ASU is one of the biggest universities in the country, so we’re leveraging some of that to help our students with basic sciences. We also started a wonderful medical humanities program. We’re using some of the faculty from the Humanities department at ASU to come and sponsor courses here for our students, in art and literature and all of the humanities.”

Dr. Richardson explains that part of Creighton’s curriculum is the art of becoming a physician. “The compassion that we hope our students have, the ethics we hope they have — all this fits very well into the humanities. So, we have the medical humanities program.

“We feel, as a Jesuit university, that has to be a critical piece of developing healers,” Dr. Richardson continues. “They aren’t just good at the numbers and the physiology and the anatomy and the clinical aptitude, but they’re also caring individuals who care about people deeply and want to serve humanity. I just feel that it’s a critical piece that we can’t neglect.”

And Creighton actually puts that into practice with an extraordinary outreach into the community. Sharing, “St. Vincent de Paul is the other one where we really joined together, with multiple health systems, the university and St. Vincent de Paul all working together to provide expanded care for the uninsured in our community,” Dr. Richardson explains that they are able to funnel the people who are admitted through the emergency department at the hospital — where those with no health insurance often end up — over to St. Vincent de Paul for their follow-up care. And it’s been incredibly successful. “So that helps everyone. That helps the uninsured population; it helps their overall health. It helps the health system not have to deal with that and have these huge costs of people who can’t pay. And it helps our students and faculty to serve our community.

“Piper saw that idea and said, ‘We want to sponsor that’ — and gave us $10 million because they thought it was a great idea. And guess what? It was a really great idea. I get too excited about that, probably. But it really has worked out even better than we could have ever imagined.”

[Editor’s notes: Dr. Richardson shares more online about the partnerships and extraordinarily effective community-based programs Creighton University is using to graduate healthcare practitioners who “care about people deeply and want to serve humanity” in this article online at www.inbusinessphx.com.]

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MAYO CLINIC IN ARIZONA

Big news from Mayo Clinic is its plans for the parcel of land newly purchased adjacent to its existing facility on Mayo Blvd. in north Phoenix. Says Richard Gray, M.D., CEO of Mayo Clinic in Arizona, “We are excited about this 228 acres of land. Part of that land is for Mayo Clinic’s generational growth. But also, in furtherance of the 2030 Strategy, we have long wanted to build something like what we’re now calling Discovery Oasis that can produce more solutions more efficiently and be more broadly available to patients by means of collaboration.”

Dr. Gray explains Mayo’s 2030 Strategy is for Mayo Clinic to lead in the transformation of healthcare through a robust strategy of “cure, connect and transform” that will also involve a lot of digital technology.

“So, what we envision for Discovery Oasis is creating an ecosystem of bioscience and biotechnology collaboration that spans from discovery science (a research-type of undertaking) to translation of that science (meaning, ‘Okay, we’ve discovered a new drug or a new molecule and we want to make sure it really is effective in doing what we want it to do. How do we make that drug in quantities small enough to be feasible but large enough to do clinical trials in patients at Mayo Clinic and elsewhere?’; the translation of that drug into something that’s meaningful for patients) to commercialization (how do we then make it broadly available?).”

Dr. Gray notes there are areas around the country where there is a research park or healthcare innovation zones. “We would like this to be an area that spans all that — from research to innovation to the commercialization and taking it to the patient. We believe we’re in a prime position to be able to do that because those type of healthcare and technology and bioscience organizations are attracted to this area, they’re attracted to working with Mayo Clinic, they’re attracted to working with ASU, and you put all of those together with a space

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on the person in front of them — “So,” Dr. Gray notes, “there will be an emphasis on factors that can accelerate digital transformation.” And the transform piece is where technology plays a part: to simplify healthcare and create those digital platforms that people can build around them.

There is no timeline as yet for this development, as Dr. Gray explains Mayo has only just purchased the land and is still in the process of doing the planning for basic infrastructure and envisioning what might be the phases of how Discovery Oasis is rolled out. He credits the City of Phoenix for its support. “The City of Phoenix has been good working with us. They’ve helped us get a handle on what infrastructure will need to be put into place to start developing Discovery Oasis.”

“The City of Phoenix has been an important partner in Mayo’s expansion,” says Mayor Gallego. “Our taxpayers have supported them at more than $20 million and will be, hopefully, approving a deal today to allow them to keep a lot of their construction sales tax as an investment.” [Editor’s note: The Mayo Clinic development agreement was approved unanimously during the Phoenix City Council meeting a few hours after this interview.] “We’re also working with them on infrastructure because a campus of that magnitude will have a lot of infrastructure needs.”

Explaining that Phoenix has been very intentional in making that investment and trying to get world-class care in the city for its residents, Mayor Gallego also notes Mayo Clinic has benefited its surrounding community, attracting restaurants and other nonhealthcare businesses.

The Mayo project will be more than three million square feet, with an expansion of clinical research, education and patient care. Gallego anticipates it will garner interest from companies that want to be near the Mayo Clinic’s Discovery Oasis. “So., we hope it’s helping build out an ecosystem,” she says.

Evidence points to that being a realistic expectation. Dr. Gray says that since the land auction, there’s been no shortage of interest — in spite of the fact that Mayo has done nothing to solicit interest. “ In fact,” he says, “prior to the auction, we would have organizations approach us about collaborations at Mayo Clinic and we would tell them about the land being brought forward for auction, and they would tell us, ‘We’ll wait.’”

Says Dr. Gray, “The Phoenix area has been wonderful in terms of bioscience and biotechnology. What we have seen at Mayo Clinic is incredible opportunity for us in Arizona, in no small part because of the burgeoning bioscience and biotechnology sector here in the Phoenix metropolitan area.”

[Editor’s note: Mayo Clinic in Arizona, with its long history of collaboration, has had no small part in that growth. Dr. Gray shares more about that in the online version of this article at www.inbusinessphx.com.]

Mayo Clinic

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Photo courtesy of Mayo Clinic

within which they can work with each other and collaborate with each other, and we really believe that within a few short years all eyes will be on this area and what is happening in healthcare innovation and in transformation of the system of helping patients in the U.S. and around the world.

“We want this to be something that’s great for the future of healthcare, that’s great for Mayo Clinic, but great for our area, too. And the transformation of healthcare. And the shoring up of U.S. resources — things that, through the pandemic, we found we need and rely on and don’t always have all of the infrastructure we need to accomplish within the boundaries of our nation.”

Collaboration and transformation of healthcare are the central concepts that underly all the plans Dr. Gray describes. “We believe that healthcare has to transform to more of a platform model around patients, where patients are able to take the best pieces of the healthcare system to meet their needs and put it together in a personalized way.”

Furthering that goal, Mayo plans Discovery Oasis to be about the transformation of healthcare that’s needed, based on the core strategy mentioned earlier: cure, connect and transform. Around “cure,” Mayo’s emphasis is in patients that have serious, complex and rare diseases, and producing more cures and more hope for those patients. The connect piece is the digital transformation that’s needed in healthcare to make things better for patients and seamless for patients, but also to unburden doctors and nurses by automating some of the peripheral things so they can focus

Photo courtesy of Ivy Brain Tumor Center

IVY BRAIN TUMOR CENTER

The Ivy Brain Tumor Center is, effectively, a not-for-profit drug development program, says Nader Sanai, M.D., director of Ivy Brain Tumor Center. “We focus on new and developed agents from partners and biopharma and biotech, and deploy them for patients with brain cancer.”

This is done through specialized clinical trials as well as laboratory research, all done at the IBTC, which is at the Barrow Neurological Institute. “So, at any given point, our drug development portfolio has anywhere between 15 and 20 novel molecules and strategies, from a variety of companies nationally and internationally.”

What this means for the biotech community in Phoenix, Dr. Sanai explains, is there is an extremely robust avenue for early-stage clinical development in brain cancer. He believes it also means IBTC, by virtue of its being a unique resource here, is helping the region become more visible to the national and international drug development, pharmaceutical, biopharma, biotech community.

“We believe that all boats are floating with our growth here,” says Dr. Sanai. “We are now in our fourth year of our organization and have approximately 60 full-time employees. We treat more brain cancer patients than any center in the United States. And we have more early-stage clinical trials than any center in the United States. So, we think this is a very symbiotic relationship.”

IBTC was founded in late 2018 after an initial $50 million investment from the Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation, which is the largest nonprofit

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funder of brain cancer research in the world, as well as an investment from the Barrow Neurological Foundation, which is a nonprofit fundraising arm of the Barrow Neurological Institute. It has grown substantially since then, and Dr. Sanai reports it has more than $130 million committed. Currently under construction at 3rd Avenue and Thomas Road is what will be the largest single-structure dedicated to brain cancer research in the United States — a 75,000-square-foot, five-story facility that will be IBTC’s headquarters and will be primarily laboratory space and clinical investigation space for IBTC’s drug development efforts but also with multidisciplinary space for brain cancer patient care. It is due to open mid-2023.

“Our mission is to facilitate small and large companies that have new agents in development to get to market for brain cancer patients. So, we partner with privately held companies that are emerging from stealth mode all the way up through multinational biopharma that are headquartered abroad,” Dr. Sanai says.

Observing that there’s increasing amount of various avenues of investment in the biotech and drug development industry but that, traditionally, the bulk of those have gone to coastal programs, Dr. Sanai says, “I think what we’re seeing now is that good science can be done in any region, as long as the circumstances are fertile. And with Phoenix’s incredible intellectual capital, relative lack of bureaucracy in the state as well as the influx of younger people, who oftentimes are the foundation for these efforts, I fully expect our region to grow within this sector.”

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ONCOMYX THERAPEUTICS

“We’re trying to stimulate the immune system to kill cancer,” says Steve Potts, Ph.D., MBA, the company’s co-founder, CEO and director. OncoMyx is specifically going after colorectal, gastrointestinal and some blood cancers, working with the myxoma virus, which, Potts points out, is unique because it works in solid tumors as well as blood cancers. “It’s very specific for tumor cells. The trick is to find something that only affects the cancer cells, and that’s a hard problem.”

Potts describes himself as a serial entrepreneur. With a doctorate from University of California at Davis and a wife from Arizona, Potts says he moved back here several years ago, started a company in Flagstaff that was acquired, then worked for a San Diego company for four years that was developing a drug for cancer, which Genentech acquired. “While the company was being acquired, I got to know a researcher at ASU — Grant McFadden — a global leader in this area of using a virus cell to kill cancer cells. He’d moved here five years ago from University of Florida and was ready to get into biotech. We hit it off, and fundraised in steps,” he relates.

The $25 million Series A raise was to get OncoMyx out of the University and get tested in animal models. The $50 million Series B, which closed last fall, is, basically, to get it ready for clinical trials, which are slated for next year. “It’s an expensive, long process from idea to actual drug,” Potts says, noting it takes on average three to five years from idea to clinical trials, and then the clinical trials take another three to five years.

Having come out of ASU and tested in collaboration with Mayo Clinic and

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SkySong — the licensing arm for ASU — OncoMyx, in Potts’s words, is “home grown here.”

And he describes “here” as a very collaborative town with good synergy.

“There are really good clinical groups here: Mayo Clinic, Banner Health, a medical school here in town now, the Ivy Brain Institute. ASU is very good about getting companies spun out, helping with the commercialization of technology. There’s research collaboration between the universities and clinics in town.” For OncoMyx, “We do a lot of our research testing with TD2 [Translational Drug Development] in Scottsdale. They do really good research — they’re under the radar, but a really great group. It’s been great to have them in town.”

Crediting the state with a strong history in life sciences, Potts likens the field to a tripod. One leg is the devices industry, involving, for instance, cardiac devices such as pacemakers and stints. Another is the diagnostics industry; observing, “A lot of the really key cancer human genome discoveries were made here,” Potts names TGen and Sonora Quest as among the big names here. “A number of us are trying to build that third leg of the stool — the biotech drug development aspect,” he says, noting that drug development is a huge industry, and what’s been done is just the tip of the iceberg. “The big drug development centers are San Francisco, Boston, New Jersey, to some extent Seattle, San Diego. Phoenix is working to come into that second tier. OncoMyx is representing that wave of trying to get more biotech drug development here in Arizona.”

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Photo courtesy of OncoMyx Therapeutics

NEW BUSINESSES, NEW ADVANCES

HUMABIOLOGICS, INC.

Humabiologics is a spinoff of previously mentioned Pinnacle Transplant.

CEO and founder Mohammad Albanna, Ph.D., saw an opportunity to, essentially, salvage donated biologic material that Pinnacle Transplant could not use. He started the company in 2018 and is already shipping around the world — to Japan, South Korea, China, Australia, all over Europe, all over Canada — “because there is no other product like our product in the market,” Albanna says. The product? Human collagen.

Albanna was recruited by Pinnacle Transplant from Wake Forest Innovation in North Carolina, the commercialization arm of Wake Forest Baptist medical center, to be in the research and development department to launch new products. “I was trained by the gentleman who pioneered the field of regenerative medicine,” he says, noting that after early successes, “everyone got into the field of regenerative medicine, where we combine materials and cells, where we can bioprint tissues and organs. Because of the work we did with him, we pioneered the field of bioprinting where we can bioprint human tissues and organs.”

Now, with any type of cells from the human body, we have systems to grow those cells in the lab. However, where it comes to the material, the only option that was available for research was using material obtained from animal tissue. The problem with that for developing human therapies, Albanna explains, is “we know for sure that with animal models, 90% of drugs we test on animals that are shown to be safe fail in Phase 1 clinical trials because the animal does not exactly replicate human physiology.

“But now, we can create models [with human collagen] in the lab to test the drugs so we can get realistic results and response. So, before we spend hundreds of millions of dollars and waste years, we know basically if it’s going to work or not.”

If researchers want to create a cancer model to test chemo drugs and see which drug performs better, which has least toxicity to the patient — because every lung cancer is the same and every breast cancer is the same, for instance, but every patient is different — how about taking a biopsy from the patient’s cancer cell, grow them in the lab, create that model, and then testing the drugs on that so it can be determined what the dose needs to be, what type of drug, and if it’s going to have side effects on the patient.

“So, you can, literally, have personalized medicine,” Albanna says.

But to do that, researchers need to have the material. “Until we came as a company, there was no human biomaterial. It was all obtained from animal material; there was no access to human.” Albanna combined his expertise in the field with the tissue banking at Pinnacle. “They worked with donated tissue material. Sometimes you cannot use that tissue for transplant, so you end up discarding that tissue. So that’s where we come in. We take that tissue that is not going to be used for transplant, and we extract the main building blocks, like the collagen, and we provide it to researchers so they can use it to create human tissues and bone. The advantage of that is that you are actually using human material to create a human tissue.”

