In Business Magazine - January 2020

JAN. 2020

2020 Greater Phoenix Meetings & Conventions Guide

Are Your Exempt Employees Paid Enough?

Leverage Those Business Partnerships High-Performance Teams Build Capacity $7.95 INBUSIN ESSPHX.COM

THIS ISSUE Tempe Chamber of Commerce

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JANUARY 2020 COVER STORY

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Get ‘Smart’: Greater Phoenix cities lead the way

What does it mean to be a “smart region”? In Business Magazine explores what it takes to be “smart” and benefits to the public and private sectors.

FEATURES

LEGAL

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Are Your Exempt Employees Paid Enough?

42 Five Legal Issues to Consider when Starting a Special Needs Business

PARTNER SECTION TEMPE CHAMBER

ADVANTAGE Winter 2O2O • tempechamber.org

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Successfully Leverage Business Partnerships and Relationships

Look for ways to grow to grow the possibilities for one’s business, advises Ben Smith.

40 Build Capacity with High-Performance Teams Bruce Weber and Charlie Smith’s series examines developing and sustaining organizational capacity.

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Restoring Wholeness through Mindfulness

Andy Maurer’s series addresses the phenomenon of trauma in the business world of entrepreneurship and leadership.

DEPARTMENTS

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Guest Editor

Kate Gallego, mayor of the City of Phoenix, introduces the “Smart Region” issue.

EVCCA Launches Healthcare Program for Businesses The Tempe Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the East Valley Chambers of Commerce Alliance (EVCCA) recently launched Lifestyle Health Plans. This health insurance program is designed to help East Valley employers save money on healthcare premiums and provide a robust wellness plan and quality care to employees.

This level-funded program can save members 5 to 15 percent or more on their healthcare costs and offers unique benefits such as: • Integrated wellness incentives and cash-rewards • Up to a $500 deductible credit to wellness participants • Chamber-negotiated economics of scale pricing • Value-added benefits to save out-of-pocket • No cost 24/7 concierge telemedicine, • Free lab screening and diabetic supplies The Tempe Chamber is proud to offer this exclusive benefit to its members, with up to 16 different standard plan options and up to four plan designs to choose from. This is also the only healthcare plan that will cover a group of two. The plan has additional no-cost benefits ranging from brand name prescriptions to full coverage on preventive care.

This plan has shown to save businesses from 5 to 15 percent on premiums versus standard association plans, and some local Valley businesses have seen larger savings of up to 40 percent.

If you are asking what “level-funded” means, it means that the plans are pre-packaged, self-insured health plans with low attachment stop-

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loss coverage. For the right groups, level-funded plans can save 30 percent versus a fully insured ACA small-group plan. And, because of their structure, level-funded plans do not have the volatility in monthly cash flows associated with self-insured plans that can cripple a small business.

Launched in 2006, Lifestyle Health Plans is a group major medical benefits platform designed to address the root causes of our escalating healthcare costs: employee health behaviors. Today, it is the largest PPO network in Arizona and manages more than $136 million in premiums annually. Operating in more than 35 states, its core belief is a long-term solution and aims to provide a multi-year strategy creating a “culture of health.”

Lifestyle Health Plans believes that the only way to truly manage healthcare costs is to improve the health and wellness of its members.

By providing innovative plan designs that integrate wellness and lifestyle improvement, the plan is meant to help companies with: • Reduced absenteeism • Improved productivity • Reduced injuries • Improved morale and employee retention For more information on the Lifestyle Health Plan, please call the chamber office or use the online quote request at tempechamber.org/ lifestyle-health-insurance-plans.

T E M P E C H A M B E R A D VA N TA G E

Te m p e C h a m b e r. o r g

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SPECIAL SECTION Valley

Presents

Stephen Hartman, Todd Ricotta and Domenick Montanile respond to In Business Magazine’s burning business question of the month.

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FEATURING

K1 Speed

Briefs

“Outsourcing in 2020,” “Personalized Offers & Promotions Platform,” “Innovative Recruiting Website,” “Online & Private for Professional ‘Super Connectors,’” “Local Standouts Recognized for Achievements and Philanthropy,” “Payment Processing Advantages beyond Just Accepting Credit Cards” and “Santana Equipment Expands Office for Its Arizona Operations”

13 Experience Scottsdale

Feedback

From the Top

Fired Pie founders expand the home-grown fast-casual pizzeria with relevance.

MereStone Pro One Media Productions

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CRE

“Investment in Smart Buildings Moving Up the Agenda,” “Airbnb Expands Lodging Capacity in Tempe during Game Weekends,” “Lock-and-Leave Condos in Chandler,” “Evolving Office Submarket Attracts Vancouver Developer,” “Luxury Multifamily for Downtown Phoenix,” “Toll Brothers New Community Destined to Change the Face of Surprise” and “Sustainable Design Is at Core of Chandler Veridian Development”

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Healthcare

“Excentium and GlobalMed Awarded Contract with Military Health System” and “Gender-Specialized Telehealth Solutions Can Improve Employee Productivity”

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Technology

“Scheduling: a Job for Technology” and “Healthcare Companies: Stop Being Such an Easy Target for Hackers“

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Books

New releases give fresh insights on business thinking.

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Economy

Financial advisor discusses financial considerations an entrepreneur should consider before launching a startup.

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Social Impact

Focusing this month on Isagenix, Tyler Butler’s series explores the myriad ways that businesses give back and the positive ways their programs are impacting our community.

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Assets

2020 BMW M850i xDrive Gran Coupe Plus: Probiotics breakthrough purifies air and surfaces of indoor environment.

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Power Lunch

Thunderbird Executive Inn The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa

53 2020 Meetings & Convention Guide

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Startups

“FLI-ing Right into Sustainability Challenges” and “rePurpose Disrupts the Waste Cycle”

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By the Numbers

Where does Arizona rank among the best states for entrepreneurs to launch a startup?

JAN 2020

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INBUSINESSPHX.COM

OEB Breakfast Co. Raises the Bar for Breakfast - and Lunch

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Roundtable

Simon Lamb discusses how to halt the tide of environmental decline within the parameters of Capitalism.

“Government plays a regulatory role — ensuring public safety and in community-informed aesthetic considerations, for instance — but they also help to foster and deploy smart city technologies and best practices. Private business develops the tech and works with government to deploy it.” —Ian Linssen, assistant to the city manager for the City of Mesa (See page 24 for the article on Greater Phoenix as a “smart region.”)

Let’s talk.

JANUARY 2020 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, Interim Chief Executive Officer Arizona Small Business Association Central Office (602) 306-4000 Southern Arizona (520) 327-0222 www.asba.com Steven G. Zylstra, President & CEO Arizona Technology Council One Renaissance Square (602) 343-8324 www.aztechcouncil.org Doug Bruhnke, Founder & President Global Chamber® (480) 595-5000 www.globalchamber.org Angela Garmon, President NAWBO Phoenix Metro Chapter (480) 289-5768 www.nawbophx.org 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@inbusinessmag.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 Economic Council gpec.org Greater Phoenix Gay & Lesbian 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 Surprise Regional Chamber of Commerce surpriseregionalchamber.com WESTMARC westmarc.org

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Something big, bold and exciting is happening in the Grand Canyon state. Cutting-edge companies are launching, testing and scaling new technologies in Arizona. Our culture of innovation, highly skilled talent pool, lean regulatory environment, and affordable operating costs provide the perfect platform for business growth and success. Beyond being a place where you can achieve your professional goals, Arizona also provides a lifestyle that allows you to achieve your personal goals. With year-round sunshine, endless outdoor activities, and a positive outlook, we play as hard as we work. It’s this perfect balance that makes life better here.

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JANUARY 2020 Publisher Editor Graphic Design

NATIONALLY RANKED.

VOL. 11, NO. 1

Rick McCartney RaeAnne Marsh German Wegbrait Nicolas Barrios Benjamin Little

Contributing Writers Tyler Butler Jill Chasson James de La Salle Elik Dermer Bill Goodwin Annette Hines Mike Hunter Simon Lamb Andy Maurer Kassidy McDonald Daniel Merkuson Scott Paape Daniel Ramsey Dan Rhea Ben Smith Charlie Smith Lennard van der Feltz Bruce Weber

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Events

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www.inmediacompany.com Vol. 11, No. 1 In Business Magazine is published 12 times per year by InMedia Company. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to InMedia Company, 45 W. Jefferson Street, 7th Floor, Phoenix, AZ 85003. To ubscribe to In Business Magazine, please send check or money order for one-year subscription of $24.95 to InMedia Company, 45 W. Jefferson Street, 7th Floor, Phoenix, AZ 85003 or visit inbusinessphx.com. We appreciate your editorial submissions, news and photos for review by our editorial staff. You July 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. © 2019 InMedia Company, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine July 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

MAYOR KATE GALLEGO, CITY OF PHOENIX

Working Smart

Mayor Kate Gallego has spent her career working to find solutions to complex problems.

Prior to being elected as mayor, she served for five years as the city councilwoman for District 8, a large district covering much of South Phoenix. In March 2019, Mayor Gallego became the second elected female mayor in Phoenix history and the youngest big-city mayor in the United States. Mayor Gallego is passionate about building a Phoenix that works for everyone.

Technology and the proliferation of data are leading to an increasingly connected world. The “smart city” movement has gained advocates across the country and, here in Phoenix, we have taken it one step further by pursuing a “Smart Region” approach.

Whether it’s aviation, semiconductors or startups, our region has long been a global leader in innovation. We want to continue that leadership role as we invest in smart government.

Phoenix just became the first North American city to join the global Go Smart solution partnership — a Global Organization of Smart Cities, based in Phoenix’s sister city of Taipei, Taiwan. We will work with communities around the globe to improve our residents’ lives and give our city employees more tools to serve the public.

I went to college with Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder. I remember the intense debate on campus when the platform was rolled out. Facebook and its evolution are a good reminder that technology can have a profound impact, both positive and negative. We want our region to be a leader in smart city investments that benefit all residents, not just our most tech-savvy constituents. These issues are complicated, and I’m glad to see them explored in depth in this issue.

Many of the groups working on developing the digital platforms that will carry us into the future spoke with In Business Magazine editor RaeAnne Marsh for this issue’s cover story exploring the advancement of “smart city” solutions in our community. The regional approach to a smart city transformation means that cities aren’t just addressing the needs of their residents but creating opportunities and data for businesses operating in their jurisdiction.

In another feature, Ben Smith discusses the value of partnerships to leverage businesses’ skillsets to enable each to develop additional potential that would not have been possible had they been operating independently.

Among other features is financial advisor Lennard van der Feltz’s financial checklist for startups; business consultants Bruce Weber and Charlie Smith’s continuing series on capacity building, examining the role of high-performance teams; and attorney Jill Chasson’s discussion of compliance-related issues businesses may face due to changes the Department of Labor has made — which go into effect this month — in minimum and overtime requirements.

Other topics covered inside include thought-provoking discussions of gender-specialized health needs and the idea of ecologically motivated Capitalism.

Also in this issue is the annual Meetings & Conventions Guide, the Valley’s guide to event venues.

I’m pleased to be a part of bringing you this January issue of In Business Magazine. I hope you discover information that enlightens and surprises you while reading.