Albanna says he is proud of what his company contributes to the industry.

On the one hand, it is a product that is needed in a $40 billion market where every researcher around the world is trying to recreate human tissue or organs and needs that material. “And we are trying to save money for companies that are developing therapies so they can get their therapies more quickly to the patient.” On the other hand is “the noble cause that we honor someone’s last wishes — they donated the human tissue and if it was not being used for

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transplant, we make sure the donor’s last wishes still are being honored.”

Crediting a supportive environment for startups, Albanna says, “A lot of people helped with starting the business. The city itself; the state in general; we are still in a business incubator where we can get subsidized rent; we have a lot of free services available to us, so that helps us to stay focused on the business and use our money to grow the business as opposed to building the infrastructure around us.”

And he’s helping to pay that forward. “I remember in my first year here, I went to ASU — I had the relationship with the department there — and we took around 10 students to provide them with a hands-on internship,” Albanna says. “It was very successful. By the end of that internship, we hired three people full-time from those students. Some of them had not even completed their degree yet.” And recently, he says, a chemical engineering student landed a job with Medtronic. “So, the idea that we, as a small company, try to provide internships for students actually opens a lot of doors for them where they can actually stay in the state rather than go to California. At least with our role here as a small company, we’re trying always to provide this hands-on experience for the students so, when they apply for a job, they have something meaningful on their resume where big companies will appreciate and give them the opportunity for a position.”

Speaking of the collaborative environment of the Phoenix Bioscience Core, Albanna says, “We see a lot of great stuff happening here and there, so it’s really exciting to see what’s happening right now. I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen in the next five years. It’s going to be completely different than today.”

MOVING FORWARD “What’s happened during the years of the Roadmap is Arizona has grown into one of the fastest-growing bioscience states in the country,” says Flinn’s Halvorsen, noting that the growth rate of our bioscience jobs in recent years has been about double what the rest of the nation is experiencing.

Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap spawned the bringing together of the many disparate institutions across sectors, across companies, from government to academia to industry. “From what we hear, collaboration is not typical in most regions,” Halvorsen says, “but Arizona is a state that does collaboration well; Arizona has the ‘collaborative gene.’”

Arizona, in fact, has a reputation outside its borders as a state where the institutions work well together across sectors. Says Halvorsen, “Our people, our institutions, our customs [have the reputation] of working with one another for the collective good.

“That definitely provides a distinct advantage when you have an ecosystem that’s working efficiently together, and individuals are benefiting from the others in the same ecosystem.”

City of Phoenix phoenix.gov Creighton University creighton.edu Flinn Foundation flinn.org Humabiologics, Inc. humabiologics.com Ivy Brain Tumor Center ivybraintumorcenter.org Mayo Clinic mayoclinic.org OncoMyx Therapeutics oncomyx.com The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix phoenixmed.arizona.edu

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PEOPLE ARE KEY

Bert Thornton and Sherry Hartnett, Ph.D., are coauthors of High-Impact Mentoring: A Practical Guide to Creating Value in Other People’s Lives (BookLogix, 2021, ISBN: 978-16653-0344-6), which serves as a blueprint for hardwiring the program into a business’s culture so that every mentee gets a consistent experience every time.

(This includes those who might be working remotely — there’s a whole chapter devoted to virtual mentoring.) Part 1 offers “across the table” advice on one-on-one mentoring. Part 2 lays out a framework to help companies put their own program in place.

Bert Thornton is the former president and COO of Waffle House. His first book, Find an Old Gorilla: Pathways Through the Jungle of Business and Life, is a well-received leadership handbook for rising high achievers and emerging leaders.

Dr. Hartnett is a marketing and leadership professor, consultant, author, and mentor. At the University of West Florida, she founded the pioneering, high-impact experiential learning Executive Mentor Program. highimpactmentoring book.com

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INBUSINESSPHX.COM

Nine Reasons Your Company Should Create a Mentoring Program in 2022 A good program will help businesses thrive despite the turbulence ahead this year

by Bert Thornton and Dr. Sherry Hartnett

Companies face numerous challenges going into the new year: a shortage of skilled workers, employee churn, economic aftershocks from the pandemic and shifting consumer behaviors, just to name a few. While there’s no one-size-fits-all fix, there is a powerful tool that can help leaders successfully navigate many of the obstacles 2022 might throw at their business: mentoring.

Especially as the world struggles to regain its equilibrium in the wake of the pandemic, the future is a moving target — and navigating this ongoing chaos requires a workforce with the right mindset and skillset.

Employees and leaders alike must be adaptable, engaged, emotionally intelligent and solution-focused — but those aren’t skills that can be taught in a webinar. Mentoring is the obvious answer.

We wanted to meet the “huge and ironic need” for savvy leaders to share insights with the multitude of rising high achievers who crave that guidance. It makes sense for companies to bring the two groups together. But first they must know what good mentoring looks like and they need a way to scale it in the organization. Our new book, HighImpact Mentoring: A Practical Guide to Creating Value in Other People’s Lives, helps on both fronts.

Mentorship doesn’t happen on its own. Individuals must make a conscious choice to become mentors and learn how to do it well. And companies need to plan and execute a

A solid mentoring program can help cushion training budget shortfalls, and it sets the stage for the ongoing learning that will be needed in the future.

mentorship program that delivers consistent, quality results to all participants.

Creating a good mentoring program can help businesses thrive despite the turbulence ahead in 2022. Consider these nine powerful benefits: Mentoring helps attract and retain talent. Especially in today’s environment of uncertainty and upheaval, companies need a strong team of employees. And it’s just as crucial that, once hired, good people stay on board.

A mentoring program shows them there’s a path for advancement inside the company.

Millennials, in particular, deeply value training and development. By sharing their knowledge and experience with younger employees, mentors help them grow and progress. At the same time, they teach younger people how to navigate challenges specific to their workplace so they are less likely to leave.

It helps new employees hit the ground running a lot faster. We no longer have the luxury of long onboarding periods for new hires. The pace of business requires everyone to become a contributing member of the team almost immediately. Assigning new employees a mentor early on can help expedite progress while helping them avoid pitfalls.

A solid mentoring program can help cushion training budget shortfalls… Quite often in times of economic turmoil (like now), training budgets are on the chopping block. Mentors

BETTERING YOUR BUSINESS play a huge role in transferring knowledge and vital skills. They are a great source of on-the-job training that costs very little. …and it sets the stage for the ongoing learning that will be needed in the future. Increasingly, we need our employees to have a “just-in-time” skill set. The education system can’t keep up, and companies will need to ramp up their training to bridge the skills gap. Mentors will likely play a vital role in helping employees perform well while they integrate new learnings.

Mentoring helps people weather tough storms. COVID-19 has put incredible stress on leaders and employees. In fact, many organizations have moved beyond stress and into the realm of trauma. By putting things in perspective (“We’ve lived through other hard times and survived”), providing a safe space for mentees to vent about their stresses and struggles, and sharing coping skills, mentors can go a long way toward helping employees build resilience while easing their loneliness and isolation.

It engages employees. Mentoring makes it more likely that people will “lean in” to their work. They’re being challenged to learn new things, so they don’t become complacent.

Mentees have a chance to prove themselves daily, and to use their skills and talents in new ways. They may become a wellspring of new ideas. They feel invested in and valued. All of this sparks their passion and energy for their work and shores up their commitment to the company.

Mentoring sharpens a company’s ability to execute. Companies must be agile, fast-thinking and fast-acting if they’re to survive. By sharing their years of accumulated wisdom, mentors help people broaden their perspective, cut through the information overload and get to the heart of what matters. When we aren’t bogged down in extraneous details, we can move quickly and purposefully.

It helps people build the relationship skills today’s companies need to survive. Strong relationships — based on honesty, trust, transparency, and empathy — matter more than ever now.

Companies must be masters at innovation, collaboration and teamwork.

All of these things hinge on our ability to foster strong relationships.

Mentoring builds relationships in two ways. First, the mentor/mentee relationship creates a powerful bond as it evolves. But also, both parties apply the skills they learn in the process to other relationships. Eventually, a strong web of accountability, support and continuous learning spreads throughout the company.

Mentoring helps organizations become more diverse and inclusive. There is a huge focus right now on these issues. In many organizations, older employees may need to learn how best to work with those from different racial and cultural backgrounds, belief systems, and orientations.

This is where reverse mentoring (when a junior person mentors a more senior one) shines. But actually, any type of mentoring that puts people from different age groups together helps create more diverse, inclusive workplaces. The more folks from different generations get to know each other and have meaningful exchanges, the more we break down barriers … and the more unified we become.

Mentoring is a “must-have” for companies wishing to proactively meet the challenges of 2022’s rapidly evolving workplace while still driving growth and success. And what many people don’t realize is that mentoring is an incredibly rewarding experience, not just for the mentee but for the mentor also.

What’s good for employees is good for the whole company. As the program grows, word will spread and even more top talent will be drawn to work for that company — this year and beyond.

Mentoring helps people build the relationship skills today’s companies need to survive.

Amplify Your Influence Based in the author’s proprietary AMPLIFII system and methodologies he has taught to more than 100,000 participants around the world, the book offers practical tips, useful frameworks, guided practice and simple application exercises to help readers create new and lasting behaviors that effect change in their life and work. Perfect for executives, managers, sales professionals and other business leaders, Amplify Your Influence is required reading for anyone seeking to improve their ability to effect change in the people around them, whether they’re in the office, the boardroom, the classroom or at home.

Amplify Your Influence: Transform How You Communicate and Lead Rene Rodriguez

$28

Wiley

Available 4/26/2022

288 pages

The Power of Teamwork In the high-pressure and complex setting of healthcare, a new approach to teamwork is leading to healthier patients, happier staff and more efficient operations. Healthcare’s embrace of a new teamwork model has been noticed by people outside the medical world, so doctors are going outside the walls of the hospital to teach manufacturers, business owners, franchisees, customer service representatives and even those in sports and entertainment to do better by shifting the culture from “me” to “we.” Drawing on groundbreaking research and examples from around the world, The Power of Teamwork shows how a team approach to medicine can improve customer service and help women break the glass ceiling. It can solidify the provision of social services to troubled youth, and boost the efficiency and safety of the military and critical industrial complexes like nuclear power plants.

The Power of Teamwork: How We Can All Work Better Together Brian Goldman, M.D. Collins

$26.99 Available 4/26/2022

336 pages

Productive Tensions The most effective leaders and successful innovators embrace the tensions that arise from competing aims: efficiency or flexibility? consistency or change? product or purpose? Bingham and McDonald spotlight eight critical tensions that every innovator must master, and they spell out, with dozens of detailed examples of both success and failure, how to navigate them. How do you excite customers about a product they’ve never imagined? When is it wise to accept what the data is telling you, and when should you ignore the data and plow forward anyway? How can you maintain stakeholders’ trust and support during radical unforeseen course corrections? Bingham and McDonald guide readers through innovation’s thorniest tensions, using examples drawn from the experience of organizations as varied as P&G, Instagram, the U.S. military, Honda, In-N-Out Burger, Slack, Under Armour, and the snowboarding company Burton.

Productive Tensions: How Every Leader Can Tackle Innovation’s Toughest Trade-Offs (Management on the Cutting Edge) Christopher B. Bingham and Rory M. McDonald

$29.95

The MIT Press

184 pages

Available 4/26/2022

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En Negocios

LIDERAZGO / LEADERSHIP

Gestión Responsable de Oportunidades Una estrategia para que los emprendedores se mantengan enfocados en las oportunidades adecuadas por Edgar R. Olivo

Edgar R. Olivo es un educador empresarial bilingüe, asesor económico y colaborador de varios medios de comunicación. Es apasionado por la educación y comunidad.

Está certificado en finanzas y análisis de datos y posee un título en negocios de la Universidad Estatal de Arizona.

Edgar R. Olivo is a bilingual business educator, economic advisor and contributor for several media outlets.

He’s a nonprofit executive who is passionate about education. He is certified in finance and data analytics and holds a business degree from Arizona State University.

APR. 2022

42

INBUSINESSPHX.COM

Para muchos nuevos empresarios, cada oportunidad parece emocionante porque cualquier oportunidad es mejor que ninguna. Pero, para muchos nuevos emprendedores que no han desarrollado las habilidades para apegarse a un camino estratégico, aprovechar la oportunidad equivocada puede alejarlos de alcanzar sus metas. Perder el enfoque en un negocio puede ser un error costoso y administrar las oportunidades de manera responsable se convertirá en una lección difícil pero necesaria para aprender.

Hay muchas razones por las que es probable que un empresario desenfocado luche por sobrevivir y pierda la oportunidad correcta de hacer crecer su negocio. Hoy en día, hay tantas distracciones y presiones del mercado para un emprendedor creativo, brillante y enérgico. Tener estas cualidades no es suficiente para tener éxito y, de hecho, puede ser el talón de Aquiles de un sueño empresarial. La gestión responsable de oportunidades es una estrategia para ayudar a los emprendedores a desarrollar un mayor sentido de enfoque

que se alinee con los objetivos del negocio y del emprendedor.

Aquí hay algunos signos reveladores de un emprendedor desenfocado: • Tener muchas ideas de negocio sin planes y no poner en marcha ni uno solo • Tener múltiples planes de marketing y solo tener éxito en unos pocos • Reunirse con demasiadas personas de mercados no relacionados • Cambiar constantemente de marca, productos o servicio, y no escuchar las necesidades de su cliente • Comenzar cada día con demasiadas tareas no relacionadas que no hacen crecer su negocio • Pensando que cada persona debería comprar su producto o servicio Aquí hay cinco pasos para practicar la gestión responsable de oportunidades en su negocio.

Vivimos en un mundo multitarea, superconectado y frenético que exige constantemente nuestra atención. Los empresarios que carecen de enfoque pueden cometer errores costosos que acortarán los sueños de éxito. La gestión responsable de oportunidades es una estrategia para ayudar a los emprendedores a desarrollar un mayor sentido de enfoque que se alinee con los objetivos del negocio y del emprendedor.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION 1. Alinee sus estrategias de visión y misión. Revise su camino regularmente y practique la autorreflexión alineando su visión y misión con sus objetivos generales. Una vez desarrollado, úsalo como un indicador para saber si encaja dentro de su estrategia. Aquí es donde un consejo asesor puede ser útil para compartir ideas y oportunidades con alguien externo de su negocio.

2. Practique la toma de decisiones efectivas. Para tomar una decisión adecuada, siempre debe recopilar toda la información necesaria para asegurarse de tomar la decisión correcta. Cuestione todo y desafíe sus suposiciones. Esto puede ser en forma de un análisis FODA o una simple lista de pros y contras para ayudarlo a visualizar la oportunidad antes de decidir.