Sincerely,

Kate Gallego Mayor City of Phoenix

CONNECT WITH US:

Let’s Be the Smartest When we talk about “smart,” we mean tech savvy and incorporating that tech into government initiatives, incentives and whatever it takes to be more efficient and walk the walk where it comes to getting ahead for a better future — economically and as a community. In Business Magazine is dedicated to focusing on these issues and initiatives and communicating them to our business leaders and to us, as business owners, so that opportunity is real and we truly can lead the way. Greater Phoenix as a whole is doing a great job and is, literally, the leader.

We want to thank our great mayor of Phoenix, Kate Gallego, for leading this particular issue of In Business Magazine. She is dynamic and works so hard to truly build opportunity for business and build substantive, long-range programs that will ensure our great future. A true leader herself, Mayor Gallego is not shy about the hard work ahead and is forming strong coalitions and collaborations that will make us sustainably one of the best big cities for business. In this issue, we dig into what is behind making us a smart region.

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

—Rick McCartney, Publisher

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SPEAKING OUT INNOVATION IN PARTNERSHIPS IS THE POWER OF BUSINESS, WHETHER IT'S CITIES INNOVATING IN HOW THEY CONNECT TO BUSINESS OR BUSINESSES FORGING TIES WITHIN A COMMUNITY. WHAT STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP HAVE YOU EMPLOYED THIS PAST YEAR THAT HAS PROPELLED YOUR BUSINESS’S GROWTH?

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

STEPHEN HARTMAN

DOMENICK MONTANILE

TODD RICOTTA

Head of Sales, Americas Telia Carrier Sector: Telecommunication

President Venezia’s Pizzeria Sector: Restaurant

Interim CEO and Executive Director Arizona Care Network Sector: Healthcare

Over the past few years, the Greater Phoenix region has become a major traffic hub for data-center operators in the U.S. due to its sustainable power costs, attractive tax rates and the growing number of companies expanding into the region. To meet the demands for bandwidth services throughout Phoenix, we partner with companies such as phoenixNAP to ensure they can provide seamless connectivity for their customers in a cost-effective way.

Holding the position as the number one internet backbone provider in the world, we were pleased to expand our existing partnership with phoenixNAP to support the demand of their growing client base not only in the Phoenix market but globally. We have had a presence in this market since the early 2000s, but strategic partnerships for local Phoenix data centers with carriers who can support rapid growth will be key to keeping pace with growth in the region. Our investment in the Phoenix market is a testament to our customerdriven approach, adding additional diversity and capacity as we expand our global IP backbone.

Venezia’s Pizzeria has forged several key partnerships in the community over the last year that have been instrumental in our growth, including ASU Athletics, Phoenix Rising Football Club and Real Salt Lake-AZ youth soccer. As a local family-owned restaurant, we believe it is very important to engage in partnerships that demonstrate our support for local schools, sports teams and communitydriven organizations. These partnerships have not only showed our commitment to the community but also allowed us to gain visibility in front of new audiences and increase brand awareness — thus expanding our customer base and social media following.

We have seen year-over-year growth of 8 to 15 percent at each of our locations, have steadily increased our social media following, and have built a reputation in the community as a company that is charitable, communityminded and easy to work with. We take great pride in the relationships we have built over the last year and hope to continue to build strong partnerships in our community in 2020.

In healthcare, strategic partnerships are the key to success. That is certainly true for Arizona Care Network, which collaborates with physicians and other health providers to coordinate care for more than 320,000 patients in Greater Phoenix. We provide high-quality, cost-effective care by identifying healthcare issues early — before they become more difficult and costly to treat — providing high-value services and resources to our providers and reducing waste in the healthcare system.

We also help patients become smarter, more engaged healthcare consumers.

One recent innovation is a first-of-itskind partnership: ACN teamed with global pharmaceutical leader Boehringer Ingelheim on a mobile application that provides vital information and care coordination resources to our patients with type 2 diabetes, a potentially debilitating condition. Using patient-specific data technology, our free My Diabetes Program educates and empowers patients to effectively manage their condition and enlist ACN help as needed.

The significance of this technology cannot be overstated: One in 10 Americans has diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Telia Carrier teliacarrier.com

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

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Stephen Hartman leads the North American sales team for Telia Carrier, a global carrier operating the No. 1-ranked internet backbone AS1299, and a fiber optic network connecting more than 300 Points of Presence (PoPs) across Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East. With more than 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, Hartman held leadership roles at CenturyLink, Level 3, Broadwing, Verizon Business and Unite Private Networks.

Venezia’s Pizzeria venezias.com Venezia’s Pizzeria is a local, family-owned New York-style pizzeria that started in 1998 and now has five locations in Greater Phoenix.

From classics to new and innovative menu items, Venezia’s serves fine authentic Italian food, using homemade recipes and only the freshest ingredients for all its dishes, including fresh tomatoes shipped straight from the San Marzano region of Italy.

Sign up for the monthly In Business Magazine eNewsletter at www.inbusinessphx.com.

Look for survey questions and other research on our business community.

Arizona Care Network azcarenetwork.org Todd Ricotta is CEO (interim) and executive director of Arizona Care Network, a group of 5,500 Arizona healthcare providers who work together to improve healthcare and reduce costs by actively managing care for their patients. ACN is a joint venture of Dignity Health Arizona and Abrazo Health, and includes hundreds of independent providers, along with access to Arizona’s leading pediatric health system through Phoenix Children’s Care Network.

QUICK AND TO THE POINT

BYTES

by Mike Hunter

Personalized Offers & Promotions Platform A new Omnichannel Offers and Promotions Management Platform from Mobivity Holdings Corp., creators of award-winning customer personalization platform Recurrency, will allow brands to generate unique 1:1 codes that can be attached to a text message offer, receipt-printed promotion or existing marketing channels external to Recurrency. This allows brands to “turn and burn” codes that tie the consumer’s unique identity directly to redemptions, bringing the power that digital-first brands enjoy in managing and deploying dynamic, personalized and digitally-driven offers online into the brick-and-mortar space - at scale– for the first time. mobivity.com

Innovative Recruiting Website

Outsourcing in 2020 Skilled workers are needed to make a business run. In the past, hiring people was possible only if a business had enough capital to sustain new hires. Today, internet connectivity allows even small businesses to find the exact help for the tasks at hand while limiting the costs. Whether automated through AI or outsourced to remote workers, virtual assistants are powering a sizable percentage of business initiatives today.

Research shows that 57 percent of U.S. companies have increased their use of outsourcing. The growing demand for outsourcing providers has also changed the nature and function of these strategic partnerships. This evolution is reshaping how we do business.

What does the rise and evolution of outsourcing mean for small business owners? The cost-effectiveness of using virtual assistants will increasingly impact productivity.

Whereas in the past, outsourcing was reserved for big business, today it has become an essential component for a business of any size.

I work with more than 5,000 clients from a variety of industries that include real estate, technology, mortgage, healthcare and human resources, and I have seen a dramatic increase in demand for virtual assistants in the small-business sector. Technology has

made outsourcing an affordable option for entrepreneurs. It gives small businesses access to a global talent pool that would otherwise be beyond their reach. Startups are able to find workers with specialized skills while managing limited resources. As the demand for virtual assistants rises, so too does the quality of their work. From large corporations to small startups, there are virtual assistants in nearly every business sector.

Although some see outsourcing as a threat to American business, the fact remains that the global market relies on it. In 2018, the global market for outsourcing was worth $85.6 billion and the U.S. is the single biggest outsourcing country in the world. Outsourcing has undeniably made a powerful impact on business growth and productivity.

Today, 59 percent of businesses use outsourcing to reduce their expenses. To remain competitive in the 2020 business market, the question is no longer if a business should outsource; rather, what it should outsource. —Daniel Ramsey, author, speaker, philanthropist and serial entrepreneur, founder and CEO of MyOutDesk (www.myoutdesk.com) and founder of MOD Movement (www.modmovement.org), a California nonprofit (501c3) corporation that serves underprivileged communities both in the U.S. and abroad

Featuring video resumes, live stream job fairs and the ability for employers to instantly chat with candidates, CruitScout offers a more efficient recruiting process by forgoing traditional paper resumes that can heighten barriers such as employment gaps.

Employers have a clearer picture of an applicant's skillset while recruiting and, ultimately, making hiring decisions in less time.

"By giving job seekers the ability to demonstrate their skills directly to potential employers, CruitScout aims to provide a foot in the door for job seekers hindered by the traditional recruiting process," states founder Yalanda Taylor. cruitscout.com

Online & Private for Professional ‘Super Connectors’

In a new private online “Community for People Who Know People,” Las Vegas-based startup SilentRich.com aims to solve some of the more common problems that professionals and entrepreneurial connectors alike often have, bringing together those who know the right people with those who are seeking connections for a professional opportunity, business venture or anything that can be mutually financially beneficial.

“On one hand, you have people who regularly make professional connections that earn other people a lot of money — but not them,” says Jack Colton, Silent Rich’s CEO and founder. “Then you have a ton of professionals who have amazing business opportunities, but who are simply missing the right professional introduction(s) to make it happen.” silentrich.com

According to a recent CareerBuilder study, more than one-quarter of employees (29%) say they regularly search for jobs while employed. In addition to this, 50 percent of workers believe they have just a job and are searching for their career. press.careerbuilder.com

JAN 11 2020 INBUSINESSPHX.COM

QUICK AND TO THE POINT

LOOKING GOOD During the holiday season, our focus was on local standouts in philanthropy.

Cigna Volunteers Sew Relief A group of Cigna volunteers known as “A Common Thread” made and donated 639 caps and 30 port pillows to patients at 10 Valley locations of Ironwood Cancer & Research Centers. A Common Thread started the community service project in 2014 as a result of Cigna’s national partnership with the March of Dimes. The caps provide warmth for patients facing serious health challenges. cigna.com

Thanksgiving Thanks Accrue to Desert Financial Desert Financial, the largest Arizona-based credit union, partnered with St. Mary’s Food Bank to match turkey donations made by the public during its 2019 Thanksgiving drive and distribution. By matching the community’s donations, Desert Financial aimed to help close a massive gap faced by the Food Bank this past year in providing Holiday Food Boxes for Thanksgiving, the match made possible through Desert Financial’s Random Acts of Kindness program. desertfinancial.com

HDE’s Big Events Result in Big Giving Twelve signature events comprise HDE Agency’s roster for the 2019 year, which saw record-breaking turnout with more than 140,000 attendees. Designating a percentage to the community, the local events company raised $156,600 that it donated to local nonprofits, among which were the Downtown Chandler Community Partnership, Junior Achievement of Arizona and HeartStrings Foundation. hdeagency.com

FirstService Residential Sends Cheer to Phoenix Children’s Hospital FirstService Residential, Arizona’s leading HOA management company, successfully collected and donated hundreds of toys, books, art supplies and $600 worth of gift cards to Phoenix Children’s Hospital. All donations were collected as part of a social purpose initiative at FirstService Residential’s annual conference and expo in November. fsresidential.com

Barro’s Pizza Hosts Holiday Hunger Fight Barro’s Pizza did its part once again in the fight against hunger in Arizona, hosting its eighth annual Doran Barro Holiday Hunger Fight benefiting St. Mary’s Food Bank.