3. Desarrollar la Inteligencia emocional.

Siéntase cómodo escuchando y diciendo ‘no’.

Deje ir el equipaje emocional que viene con el rechazo y piense en esto como cuidado personal.

Los objetivos tardan en alcanzar y, al practicar una fuerte resiliencia emocional, podrá ver con más claridad cuándo una oportunidad no es adecuada para su negocio. Además, realice un seguimiento de su éxito con regularidad, esto también lo ayudará a comprender dónde hizo lo correcto para seguir atrayendo las oportunidades correctas.

4. Comunicarse efectivamente. A veces, las nuevas oportunidades pueden ser emocionantes y esa emoción puede nublar el juicio. Cuando tenga una estrategia clara desarrollada, le ayudará a comunicar mejor sus necesidades. Practique decir lo que quiere decir, lo que necesita y haga preguntas. En las reuniones de negocios en las que se negocie un trato, intente escribirlo para asegurarse de no perder sus puntos.

5. Desarrolle su capacidad. Una vez más, las nuevas oportunidades pueden ser emocionantes, pero ¿está realmente preparado para ellas?

Conozca sus lagunas en el conocimiento de usted mismo y de su negocio. Aproveche sus fortalezas y delegue sus debilidades para que lo ayuden.

Encontrar socios que lo ayuden a llenar los vacíos es una excelente manera de aprovechar las oportunidades que pueden ayudarlo a hacer crecer su negocio cuando la oportunidad es demasiado buena para dejarla pasar.

Recuerde, como nuevo empresario, su tiempo, dinero y energía son recursos valiosos y no vale la pena invertir en todas las oportunidades.

Pero, al seguir una gestión responsable de oportunidades, siempre sabrá si vale la pena exprimir el jugo de cada oportunidad.

Responsible Opportunity Management

A strategy for entrepreneurs to stay focused on the right opportunities

by Edgar R. Olivo

For many new entrepreneurs, every opportunity seems to be an exciting one because any opportunity is better than none.

But, for many new entrepreneurs who have not developed the skills to stick to a strategic path, taking the wrong opportunity can take you away from achieving your goals. Losing focus in a business can be a costly mistake and managing opportunities responsibly will become a tough yet necessary lesson to learn.

There are many reasons why an unfocused entrepreneur is likely to struggle for survival and miss out on the right opportunity to grow their business. Today, there are so many distractions and market pressures for a creative, brilliant and energetic entrepreneur.

Having these qualities is not enough to be successful and can actually be the Achilles heel to an entrepreneurial dream. Responsible opportunity management is a strategy to help entrepreneurs develop a stronger sense of focus that aligns to the goals of the business and the entrepreneur.

Here are a few tell-tale signs of an unfocused entrepreneur: • Having many business ideas with no plans and not starting a single one • Having multiple marketing plans and only succeeding on a few • Meeting with too many people from unrelated markets • Constantly changing your brand, products or service, and not listening to the needs of your customer • Starting each day with too many unrelated tasks that do not grow your business • Thinking every person should buy from you Here are five steps to practice responsible opportunity management in your business.

1. Align your vision and mission strategies. Check your path regularly and practice self-reflection by aligning your vision and mission to your overall goals. Once developed, use this as a gauge to know if it fits within your strategy. This is where a sounding board can come in handy to bounce ideas and

opportunities with someone external to your business.

2. Practice effective decision-making.

To make a proper decision, you must always collect all the information necessary to ensure you make the right choice. Question everything and challenge your assumptions. This can be in the form of a SWOT analysis or a simple pros and cons list to help you visualize the opportunity before deciding.

3. Develop emotional intelligence. Get comfortable with hearing and saying “no.” Let go of the emotional baggage that comes with rejection and think of this as self-care. Goals take time to achieve and by practicing strong emotional resilience you will be able to see with more clarity when an opportunity is not right for your business. Also, track your success regularly; this will also help you understand where you did the right thing to keep attracting the right opportunities.

4. Communicate effectively. Sometimes, new opportunities can be exciting, and that excitement can cloud judgment. When you have a clear strategy developed, it will help you communicate your needs better. Practice saying what you mean, what you need, and ask questions. In business meetings where a deal is being negotiated, try writing this down to ensure you do not miss a beat.

5. Build your capacity. Again, new opportunities can be exciting, but are you truly ready for them? Know your gaps in your knowledge of yourself and your business.

Capitalize on your strengths and delegate your weaknesses to help you. Finding partners to help you fill gaps is a great way to take advantage of opportunities that can help you grow your business when the opportunity is too good to pass up.

Remember, as a new entrepreneur, your time, money and energy are valuable resources and not every opportunity is worth your investment. But, by following responsible opportunity management, you will always know if the juice is worth the squeeze in each opportunity.

We live in a multitasking, super-connected, frantic world that is constantly demanding our attention. Entrepreneurs who lack focus can make costly mistakes that will cut dreams of success short. Responsible opportunity management is a strategy to help entrepreneurs develop a stronger sense of focus that aligns to the goals of the business and the entrepreneur.

APR. 43 2022 INBUSINESSPHX.COM

En Negocios

Edgar R. Olivo es un educador empresarial bilingüe, asesor económico y colaborador de varios medios de comunicación. Es apasionado por la educación y comunidad.

Está certificado en finanzas y análisis de datos y posee un título en negocios de la Universidad Estatal de Arizona.

FINANZAS / FINANCE

Las 5 C del crédito para ayudar a una pequeña empresa a crecer por Edgar R. Olivo

Edgar R. Olivo is a bilingual business educator, economic advisor and contributor for several media outlets.

He’s a nonprofit executive who is passionate about education. He is certified in finance and data analytics and holds a business degree from Arizona State University.

APR. 2022

44

INBUSINESSPHX.COM

Para un propietario de un negocio nuevo, solicitar financiamiento mientras adquiere experiencia comercial puede ser un desafío único que enfrentar cuando intenta crecer y escalar. Quedarse sin dinero es el mayor riesgo de una pequeña empresa y mantener el flujo de efectivo organizado es el último acto de malabarismo. Pero con demasiada frecuencia, los propietarios de pequeñas empresas no tienen claro cuánto dinero generan y dónde se necesitan más los fondos, y la desconexión puede ser desastrosa.

Los prestamistas tienen una perspectiva especial para determinar si una pequeña empresa puede manejar capital adicional y se llama las “Cinco C del crédito”. El término “Cinco C” se refiere a la forma en que los prestamistas evalúan la solvencia crediticia de un solicitante. Se puede utilizar para individuos y parejas que solicitan un crédito personal, como un préstamo, una tarjeta de crédito o una hipoteca. Pero también se utiliza para ayudar a evaluar el “valimiento” de los solicitantes de créditos comerciales.

Los prestamistas revisan qué tan bien una empresa cumple con cada una de las Cinco C y luego usan sus hallazgos para ayudar a tomar una decisión de préstamo. Comprender las Cinco C ayudará a cualquier propietario de una pequeña empresa a estar en la mejor posición para la aprobación de un préstamo. Las Cinco C son capacidad, capital, colateral o

garantía, condiciones y carácter. Cada uno de estos criterios ayuda al prestamista a determinar el riesgo general del préstamo. Este no es un enfoque milagroso para garantizar el mejor paquete de préstamo, pero ayuda a tener una buena idea de qué áreas el propietario de una pequeña empresa debe anticipar que se revisarán cuando llegue el momento de buscar un préstamo para una oportunidad de crecimiento.

1. Carácter: Esta es una evaluación altamente subjetiva de la historia personal del dueño del negocio, pero los prestamistas deben creer que el dueño del negocio es una persona confiable en la que se puede confiar para pagar el préstamo. Esta área incluirá características de antecedentes como el historial de crédito personal, la educación y la experiencia laboral, todos factores en este análisis de crédito comercial.

2. Capacidad: La capacidad es la capacidad del propietario de la pequeña empresa para pagar el préstamo. El banco necesita saber cómo pagará los fondos antes de aprobar su préstamo. La capacidad se evalúa por varios componentes, incluido el análisis de flujo de efectivo, el historial de pagos y las fuentes de ingresos contingentes.

3. Capital: El propietario de una pequeña empresa debe tener sus propios fondos invertidos en la empresa antes de que una institución financiera esté dispuesta a arriesgar su

El 43% de las pequeñas empresas solicitaron un préstamo el año pasado. Según la Encuesta de Crédito para Pequeñas Empresas de la Reserva Federal, el 43% de las pequeñas empresas presentaron una solicitud a un prestamista para pequeñas empresas el año pasado. Solo el 48% de las pequeñas empresas en general tienen cubiertas sus necesidades financieras.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION inversión. El capital es la inversión personal del propietario en su negocio que podría perderse si el negocio fracasa. No hay una cantidad o porcentaje fijo que el propietario deba invertir en su propio negocio antes de ser elegible para un préstamo comercial.

4. Colateral o Garantía: La maquinaria, las cuentas por cobrar, el inventario y otros activos comerciales que pueden venderse si un prestatario no paga el préstamo se consideran garantía. Dado que los artículos pequeños, como computadoras y equipos de oficina, generalmente no se consideran garantías, en el caso de la mayoría de los préstamos para pequeñas empresas, se requieren los bienes personales del propietario, como su casa o automóvil, para que se apruebe el préstamo.

Cuando el propietario de una pequeña empresa utiliza sus bienes personales como garantía de un préstamo comercial, eso significa que el prestamista puede vender esos artículos personales para satisfacer cualquier monto pendiente que no se pague.

5. Condiciones: Las condiciones evalúan el clima económico general y el propósito del préstamo. Las condiciones económicas específicas de la industria de la empresa que solicita el préstamo, así como el estado general de la economía del país, influyen en gran medida en la decisión de aprobar un préstamo.

Claramente, si una empresa se encuentra en una industria próspera durante un período de crecimiento económico, hay más posibilidades de que se le otorgue el préstamo que si la industria está en declive y la economía es incierta.

6. Bono: Confianza: Un prestatario exitoso infunde confianza en el prestamista al abordar todas las preocupaciones del prestamista sobre las otras Cinco C. Su solicitud de préstamo envía el mensaje de que la empresa es profesional, con una reputación honesta, un buen historial de crédito, estados financieros razonables, buena capitalización y garantía adecuada.

Como propietario de una pequeña empresa, comprender las Cinco C del crédito es una herramienta valiosa para usar. Al solicitar un préstamo para pequeñas empresas, no olvide la importancia de las relaciones personales y el mantenimiento de un historial bancario positivo.

Pida reunirse con la persona que evaluará su solicitud, como el oficial de préstamos del banco, en lugar del cajero que maneja sus transacciones bancarias diarias, y tenga sus Cinco C descritas en un plan de negocios. Seguramente impresionará a su banquero.

The 5 C’s of Credit to Help a Small Business Grow

by Edgar R. Olivo

For a first-time business owner, applying for funding while gaining business experience can be a unique challenge to face when attempting to grow and scale. Running out of money is a small business’s biggest risk and keeping the flow of cash organized is the ultimate juggling act. But too often, small business owners are unclear about how much money they generate and where funds are needed most, and the disconnect can be disastrous.

Lenders have a special lens to determine if a small business can handle additional capital and it is called the “Five C’s of Credit.” The term “Five C’s” refers to the way lenders evaluate the credit-worthiness of an applicant. It can be used for individuals and couples applying for personal credit such as a loan, credit card or a mortgage. But it is also used to help assess the “worthiness” of business credit applicants.

Lenders review how well a business meets each of the Five C’s, and then use their findings to help make a lending decision. Understanding the Five C’s will help any small business owner be in the best position for a loan approval.

The Five C’s are capacity, capital, collateral, conditions and character. Each of these criteria helps the lender determine the overall risk of the loan. This is not a silver bullet approach to guarantee the best loan package, but it does help get a good sense as to what areas a small business owner should anticipate being reviewed on when the time comes to seek a loan for a growth opportunity.

1. Character: This is a highly subjective evaluation of the business owner’s personal history, but lenders must believe that a business owner is a reliable individual who can be depended on to repay the loan. Background characteristics such as personal credit history, education and work experience are all factors in this business credit analysis.

2. Capacity: Capacity is the small business owner’s ability to repay the loan. The bank needs to know how you will repay the funds before it approves your loan. Capacity is evaluated by several components, including cash flow analysis, payment history and contingent sources of income.

3. Capital: A small business owner must have his or her own funds invested in the

Forty-three percent of small businesses applied for a loan last year. According to the Federal Reserve’s Small Business Credit Survey, 43% of small businesses submitted an application to a small business lender last year. Only 48% of small businesses overall have their financing needs met.

company before a financial institution will be willing to risk their investment. Capital is the owner’s personal investment in his/her business which could be lost if the business fails. There is no fixed amount or percentage that the owner must be vested in his or her own business before being eligible for a business loan.

4. Collateral: Machinery, accounts receivable, inventory and other business assets that can be sold if a borrower fails to repay the loan are considered collateral. Since small items such as computers and office equipment are not typically considered collateral, in the case of most small business loans, the owner’s personal assets such as his or her home or automobile are required for the loan to be approved. When an owner of a small business uses his or her personal assets as a guarantee on a business loan, that means the lender can sell those personal items to satisfy any outstanding amount that is not repaid.

5. Conditions: Conditions evaluate the general economic climate and the purpose of the loan. Economic conditions specific to the industry of the business applying for the loan as well as the overall state of the country’s economy factor heavily into a decision to approve a loan. Clearly, if a company is in a thriving industry during a time of economic growth, there is more of a chance that the loan will be granted than if the industry is declining and the economy is uncertain.

6. Bonus: Confidence: A successful borrower instills confidence in the lender by addressing all the lender’s concerns on the other Five C’s. Their loan application sends the message that the company is professional, with an honest reputation, a good credit history, reasonable financial statements, good capitalization and adequate collateral.

As a small business owner, understanding the Five C’s to credit is a valuable tool to use.

When applying for a small business loan, do not forget the importance of personal relationships and maintaining a positive banking history. Ask to meet with the person who will be evaluating your application, such as the bank’s lending officer, rather than the teller who handles your day-to-day banking transactions, and have your Five C’s outlined in a business plan. It will surely impress your banker.

APR. 45 2022 INBUSINESSPHX.COM

En Negocios

Edgar R. Olivo es un educador empresarial bilingüe, asesor económico y colaborador de varios medios de comunicación. Es apasionado por la educación y comunidad.

Está certificado en finanzas y análisis de datos y posee un título en negocios de la Universidad Estatal de Arizona.

Edgar R. Olivo is a bilingual business educator, economic advisor and contributor for several media outlets.

He’s a nonprofit executive who is passionate about education. He is certified in finance and data analytics and holds a business degree from Arizona State University.

APR. 2022

46

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LIDERAZGO / LEADERSHIP

5 pasos para mejorar la moral de su equipo por Edgar R. Olivo

La moral de su equipo es un factor importante que contribuye al desempeño de los empleados. Cuando está formando su equipo, también está cultivando las habilidades que le permiten a su empresa alcanzar sus objetivos. Ayudar a su equipo a alcanzar su máximo potencial es asegurarse de que tengan las herramientas y el apoyo adecuados para hacer su trabajo con éxito. Construir y mantener la moral de los empleados comienza con la cultura de su empresa, y una cultura de trabajo saludable ayuda a guiar la moral cuando las cosas van mal.

La clave para mejorar la moral de los empleados es tener expectativas claras y comunicarse de manera efectiva con su equipo. Las expectativas claras le permiten a su equipo comprender las perspectivas de la empresa. Cuando la moral está alta, indica que su equipo se está desempeñando de manera efectiva y eficiente. Algunos signos incluyen una gran comunicación y colaboración entre los miembros - la armonía y la productividad se sienten bien. Cuando la moral está baja, indica que su equipo no está trabajando a su máximo potencial.

Algunos signos incluyen conflicto constante, evasión y pensamiento grupal.

Aquí hay cinco pasos para desarrollar una estrategia en torno a las expectativas que lo ayudarán a mejorar la moral de su equipo.

Paso 1: Cree expectativas laborales claras. Hágase algunas preguntas. ¿Sus empleados realmente entienden

lo que se espera de ellos para el trabajo? ¿Proporciona la formación adecuada? ¿Tienes claro el horario de trabajo, el ambiente de trabajo, etc.? Sea justo y sincero con sus empleados en cuanto a lo que el trabajo requiere que hagan.

Paso 2: Tenga un proceso de rendición de cuentas claro. Nada daña más la moral del equipo que un líder que permite el mal comportamiento. Hágase algunas preguntas. ¿Tiene un manual del empleado? ¿Sus empleados saben exactamente lo que se espera de ellos y cómo serán responsables? ¿Cómo maneja dar la retroalimentación que es necesaria para que cambien su comportamiento? ¿Gestionas por recompensa o por castigo? Sea constante y predique con el ejemplo.

Paso 3: Establezca expectativas para la comunicación.

El conflicto en un equipo es natural y resolverlo es una práctica.

Asegúrese de fomentar un entorno de trabajo en el que exista y se fomente la seguridad psicológica. La seguridad psicológica significa que los miembros del equipo pueden expresar y recibir comentarios abiertamente sin temor a represalias.

Todos merecen ser escuchados.

Paso 4: Recompense el buen comportamiento y desempeño. Algunos líderes piensan que organizar una fiesta con pizza es la mejor manera de recompensar a los empleados por hacer un buen trabajo, pero eso solo los alimenta por un día. El verdadero reconocimiento llega de las formas más sutiles. La mejor recompensa que un líder puede

Un estudio de Harvard Business Review (HBR) mostró que los equipos altamente exitosos comparten algunas características de comunicación entre sí. Una de ellas es que los miembros del equipo mantienen conversaciones paralelas dentro del equipo y se toman descansos juntos o se ponen al día sobre temas que no son del trabajo con frecuencia. Estas conexiones siempre se pueden fomentar en esas actividades de formación de equipos.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

5 Steps to Improve Morale on Your Team

by Edgar R. Olivo

brindar a su equipo se presenta en forma de un estímulo reflexivo. Reconocer cuando alguien superó un desafío o logró una meta difícil es importante porque hace que el equipo se sienta valorado. Aunque las recompensas financieras son importantes, las recompensas emocionales son igual de importantes.

Paso 5: Ejemplifica la cultura que quieres ver en la empresa. El ambiente de trabajo ha cambiado desde la pandemia y ahora los factores de estrés también pueden dañar la moral del equipo. Cuando el líder da un ejemplo positivo de autocuidado y estilo de trabajo, otros seguirán su ejemplo. Muchos de los desafíos que se encuentran en una cultura laboral generalmente comienzan en la parte superior. Practique los comportamientos que desea ver en el equipo y muestre cómo cuidarse unos a otros.

Todos los equipos tienen el potencial de experimentar una alta moral de equipo y reconocer los signos de la energía en un equipo es útil para guiarlos hacia el éxito. Una moral de equipo sólida lo ayudará a mantener la empresa a flote, y su equipo será resistente para atravesar los momentos más difíciles. La moral de un gran equipo es su mayor activo.

Your team morale is an important factor that contributes to employee performance.

When you are building your team, you are also cultivating the skills that allow your company to achieve its goals. Helping your team achieve their full potential is making sure they have the right tools and support to do their jobs successfully. Building and sustaining employee morale starts with the culture of your company, and a healthy work culture helps guide morale when things go wrong.

The key to improving employee morale is having clear expectations and communicating effectively with your team. Clear expectations allow your team to understand the outlook of the company. When morale is high, it signals that your team is performing effectively and efficiently. Some signs include great communication and collaboration among members — harmony and productivity feel right. When morale is low, it signals that your team is not working to its full potential. Some signs include constant conflict, avoidance and group think.

Here are five steps to develop a strategy around expectations that will help you improve the morale on your team.

Step 1: Create clear job expectations. Ask yourself a few questions. Do your employees really understand what is expected of them for the job? Do you provide proper training? Are you clear about the hours, work schedule, work environment and so on? Be fair and upfront with your employees as to what the job requires them to do.

Step 2: Have a clear accountability process. Nothing hurts team morale more than a leader who allows bad behavior. Ask yourself a few questions. Do you have an employee handbook? Do your employees know exactly what is expected of them and how they will be held accountable? How do you handle giving the feedback that is necessary for them to change their behavior? Do you manage by reward or by punishment? Be consistent and lead by example.

Step 3: Establish expectations for communication. Conflict on a team is natural,

and resolving conflict takes practice. Make sure you encourage a work environment where psychological safety exists and is encouraged.

Psychological safety means that team members can express and receive feedback openly without the fear of retribution. Everyone deserves to be heard.

Step 4: Reward good behavior and performance. Some leaders think that throwing a pizza party is the best way to reward employees for doing good work, but that only feeds them for a day. True recognition comes in the most subtle ways. The best reward a leader can provide their team comes in the form of thoughtful encouragement. Recognizing when someone overcame a challenge or achieve a difficult goal is important because it makes the team feel valued. Although financial rewards are important, emotional rewards are just as important.

Step 5: Exemplify the culture you want to see in the company. The work environment has changed since the pandemic began and now stress factors can also hurt team morale.

When the leader sets a positive example of self-care and work style, others will follow suit.

Many of the challenges found in a work culture usually start at the top. Practice the behaviors you wish to see on the team and show how to take care of each other.

All teams have the potential to experience high team morale, and recognizing the signs of the energy on a team is useful to lead them toward success. A solid team morale will help you keep the company afloat, and your team will be resilient to ride through the toughest of times.

Great team morale is your greatest asset.

A Harvard Business Review study shows that highly successful teams share a few communication characteristics with each other. One of those is that team members carry on side conversations within the team and they take breaks together or catch up on non-work topics frequently. These connections can always be encouraged at those team-building activities.

APR. 47 2022 INBUSINESSPHX.COM

Economy

DEVELOPING & GROWING BUSINESS DYNAMICS

Selling Your Business in 2022 High market demand makes this a great year to sell

by Brian Bond

Given the pandemic’s impact, more business owners will likely be selling their businesses in 2022 due to the uncertainty of the economy and tax increases. This year is a great time to sell a business due to high market demand and consumer spending.

As many business owners know, selling a business is no easy task. Many time-consuming steps go into selling a business.

The sale of every business is unique but the fundamentals are similar. Business owners can take many steps to find the right deal. The more prepared the business owner, the more likely they are to maximize profits.

It is ideal to begin thinking about selling a business two years in advance. This allows the business owner to prepare the sale and command the best price possible. Selling a business for maximum profits depend on several factors, including the time of the sale.

CONSIDER SUPPLY AND DEMAND

Brian Bond is the principal of Strategic Business Brokers Group, in affiliation with American Realty Brokers who has helped dozens of owners sell their businesses across Arizona. Bond has been named “Broker of the Year” by the Arizona Business Broker Association. businessbroker phoenixaz.com

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Over the past year, the strength of small business was tested, and business values have increased steadily due to increased demand. Since there is more demand for business, owners looking to sell can potentially sell for more in 2022. The timing of the sale is important in achieving the best outcome.

The landscape set up by the pandemic and the recovering economy is setting up 2022 to be a great year for sellers.

CONSIDER LABOR SHORTAGES

Labor shortages have hit multiple industries hard over the past year. Business owners can make plans to fill these shortages, but labor may be a key reason to consider selling a business in 2022. Some business owners will choose to wait out the current situation, while others will decide it is time to sell the business. Labor shortages take a major toll on businesses as many will close their doors until they can hire staff to fill empty positions. As a result, businesses lose income, and this can damage the overall profitability of the

Over the past year, the strength of small business was tested, and business values have increased steadily due to increased demand.

business when put on the market. Considering the overall loss in comparison of profit gained by a sale will help a business owner determine if now is the right time.

CONSIDER TAX CONSEQUENCES

Under the Biden administration, there is a possibility capital gains taxes will rise over the next couple of years. Reports show that a 39.6% capital gains bracket will apply to taxpayers earning more than $1 million. The indexing of this will allow for inflation in 2022. Most business owners will not feel this effect, but it may affect those earning more than $1 million.

Even though Congress has not voted on any tax increases, it is a smart idea to consider future tax increases when selling a business.

MARKET ADVANTAGE FOR SELLERS

With much pandemic uncertainty over the past couple of years, many business owners have chosen to wait when deciding to sell their business. This has caused an imbalance in the market. Buyer demand now exceeds the supply of available businesses. Sale prices can expect to continue increasing as buyers continue paying top dollar for these businesses.

Currently, it is a seller’s market. This will slowly begin fading as the pandemic passes and more people are expecting to retire and sell their businesses. As this takes place, the market will begin balancing out to pre-pandemic conditions. So, if selling a business is on the table, 2022 is the perfect time to consider it.

For business owners looking to sell their business, 2022 is a promising year to do so. Businesses are selling at record prices, and buyer demand continues to rise, putting sellers in a position to negotiate with the many buyers looking to purchase a business. As the economy continues to recover, buyers will broaden their interests into different industries in re-opened sectors. Business owners considering selling need to contact a broker and see what their business is worth and begin the process of selling as soon as possible.

LAW MATTERS TO BUSINESS

Luxury vs. Affordable Multifamily Housing Arizona’s cities should focus on growing both

by Benjamin Graff

It may be surprising to hear that a city or community can be opposed to a luxury multifamily development just as strongly as an affordable housing development, but for very different reasons.

As a land use and zoning attorney who represents clients focused on both luxury and affordable multifamily housing, I have seen this scenario in various jurisdictions. While there are numerous legal and political considerations with each product type, Arizona’s cities should focus on embracing both luxury and affordable housing developments. The combination of the two helps stabilize rents, injects a diverse housing supply that meets ever-growing demand, and positions a city to attract economic development opportunities.

Developers obtaining approvals for multifamily developments often encounter the ultimate “Catch 22.” When proposing a luxury development, the city or community may push back and express a desire for affordable housing.

But proposing affordable housing brings the opposite demand for luxury units, amenities and higher rental rates.

The biggest challenge is communicating why a luxury or affordable multifamily development is the best fit for the proposed location and how offering all types of multifamily developments helps stabilize rental rates and meet a diversity of housing demands.

Many clients ask if a city can require a developer to build affordable or luxury housing, or whether the city can dictate that a proposed rental development must instead consist of for-sale condominiums. The answer to both questions is no, as the Federal Fair Housing Act can be interpreted to prohibit such actions.

But even with the law on their side, developers still need to navigate political and community hurdles. Since Arizona and municipal zoning laws do not distinguish between affordable, market-rate and luxury multifamily developments; it is the underlying zoning district and associated development standards, including density limits, that legally impact what can be developed on the site. In many situations, a developer will need to rezone the property to reach desired density limits, height and development standards. Some cities provide for a planned unit development or planned area development option, which allows the developer to write and design its own zoning district to facilitate a more enhanced and appropriate development.

Interestingly, cities with defined goals and policies for attracting and developing affordable housing are more willing to support luxury developments. If a city is confident in its ability to develop much-needed affordable housing, it can be equally supportive of luxury multifamily developments to support a larger diversity of housing options at varying price points. Phoenix and Tempe are strong examples of cities that are working on policies to attract and develop affordable housing while simultaneously encouraging market-rate and luxury multifamily developments.

Notwithstanding the benefits of attracting both options, some communities continue to push back.

In recent years, we have seen multiple examples where a city’s actions may serve to push all multifamily development beyond its municipal boundaries, opting instead for only singlefamily home ownership opportunities. This can be a shortsighted tactic that prevents new families and employees from locating in and, eventually, producing tax revenue for the city. Typically, families and employees moving to a new state seek quality rental housing. This allows the renters to start their careers and families, with the goal of buying a home in the future. But if a city does not provide diverse multifamily rental options, they will push such individuals into neighboring jurisdictions, which may ultimately become those families’ permanent home and benefit from the associated tax generation.

What if there is an opportunity for a luxury multifamily developer to contribute to a city’s affordable housing goals?

Is this type of contribution legal? The answer is yes, as long as this is not a quid pro quo in return for the approval of the development.

The contribution must be voluntary and in no way tied to a rezoning application or other development approval under the city’s discretion. In Tempe, for example, Mayor Corey Woods and the city council created the Hometown for All initiative in January 2021. Under this initiative, for every luxury or marketrate multifamily development built in Tempe, an amount equivalent to 50% of certain permitting fees paid to the city by the developer goes toward supporting affordable and workforce housing. The developer can also make an additional voluntary contribution to the fund.

As we see the demand for diverse housing options continue to grow, it will be the cities that simultaneously attract and encourage luxury and affordable multifamily developments that will be best prepared for the future.

Since Arizona and municipal zoning laws do not distinguish between affordable, market-rate and luxury multifamily developments; it is the underlying zoning district and associated development standards, including density limits, that legally impact what can be developed on the site.