Donating 100 percent of the proceeds from all 43 Barro’s locations on a designated day in early December, the Barro family raised $260,098.64 — which translates to 1,820,690 meals — to help those in Arizona facing hard times during the holidays. barrospizza.com

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Payment Processing Advantages beyond Just Accepting Credit Cards Accepting credit cards offers tremendous convenience for a business’s customers. But it can provide more than just that; it can facilitate growth in ways that may change the business drastically.

Increase upselling — Cash-only payment makes upselling difficult to impossible in most cases. However, if a business accepts credit cards and uses a hassle-free payment processor, it’s simple to help customers add extras and send them on their way. Using a payment processor makes the entire transaction efficient, even for mobile businesses. And it enables customers to see the business as a professional resource, helping them identify needs they may not have realized yet.

Create a new business model — Go beyond local. While reaching community consumers is great, how amazing would it be to have customers from all over the world? Being able to take payments online via credit card opens up a business to both increased revenue and a more visible presence online.

And the right payment processor can take that

one step further by assisting with data security, providing 24/7 support, and providing the smoothest online payment gateway for satisfied customers.

Obtain a merchant cash advance — There’s still another advantage to accepting credit cards: a merchant cash advance. Rather than taking out a conventional loan to pay for business upgrades or other expenses, a business may get a merchant cash advance (MCA) from its payment processor in return for a percentage of future credit card sales. MCAs are usually much easier for new or small businesses to qualify for than traditional bank loans, and there are no restrictions on how a business uses the funds.

A few final tips — If a business finds its credit card transactions aren’t going smoothly, its payment processor can help make every sale a seamless one by providing the perfect hardware.

And businesses should look for a payment processor that has experience in their business segment. —Scott Paape, senior vice president of sales and operations at Talus (taluspay.com)

Santana Equipment Expands Office for its Arizona Operations Santana Equipment Trading Company, a leader in the used material handling equipment market that celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, recently opened a new retail/rental space for its Arizona clientele. Mesa Forklift, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Santana Equipment, is located near Superstition Freeway and South Country Club Drive.

The company opened Santana Equipment West Division (Phoenix) in June 2012 as its first satellite location. After quickly becoming one of the top sellers of used forklifts in its local Phoenix market, the need was recognized for another satellite office to serve the growing client needs in the East Valley. A strong focus for this new location will be continuing the Santana Equipment business of selling quality forklifts, while also emphasizing rent and rent-to-own options.

Sharing his perspective on what Santana’s growth may indicate about the industry it serves, Santana Equipment president Eric Davidson believes growth in the equipment

industry is a strong sign of infrastructure and economic progress. “A great deal of our success can be contributed to the City of Phoenix and the amount of work that is being done to accommodate the population increase and large numbers of businesses that are coming here. This, of course, goes full circle because an increase in companies and workers equals more demand for our equipment.

“Our growth also goes hand in hand with the current economy boost. When other companies are moving locations or expanding due to strong profits, the construction industry then gets a boost — which, in turn, does the same to ours as well. The equipment industry is ever evolving and changing, but it is a key piece to watch for insight on other industries.” —Mike Hunter Santana Equipment santanaequipment.com Mesa Forklift mesaforklift.com

Airbnb has generated more than $53.3 million in tax revenue in the State of Arizona since the company began collecting and remitting applicable taxes in 2017. This figure includes approximately $23.1 million remitted to the State of Arizona this year, from January 1 through October 31. airbnb.com

MINDING THEIR BUSINESS

Doug Doyle

Fred Morgan

Fired Pie Founders Expand with Relevance Home-grown fast-casual grows to 20 locations in six years

by Kassidy McDonald

It’s rare to find a locally owned and operated fast casual chain that has grown as quickly as Fired Pie without becoming a franchise. In 2013, Fired Pie exploded on the dining scene as the first fast-casual pizza and salad restaurant of its kind in Phoenix. For the past six years, Fired Pie co-owners Fred Morgan and Doug Doyle have navigated the challenges of changing consumer demand, growing technology and staying relevant amongst a sea of fast-casual restaurants.

Morgan and Doyle both started in the restaurant business at early ages. Morgan was 15 years old and started as a dishwasher in a steak house, while Doyle got his first restaurant job at 15 years old as a server at Sizzler’s in Southern California. While climbing up the ladder of the restaurant industry, the two met at California Pizza Kitchen, where Morgan was the regional vice president of operations and Doyle was regional director. When Morgan left to become COO at Phoenix-based Oregano’s, the two started talking about opening a fast-casual pizza chain.

Morgan and Doyle saw the perfect opportunity to run their own customizable pizza chain without becoming a franchise.

They had the experience, management skills and fast-forward thinking to do it on their own.

“We knew the concept was going to be a hit and wanted to watch the company grow without needing a franchise model,” says Morgan. “Especially in today’s world, being able to offer customers a truly customizable experience with fresh ingredients and fair pricing in under five minutes is key for those looking for quick, convenient service.”

Together as business partners, they constantly navigate challenges like changing consumer demand. This includes staying on top of new trends such as introducing plant-based meats; premium ingredients; freshly made sauce and dough; gluten-free; and vegan options, like vegan cheese and plantbased chorizo.

“In the past couple of years especially, the demand for more flexibility with dietary preferences has pushed us to become innovative in what we are able to offer our customers,” says

Doyle. “Over the years, we have strived to make Fired Pie a place where everyone can come to eat, no matter what your dietary restrictions are.”

With Fired Pie hitting 20 locations across the Valley this year, Morgan and Doyle know there are still challenges laid out ahead of them, but are optimistic about what the future brings. The company has plans to open three to five more stores within the next year, including out-of-state expansion.

“As consumer needs change, our newest store will focus on our first-ever pick-up-only orders,” says Doyle. “We will utilize mobile and online orders, as well as third-party delivery drivers to provide the fastest experience possible to our customers, while ensuring quality food and prices.”

Like many local business owners, Fired Pie’s bottom line isn’t just about expanding, but ensuring their customers receive the best service and food quality possible. This also includes serving the community with fundraisers through Phoenix Children’s Hospital, No Kid Hungry and allowing the community to raise money for charities of their choice. Fired Pie allows anyone to choose a location where a 501(c ) charity of the customer’s choice will receive 20 percent of the guests’ check.

With the rise of apps and third-party delivery, the Fired Pie owners have also learned they need to do everything possible to stay relevant. In addition to being on all online delivery platforms, Fired Pie has its own app for customers. This includes the ability to earn rewards, receive monthly specials and get new menu item alerts. They also offer a catering menu with party trays of meatballs, mac ʹn cheese and more.

“Especially in the fast-casual industry, it’s important to constantly evaluate how convenient you can make it for your customers to order,” says Morgan. “Being able to simply pick up the phone and customize your pizza, salad or mac ʹn cheese order exactly how you want it without ever having to pause your movie or be on a hold line will keep you top of mind to customers.”

Fired Pie by the Numbers • Currently, with 19 stores in Metro Phoenix and one in Tucson, Ariz., the company has plans to open three to five more stores within the next year, including out-ofstate expansion.

• When ordering at Fired Pie, customers can customize their pizza, salad or mac ʹn cheese order by choosing from more than eight different sauces, seven cheeses, more than 12 meats, 20+ veggies and herbs.

Fired Pie firedpie.com

The plant-based market is expected to be $27.9 billion in 2025 and the vegan market is expected to be worth $5 billion by 2020. This is why Fired Pie has options for everyone, including its plant-based vegan chorizo.

JAN 13 2020 INBUSINESSPHX.COM

BY RAEANNE MARSH

ENTREPRENEURS & INNOVATORS

FLY-ing Right into Sustainability Challenges

Inspired to Action “My co-founders and I initially became involved in this space because we co-wrote our thesis on the strengths and weaknesses of the informal recycling sector in developing countries,” relates rePurpose co-founder Svanika Balasubramanian. As part of their field research, they had the opportunity to visit Deonar, one of Asia’s largest landfills.

“Walking through mountains of garbage, pinching our noses with one hand and swatting flies with the other, seeing the glittering skyline of the growing city of Mumbai rising in the horizon –– we just had this quiet moment of horror at how abysmally we had failed in managing our consumption.”

It was on the rickshaw ride back home that evening that the idea of rePurpose in its current form was born, Balasubramanian recalls.

“That’s when we realized that the only way to approach such a global problem was with a globally applicable unified solution,” she says. repurpose.global

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When nothing is certain, anything is possible. All it takes for someone to be successful is to find their passion, build a coalition, and work until they transform the future.

Alice Murphy and Mark Hansen took this advice to heart when they founded FLI Right last April. “FLI Right is on a mission to transform the future with transformative technologies that aim to support each of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG),” says Hansen.

They’ve been able to align a coalition of partners committed to their mission.

The company’s first technology maturation effort, the FLI T3 System, was leveraged from the work of Precious Plastic and aims to support SDG 12 — Responsible Consumption and Production. It does this by taking direct aim at our world’s plastic waste stock by empowering individuals and businesses to transform it into useful products — and potential revenue streams. For instance, local breweries can use the T3 to transform their plastic six pack carriers into tap handles or coasters. Plastic from e-waste (e.g., keyboards and phones) can be transformed into flowerpots. “The applications are limitless,” Hansen observes, “and, because of this, the T3 inherently supports several other SDG goals such as SDG

6 Clean Water and Sanitation and SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth.”

Relating their challenges ranged from having to “become our own expert support staff,” as is common in new ventures, to the unique issues of “cracking the economics of plastic recycling,” — and sharing that the two have “dedicated our careers to the aerospace and defense industries, and share a deep passion for the heroes, events and technology that have changed the course of history in space, air, land and sea” — Hansen notes, “Part of our deeper purpose is to ‘imagine a life without limits’ (as Howard Hughes taught us).”

FLI Right LLC fliright.com

rePurpose Disrupts the Waste Cycle “We believe in recycling as a solution for today, and reduction and redesign as solutions for tomorrow,” says rePurpose cofounder Svanika Balasubramanian.

The company was founded last year with a mission to provide simple, cost-effective and genuine opportunities for individuals, businesses and brands to create impact by strengthening plastic recovery and recycling infrastructure in developing countries, while simultaneously providing stable livelihoods for historically marginalized waste workers.

Balasubramanian says she is guided in her efforts by advice from her grandfather, who was a social activist in South India.

“As I was growing up, he would always say empowering one’s community was as important as empowering one’s self.”

Aiming to empower communities to take tangible action against the plastic crisis, she says, “The biggest challenge is boiling down the immense magnitude of the problem to something that seems more approachable.” For instance, she notes that 8 million tons of plastic finds its way into our oceans every year. “That is a scary number and might make the problem seem too big for any one person or organization to actually make a difference. The enormity and impersonal nature of the statistics can lead to apathy or inaction. We had

to make this issue, and the solution, more approachable if we were to change human behavior.

“That’s why we designed a three-step model that helped each consumer or business take action for their unique plastic footprint. They can calculate their annual plastic consumption through the rePurpose platform and take responsibility for just that amount — it’s a more personal way of encouraging impact creation.”

Other advice Balasubramanian credits in inspiring her efforts was to be prepared for a lot of “no’s.” “Though I don’t think there’s really any preparing for all the setbacks you face when you’re trying to get a new startup off the ground, that advice has helped me remain resilient and come back swinging with more conviction every time.” rePurpose repurpose.global

The U.N.’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to transform our world address poverty, health, employment, economic growth and several aspects of ecological sustainability. un.org/development/desa/disabilities/envision2030.html

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METRICS & MEASUREMENTS

The Best States to Launch a Startup How does Arizona rate for startup success?

by Elik Dermer

Uber, Snapchat and even Facebook — these each started as a small startup, some with hardly any financing behind them. A simple business idea can often blossom into something much greater and successful; however, sometimes it can seem that the odds are against it. After all, 20 percent of businesses fail in their first year, 30 percent in the second and 50 percent within five.

To succeed, entrepreneurs need to think very carefully about several factors before kick- starting a business, with location being just one of the many top priorities. In the U.S., there are some states that provide a better business growth environment.

The team at Comparisun has compared each of the 50 United States on new business applications, year-on-year application growth, business survival rate, the rate of new entrepreneurs, corporate tax rate, the share of collegeeducated population, labor cost and cost of living to reveal Elik Dermer is the founder and CEO of Comparisun, an international team of experienced entrepreneurs who have first-hand experience starting and managing a business. They understand and relate to the essentials of starting a successful business, and started Comparisun to help business starters choose the right products for them, and get the best deal. comparisun.com

where the best state to launch a startup could potentially be.

Texas is by far the best place to begin a new startup venture, with an overall weighted score of 77.77/100. The talent pool is deep, its business survival rate is more than promising and the tax benefits are certainly attractive.

At the bottom of the list is Rhode Island, with an overall score of 38.06 and a business survival rate of 47.20 percent.

New business application growth is in negative figures, at 29.07 percent. Just behind in positions 48 and 49 are West Virginia and Delaware.

Arizona’s business survival rate, at 49.10 percent, is well below the top states in that category — South Dakota (56.00%), Massachusetts (55.20%) and Minnesota (54.50%) — but, taking all factors into consideration, Comparisun’s research results put Arizona as a top five state in the nation for businesses to launch a startup.

BEST STATES IN THE UNITED STATES TO LAUNCH A STARTUP Texas

Florida

Ohio

Colorado

Arizona

Utah

California

New business application

299,617

389,490

92,112

86,415

76,097

48,630

381,467

New business applications year on year growth

1.35%

-0.42%

0.42%

-0.49%

7.82%

3.80%

-2.36%

Business survival rate

50.70%

49.50%

53.20%

49.80%

49.10%

52.30%

52.80%

Rate of new entrepreneu

0.42%

0.42%

0.22%

0.33%

0.39%

0.30%

0.44%

Corporate tax rate

0%

5.50%

0%

4.63%

4.90%

4.95%

8.84%

Share of college-educated population

28.70%

28.50%

27.20%

39.40%

28.50%

32.50%

32.60%

Labor cost

$26,627

$32,869

$26,778

$31,333

$26,535

$26,907

$37,256

Cost-of-living index

91.50

97.90

90.80

105.6

97

98.40

151.70

Overall score

77.77

69.75

66.02

64.06

64.02

63.89

63.80

Source: comparisun.com/resources/the-best-state-to-launch-a-startup

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Arizona is fifth among 50 in a ranking of the best states in the nation to launch a startup.

PROPERTY, GROWTH AND LOCATION

Investment in Smart Buildings Moving Up the Agenda Our new research among landlords, property managers, agents and suppliers reveals that investment in smart building technologies is finally moving up the agenda.

There is increasing recognition of their ability to create efficiencies in commercial real estate, bringing costs down, increasing tenant satisfaction, improving space management and ensuring strong energy performance.

The research shows that more than half (58%) of respondents see smart controls and sensors as important in building management, with the majority (92%) saying spend in this area is increasing.

As a result, this is creating exciting opportunities for suppliers who develop systems and technologies such as controls, occupancy monitoring and data-led services for the sector, with CIL forecasting a 10-percent growth rate over the next five years, and profit margins of more than 20 percent.

In the short term, CIL believes that in a market heavily driven by ROI, the strongest case for smart controls is within prime real estate. Properties in larger cities with higher rents can justify refurbishments and upgrades, so it is these buildings which are seeing the early investment. Older buildings and commercial real estate out of larger cities are likely to take longer to adopt this technology.

However, as property managers build a stronger economic case for smart technologies, we predict a sector of high growth and strong margins, with clear benefits for commercial real estate.

Airbnb Community Expands Lodging Capacity in Tempe during Game Weekends According to figures recently released by Airbnb,

Energy Efficiency Has Become a Top Priority for Commercial Landlords.

The research also confirms that energy efficiency improvements have been a key driver of investment across commercial real estate to date, thanks to an increased focus on combatting climate change, new regulation and the desire for cost-cutting.

Current industry focus is on LED lighting, which can substantially reduce the cost of building maintenance. This focus is broadening to include advanced heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC), with 84 percent of respondents predicting a rise in future spend.

As a result, CIL is forecasting growth of 5 to 10 percent in this area over the next five years, driven in part by the uptake of more advanced systems. This is particularly true of the HVAC market as it shifts towards local heating and cooling of rooms, alongside the development in smart thermostats and room monitoring.

—James de La Salle, director of CIL (www.cilconsultants.com), a leading management consultancy serving growth clients in international markets

welcomed approximately 7,310 guest arrivals and earned a combined $493,700 in supplemental income during college football game weekends this past fall, helping the community significantly expand lodging capacity and welcome the surge in visitors.

In addition to helping hosts earn important supplemental income, Airbnb has allowed Tempe to accommodate extra visitors and take full advantage of the unique economic opportunity presented

by Mike Hunter

GET REAL

the Tempe host community

by college football. This benefits the local business community by keeping visitors’ food and shopping dollars in the city and helps hosts earning meaningful

Photos courtesy of Ironwood Development Group, Townline Ventures and Hines (bottom, l to r)

Lock-and-Leave Condos in Chandler Chandler’s newest resort-style lock-andleave condominium community, Waterfall Villa Residences is under development and pre-selling in advance of model completion. The community showcases a limited collection of 106 custom-crafted, villa-style residences located near the intersection of Chandler Boulevard and Cooper Road. Priced from the mid-$200s, Waterfall meets the area demand for new attainable, luxury living in vibrant Chandler, Arizona.

The community is being developed

by Ironwood Development Group, a local boutique developer specializing in niche infill residential developments. The grand opening is slated for spring 2020. liveatwaterfall.com

Evolving Office Submarket Attracts Vancouver Developer Townline Ventures has acquired its first Phoenix office asset with the purchase of the recently modernized 20-story midtown office tower located at 2600 N. Central Avenue, the sale negotiated through Colliers International in Arizona.

In addition to its current land holdings in Arizona, the Vancouver-based company purchased 2600 Tower as part of its continuing efforts to acquire income-producing assets in the Phoenix market with strong potential for repositioning. “Townline is working with local architecture firm RSP Architects to reimagine the office building as the Midtown office market continues its resurgence,” says Geoff Matthews, Townline acquisitions manager. colliers.com

Luxury Multifamily for Downtown Phoenix Hines, the international real estate firm, breaks ground this month on Adeline — its first multifamily property in the Phoenix market. The 25-story, 379-unit complex near Talking Stick Resort Arena and the new downtown Fry’s grocery store will feature an urban courtyard, junior Olympic-size swimming pool and clubhouse.

“Hines has a long tradition of developing iconic luxury multifamily properties in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Houston. We are building on that expertise to develop Adeline, which will offer unparalleled luxury in Phoenix,” says Chris Anderson, senior managing director and Arizona leader for Hines. hines.com

Energy efficiency is now a top priority for commercial real estate, supporting a 10-percent growth forecast for smart technologies.

extra money that many use to help make ends meet. A significant percentage of hosts say they recommend restaurants and cultural activities to their guests, and, on average, Airbnb guests say 41 percent of their spending occurs in the neighborhood where they stay. —Mike Hunter airbnb.com

JAN 17 2020 INBUSINESSPHX.COM

PROPERTY, GROWTH AND LOCATION

Sterling Grove Fast Facts The luxury community is located at Cactus Road and Cotton Lane in Surprise.

• 780-acre community • Planned 2,000 homes: 8 home collections, 31 home designs • Vast amenities include an 18-hole Nicklausdesigned golf facility, pools, a clubhouse, fitness center, tennis and pickleball courts, dining and more • Vast amenities include an 18-hole Nicklausdesigned golf facility, pools, a clubhouse, fitness center, tennis and pickleball courts, dining and more • Town square, cornerstone parks, perimeter walking trail tollbrothers.com/luxuryhomes-for-sale/Arizona/ Sterling-Grove

Toll Brothers New Community Destined to Change the Face of Surprise No matter where one goes in the Valley, chances are, there is construction under way. The region is growing by leaps and bounds, and with that has come a surge of new homes.

One West Valley city that continues to take shape is Surprise. During the past 17 years, the city’s population has swelled by nearly 350 percent, and commercial development in construction, retail and other sectors also has been brisk.

Such activity has put a demand on housing. The area has been a magnet for amenity-rich communities for some time, with smart homes, greenbelts and spacious living spaces. But in January, the first true luxury community will make its debut.

That’s when Toll Brothers will introduce Sterling Grove.

Considered one of Toll Brothers most ambitious projects, the 780-acre Sterling Grove will boast eight new luxury home collections and 31 home designs – from single-level to two-

story ranging in size from 1,421 to 4,047 square feet.

There also will be an 18-hole Nicklaus-designed private golf facility – the first in the West Valley in nearly a decade – along with a 35,000-square-foot clubhouse, with pools, a fitness center, tennis and pickleball courts, a dining room and flex spaces.

At Sterling Grove, there will be something for everyone – from couples and families to age-targeted master-planned neighborhoods. The homes will be surrounded by parks, irrigation ponds and streams, and a town square that will serve as a gathering place for residents, too. It’s all part of our vision to bring luxury living to the burgeoning West Valley.

—Dan Rhea, senior project manager for Sterling Grove (www. tollbrothers.com/luxury-homes-for-sale/Arizona/SterlingGrove)

Hines partners with multiple institutions to identify best operating practices and cutting-edge technologies in order to stay in the forefront of building operations.

The international real estate firm currently has 97 properties that are certified, pre-certified or registered under the various LEED rating systems, as well as 165 buildings that have earned the ENERGY STAR label. hines.com

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Offices at Chandler Viridian, capstone to the Chandler Viridian mixed-use project, has recently earned Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED® Core and Shell rating system.

At six stories, the award-winning building is the tallest multi-tenant office building in Chandler. The Class A office building with 252,418 square feet of leasable space is located at the intersection of Loop 101 and Loop 202 near the Chandler Fashion Center. The building features a large, open floor plan with 10-foot-tall ceilings, a lounge and a large courtyard. Green features include low-flow water fixtures, LED lighting, and native and drought-tolerant plants. Current tenants include Stantec, a global engineering, architecture and consulting firm; Workuity, a co-working firm; Clear Choice, a dental implant company; and Oaktree Funding Corp., a wholesale mortgage lender. The nearby Chandler Viridian PRIMEGATE’s retail offerings include Panera Bread, Sicilian Butcher, Thirsty Lion and Charles Schwab.