Benjamin Graff is a partner in the Phoenix office of Quarles & Brady LLP and leads the Land Use & Zoning Practice Group. An established Arizona land use and zoning attorney, he has extensive experience in government relations and Arizona politics. His practice includes work with luxury multifamily, senior living, affordable housing, single-family, industrial uses, office and mixed-use developments. quarles.com

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Social Impact

BUSINESS GIVES BACK

Ryan Companies, Building Stories of Impact Commitment to communities, the environment and its people

by Tyler Butler

Support these efforts by visiting azhumane.org/ donatenewcampus. azhumane.org/newpapago-park-campus

Tyler Butler is the chief social impact officer for the Weedmaps’ corporate portfolio, where she leads programs that positively impact humanity. She is also the founder of 11.11CoLab and is often cited as a subject-matter expert by Forbes, SHRM, Entrepreneur, US News & World Report and more. weedmaps.com

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matching funds and corporate grants. While each of its regions select organizations to support year-round, its main event is the annual Ryan Gives Back campaign.

Ryan also gives back by leveraging its own business as a conduit for positive change. Every few years, the company selects a nonprofit project and credits back all project fees.

In 2021, Ryan chose the Arizona Humane Society to support through its new campus, which broke ground late last year: the new Arizona Humane Society Rob and Melani Walton Papago Park Campus, a 72,000-square-foot campus and medical complex that will be a state-of-the-art facility that will create a sustainable, long-term system of care for the Valley’s most vulnerable animals. Thanks to Ryan’s generous support, all profits on the project were credited back to the Arizona Humane Society, which, according to the company, represents a savings of more than $1 million.

These larger charitable giving efforts are guided by the Ryan Foundation Committee, which focuses corporate funds to three areas: Health & Wellness, Education, and Food & Shelter. The company is known to sponsor charitable events across the country, from hospital galas to golf tournaments and walks for various causes. Ryan has a full-circle giving program and also holds fundraising events regularly, for team members, customers and vendors, with money raised going to local nonprofit organizations.

Ryan has ensured the company’s legacy of giving will continue. It has created the Jim Ryan Award, which was established to be given out annually to the team member who best exemplifies the stewardship qualities of the late CEO, who passed away almost 10 years ago. Recipients are nominated by their peers and are considered for their unwavering commitment to the greater good. The award comes with a $10,000 donation that can be directed to the charity of the winner’s choice. It’s through programs such as this and the company’s many other contributions that Ryan will continue creating communities that thrive.

Ryan Companies ryancompanies.com

In 2020 alone, Ryan Companies team members donated to 540 different nonprofit organizations, and additional regional or corporate grants were awarded to many more. Each fall, Ryan’s 15 offices spend a week focusing on events, games and impactful charitable missions to put a spotlight on localized donations and volunteering in the communities where they work and live.

Photo courtesy of Ryan Companies

The Arizona Humane Society Rob and Melani Walton Papago Park Campus, which will be located near Papago Park, will allow the Arizona Humane Society to offer comprehensive rescue, medical and behavioral care for pets at a level not yet seen in the United States.

Through thick and thin, Ryan Companies has a history of doing the right thing. Its community support is rooted in its purpose to create places for people to thrive. Its leadership recognizes that commercial real estate leaves an imprint on customers, team members and the larger society, and they’ve made a commitment to be a valued partner in growing stronger communities.

Since 1938, Ryan has created a legacy of commitment to communities, the environment and its people. Stewardship is one of its core values, and “Always do the right thing,” attributed to former CEO and third-generation leader Jim Ryan, is one of the mottos the company commonly uses. Ryan has grown from a small family-owned company into a company where everyone feels like family. And while the company has grown significantly, its leadership has never walked away from the values and culture that are rooted in its core: integrity, honesty and community.

“Ryan’s commitment to positively impact the communities we work in every day is deeply embedded into our culture and is a commitment we act upon in a variety of ways. Through employee donations, corporate matches, regional grants, scholarships and volunteer time, Ryan and our team members live the company motto of ‘Do the right thing’ in cities and neighborhoods throughout the country,” shares Colleen Kucera, senior marketing director and Southwest regional representative to the Ryan Foundation Committee.

This commitment is put into action through a variety of programs, one of which empowers Ryan employees to donate to any 501(c)(3) charity they are most passionate about.

Ryan takes this commitment one step further by matching all logged donations.

Chuck Carefoot, senior vice president of construction in the Southwest division, says, “We support employee contributions of time and talent through community service by encouraging each team member to use up to 20 hours of work time annually to volunteer in the community. Stewardship truly defines the culture at Ryan; our employees do a fantastic job of engaging in their local communities to give back to causes they are passionate about.”

A vital component to Ryan’s strategic planning is a focus on its total societal impact. Its leadership is mindful that what the company does and how the company does it makes communities better. Each year, the efforts of the companywide Ryan Gives Back initiative results in hundreds of thousands of dollars of giving, including employee donations,

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OUR SUBJECT IN-DEPTH

Elevated Marketing – Empowering a Brand with Enchantment ANTIDOTE TO THE VUCA WORLD From the cancel culture to the mass resignation today, people are acting in ways never anticipated.

In ancient times, people created myths to explain what they could not understand, and the rise in conspiracy theories today is not much different. As people scramble to find ways of coping in the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world, the Enchanted Brand offers a positive path (inspiring thinking that transcends reality) with tangible tools (the branded product/service), so people activate to carve their own rewarding path forward.

Jane Cavalier Lucas, CEO and founder of BrightMark Consulting, is a nationally recognized brand strategist, board member, blogger and author of The Enchanted Brand (Amazon). She helps organizations conquer a changing world with powerful brands and reputations. Recognized for creating breakout brands like Snapple and Qwest, Cavalier has worked with more than 100 organizations, including American Express, ExxonMobil and the U.S. Navy. brightmarkconsulting.com

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Six characteristics of an enchanted brand

by Jane Cavalier Lucas

When people face a world that is too complex to understand, constantly changing in unexpected ways and unclear, they put up barriers of distrust and caution. This environment creates debilitating distress, and most people don’t have the tools or training to deal with it. This affects decision making and can lead to irrational choices driven by fear. Sound familiar?

Enchanted brands are the next paradigm in branding to help organizations thrive in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world. These are brands that serve people rather than sell goods, and in doing so forge a strong, trusted partnership. Rather than tell people how to think and feel, these brands inspire new thinking by stimulating the imagination. Instead of prescribing, they open choices and empower people to create their own desires (out of enchantment). This personal, creative decision making is what makes an Enchanted Brand compelling. People are sparked to imagine something they desire — their own personal view of it. They lean in to buying the branded product as a way to pursue that dream, because the brand is part of the source code and linked to achieving it.

On a foundational level, the Enchanted Brand possesses these six characteristics: Intention: Has a clear, relevant point to make. The Enchanted Brand has an emotional and practical outcome it aims to achieve in the life of everyone who touches it. It should inspire specific thinking and action, and help people overcome the challenges of a VUCA world. It should stand for an idea with a high level of meaning. Chanel is an Enchanted Brand that wants women to experience the thrill of divine, feminine beauty so they can cultivate their own version of it.

Engaging: Must entertain and arouse curiosity. An Enchanted Brand is designed to make people “feel good” and stimulate new thinking. If the brand doesn’t evoke positive feelings, it is not an Enchanted Brand. It also challenges people so they move into the imagination. This is what sparks curiosity — a strong desire to know or learn something. To that end, the brand presents something new or unfamiliar in an inviting way. The John Deere brand engages people in the fantasy of American farming, although they may have never set foot on a real working farm.

Enriching: Stimulates the imagination and clarifies emotions. The Enchanted Brand seeks to open the aperture of life by opening the mind to new possibilities associated with positive emotions. Rather than fear something new, people gravitate embrace it. The brand enriches life like a great book, poem or TV show. Many people feel enriched by the level of creativity that the Apple brand makes possible for them.

Authentic: Tethered to a compelling truth. Although Enchanted Brands are about fantasy, the fantasy has relevance because it is based in truth. Just like great comedy. You laugh,

Enchanted brand are brands that serve people rather than sell goods, and in doing so forge a strong, trusted partnership.

because it is so true! The truth can be found in many places — in what people are facing or even in what the branded/product can actually do. A Range Rover can go off-road for 4,000 miles which might inspire someone to feel the rugged adventure of it all. This truth helps validate the fantasy.

Aligned: Attuned to anxieties and aspirations of the real world. Historically, brands have sugar-coated the world and not recognized the real human difficulties at work. This is why many lose relevance. The Enchanted Brand maps to enduring human challenges by providing an antidote to specific anxieties associated with them. The Johnson & Johnson brand provides a profound level of trust, embedded in the motherbaby bond that is the essence of the brand, to alleviate the high anxiety presented by complex, risky healthcare solutions that require a leap of faith.

Enabling: Promote self-confidence and personal value.

The Enchanted Brand is designed to create more personal agency in the world. The purpose of the brand is to counteract the disabling effects of the VUCA world and to strengthen the sense of personal power that is being overwhelmed. This is how the Navy Seal brand helps courageous warfighters persevere in extreme VUCA circumstances, as they are driven by high ideals that can never be compromised.

Imagine if just a small fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent annually on brands in our culture was spent on creating Enchanted Brands rather than on brands that pollute, dilute or refute our personal identities. During this time of epic change when people face the de-humanizing effects of revolutionizing technologies in work, life and society every day, we need to strengthen what it means to be human. The Enchanted Brands bring in the power of art, ideas that touch people in deep ways and elevate them to a higher place.

This mental power is what will propel people to try and buy products, work hard, invest in the future and stay loyal.

ENVIRONMENTS & WORKPLACES

Design for Productivity What a difference office décor can make

Office of Thrive Coworking

by Dala Al-Fuwaires

Photo courtesy of House of Form

Business owners need to find ways to boost employee productivity from time to time. Redesigning the office is a great way to do this. Creating a stylish and accessible office keeps employees focused and motivated. Here are a few of the most impactful design elements to freshen up an old office space.

Design multiple workspaces. Employees have different working styles. Some prefer a quiet area where they can focus.

Others prefer a more active area where they can be creative.

Creating areas within the office that allow for different work styles will help enhance employees’ productivity.

Improve the lighting. Light design is essential for office efficiency. If the employees can’t see well, it is unlikely they will be productive. Poor lighting causes eye strain, which leads to headaches, stress and fatigue. So, it is important to create a well-lit office space for the sake of the employees’ health.

When lighting an office, employers should consider using natural light as much as possible. Natural light helps boost mood and encourages better work output. If the office is lacking in natural light, it can be simulated by using LED lights. Most LED lights on the market today offer a wide range of colors and effects, so employers can change the color temperature for any area of the office. It’s best to install LED lights that emit a cooler color temperature like natural light in areas where employees have their desks. In break rooms and calming areas, on the other hand, warmer tones help promote rejuvenation.

Lower noise levels. Noise is one of the biggest factors when it comes to distractions. Sounds emitted within a 20-foot radius have the most impact on an employee’s concentration.

Outdoor Space at Thrive Coworking

Employers can fix this problem by placing acoustic panels on walls that will buffer loud noises. Plants are another great sound barrier, and they provide a bit of nature in the space.

If these don’t work for the particular workspace, an alternative may be transparent walls. Transparent walls create a sound barrier but not a visual barrier. These are great when wanting to lower noise levels but allow communication between employees.

Change up the color. Wall color can be very stimulating for employees. Different colors effect different emotions in people. It’s effective to use a variety of colors in the workspaces throughout the office. Using blues, yellows, oranges and greens stimulates a person’s creativity and provides a sense of calm. White and tan walls should be avoided, as also should brash colors or elaborate murals that can be distracting.

Create rest areas. All employees need an area to take a break from the hectic workday. When designing these areas, employers need to consider that different employees rest in different ways. Some prefer a quiet room to rest their eyes for ten minutes. Others prefer playing a game or watching the news for a few minutes.

Creating multiple rest areas in the office provides for the needs of the employees. Workers who need a few minutes to recharge will benefit from a designated quiet room with comfortable seating. Another space with ping pong tables, foosball tables and a television would be good for those looking to take a break and boost their creativity.

Design an outdoor area. Having an outdoor space for employees to get some fresh air or take a walk is a great way to boost productivity and creativity. Many people enjoy taking a walk while brainstorming ideas or clearing their minds.

Outdoor spaces also provide health benefits for workers who sit for most of the workday. These include exercise, fresh air and sunlight.

Changing up the workspace can boost the productivity of the team. Implementing a few design elements to help the employees function at a high level does not have to seem like a daunting task. It may take just a few moments to walk around the office and see where deficiencies are happening and consider what will work best in that setting. These tips will help boost productivity and get the team back on track.

Natural light helps boost mood and encourages better work output. If the office is lacking in natural light, it can be simulated by using LED lights.

Dala Al-Fuwaires is the owner and principal designer at House of Form in Scottsdale, Arizona. House of Form is a boutique hospitality design firm that specializes in creating memorable spaces for your guests and customers. houseofform.com

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DEI

DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION

DEI Is Where It Starts The secret sauce of a robust DEI strategy is a healthy sprinkling of belonging!

by Joanna C. de’Shay, MAOM, M.F.A.

Joanna C. de’Shay is executive director of Diversity Leadership Alliance, the premiere education training organization in Arizona dedicated to eradicating racism, bias and prejudice.

DLA’s goal is to create an inclusive community where each person is equally respected and empowered. diversityleadership alliance.org

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The one thing that going through a global pandemic for two-plus years has shown us all is that we all need and crave human interaction and connection. The overwhelming sense of isolation many of us felt was all too real and affected everyone, from the corporate CEO to the middle school student having to attend classes over Zoom. Now more than ever, we have an innate desire to be seen, validated and recognized for our attributes and collective contributions.

In 2022, companies will need to get it right so their employees who are transitioning back into the workplace in person, virtually, hybrid or some other alternative arrangement in-between have a strong sense they belong in that corporate culture. Employees need to know that what they bring to the table in terms of their diversity and intersections is celebrated and genuinely valued. As we move along the continuum of Diversity Equity and Inclusion, the time is right to elevate our strategies and ensure we are not simply administering performative tasks that make us look diverse, but sustainable actions that speak to the amplification of diversity as a core business practice. Belonging essentially is the leveling up of an already strong Diversity Equity and Inclusion program, strategy or policy.

Belonging is one of the most primal of all human desires and is something that, when done well, can cultivate a workplace that is connected, purpose-driven and inspired.