Chandler Viridian, which won Mixed-Use Project of the Year and Speculative Office of the Year at the 2019 Best of

NAIOP Arizona Awards and Commercial Property Executive Magazine’s 2018 Distinguished Achievement Silver Award for Repositioning/Redevelopment, is a 25-acre mixed-use project that also includes a Cambria Hotel & Suites, Broadstone Fashion Center luxury apartments, sophisticated retail offerings at Chandler Viridian PRIMEGATE and a pedestrian promenade to the Chandler Fashion Center mall. Also featured in the master plan is a dog park, three-quarter-mile jogging trail connecting all of the properties and a large public plaza with high-speed internet and Wi-Fi — all to enhance the pedestrian experience.

Hines, a privately owned international real estate firm that has long been a leader in sustainable design and in promoting sustainability programs around the world, developed the project in a joint venture agreement with New York Life Real Estate Investors, on behalf of its institutional client.

—Mike Hunter chandlerviridian.com hines.com

The City of Surprise, on Phoenix’s west side, has enjoyed a population surge of nearly 350 percent over the past 17 years, which has fostered commercial development in construction and retail, among other sectors.

Photos courtesy of Toll Brothers (top) and Hines (bottom)

Sustainable Design Is at Core of Chandler Veridian Development

YOUR BENEFIT IN BUSINESS

WELL WELL WELL

by Mike Hunter

Excentium and GlobalMed Awarded Contract with Military Health System GlobalMed®, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based virtual health solutions manufacturer and systems integrator, will provide the specialized and secure delivery systems, software platform and services to Excentium Inc., a Prime SDVOSB based in Virginia that has been awarded a five-year contract to provide maintenance, service and support to the Defense Health Agency’s Virtual Health delivery systems.

Under the terms of the IDIQ, Excentium and GlobalMed will provide proprietary evidencebased and clinical data aggregation software, program management, cybersecurity and on-site user training functions to virtual health delivery systems located in military treatment facilities around the world.

“Excentium has supported the Military Health System and our active service members since company inception 13 years ago. As a Veteran, I am ecstatic to continue to support the DHA,” says Colin Corlett, Excentium’s president and CEO. “Virtual health and telehealth are two key drivers in making healthcare more accessible to our active duty members and Veterans. We are proud to work with our partner, GlobalMed, to continue to provide value toward bettering healthcare delivery to our service men and women.”

“As a Veteran Owned Small Business and vertically integrated telemedicine provider to the White House, Department of Defense, and to over 1,200 Veteran Administration hospitals and clinics nationwide, we are honored to continue our service to the DHA alongside Excentium,” says Joel E. Barthelemy, founder and CEO of GlobalMed. “We are committed to transforming healthcare for service members through the quality and expanded access to care that telemedicine offers.” excentium.com globalmed.com

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Gender-Specialized Telehealth Solutions Can Improve Employee Productivity As the price of healthcare continues to rise, many businesses have to make tough decisions where it comes to providing benefits that offer care and services their employees want and need. Those decisions must encompass what to provide and to what extent, in order to maximize employee engagement while controlling costs.

And, in today’s low unemployment environment, companies need to offer compelling benefit solutions to attract and/or retain talented employees.

While most companies offer plans that cover preventive care and other types of vital medical services, most packages tend to ignore a critical segment of healthcare that most employees want to access — even if they may be a little reticent to talk about it.

While typically private, men’s and women’s health services are in high demand but not widely discussed. These include common concerns such as sexual health issues like erectile dysfunction, low sex drive and menopause, as well as other issues affecting the health and self-confidence of men and women alike, including hair loss, skin conditions, sexually transmitted diseases and smoking cessation.

All of these issues can and do negatively impact an employer. Increased presenteeism, more absences and higher turnover are the result of not addressing this core component of human wellness. Employees can only be engaged at a level that matches how they feel mentally, emotionally and physically. When part of their well-being is suffering due to common men’s or women’s health concerns, the business suffers too.

Most benefit plans are missing men’s and women’s health services. A telehealth solution — which offers access to medical providers over the phone, computer or mobile device — makes

it easier for people to seek care for stigmatized health conditions that can affect their day-to-day well-being. Moreover, it’s an affordable solution for the employer.

A Cleveland Clinic survey in 2018 reported that 61 percent of men avoided seeing a doctor even when they needed to go, and 56 percent preferred to keep their health concerns quiet. Meanwhile, Everyday Health reports more than half of women feel bad about their physical appearance on a weekly basis, and 65 percent say they put themselves last.

In short, women and men are often too embarrassed to seek care, especially where it comes to sensitive issues like sexual health. But delaying care for these conditions can make matters much worse down the line. Not only is the employee’s quality of life negatively impacted, but the company’s bottom line can take a hit as well due to higher medical costs and missed workdays.

In fact, a 2018 report from the Integrated Benefits Institute found that illness-related lost productivity costs employers $530 billion a year.

MeMD addresses this with a telehealth platform that gives women and men a safe, convenient and confidential way to talk with a board-certified medical provider about those potentially embarrassing health concerns, restore their well-being and get on with their lives. Companies that offer telehealth solutions for these needs help remove barriers to care while enhancing their employees’ well-being and improving business operations. —Bill Goodwin, CEO of MeMD (memd.me), a national telehealth provider based in Scottsdale that offers on-demand, online care for common illnesses, injuries, men’s and women’s health concerns, and behavioral health issues; Services are available to consumers and businesses nationwide

A Cleveland Clinic survey in 2018 reported that 61 percent of men avoided seeing a doctor even when they needed to go, and 56 percent preferred to keep their health concerns quiet.

TURN HEALTHCARE INTO A BUSINESS ADVANTAGE

Now you can offer an affordable healthcare solution to all your employees.

Increase Recruiting.

Reduce Turnover.

Save Costs.

In today’s competitive labor market, businesses are searching for advantages to stand out from their competition. Now more than ever, business owners just like you, are turning to benefits that attract the best and brightest talent to grow their company. Benefits that allow you to retain those valuable team members that you’ve invested so much time and energy.

Did you know the average cost to replace an employee for an hourly job is roughly $3,500?

But NOW, there’s an EASY & TRULY AFFORDABLE solution that will change everything. Redirect Health’s EverydayCARE™ medical plans can turn healthcare into a real business advantage for you and your team members.

Contact us today at 888-995-4945 or Info@RedirectHealth.com to learn more. © Copyright Redirect Health® 2019. All Rights Reserved. inBusiness OCT 19 Issue Ad 0919

INNOVATIONS FOR BUSINESS

TECH NOTES

by Mike Hunter

Scheduling: a Job for Technology Recruiters send three or more emails to schedule one interview, according to a recent survey by Cronofy and JobAdder. This means that, if it takes 15 minutes to check their availability and then write an email, they lose 45 minutes to scheduling one interview.

If a hiring manager interviews five people for a role, that's 7.5 hours — or almost an entire working day — lost to scheduling interviews for a single vacancy.

However, the survey shows that 61 percent of companies use a two-person interview panel.

Between those two employees, they'll lose up to 14 hours to scheduling one interview.

With most businesses conducting multi-part interviews for roles, this quickly adds up to recruiters losing an entire working week just to scheduling interviews. This time that they spend on admin tasks leaves them with less time to spend on the real reason they were hired — finding the best person for a role.

"The survey makes it clear that a staggering number of employees lose time to scheduling tasks that can be streamlined. Integrating scheduling into recruitment workflows frees up days of extra time every year. Companies hire faster, save money, and scale sooner," says Adam Bird, CEO of Cronofy. "It's situations like this that inspired us to create our service and continue to drive us to make it simple to integrate scheduling." Cronofy provides SaaS businesses with the technology they need to offer best-in-class scheduling to their users; JobAdder, which collaborated on the survey, is a cloud-based provider of enterprise recruitment software.

Among other details, the survey found that 90 percent of recruiters have to send two or more emails or make two or more phone calls to schedule an interview. Sixty-four percent of recruiters take two or more days to schedule an interview, 41 percent take three or more days, 26 percent take four or more days, and 11 percent take a full week or longer. cronofy.com jobadder.com

JAN 2020

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Healthcare Companies: Stop Being Such an Easy Target for Hackersect Themselves?

It’s official: Healthcare remains the most breached industry in 2019. In the first half of the year, 32 million healthcare records were breached — double the total for all of 2018. And there are no signs that cyberattacks in the healthcare industry are going to cease.

It seems that the size of an organization doesn’t matter, as both large and small healthcare providers get breached. The difference is, big organizations have more data that hackers can sell; small companies lack security resources, which makes them easier targets. But why has healthcare overtaken financial institutions as the top target for hackers? Because hackers see a great opportunity to get a ransom for their stolen information.

Medical records are very private and sensitive data, so no one wants theirs to get leaked and posted online. For example, early this year, confidential data, including the medical status of more than 14,000 people diagnosed with HIV, was stolen and leaked online in Singapore.

Besides private medical information, criminals can get their hands on other very important data, some of which is even more sensitive than uncomfortable pictures or a medical history. That includes contact details (email, phone number, home address), social security numbers and banking information. If stolen, this data can lead to financial troubles and even identity theft.

Healthcare organizations make ideal prey for hackers, as many of them use outdated security software and continue to underinvest in cybersecurity. The healthcare industry invests only 4 to 7 percent of revenue in digital security initiatives. To compare, the financial sector puts 15 percent of its revenue into cybersecurity.

To avoid a bad reputation and legal actions, healthcare organizations must make cybersecurity their top priority. Here are four main tips on how healthcare organizations can protect themselves from getting hacked: Employee training. Human error, or employee negligence, is one of the main factors that make organizations susceptible to cyberattacks. To prevent various failures of compliance, healthcare companies should invest in cybersecurity training.

Employees should learn about data breaches from experts and get regular updates on recent trends. For example, members of staff need to

get an understanding about phishing emails. They should know not to click on any links, open any attachments, or perform any requests that come from questionable sources. This will prevent them from downloading malware or sharing sensitive information with impersonators.

Better password management. Passwords play the most important role when protecting a company’s files and data. Therefore, the best practice would be introducing password managers in the organizations. Such tools will generate strong and unique passwords and safely store them at the convenience of the staff. Passwords shouldn’t be shared among employees.

Encrypt the files. To protect a company’s documents from prying eyes and safely store them both on a computer and in the cloud, they need to be encrypted. This is especially handy when sharing confidential information with clients or among members of staff. With file encryption tools, like NordLocker, even if a hacker manages to steal important files, they will not be able to access their content.

Use a VPN. Healthcare organizations usually use an intranet for private internal communications. But when traveling, working remotely or using public Wi-Fi, employees need a secure connection to access work resources.

Here's where a VPN (virtual private network) comes into play. It creates a secure encrypted tunnel between an employee's device and the internet — or a company's server. That protects their connection from third-party access, should there be hackers ready to breach the system.

—Daniel Markuson, internet security enthusiast and digital privacy expert at NordVPN (nordvpn. com) — the leading virtual private network provider worldwide, which has a zero-log policy and provides double VPN encryption, malware blocking and Onion Over VPN — who loves putting his 10-year expertise into helping people stay private and secure online

Healthcare organizations make ideal prey for hackers, as many of them use outdated security software and continue to underinvest in cybersecurity.

Greater Phoenix cities lead the way in a multi-jurisdictional approach that benefits public and private sectors

by RaeAnne Marsh

Having a lot of information doesn’t necessarily equate to being smart. With all our “smart” devices that generate mountains of data, what makes a difference in our lives is what we do with that information. Cities take that concept to a greater scale, benefitting both residents and business.

In fact, in terms of growing and attracting business, Chris Camacho, president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, notes, “Digital and smart technology are now considered the new-age infrastructure of the 21st century.”

What Is a ‘Smart City’?

Says Diana Bowman, Ph.D., co-director of ASU Center for Smart Regions and Cities, “When I think about what a smart city or region is, my first response really is framed around a jurisdiction that is focused on improving quality of life for its residents.” One example she offers is designing infrastructure that supports autonomous vehicles as a way to promote independence in an aging population and encourage aging in place. Another is delivering connectivity to as many people as possible, as access to the internet can open up new employment opportunities as well as deliver a range of educational opportunities that school-aged children may not have previously had access to. “Infrastructure is, therefore, critical to the evolution of a city to a smart city. But I would argue that the infrastructure should be viewed as the enabler for the delivery of services and opportunities that will drive quality-of-life improvement and promote, for example, sustainability.”

That requires a new way of looking at the information.

“Previously, we operated very well in silos, with organizations created around utilities, public safety, traffic, et cetera,” observes Jeff Dodge, digital innovation director at Insight. Insight, although not directly doing smart city work with Phoenix or Maricopa County, is strongly in that space, having evolved over the past 10 years from being a value-added reseller to an advanced-services provider, helping cities and other large entities understand how to deal with data from a secure perspective. Dodge notes, “Now, with advent of IoT [Internet of Things] and cameras everywhere, all information being created by independent entities is valuable to the other entities. And it is valuable to the private sector. In particular, it is valuable to the private citizenry.”

Mike Zeto, vice president of advanced mobility solutions at AT&T, explains that interoperability can be achieved in multiple ways. “Data can be sent to the cloud for external processing and send alerts to the appropriate parties, but it can also now be processed and analyzed at the edge [real-world usage, as opposed to data centers].” Noting that processing data locally significantly mitigates the risk of theft or illegal access, he says, “A smart city operations dashboard at the local level provides near real-time visibility into key metrics.”

Another direction is improvements in detection and relevant artificial intelligence and analytics through innovative sensors, big data and IoT. Vladimir Livshits, Ph.D., director of Transportation Technologies and Services at Maricopa Association of Governments, says, “MAG is currently deploying and evaluating technology pilots that are aimed at dramatically improving traffic operations and transportation safety in the region. These pilots are based on new detection devices and machine learning algorithms.” Data collection, traffic signal operations, lighting, parking and curbside management are just some examples of possible application of these new detection devices and related technologies.

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“Smart cities or smart regions touch virtually every aspect of a city,” Zeto observes. And he sees this as just the beginning. “The deployment of 5G will jumpstart a new era of massive device connectivity. Low-latency, high speeds and ultra-reliability will enable even more use cases for cities. The deployment of 5G will help lay the groundwork for further smart cities developments such as traffic improvements, enhanced public safety and better building and infrastructure management.” [For more about 5G, see “5G Will Mark New Era for Businesses,” In Business Magazine, April 2019.]

“Developing smart region solutions involves not only technological aspects of the applications but, sometimes more importantly, political, economic, social, legal, environmental and organizational considerations,” says Dr. Livshits. Governments have an important role to play in accelerating and coordinating the development of smart regions and cities while maintaining the focus on the public good and implementing projects that benefit the community when dealing with complex issues. “They create environments where investments in smart infrastructure, transportation and public safety serve as incentives for job creation and economic growth.”

Leading as the First ‘Smart Region’ Innovative leadership is doing much more than moving individual entities from traditional silos to an integrated approach; our community leaders are taking the concept of integration within an organization or department and applying it regionally.

Camacho has observed a lot of cities across the U.S. adopting smart technology because a smart technology widget gets pushed upon a city council or a city staff; he refers to that as a solution seeking a problem.

“Instead,” he says, “we’ve determined that you can unify a regional system of municipalities — in this case, 20-plus cities in the fastest-growing region in the United States — with CIOs, city managers, mayors and [other] elected officials working together to adopt a smart regional governance model that evaluates city — or, in this case, resident problem sets such as stop light and street light optimization — first.

“I haven’t seen this anywhere across the country, where you have all of these partners — the public sector to identify problem sets, and the backend industry partners to identify solution sets — and that’s what makes this overarching system unique.”

The inspiration came to him when he and a couple of his peers attended a smart city conference. “We saw this kind of siloed approach to smart technology adoption as almost like a fad.” They realized there was an opportunity to leverage GPEC’s system of regional coordination and collaboration with the cities it worked with and Maricopa County and the private sector. Upon reaching out to the various entities to assess interest in a unified approach, Camacho says, “We had overwhelming feedback that this could create a new disciplined way of adopting smart technology and

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advancing this digital framework — unlike any other place in the United States.” They branded the consortium “The Connective.”

Says Dr. Bowman, “Our approach with The Connective is that everyone in the region should be involved; a regional initiative needs to have everyone at the table — big or small, in terms of cities and towns — so that we are able to co-design what the vision of the region is. Key challenges facing the Greater Phoenix region — from transportation through to sustainability, for example — impact us all. In my view, recognizing that we can scale solutions quickly by working collaboratively has been one of the key drivers behind the cities, towns and county supporting The Connective.”

Camacho points out this also includes APS and SRP — our largest electrical utility providers. “Because of this movement, this reshaping at how we look at adopting smart technology, major utilities partnering with ASU and their smart campus plan to ensure that we have — much like we’ve advanced at the state level — sandboxes for testing and validating new technology.”

Another advantage we have in creating a smart region is a solid regional backbone, says Dr. Livshits. “One of the unique characteristics of this region is an extensive grid road network that provides an ample capacity for traffic movement.” He points out that travelers are not necessarily paying attention to municipal boundaries as they travel for work and play. “Shared and compatible infrastructure solutions can create a truly seamless travel experience and dramatically improve efficiency of the transportation infrastructure.” And he notes these solutions also allow municipalities to realize economies of scale.

Underlying this is a need for robust communication networks, points out Ian Linssen, assistant to the city manager for the City of Mesa. “Governments and the private sector alike are currently working on deploying and upgrading these networks,” he says, adding that data infrastructure — which includes general data governance, transparency and privacy, among other issues — is also key.

Noting that integrating the smart city systems is a crucial — and ongoing — effort, as shared and integrated data can be more efficient and effective, Linssen points to Mesa’s actions to accomplish this through a series of data governance policies, with information and access easily available through a data portal on the city’s website (https://data.mesaaz.gov/stories/s/DataProgram-and-Policy/72r3-uevs/).

“A cross-silo data strategy perspective must be a city-wide data strategy; ideally, it needs to be an Arizona-wide data strategy,” emphasizes Dodge.

This necessitates moving toward a standardized data strategy, with everyone collaborating “so that it’s comprehensive and can drive insights in real time.”

This, in turn, will drive more proactive outcomes.

This, indeed, is the approach our region is taking. Says Livshits, “Jurisdictions at all levels and of all sizes have a role to play in implementing a ‘smart region.’ While larger agencies may be better able to support infrastructure investment, small agencies are well-positioned to take advantage of rapid deployment of lower-cost solutions.” He notes that coordination between these agencies can ease the testing and adoption of new technologies. “If there is agreement on standards of interoperability, a menu of options can be made available to suit every level of participation and investment.”

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How Will It Work?

“Based on our experiences here in the Greater Phoenix region, all sectors — public, private, not-for-profit, academia and citizens more generally — have an important, and continuous, role to play in the development of a smart city or region,” says Dr. Bowman. “By creating a public-private partnership — The Connective — we have created the institutional framework that provides for all sectors to actively engage with the smart region, as well as provide a permanent structure to drive the smart region agenda.”

What are the roles on each side of this partnership? “Government plays a regulatory role — ensuring public safety, keeping the community informed about aesthetic considerations, for instance — and also helping to foster and deploy smart city technologies and best practices,” Linssen explains. “Private business develops the tech and works with government to deploy it.” In fact, Zeto has found that much of the initial investment required to implement the full range of smart city applications comes from the private sector, such as utilities and real estate developers.

Says Camacho, “Cities, very importantly, had to lean in and learn what the purpose was. And cities have the unique ties to individual residents’ communication on needs for communities, so obviously having them in the fold was really important to diagnose or appraise which city-led initiatives needed to be addressed. At that point, we’ll be able to continue to collect city feedback in this process that, ideally, will be able to unify in a multijurisdictional way these concerns or needs and then address them at scale.”

Camacho sees industry on the other side of this pendulum, where they’ll be able to give advice and support and thought leadership to the varying technology solutions that exist out in the marketplace today — which the cities, through the smart region connective, have appraised, assessed and are taking to market.

“And in the middle of this whole model,” he says, “you have GPEC, MAG, Institute for Digital Progress and ASU as all the key players enabling the public and private sectors to advance together.”

Dodge, whose work at Insight involves looking for repeatable patterns in the solutions Insight builds for clients so as to make it easier, faster and more efficient to deploy the solutions, believes what is most important is for the cities to get an understanding of what they have now, cross-functionally. “It’s a pivotal foundational element to figure out what is in place, where do they have fiber already, where are those fixed assets that they’ve already made investments in.” For instance, how can cities utilize light poles (under their Power department), cameras (under their Public Safety department), and other assets from both public and private commercial endeavors? He notes the cost to integrate existing assets is trivial compared to deploying new physical assets.

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Once that assessment is made, Dodge says, cities can then figure out how to create wireless network connectivity layered on fixed assets. And he points out that enabling such connectivity are advances in 5G, small-cell and new radio frequencies that are becoming available. “This allows cities to deploy a vastly greater array of sensors, of additional technology assets, that don’t require very expensive or complicated action, such as laying new fiber or dealing with zoning and domain issues.”

Similarly beneficial to the cities from a cost perspective are smart cities crowdsourced solutions. These, Dr. Livshits points out, open the realm of possibilities for private, third-party data to monitor and operate infrastructure without costly instrumentation. For instance, the use of crowdsourced data can improve efficiency and effectiveness of transportation system management and operations for incident notification and vehicle-based travel time data for monitoring traffic bottlenecks.

Dr. Bowman comes back again to interoperability as key to a smart city or smart region, and believes that has been a real driving force behind the development of The Connective. “Interoperability recognizes that people move across jurisdictional boundaries all day, every day,” she says, “and having systems — albeit parking or traffic signals — that talk to each other allows for the streamlining of operations and greater efficiencies across the board.”

Infrastructure development, or upgrades, involved in creating smart capabilities can vary by region, notes Dr. Livshits, pointing out the impossibility of predicting all possible innovations or even an exact pace of deployment of existing technologies. “However,” he says, “MAG has recently published a Smart Region Technologies Report that provides examples of relevant smart region and smart city deployments in the MAG region and across the country. MAG’s research and efforts in deploying infrastructure technology pilots identified a number of major directions that are the most beneficial for the regional scale.