This primal desire is what Maslow points to in his Hierarchy of Needs theory. The theory presented in the early 1940s dissects human motivation and its direct correlation to human behavior. Each level or step on the pyramid addresses our basic needs and our more complicated “growth” needs. Belonging falls into the top-tier growth category on the hierarchy of needs pyramid, right before self-esteem and, ultimately, self-actualization. Part of adding Belonging into a business’s

DEI strategy is being able to assess what its employees truly desire for them to grow within their job, team, department and company. Good leaders will take the time to understand the needs of their workforce, especially the individuals within that workforce who are marginalized and constantly othered.

In addition to Belonging being the next intentional level to a strong DEI program, strategy or policy, it can also be a strong indicator of a corporate culture that exhibits empathy for its employee’s well-being and overall mental health. This level of empathy is imperative in these post-COVID times and can be a solid accompaniment to any recruitment or retention strategy.

To have an effective DEI program that genuinely moves the needle on Inclusion, companies will have to do more than treat their employees fairly and equitably. They will need to be intentional and demonstrative in their inclusive actions, behaviors and language. In these uncertain times of mass resignations and difficulty in recruitment, what business leaders do now to integrate Belonging can directly impact the level of engagement they see and experience from their workforce later.

It may take more than just a healthy sprinkling of Belonging to develop a robust DEI strategy. Still, without recognizing its value, business leaders will have a colorful recipe with zero taste and even less nutritional value. Belonging is how businesses feed their employees’ souls and ensure that they are thriving.

Leaders must recognize that the growth and success of their employees is, indeed, their responsibility as well as theirs to communicate what actions they need to see demonstrated to feel a stronger sense of connectivity and belonging.

This is the year companies must also check for any blind spots that could compromise their DEI efforts. The value of true employee engagement is to evolve a DEI strategy into a DEI+B strategy.

Employees need to know that what they bring to the table in terms of their diversity and intersections is celebrated and genuinely valued.

OUR SUBJECT IN-DEPTH

New Realities of Today’s Workforce Demographics and corrections through a business lens

by Seth Morgan

The impact and effects of COVID-19-related policies has accelerated the coming demographic change in the labor market.

Many have written on and studied the working habits and behaviors of millennials. While an admitted generalization, millennials value their personal freedom, seek a cause to serve and have less loyalty to a long-term employment position than previous generations. The COVID response put even more emphasis on the need for employers to be flexible, and it pushed certain employees who were close to retirement into retirement, further reducing the number of non-millennials in the workforce.

As a millennial generation seeks for more meaning in their work, and as employers are increasingly challenged to find their “why,” one way to attract top talent is to work carefully to match the company’s “why” to the talent’s “why.” This effort will likely lead to employers finding more ways to be flexible in more than just pay rates. They will also gain the respect and confidence of their talent base, enabling them to better whether the storm we are in now and will likely be for some time.

Studies have also shown that women and minorities have been disproportionally affected by the changes over the last two years.

The disruption of school schedules and caring for other family members traditionally falls to women. This has forced them to leave the labor market in higher numbers than men.

However, the shift to working at home has allowed many women to enter the workforce who previously did not want to work outside of home. Many service businesses have sprung up that leverage this underutilized segment of the labor market.

The data on other minorities is harder to interpret.

Anecdotally, we know that migrant and undocumented workers have been affected, but their out-of-status situation makes that impact hard to measure. Generally, there has been a broad correlation between skills and the strength of social networks. White-collar jobs moved more easily to homes than blue-collar jobs did. In addition, those with a strong family or relational network could call on that resource to help cover the additional responsibilities of children or the elderly. This has proved to be a source of strength for many minorities, as their lack of mobility keeps them part of strong ethnic communities.

AUTOMATION AS AN ANSWER?

As employees become more demanding, employers will seek new solutions, including automation. And, since the developing world has begun to catch up to the U.S. in manufacturing ability, more skilled jobs are required here at home. We have seen clients try to address the increasing cost of labor — without the ability to keep up in price increases — by focusing on outsourcing, automation and even geographic changes to access more stable and less demanding workforces.

This does mean more technical skills are needed by many employees, and those who have these skills can demand

top wages. But many employers are faced with the decision of teaching their existing work force these skills. That is expensive, and it creates the possibility the employee will leave for a higher-paying job elsewhere. The upshot has been to put more pressure on managers and supervisors to deploy these technologies but with an untrained workforce.

RETENTION AND RE-ATTRACTION

Employers are often surprised when they actually ask what their employees value. There’s no question that pay isn’t everything. That’s been proven over and again, and our experience at MLA shows that employers who demonstrate actual care and concern for their employees, especially through the pandemic, have the respect and benefit of the doubt when it comes to retention of their current talent pool.

And then there are boomerang employees, those who leave and then come back. These may look like a great financial investment; after all, they already know the company and the job, so should not need the same training a new employee would require. This may be true if the employee has only been gone for a short time, but if they’ve been gone for six months or more, an employer should not just assume they are ready to pick up where they left off. It may seem overly precautious, but taking them back through a basic orientation and training is a good investment. Not only may their role have changed in their absence, but the employee will have also changed after taking some time away. They may even have helpful insights on ways to improve the work they do.

The labor shortage is a combination of factors. Some were already with us, but the COVID response pushed them into the foreground by changing policy and workplace norms. The right response is for employers to recognize this problem isn’t going away. Adjusting company culture to fit multiple generations will always be a good thing.

As employees become more demanding, employers will seek new solutions, including automation.

Seth Morgan is the president and CEO of MLA Companies, which he founded in 2006.

As a strategic advisor, he brings insight and accountability to business leaders. He also represents sell and buy sides in M&A transactions.

Morgan’s experience includes mergers and acquisitions, operations, internal consulting, controller operations and general management, bank negotiations, compliance audits and negotiation, business valuation experience, risk management, budgeting, and forecasting, and dealing with the pressures and dynamics of small business ownership. mlacompanies.com

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INVESTING IN COMMUNITY

Ignite Constituent Engagement Lessons learned from successful alumni outreach

by Nancy Treser Osgood

KEY TAKEAWAYS TO IMPROVE CONSTITUENT ENGAGEMENT • Allow constituents more opportunities to volunteer on their terms by allowing them to select ways to serve the university or nonprofit, based on their interest and the amount of time they can give.

• Ensure graduates feel appreciated and valued by showing pride in their accomplishments.

• Continue exploring creative virtual events for those who prefer them.

• Offer and promote career support assistance for graduates.

• Leverage the impact of promotional gifts to stay top of mind with donors.

Nancy Treser Osgood is a senior consultant at The Phoenix Philanthropy Group. She has a Master of Arts in religious education from the Claremont School of Theology and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Pomona College. Osgood is also a recipient of the prestigious CASE District VII Tribute Award for the highest standards of professional achievement and outstanding mentorship. phoenixphilanthropy.com

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Have those wildly creative virtual events and engaging digital messages reached their saturation point with donors, alumni or other constituents? As people tire of online interactions and hunger for more personal contacts and exchanges, how can educational institutions and nonprofit organizations keep their supporters involved and engaged?

These successful alumni programs offer insights into how to keep donors and constituents active and connected, even if in-person events continue to be delayed.

VOLUNTEERISM “MY WAY”

To entice alumni volunteer engagement, San Jose State University in California is examining ways to “push out” volunteer opportunities to its graduates. Alumni can select ways to serve the university, based on their interest and the amount of time they can give, says Theresa Davis, vice president for university advancement.

“Some alumni will only have a day they can devote to a project, while others may be able to assume a longer-term commitment such as mentoring,” says Davis. By effectively marketing these volunteer positions, SJSU can increase the number of alumni engaging with the university -- which may ultimately lead to increased support.

EXPANDING BEYOND PHYSICAL BORDERS

When COVID derailed plans for in-person commencement ceremonies at the University of La Verne in California, a new planning committee was formed with representatives from across the university. The team generated new ideas, including assembling and mailing goodie boxes to graduates and holding a drive-through graduation ceremony, with the campus radio station announcing the graduates’ names as they arrived on campus for the ceremony.

Virtual programs have enabled the university to expand the radius of engagement beyond the borders of its nine campuses and surrounding communities. “It is ironic that in shutting down due to COVID, we have been able to be more inclusive,” says Kim Grant, assistant vice president of alumni engagement.

La Verne enjoyed a very robust Homecoming program before COVID. Since an in-person campus tailgate party was not possible, tailgating supplies were either sent to alumni or could be collected from campus. Homecoming “Day” morphed into Homecoming “Week” with a variety of virtual events and activities, including admissions and career services programs.

Students ran a 5K around campus, and alumni were invited to participate in their hometowns using phone apps to record and report their runs.

CAREER NETWORKS KEEP CONSTITUENTS ENGAGED

The importance of career support for alumni has come alive in the post-pandemic era. At the University of La Verne, alumni engagement efforts refocused on career support for its

graduates, such as assessing personal skills and rebranding.

Alumni engagement staff partnered with the career services office to offer “Leo Life Coaching” (La Verne’s mascot is Leo the leopard), providing meaningful connections between current students and alumni. Students also gained a deeper understanding of what their lives will be like after graduation and how the university will continue to support them.

Another way to provide a through-line between alumni and students is with Senior Advice Cards. At Pitzer College in Claremont, California, graduating seniors write advice cards to students who will enter the college in the fall, giving them the benefit of their wisdom and experience. The notes are copied and placed in water bottles presented to new students on their first day on campus. The messages of support and encouragement are well received by the students.

How organizations talk to, with and about constituents should also be examined. For example, do leaders share their pride in the accomplishments of their graduates and colleagues?

Are students aware of the diversity of alumni occupations and how they can connect with alumni? Constituent enthusiasm can rise and fall based on the reputation of the organization, so it is important to be cognizant of how donors perceive its brand.

GIFTS HELP ORGANIZATIONS STAY TOP OF MIND WITH DONORS

Branded promotional items are a great way to stay top of mind with alumni and donors. Today’s most popular promotional items include wireless chargers, blankets, cheese boards and barware, according to Barbara Perry-Lorek, president of Chameleon Creative Group. Sustainable and ecofriendly items made from recycled materials and bamboo are also in high demand, according to Perry-Lorek.

And while it may seem passé, handwritten notes are making a comeback. Thank-you notes from student scholarship winners, faculty grant recipients or grateful board members could have a profound impact on donors. For those working in colleges and universities, consider signed books by faculty authors, which include a personalized note. The gift of a book also ties alumni back to the educational mission of their alma mater and inspires lifelong learning.

Every participant can serve as an ambassador by referring applicants, providing career support, serving as a guest speaker and donating.

Constituent enthusiasm can rise and fall based on the reputation of the organization, so it is important to be cognizant of how donors perceive its brand.

WE VALUE WHAT WE OWN

2022 e-tron GT by Audi Progress meets power. Legendary Audi performance is at the heart of the e-tron GT and its RS sibling. Both models feature exhilarating launch control, boosting the power to achieve up to 522 horsepower on the e-tron GT and 637 horsepower on the RS model, putting extraordinary power at the driver’s fingertips.

Designed with the intent to stand out, the meticulously crafted exterior is sure to draw attention. Capable of 270kW charging utilizing 800V technology, the Audi e-tron GT can go from 5% to 80% charge in around 23 minutes. The onboard route planner also pinpoints charging stations along the route.

Instantaneous and electric, e-torque vectoring plus ensures enviable stability and handling in any driving situation. The flat-bottom steering wheel not only elevates the high-

performance atmosphere of the cockpit, Alcantara® also brings a soft yet durable touch to the wheel.

The voluminous, high-quality e-sound immerses the e-tron GT for a contemporary acoustic expression that will define the next generation of vehicles. The RS model takes it to the next level with e-sound plus. Both models allow the exterior and interior sound to be easily adjusted with Audi drive select, making the aural experience as personalized as it is exhilarating. The Audi virtual cockpit with available head-up display not only delivers confidence by enabling the driver to keep eyes directly on the road, but also boasts unique design elements in the display that are exclusive to the e-tron GT. Standard 14-way power-adjustable sport seats are wrapped in Dinamica® and leatherette, making them elegant and stylish. Another optional are fine Nappa leather seating surfaces for a luxurious interior that never fails to impress.

Designed with the intent of being as purposeful as it is aesthetically pleasing, the Audi e-tron GT boasts an authoritative, wide stance with subtle features that enhance its performance such as a fixed panoramic roof for a spacious and open feel. The RS model sports a carbon fiber roof that’s lightweight, providing a lower center of gravity for enhanced performance.

—Mike Hunter

2022 E-TRON GT BY AUDI MSRP: $102,400 Horsepower: 637 Charge: 22 min.

(5% to 80%) 0-60: 3.1 sec.

Audi audiusa.com

Mailers with a Clean Environmental Footprint With consumers increasing tasking note of excess plastic packaging, companies can boost their brand image (and provide another point of pride to their employees) by using compostable mailers.

Tishwish offers a line of zero-waste mailers that are sturdy, customizable Photos courtesy of Audi (top, middle, side), Tishwish (bottom)

and 100% compostable, made from bio-based polymer (from corn) and completely CORNpostable. Among their other features, they are water resistant, flexible, equipped with a secure seal and double adhesive for reuse; contain no petroleum ink of harsh residue; and break down in six months without leaving any harmful residue.

Additionally, for every order placed, a tree is planted through the Timber Re-Leaf Project. —Mike Hunter

DON’T MISS OUT!

Get a year of In Business Magazine Subscribe now at inbusinessphx.com

Tishwish tishwish.com

Battery: The Audi e-tron GT is equipped with fast-charging capability with a maximum rate of 270kW, while utilizing a 350kW or higher DC fast charger. Charging times will vary and depend on a variety of factors: ambient temperature, charger type, battery condition and initial state of charge, vehicle condition and others. Frequent and consecutive fast charging can permanently decrease battery capacity.

APR. 57 2022 INBUSINESSPHX.COM

MEALS THAT MATTER

SONORAN SALAD Compressed melons, jicama, cucumber, carrot, tomato and wild arugula, with tequila lime vinaigrette and tajin $12

Smoked white cheddar, caramelized onions, roasted poblano peppers and arugula, with lemontruffle aioli, served on a pretzel bun, with housemade, thick-cut fries $16

TERRA’S HOT STONE (dinner menu) Wagyu beef or Pacific ahi tuna, with cilantro scallion salad, pickled ginger and serrano ponzu $19

Chef Alex Robinson is executive chef at The Westin Tempe.

APR. 2022

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INBUSINESSPHX.COM

Elevating taste for palate and appearance

by Chef Alex Robinson

Terra Tempe is the latest addition to Tempe’s bustling downtown corridor. Located on the ground floor of The Westin Tempe at the corner of 7th Street and Mill Avenue, Terra Tempe brings a sophisticated yet approachable dining experience to the neighborhood with a menu of Modern American cuisine that cleverly combines bold, rustic flavors with locally sourced ingredients to offer an authentic reflection of the Southwest’s rich history.