This is the focus of MAG’s efforts as the regional planning agency and as a Council of Governments.

“One major direction is improvements in regional infrastructure connectivity and telecommunications,” Dr. Livshits continues, pointing out that communication infrastructure is key to the smart cities initiatives — specifically, the fiber optic network, which is essential to connect services like wireless, cellular, Wi-Fi, video and a large number of IoT devices and sensors that are capable of contributing to smart cities.

Challenges The Connective was designed to address the challenges and priorities of the Greater Phoenix region. Projects and vision for The Connective — many of which cross jurisdictional lines — are being determined by the cities and towns that make up the consortium. “Projects will be proposed and voted on by the cities and towns, and prioritized accordingly,” says Dr. Bowman, noting that this makes our approach very different from most smart city initiatives,

28 JANUARY 2020

which have, traditionally, been about the technology. “We are, instead, focused on finding solutions to the challenges identified in our region by those who live and work in the region,” she says.

Balancing data privacy and the perception of privacy are what Zeto sees as top issues of citizen engagement. He’s found this to be very common in public safety applications where the use of real-time data is valuable for improving response times and, ultimately, saving lives. Acknowledging that, for some, the mere mention of data might perk up a few ears, he points to AT&T’s implementation of a comprehensive slate of controls, policies and technologies to help protect people’s privacy as evidence of that issue’s toppriority importance.

Data ownership is another big issue, as it affects governance across systems. Related concerns are transparency and confidentiality. Explains Dr. Livshits, “Businesses prioritize keeping data confidential to protect their edge in the market. Governments prioritize transparency as stewards of public trust and funding. These priorities can clash and jeopardize partnerships if not successfully resolved. Further, as public entities, governments prioritize the privacy of citizens and their data.” He believes transparency will be key for citizens, so they understand where their data is going and who is controlling access to that data, with cybersecurity also a key part of the evaluation and implementation of any smart region technologies deployed by agencies, to protect citizen data and the security of infrastructure.

“Cybersecurity and data governance is something we covered early on in this process because access to data and sensitivity of data and even ownership of data in the public domain is critically important,” Camacho says.

Through The Connective, the cities are going to have the ability to silo off their data and secure their data with their residents. “There will be opportunities for interoperability, and we’re working with CIOs now,” Camacho says.

The integration of technology with infrastructure can provide many benefits to cities, but it also introduces new cyber threats to critical infrastructure, such as water, communications, power and transportation, that must be considered, Zeto points out. “Cities are seeing an increase in ransomware and denial of service attacks, which are responsible for billions of dollars of impact annually.”

How to deal with data from a secure perspective is one angle. Another is clean data, which, Dodge shares, is currently one of the biggest problems.

“Everyone has tons of data, but how do you rationalize that data,? What is your overarching strategy to make sure not bringing in garbage?” he asks, referring to adage, “Garbage in, garbage out.” This is one example of how private business fits into the equation, as Insight leverages the significant investment it has made over the last 30 years to become a super-solution integrator, not just procuring the infrastructure but putting where needs to be, maintaining and managing the assets.

There are many regulatory issues. Privacy concerns, procurement, liability and utilization of different funding sources are a few examples that Dr. Livshits shares. Zeto points also to the need for cities to consider the impact of infrastructure-related regulations, which could include permitting for communications infrastructure that enables smart cities, like small cells, or permitting for smart cities technology that enables citizen engagement, like digital kiosks.

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Linssen, noting that public safety is priority number one, says there may be instances of legacy regulations needing to be reexamined to better allow for the promotion and adoption of emerging smart city tech. Emphasizing that Mesa has yet to contemplate such a regulatory change, he offers as one example of potential change the way the city makes available city facilities, such as buildings and towers, for smart city opportunities. “A hypothetical example might include city facilities like government building rooftops being used to house smart city technologies.”

Impact on Business Growth “One key aspect of the smart city is knowing that government does not have all the answers,” says Christine Mackay, director of Community and Economic Development for the City of Phoenix. “By partnering with the private sector, Phoenix is able to draw upon the unique problem-solving skills of its business community.”

Support goes both ways. “Government investment has traditionally spurred innovation,” observes Dr. Livshits. “There are unique opportunities to improve citizens’ lives in partnership with businesses. Business will gain access to ‘living laboratories,’ reputational capital and solutions developed for government that will be ready for commercial applications.”

In fact, Dr. Livshits notes that private businesses often serve as catalysts for technological change, and they are often expert advisors and partners on infrastructure projects. “While government can accelerate and facilitate technological advancements and economic growth by creating a favorable environment and through targeted investments, it is often the role of the private sector to develop innovative technological infrastructure solutions.

The private sector also is often tasked with implementing them — in close collaboration or partnership with governmental organizations.”

And Zeto points out that many of the technologies used to create smart cities provide benefits for businesses, too. “AT&T has seen this in our own operations. We began using the IoT-enabled Building Energy Management system in late 2015. By the end of 2017, we were collecting more than 1.2 million data points associated with 27,000 pieces of equipment at more than 350 facilities. Today, we’re seeing nearly $1 million in annual electricity savings and more than 5,000 metric tons of CO2e savings.”

“There are going to be partnerships that are born between ASU and the utilities to advance the testing and validation of smart technology,” Camacho says. “So this is a multi-faceted model. If the smart technology is readily available to be consumed by the public enterprises, then we’ll do that; if these technologies need further validation, we’ll be able to conduct additional testing and validation upon research, within these regulatory frameworks — and that’s another big piece that’s not happening nationally.”

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In this new era of digital infrastructure, Camacho sees The Connective as an ecosystem of testing and validating smart technologies to get them to prime time so they’re ready to be adopted by the public at scale. “It seamlessly ties into our ability to recruit companies, because companies nationally and internationally want markets that are digitally connected, that have modern infrastructure. So we do feel, absolutely, that this kind of strategy that GPEC has been working on for now a few years puts Greater Phoenix in a position to not only be smart about how they adopt smart technology, but, over time as we produce this kind of connectivity — smart campuses, smart utility strategies — to be in a unique cut of markets that are advancing the identity of the region, which is very globally technology-enabled.”

Time to Be Smart “We’re in the first inning of a long game, and we believe the right approach to adopting smart technology is identifying problems first that could be solved through multi-jurisdictional coordination, and then bringing in universities and transportation partners and others,” Camacho says. “Ultimately, we can produce cross-renovation with the private sector then to adopt these solutions at scale instead of incrementally adopting solutions based upon being pushed by the industry.”

Camacho says he expects the first call for innovation to occur at the end of the first quarter of 2020. “We’ve spent the last 24 months building a governance model to be sure we had all the right people involved — which is a mighty feat — but now the real work begins. We have to execute against these culture innovations.”

ASU Center for Smart Regions and Cities ifis.asu.edu/content/center-smart-cities-and-regions AT&T att.com Greater Phoenix Economic Council gpec.org Insight insight.com Institute for Digital Progress azidp.com Maricopa Association of Governments azmag.gov Mesa, City of mesaaz.gov Phoenix, City of phoenix.gov

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Strategies

LEVERAGE PARTNERSHIPS

Successfully Leverage Business Partnerships and Relationships Ben Smith is a seasoned entrepreneur, executive and marketer with nearly three decades of experience serving across a variety of sectors; building corporate structure; creating global brands; overseeing complex mergers, acquisitions and integrations; and developing highperforming teams. In his current role as CEO of Xcellerate Biomedical Technologies, he is fostering growth and helping bring products and services to market that have a positive impact on health and humanity. xcelleratebio.com

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Look for ways to grow the possibilities

by Ben Smith

To launch, a business needs time and capital; but to genuinely scale, partnerships become equally as important.

This has become a forced reality in a day when competition is now global, not just local. For business leaders, it means mastering and leveraging the resources outside the company as well as within. To lead successfully, knowing what is available, how to ask and how to return value in partnerships is of utmost importance. Often, the most unlikely of partners and even competitors may become the best choice in the long run.

Crafting Equity Relationships come in many flavors but are best leveraged when something of value is offered in return. Often, for leaders, crafting that equity proves to be the challenge.

Stepping back and being able to bend or alter a traditional policy in return for more value can pay off. Take Jennifer, a CEO for a manufacturing facility that was breaking even for several years. Her expertise was the manufacturing side but not the client-facing or sales side of the business. After many failed attempts at hiring for those roles, a partnership was formed with a group that only builds sales and marketing channels in her space, which happened to be cosmetics. In exchange, this group doubled Jennifer’s sales numbers in the first year, making both companies a nice profit. This was a huge win for the CEO who had not been sure how to scale.

So what had the company coming in wanted in exchange?

Its request was not about money but about differentiation in the manufacturing space — its leadership wanted smaller minimum quantity order runs. This gave them a competitive advantage to land new clients who may be starting out, and earn their business for life; it also got them the press and exposure to make these statements. It netted out that more than 70 percent of those small runs turned into large repeat orders, resulting in an all-around win. The key to this partnership was not about margins, but access to unique offerings and leveraging each other’s skillsets.

As leaders, we need to step back and look for those unique things we have to give, or other ways to structure a deal to not risk our revenue but, instead, to grow the possibilities.

Trusting Transparency Building the relationship takes a lot of transparency.

Many leaders enter a relationship very guarded and hide data or access to key employees. To get the most out of the partnership, building trust early in the relationship helps get past the fear of sharing with key employees. Leaders who lack the ability to trust will fail in the partnerships they create before the actual deal is even fully inked. When Dale, CEO of a biologics company, looked at a partner for developing their new go-to-market strategy, he chose the path of sharing with his potential partner everything that had gone wrong, what was not working and where in the past years they had

To lead successfully, knowing what is available, how to ask and how to return value in partnerships is of utmost importance.

BETTERING YOUR BUSINESS struggled. Through this openness, the partner was able to save a lot of time and energy and avoid some bad choices. They quickly turned around several key past barriers and were able to start order processing in less than six months, to a level that cash flowed into the company. Had Dale not executed a very binding NDA and gone into this full disclosure, his new market partner would have repeated many mistakes and Dale’s funding runway would have run out long before profitability.

Structuring Partnership Small businesses have always been quick to jump on strategic partnerships due to their limited resources. In larger and more established organizations looking to grow and potentially sell out, selecting the right partnership can lead to the ideal future owner as well. Working with a major player in the credit space, we built a unique structured relationship with a major security software. It started with simple joint advertising for leveraging each other’s client bases to expand the other’s reach. Over the course of two years, their products became uniquely intertwined and one easily upsold the other. Within a year of this, the major player in the software space did a full acquisition of the company and the owners took a very well-paid and well-timed exit. When looking to build partnerships, the advantage may not always be what is in it right away; a better yield may come from looking at it from a long-term approach of how the partnership can be evolved into something that wasn’t considered on Day One. Involving a Team Selecting the right partners will require a team approach in many cases, since we all have a specific viewpoint from within the company.

Doing a whiteboard or brainstorming session can lead to outcomes not foreseen by the CEO or COO. Often, putting out a call for help to line-level employees and various departments can lead to surprising results. We ran a strategic session several years back that illustrates this point very well.