As the executive chef at The Westin Tempe, I draw inspiration from the renowned graffiti culture in my hometown of Los Angeles and my personal love of painting to execute visually impressive plates no matter the combination of flavors and fixings. Just as an artist mixes colors to create a masterpiece, I enjoy combining and reinventing standard ingredients to morph them into unique and exciting flavor profiles that surprise guests with every bite. This flair is especially apparent in dishes like our fresh Sonoran Salad, for example, where we ditch the standard salad bowl presentation and instead take perfectly cubed, compressed melons and arrange them on a horizontal platter alongside wild arugula, cucumber, jicama, carrots and tomatoes, with a drizzle of tequila lime vinaigrette and sprinkles of tajin topping it all off.

A few standout dishes from the dinner menu include Terra’s Hot Stone, perfect for sharing, which features thinly sliced Wagyu beef or Pacific ahi tuna, fresh cilantro scallion salad, pickled ginger and serrano ponzu; Cilantro Dusted Chilean Sea Bass, blanketed in a refreshing avocado crema, mizuna, crispy tempura jalapeños and sweet corn pico; and Grilled Filet Mignon, with decadent lump crab mash, asparagus, smoked cipollini onions, chipotle hollandaise and black truffle chimichurri.

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Terra Tempe presents contemporary interiors that afford a modern atmosphere embodying the warm, inviting quality of the surrounding neighborhood while simultaneously maintaining a sense of intimacy. An expansive exhibition kitchen that puts high-end pizza ovens and the kitchen staff’s artisanship on full display encourages engagement among the audience, while subdued lighting, floor-to-ceiling windows and sleek sculptural elements — including a striking, copper “veil” suspended from the ceiling and a prominent liquor tower — offer staple gathering places and earn the admiration of passersby as they stroll down 7th Street.

Adjacent to the bar, guests will also find the Arizona Room, a communal, flexible space inspired by the Southwest’s canyons and cliff walls; its screened-in porch concept, commonly featured in homes in the region, features an elevated, oversized living wall with lush greenery and an integrated screen displaying stunning footage of the desert landscape.

Terra Tempe Kitchen & Spirits 11 E. 7th St., Tempe (480) 968-8885 terratempe.com

As part of Tempe’s bourgeoning restaurant scene, our team at The Westin Tempe was proud to debut two brand-new concepts in the heart of the city’s downtown district toward the end of 2021 — including our elevated, signature restaurant, Terra Tempe Kitchen & Spirits.

Photos courtesy of Terra Tempe & The Westin Tempe

TERRA’S SIGNATURE BURGER

Terra Tempe – Grounded in Southwest Inspiration

About ASBA

The Arizona Small Business Association (ASBA) fosters and empowers a thriving small business community by advocating for public policies that ensure a pro-business policy and regulatory environment to help small businesses prosper. dynamic education and mentoring

Five Tips for Easier Business Tax Filing

opportunities to business owners to

by Apex CPAs & Consultants

ASBA brings relevant and

improve their business knowledge, solve problems and, ultimately, become more successful. We accomplish this by offering our members valuable programs, unparalleled commitment to their success, and the convenience and efficiency of our products and services. ASBA is on the cutting edge of what is happening right now in the business community.

From education and advocacy to resources, mentoring and meaningful partnerships, we engage our members with relevant interactions at every touchpoint.

By staying on top of current trends, we ensure the tools we offer, as well as the extensive breadth of insights delivered, are valuable to the businesses we represent while significantly boosting the organic growth of our membership base.

Find ASBA on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AZSmallBIZ

Running a business is hard and often requires you to wear many hats. Managing your business finances can be especially important and time-

This starts with clean books throughout the

consuming when it’s time to file your business

year. You should meet with your tax professional

income taxes. Here are five things you can do

prior to year-end (September or October) to

throughout the year to help you during the tax

project your taxable income. This not only gives

filing season and beyond.

you six months to plan for the tax but also the

Tip #1 – Meet Regularly with Your CPA You should be working with your CPA all year

© 2022 ASBA. A publication of the Arizona Small Business Association. For more information or to join ASBA, please contact us at www.asba.com. Section designed by the Arizona Small Business Association.

opportunity to make tax-reducing decisions before year-end. This is a habit successful business owners practice religiously.

long, not just during tax filing season. If you don’t have a CPA, it is time you get one. A CPA is a trusted advisor to a business owner not only at tax time but throughout the year. By working with

Tip #4 – Separate Personal and Business Expenses Keeping your business expenses separate

your CPA, you can better understand how your

from your personal expenses will save you time

business is performing and they can provide

and stress when filing. If your business and

recommendations to improve profits and cash

personal expenses are not separate, you can

flow while reducing your tax liability. If you hear

run into major issues if the IRS audits you. It is

from your accountant only around tax filing time

vital that your business have its own separate

or they offer only basic tax and bookkeeping

bank account and credit cards.

services, we recommend you find a new one. A CPA who is more advisory in nature will be worth the investment if you want to grow your business.

Tip #2 – Go Digital/Paperless It’s time to retire the shoebox full of receipts

Central Arizona 11811 N. Tatum Blvd., Suite P-195 Phoenix, AZ 85028 p. 602.306.4000

Tip #3 – Perform a Tax Projection before Year-End

and go digital. This will allow you to keep track of all your income and expenses throughout

Tip #5 – Payroll We recommend hiring a reputable payroll service. The tax payments and filings can get complicated, and one misstep will have you responding to tax notices from various government entities, which can be burdensome.

We love the entrepreneurial spirit of business

the year and help you stay organized. Having

owners. We understand them and can help turn

everything digitized will allow you to easily find

their challenges into opportunities, resulting in

documents and receipts as well as manage

more profit and lower taxes. For 25 years, Apex

your finances in real time. There are many

CPAs & Consultants has been serving growth-

cloud-based accounting products out there that

minded small businesses with accounting, tax and

allow bank and credit card feeds to simplify the

advisory services. It would be our pleasure to help

accounting function.

you and your business. Visit us at apexcpas.com.

1

ASBA STAFF Debbie Hann Chief Operating Officer Robin Duncan Senior Vice President, Business Development Genesis Garcia Director of Marketing Emma Lenihan Garcia Director of Program Development Ryan Dixon Administrative & Member Services Coordinator

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Eric Knott | Chair

Business Advantage: Ban The Box – an HR Prospective

by Dakotah Wagner SHRM-CP, Human Resources Manager, Arizona SHRM of Greater Phoenix

Arizona State University, W. P. Carey

As more states and cities move toward a “Ban

the conviction is five years old and does not

School of Business; FinePoint HR

the Box” hiring process, many businesses are

pertain to the position.

unsure of what to do regarding applicants who Genia Kehayes | Vice Chair Experience Scottsdale John Lewis | Treasurer National Bank of Arizona Sandra Barton | Secretary Alliance Bank of Arizona Frank L. Divers | Board Development Business Development Specialists, Inc. Rick Murray | At-Large Arizona Chapter National Safety Council Otto Shill Jennings, Strouss & Salmon, PLC John Tucker Salt River Project

the job offer or stopping the candidacy for

“Ban the Box” movement allows candidates

someone based solely on their conviction, it

to be considered for their qualifications first,

is always recommended to give the candidate

without the stigma of a conviction or arrest

an opportunity to explain the conviction before

record. For nearly all businesses, only

a final decision is made. The EEOC calls

criminal convictions can be considered in the

this the pre-adverse action process. This

application process, not arrests.

gives the candidate an opportunity to defend

Consistent with “Ban the Box,” employers

their behavior and remind the employer of

should be careful about inquiring about a

their favorable conduct since the conviction

candidate’s criminal background before

was adjudicated.

a conditional offer is presented to the

With the tightening labor market of the

candidate. Discussing the candidate’s criminal

United States, businesses that are willing

background during an interview opens the

to consider candidates with prior criminal

opportunity for the employer to be accused of

convictions for an employment opportunity

discrimination.

may find themselves at a competitive

If a candidate who has been conditionally

advantage. While the candidate may certainly

offered a position has a previous criminal

be talented and loyal, there are also potential

conviction, human resource professionals

financial benefits. For example, wage-

generally follow the Equal Employment

offsetting programs like the Work Opportunity

Opportunity Commission’s recommended

Tax Credit may apply to businesses and

process. The EEOC suggests considering

candidates, depending on the candidate’s

the conviction using three sliding scales: the

socio-economic circumstances. This

recency of the conviction, the relationship

government program provides a tax credit

between the conviction and the nature of the

for employers who employ those who are

job, and the severity of the conviction. For

receiving government assistance. As the

Darius Green

example, a candidate with a DUI conviction

“Ban the Box” discussion continues to evolve,

Keysert

from five years ago is conditionally offered

more businesses are taking a longer look at

a non-driving position with a company.

qualified candidates with prior convictions — a

The candidate would have a good chance of

candidate pool that, in a different labor market,

being brought on by the organization because

they may have overlooked.

Andrew Westle New American Funding Patrick J. Van Zanen Sacks Tierney P.A. Jerry Bustamante Hudbay Minerals

Jim Rounds Rounds Consulting Group

2

When businesses are considering rescinding

have been previously convicted of a crime. The

Keys to Internal Adoption of Digital Tools

by Susan Yeazel, Donna Hazen and Michelle Auchter, pointb

Success happens from the inside out.

There’s often an assumption in business that employees will naturally adopt new tools

a competitive advantage. We find they have

will “just know” how new ways of working

a few key success factors in common:

will be done, even though they’ve never

Inspired and organized leadership:

been done before.

Link wins to work, personal success

and technology simply because “they’re

This is the No. 1 predictor of a successful

better.” But it takes more than the promise

digital adoption. Leaders need to

and strategy. People succeed in meeting

of a new and improved tool to get people

be out in front — seen, heard and

strategic goals when they see the connection

on board. Businesses need to take steps to

enthusiastically championing the value of the

between their work and the organization’s

improve digital adoption in ways that boost

digital transformation.

objectives. Making this connection takes

administrative efficiency, reduce costs,

Thoughtful preparation: Successful

a holistic approach to digital strategy

retain valuable talent, and improve the

companies spend time upfront to really think

and communications — getting the right

customer experience.

through how they’d like to see this change

message to the right employees at the right

unfold. What will success look like?

time and context. What messages need

Think, Plan and Invest in the Employee Experience

Active engagement: Inspiration and

to be customized, even personalized, so

open, two-way communication are essential

they “stick”? By engaging people early in

to engage heads, hearts and hands.

the digital journey and understanding their

organization puts into ensuring that

Leadership can do much to support teams

attitudes toward change, you’ll find some

externally facing digital tools or web

with the tools, capabilities and campaigns

early adopters and enthusiasts emerge who

features are a success with your customers.

to make the digital journey as fun and

become effective advocates along the way.

How do you think, plan and invest to ensure

rewarding as possible.

This top-down/bottom-up approach is critical

Think about the level of effort your

that success?

While customer experience (CX) typically

Make it clear — strategy, alignment and leadership: Before employees will invest

to improving digital adoption.

Digitalization is a journey, not a one-off.

steals the spotlight, employee experience

in the “how” of digital adoption, they need

The investment you make now in your

(EX) is nearly always the unsung hero

to understand the “why.” Leadership must

people sets up your company for long-term

to ensuring that companies succeed in

share a clear vision, articulate the drivers for

success by equipping your employees to

engaging customers and driving growth.

change, explain the rationale for timing, and

navigate your organization through all the

Companies that plan and invest in digital

illustrate the alignment to corporate strategy.

future transformations it will take to stay

advances with this inside-out mindset are at

Leadership needs support, too. Too

competitive in a fast-changing marketplace.

often, there’s an assumption that leaders

3

How to Make Mentorship Your Secret Weapon for Business Growth

by Ravishankar Gundlapalli, Ph.D.; Author of ‘The Art of Mentoring’; Founder, MentorCloud

Being a business owner is extremely exciting, yet it can also be challenging, especially in uncertain times like we are in right now.

The pandemic has disrupted many industries, from hospitality and retail to food and travel. With inflation rising and supply chains getting impacted due to other global disturbances, business environments are likely to become even more challenging.

How do you, then, as a small business owner with limited resources, thrive and face these unpredictable headwinds with the right strategies, tactics and innovation?

The Power of Mentorship Mentorship can be your secret weapon to accelerate your growth.

What is mentorship?

Mentorship is about having one or more experienced humans in your life who passionately and actively care about your success.

Who is thinking about your success and business growth when you are sleeping?

Think of three to five individuals who love what you do, support your business, appreciate your work ethic and are constantly thinking about expanding your possibilities. Those are your mentors.

If you couldn’t come up with three to five names, then you have an amazing opportunity to change that status quo today and leverage the power of mentorship to accelerate your business growth!

Surrounding yourself with successful business owners as your mentors can be incredibly empowering to you — because it’s no longer just you and your team thinking about your business success.

Now, there are other leaders thinking about how you can grow; helping you to come up with new ideas, new pricing structures; find growth capital; and how to find new customers and markets.

You as a business owner working hard eight to eight and actively working in the business will not have time to think from outside the business. This will be like learning to play tennis while playing tennis.

Of course, you will improve your game over time by playing often, but you don’t have that kind of time in business, but you may have the luxury to learn on the job!

As small business owners, you need to allocate time for having “growth conversations” with mentors about your business.

Five Ways Mentors Can Help Your Small Business Grow 1. Mentors can be your sounding board and help you bounce off new ideas, products and services. They can share perspectives from their own experience. Their hindsight can be your 20-20.

2. Mentors can be your trusted partners with whom you can be vulnerable without being judged.

4

3. Mentors can open new possibilities. Combining your network with that of your mentors can give you access to a lot of great people and resources.

4. Mentors can help you prioritize and make the right decisions that will move the needle for you and your business.

5. Mentors can see what you, yourself, cannot see. They can help you recognize your true strengths and identify any blind spots that may be hurting your business growth.

One conversation can change your destiny. Rate yourself at the end of every month as to how many growth conversations you had during that month.

MentorCloud MentorCloud is a purpose-driven technology company with a vision to positively impact 100 million people with the transformative power of mentorship. MentorCloud offers a technology platform and proven methodology for organizations to achieve breakthrough performance with scalable mentorship programs. MentorCloud is trusted by globally leading organizations in hospitality, healthcare, banking, higher education and the nonprofit sector, and has users from more than 100 countries achieving success faster.

For more info, visit www.mentorcloud.com.

How to Prevent Online Identity Theft

by Arizona Central Credit Union

Thinking someone can pretend to be you online for financial gain is scary.

Unfortunately, in the U.S., identity theft is rising considerably. Being prepared helps protect your identity.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, nearly 1.4 million identity thefts were reported in 2020, up from 650,523 in 2019. This is an increase of 113%.

Since your bank is where you manage most of your finances, monitoring your accounts is especially important. According to the Insurance Information Institute, in 2018, the banking industry had the highest average cost of cybercrime, at $18.4 million, a $1.7-million year-over-year increase.

Reputable banks and credit unions like Arizona Central Credit Union provide fraud protection and cybersecurity tools to protect your personal information. It’s helpful to know how identity theft happens, how to prevent it and warning signs to look for.

• Add multi-factor authentication

receiving a statement as usual, someone

• Update software

may have changed your billing address.

• Beware of phish-y emails • Keep devices secure • Don’t bank on public Wi-Fi • Turn off Bluetooth • Never shop on unsafe sites If you suspect your account has been

How Identity Theft Happens Identity theft happens when an unauthorized person gets access to your accounts or personal information and uses it for their gain. With your bank account login, identity thieves can:

compromised, alert your provider as soon as possible.

Types of Identity Theft and Warning Signs Look for warning signs and alert your

• Transfer funds to another account

financial institution if you see something

• Make online payments/purchases

suspicious. It may be the result of one of

• Use information for shady business

these types of fraud:

In case of fraud, you have limited protection under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act. You have 60 days to report to your financial institution. If you wait, the institution isn’t required to investigate, which could make you liable for fraudulent charges.

Always monitor your accounts proactively.

That way, you can report fraud to your financial institution, freeze your account and start an investigation.

How To Prevent Online Identity Theft • Keep personal information confidential • Don’t reply to unsolicited texts, calls and emails • Use strong passwords

• Account takeover fraud • Someone logging into your account and using it without your knowledge; they could change your password and lock your account access • Debit and credit card fraud • Someone getting hold of your card information and, with the physical card or numerical details, using that to make fraudulent purchases • Online shopping fraud • Hackers getting into a website account

• Review bills and look for charges you didn’t make.

• Monitor your bank statements and watch for unrecognizable withdrawals.

• Get a free credit report at AnnualCreditReport.com or, if you’re an ACCU member, use our SavvyMoney tool for your free comprehensive credit report.

• Some financial institutions offer proactive account monitoring. If applicable, sign up to be contacted whenever suspicious charges are attempted.

Get Extra Help with Identity Monitoring Services These services notify you when your information shows up in change-of-address requests, arrest and court records, orders for utilities and other services, and requests to cash a check. There’s also identity theft insurance available for extra protection.

Arizona Central Credit Union cares about your security and works to protect your identity. Learn about identity protection on checking services — or contact us at www. azcentralcu.org if you have questions or would like to open an account.

and using your saved information to

The material presented here is for

shop online

educational purposes only, and is not

The FTC recommends to: • Track bills when they’re due. If you’re not

intended to be used as financial, investment or legal advice.

5

Rekindle Your Creative Thinking

by Gordon Parkman, Achieve Results Consulting, LLC

“Creativity is something you practice, not just a talent you’re born with.” —Tom Kelley and David Kelley According to a number of global surveys of chief executives, creativity is the most sought-after trait in leaders today. In these times of disruptive innovations, creative thinking is especially crucial for the rise and continued success of startup to stalwart companies.

Facebook, Google, Apple, Procter & Gamble and Amazon, to name just a few, are prime examples. Without continual breakthroughs, these organizations couldn’t sustain success.

Companies whose leaders learn to innovate more quickly, cheaply and with less risk will emerge from any downturn stronger than ever.

It starts with an innovation mindset. Creativity isn’t something that’s learned as much as rediscovered. Most people are born creative. Just look at children to see how naturally they use their imaginations. But somewhere around adolescence, we begin to stifle our creative impulses as we become more aware of other people’s judgment.

Creative thinking takes a backseat, except in breakthrough situations. But you cannot achieve such innovations unless your company’s culture supports new ideas — even those that fail.

Here are four common fears that block our best ideas from coming to fruition: 1. The messy unknown 2. Being judged

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” —Laotzu, ancient Chinese philosopher Creative efforts are hardest at the beginning: writing the first sentence, making the first phone call, announcing the intended project. The first step can be anxiety-provoking and physically draining. You need to stop planning and get started.

Stop focusing on the huge overall picture and find a small piece

3. Taking the first step

you can tackle right away. Give yourself a crazy deadline. Instead of

4. Losing control

“by the end of the week,” try for “before lunch.”

Fear of the Messy Unknown Creative thinking in business starts with having empathy for your customers. You cannot be truly inspired if you’re sitting comfortably

Fear of Losing Control “Courage is only the accumulation of small steps.” —György Konrád, Hungarian essayist

behind your desk — unless, of course, you’re venturing into online

When you abandon the status quo, you open yourself up to the

forums and social sites where customers express their complaints.

possibility of making mistakes. When you develop ideas with others,

Looking at spreadsheets filled with focus-group data won’t inspire breakthrough ideas. In the real and virtual worlds, you’ll

this possibility increases substantially.

Some think collaboration means losing complete control of your

hear unexpected, outside-the-box comments. Even feedback from

product, team and results. This is an enormous sacrifice, especially

irrational people — the customers whose comments you really don’t

for control-oriented executives.

want to hear — can provide important insights.

Fear of Being Judged Most of us care deeply about what others think of us, including our friends, family, superiors and trusted colleagues. While we don’t mind being judged in some situations, we rarely risk our businessworld egos.

Trust your intuition and embrace your ideas. Write them down in an idea notebook so you can systematically find them, when

6

Fear of Taking the First Step

In reality, we have less control than we think. The downside of shunning collaboration is staying stuck with the same routines, products and business models. In a rapidly changing world, this really isn’t an option. If your business doesn’t change, it won’t sustain success in the long term.

Your business cannot evolve without new ideas. Be humble enough to let go of what worked in the past and brave enough to seek innovation in a rapidly changing world.

Don’t get stuck at the starting line. Let go of your fears

appropriate. Keep something handy for note-taking during downtime:

and practice creative thinking (and doing) now. Visit

in the shower, next to the bed, while jogging, in the car.

www.achieveresultsconsulting.com.

Al-Fuwaires, Dala, 53

de’Shay, Joanna C., 54

Korman, Bradley, 20

Reedy, Kim, 14

Albanna, Mohammad, 28

Dunaway-Seale, Jaime, 16

Lucas, Jane Cavalier, 52

Richardson, Randy, 28

Auchter, Michelle, 61

Fadell, Carrie Collins, 24

Mackay, Christine, 28

Robinson, Alex, 58

Baptiste, Monique, 13

Gallego, Mayor Kate, 28

McClintic, Denise, 66

Rodriguez, Rene, 41

Becker, Tamara, 14

Gmelich, Jim, 12

McDonald, Rory M., 41

Rushall, Amy, 12

Beltrame, Leila, 18

Goldman, Brian, 41

McKinnerney, John, 20

Sanai, Nader, 28

Bingham, Christopher B., 41

Graff, Benjamin, 49

Moeller, Julie, 26

Talbot, Trisha, 19

Bond, Brian, 48

Grant, Kim, 56

Moeller, Timo, 26

Thornton, Bert, 40

Butler, Tyler, 50

Gray, Richard J., 11, 28

Morgan, Seth, 55

Vogel, Greg, 20

Caiazzo, Paul, 26

Gundlapalli, Ravishankar, 62

Osgood, Nancy Treser, 56

Wagner, Dakotah, 60

Cano, Christopher, 12

Hague, Greg, 22

Parkman, Gordon, 64

Welsh, Lea Anne, 20

Cline, Stacy, 12

Halvorsen, Brad, 28

Perry-Lorek, Barbara, 56

Whitehead, Claudia, 28

Cunningham, Mike, 13

Hart, Lyn, 12

Phillips, Angela, 24

Wurzel, Barry, 19

Davis, Christine, 26

Hartnett, Sherry, 40

Potts, Steve, 28

Yeazel, Susan, 61

Davis, Theresa, 56

Hazen, Donna, 61

Rechler, Scott, 20

de Silva, Dinali, 18

Kong, Jordan, 18

Reed, Guy, 28

11.11CoLab, 50

Desert Financial Credit Union, 17

OncoMyx Therapeutics, 28

San Jose State University, 56

72SOLD, 22

Diversity Leadership Alliance, 54

OneAZ Credit Union, 14, 15

Stearns Bank, 10

Abrazo Health, 19

Doc Properties, 19

Orda, 26

Strategic Business Brokers Group, 48

Achieve Results Consulting, 64

Equality Health, 51

Phoenix Philanthropy Group, The, 56

Terra Tempe, 58

Adamo Education, 14

Exercise Coach, The, 26

Phoenix, City of, 28

Tishwish, 57

Adolfson & Peterson Construction, 19

First Western Trust Bank, 66

pointb, 61

UnitedHealthcare, 7

Advanced Recovery Systems, 24

Flinn Foundation, 28

ProShred Arizona, 14

Arizona Commerce Authority, 2

Footprint, 27

ProTech Detailing, 23

University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, The, 28

Arizona Community Foundation, 68

GoDaddy, 12

PXG, 4

Have Her Back, 14

Quarles & Brady, 49

House of Form, 53

Reunion Rehabilitation Hospitals, 19

Humabiologics, Inc., 28

RXR, 20

Ivy Brain Tumor Center, 28

Ryan Companies, 50

Arizona Department of Child Safety, 12 Arizona Manufacturing Extension Partnership, 2 Arizona Opera, 12 Arizona SHRM of Greater Phoenix, 60 Audi, 57 Avertium, 26 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, 25

University of La Verne, 56 Valley of the Sun United Way, 51 Weedmaps, 50 Wurzel Builders, 19

Jive, 10 JLL, 21 JPMorgan Chase, 13

CHECK US OUT

Kinessage LLC, 23 Kiterocket, 67

BMO Harris Bank, 9

Korman Communities, 20

Brain Injury Alliance of Arizona, 24

Land Advisors Organization, 20

BrightMark Consulting, 52

Leila’s Empanadas, 18

Camelot Homes, 14

Lovitt & Touché, 5

Caribou, 18

MarshMcLennan Agency, 5

Castle Hill Partners, 20

Mayo Clinic in Arizona, 11, 28

Chameleon Creative Group, 56

MentorCloud, 62

CHASSE Building Team, 12

MLA Companies, 55

Clever Real Estate, 16

NAIOP Arizona, 14

Cox Communications, 14

Nobu Health and Wellness, 24

Creighton University, 28

Northern Arizona University, 12

In each issue of In Business Magazine, we list both companies and indivuduals for quick reference. See the stories for links to more.

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APR. 65 2022 INBUSINESSPHX.COM

A CANDID FORUM

BY

Estate Planning for Closely Held Businesses Help ensure that assets, including business interests, are handled appropriately upon death or disability

by Denise McClintic Denise McClintic is a senior vice president and trust officer with First Western Trust Bank, Scottsdale. Originally from the East Coast, she graduated from Tufts University, received a J.D. cum laude from Suffolk University Law School in Boston, and obtained a master’s degree in taxation from Boston University Law School.

She has been a resident of Scottsdale for more than 20 years and has spent the majority of her career in the banking, trust and nonprofit sectors.

First Western was formed when, in 2002, Scott Wylie, an entrepreneur and banker, led a group of Western business leaders to create an organization that provides individuals with high levels of sophistication and personalized boutique service. The result of this effort is the first Western-based private bank First Western Trust, which offers a trusted advisor platform with an established approach to investment management through a branded network of private boutique offices. myfw.com

APR. 2022

66

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Many owners of closely held businesses are so busy with the daily activities involved with running a business that they haven’t had time to put an estate plan in place. Or, if they have an estate plan, it hasn’t been updated recently. While having an estate plan is important for everyone, it is particularly important for closely held business owners in order to protect the business they’ve worked so hard to build. Below are some factors business owners should consider when putting together an estate plan.

the existing owners in the event of the death, disability or retirement of an owner) or to address a dispute that arises amongst the owners. It includes provisions to address who may buy an owner’s interest in the business, under what circumstances, and how the purchase price will be determined.

This can be an effective way for the remaining owner(s) to buy a deceased owner’s interest and provide the estate with liquidity. It can also help avoid potential disputes among the remaining owners and the deceased owner’s estate.

ESTATE PLANNING DOCUMENTS

LIFE AND DISABILITY INSURANCE

An estate plan for a business owner should, typically, incorporate the core estate planning documents that include a will and/or trust, financial power of attorney, and medical power of attorney or healthcare directive. Without a will or trust, assets will be divided and distributed according to state law. And, without powers of attorney, a guardian and/ or conservator may be appointed by a court to manage an individual’s affairs in the event of disability. Putting in place the proper estate planning documents helps ensure that assets, including business interests, are handled appropriately upon death or disability.

If a business is family-owned, any potential issues should be addressed in estate planning documents to help avoid disputes among family members. For example, if one child is interested in taking over the business and the other is not, it is important to address how the business interests should be handled.

TAX PLANNING

For business owners who may be subject to estate tax, the appropriate tax planning could be critical to ensuring continuity of the business. If estate taxes are likely to be due as a result of a business owner’s death, their plan should anticipate providing liquidity for the payment of any estate taxes.

BUY-SELL AGREEMENT

If there is more than one owner of a business, they should consider putting a buy-sell agreement in place to control the ownership of the business (typically, to remain with

Business owners should consider how life and/or disability insurance may be included in their overall estate plan for both personal and business reasons. Life insurance can provide the estate liquidity to pay taxes or other expenses upon death. For business owners, company-owned life insurance (sometimes referred to as “key person insurance”) can provide an income stream to the business to ensure continuity of the business.

In addition, disability insurance can provide similar coverage in the event of short-term or long-term disability.

A SUCCESSION PLAN

A critical part of an estate plan for a business owner is creating a succession plan for the business that outlines the plan for a transition in ownership. The succession plan should be consistent with a business owner’s estate planning documents, and anticipate either a planned transition (such as retirement) as well as an unplanned event (such as an untimely death or disability).

The plan should include whether the business, if viable, should be continued, or if it should be prepared to be sold to a third party or as part of an internal transition. The plan should also outline the proposed organizational structure of the business and what functions key employees will assume in the event of the business owner’s absence. Finally, it should consider whether additional training may be necessary, as well as compensation adjustments or other incentive planning to ensure key employees remain with the business during the transition period.

A critical part of an estate plan for a business owner is creating a succession plan for the business that outlines the plan for a transition in ownership, and anticipate either a planned transition (such as retirement) as well as an unplanned event (such as an untimely death or disability).

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