Working with a large collection of cement companies who each had its own brand and touted how its mix was the “best in the industry,” we had a huge revelation that led to a key strategic partnership. In a brainstorming session, each company focused on why it was better, but, finally, a customer service person spoke up and stated, “No one ever asks how we mix. They do ask, ‘Will the trucks be there on time?’” After following up on this, we came to the consensus that cement is actually the world’s most sensitive and costly delivery business. This not only turned into a new corporate direction but also a new way to capitalize on customers being a top initiative for the upcoming years. The goal: to assure customers we would be there on time with a truck for each job. This 360-degree shift in thinking led to seeking partnerships with the top GPS tracking and customer notification apps. In less than two years, this group was rated top sales based on this new partnership and a new focus on what is really important to its customers. That partnership and transformational evolution did not come from the top and, quite honestly, probably never would have occurred because they had been so entrenched in the way business had been done.

Leadership is a mindset of wanting the best for the employees and the company. Structuring partnerships is very similar to leading a team. One must think about what the win is for oneself and one’s employees. When looking to build, leaders should look outside their industry for ideas and models, and be open to possibilities that may seem easy to dismiss. A good leader will consider all possibilities, give them time to gestate, then decide if it makes sense to explore further. Patience and planning in the early stages will lead to leveraging these partner relationships for the long haul.

Fanocracy How do some brands attract word-of-mouth buzz and radical devotion around products as everyday as car insurance, surfboards and underwear? They embody the most powerful marketing force in the world: die-hard fans.

In this essential book, leading business growth strategist David Meerman Scott and fandom expert Reiko Scott interview young entrepreneurs, veteran business owners, startup founders, nonprofits and companies big and small to pinpoint which practices separate organizations that flourish from those stuck in stagnation. They lay out a road map for converting customers’ ardor into buying power, pulling one-of-a-kind examples from a wide range of organizations.

Fanocracy: Turning Fans into Customers and Customers into Fans David Meerman Scott and Reiko Scott Portfolio

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Billion Dollar Brand Club Dollar Shave Club and its hilarious marketing. Casper mattresses popping out of a box. Third Love’s lingerie designed specifically for each woman’s body. Warby Parker mailing customers five pairs of glasses to choose from. Each may appear, in isolation, as a rare David with the bravado to confront a Goliath, but taken together they represent a seismic shift in a business model that has lasted more than a century. A growing number of digital entrepreneurs have found new and creative ways to crack the code on the bonanza of physical goods that move through our lives every day. Where there were once walls that protected big brands like Gillette, Sealy, Victoria’s Secret or LensCrafters, savvy and hungry innovators now can compete on price, value, quality, speed, convenience and service.

Billion Dollar Brand Club: How Dollar Shave Club, Warby Parker, and Other Disruptors Are Remaking What We Buy Lawrence Ingrassia

272 pages

Henry Holt and Co.

Available 1/28/2020

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TIP Brian Davis is an average salesperson who is fired without warning for being average. After 10 years at the same company, he is suddenly faced with no immediate prospects, an uncertain future and a young family to support. With minimal savings, and determined to not lose everything he’s worked for, he reluctantly takes the only job he can get at a popular bar and restaurant called Crossroads. Guided by an unlikely mentor, and insightful colleagues and customers in an unforgiving environment of relentless customer service, he learns the four simple principles of TIP to take control of his life, his career and his future. This easy read will provide readers a strategy for personal success, complete with coaching and action plans.

TIP: A Simple Strategy to Inspire High Performance and Lasting Success Dave Gordon Wiley

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Selecting the right partners will require a team approach in many cases, since we all have a specific viewpoint from within the company.

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JAN 31 2020 INBUSINESSPHX.COM

Economy

DEVELOPING & GROWING BUSINESS DYNAMICS

Financial Considerations before Launching a Startup An entrepreneur’s checklist

by Lennard van der Feltz

Even seasoned entrepreneurs will tell you taking your startup from a pipe dream to an actualized business can be an overwhelming process — requiring a serious time and financial commitment.

One might have the right idea. One might have the drive.

One might even have the initial funding to get one’s startup off the ground. But what really sets an entrepreneur up for longterm success is an ability to plan ahead financially. Aligning one’s finances with one’s business goals – and positioning oneself for growth – are among the most important steps when it comes to spearheading a startup. The following are considerations to ensure one’s startup not only gains wings but is able to take flight.

What’s Your Recipe for Success?

Entrepreneurs jump into a new business venture because they believe in themselves and their idea. While this confidence is a necessary quality for any leader, it can sometimes obscure harder questions that may guide a logical business plan. Methodically laying out a business plan should be any entrepreneur’s priority, as it’s often a pre-condition for being taken seriously by investors. Further, a business plan can help one keep on track of operations and marketing goals during the first stages of development.

Lennard van der Feltz, CFP®, MSM, MBA, is a founding partner of Tempe-based Pinnacle Financial Advisors (www. teampinnacle.net), which assists individuals, families and businesses with financial planning and wealth management.

He is a registered representative offering securities through UNITED PLANNERS FINANCIAL SERVICES, Member: FINRA, SIPC. Advisory Services offered through SEROS FINANCIAL, LLC. Pinnacle Financial Advisors, Seros Financial, and United Planners are independent companies.

Where’s the Cash?

While one might offer a creative idea, a comprehensive business plan and a willingness to put the work in, funding is an important aspect to consider as well. One needs enough to cover the initial costs of one’s business before it becomes profitable or is able to attract additional outside investing. The cash one puts into one’s startup correlates with the money one gets out of it: Securing the necessary funding determines whether the startup has staying power and thrives in a competitive space.

How Hard Are You Willing to Work?

Nothing’s truer than the saying “Every small business is an overnight success, 10 years in the making.” Entrepreneurs must be committed to the business’s success from day one and often make financial sacrifices to fund their business. There is a lot of work that goes in behind the scenes when building a startup from the ground up. It may take years before the business is visible or appreciated by one’s community. It’s easy to become discouraged. Entrepreneurs need to keep that in mind before they commit to a startup, asking themselves, “Are you willing to sacrifice time, energy and money in order to make an idea a reality?”

What Help Do You Need to Succeed?

Expert guidance is essential for effective operations, growth and team building. Lawyers, accountants and financial

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advisors can help one navigate both opportunities and challenges one’s startup may face, including protecting one’s intellectual property, building and maintaining best business practices and using one’s money effectively. Depending on the industry and business structure, other consultants may be helpful from the onset, including marketers, HR professionals, sales or business development experts, product developers, IT professionals or general business operations advisors. As one’s business evolves, one may hire in-house support or expand relationships with independent contractors to assist with dayto-day operations.

Attracting such partners or staff to one’s new startup, often with an uncertain future, can be a challenge. Active networking, well ahead of when one’s business needs the support, allows one to establish strong relationships to call on when the need arises.

What Role Are You Comfortable Playing?

Entrepreneurs should ask themselves, “What do you truly enjoy about being in business?” A startup isn’t going to become profitable overnight — it takes time and, naturally, the founder’s role will change over the course of the business’s lifetime. The entrepreneur will become a leader of people, rather than simply a doer of work — and this transition requires a sound budget. People will look to the founder for guidance and inspiration, and he or she will need to be ready to take on that responsibility. So, before devoting a big part of one’s life to the startup, one needs to understand how one’s role and responsibilities will evolve as the company develops.

Launching a startup is exciting. But having the right mindset and financial outlook ultimately determines one’s success.

Those who make the right money moves now will reap the benefits later.

Securing the necessary funding determines whether the startup has staying power and thrives in a competitive space.

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LAW MATTERS TO BUSINESS

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New DOL rule may impact a business’s exempt/not-exempt classification

by Jill Chasson

Almost every business has workers who are classified as exempt from the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The most common exemptions, often referred to as the “white collar” exemptions, are for executive, administrative and professional (EAP) employees.

For the past 15 years, the minimum salary for such employees has been $455 per week ($23,660 annualized). Effective January 1, however, the U.S. Department of Labor substantially increased that minimum, to $684 per week, or $35,568 per year.

Examples of positions likely affected by the new rule include line managers for retailers and quick service restaurants and office professionals working for nonprofit organizations — roles in which salaries have often hovered in the upper $20,000s and low $30,000s. For some workers, this new rule means a salary increase; for others, it means they are now eligible for overtime pay. Either way, it’s important for employers to ensure compliance with DOL rules to avoid potentially costly litigation and liability for unpaid overtime.

Some Bonuses Count toward Salary Employers may use nondiscretionary bonuses (such as those tied to productivity or profitability) and incentive payments, including commissions, to satisfy up to 10 percent ($3,556.80) of the minimum salary. The bonuses or incentive payments must be paid at least annually. If an employee does not earn enough in bonuses or incentives in a given year to retain exempt status, the employer may make a “catch-up” payment within one pay period after the end of the compensation year.

Jill Chasson is an attorney with Coppersmith Brockelman in Phoenix.

She focuses on helping businesses of all sizes in a variety of industries with their employment law needs. cblawyers.com

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Caution: ‘Salaried’ Does Not Equal ‘Exempt’ It is a common misperception that all salaried employees are exempt from eligibility for overtime pay. Salary level is only one aspect of exempt status. The employee also must meet the duties test for at least one of the exemptions or a combined exemption. The duties tests did not change, so the existing criteria continue to guide classification decisions. The administrative exemption is often the most difficult to apply because the criteria are the most subjective.

Pay Levels for Other Exemptions Computer professionals continue to be the one type of professional employee that may be paid hourly, and the minimum hourly rate remains unchanged at $27.63. For those

paid a salary, however, the salary must meet or exceed the new minimum.

The DOL also provides an exemption for highly compensated employees (HCE). For this to apply, the employee must customarily and regularly perform at least one of the exempt duties of an EAP employee. The updated rule raises the total annual compensation level for HCEs from $100,000 to $107,432 per year, with at least $684 per week, or $35,568 per year, being paid in a fixed salary. The remaining compensation may be paid as additional salary or in other ways, such as in commissions, bonuses or incentives.

The Bottom Line for Businesses This rule change provides a perfect opportunity to review whether exempt EAP employees who have been making less than $35,568 per year are properly classified in the first instance. For those who are, employers can come into compliance by increasing employees’ salaries. Of course, increasing the pay of one employee or a group of employees can have a ripple effect on other employees who otherwise would be unaffected by the changes in the law.

But significant salary increases may not fit a company’s budget, or they may not be justified by the market for a particular role. A company also may determine that an employee’s current duties do not qualify for exempt status. In situations like these, the employee’s position will need to be reclassified as non-exempt, making the employee eligible for overtime pay for all hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek.

As part of reclassification, the company may want to convert an employee’s pay to an hourly rate (to simplify calculation of overtime), and the employee will need to track work hours and follow the company’s timekeeping policies (including any rules related to approval for overtime work). Employers also should be mindful that employee benefits, such as paid time off, may be affected if programs or plans are different for exempt and nonexempt employees.

Noncompliance with salary and overtime rules can lead to DOL investigations, private litigation or both, with the government or employees seeking liquidated (double) damages and attorneys’ fees. To avoid this outcome, businesses should work with human resources professionals and legal counsel to help evaluate a company’s classification decisions, identify any potential risks, and craft communications to employees whose positions will be reclassified.

Arizona doesn’t have its own overtime pay requirement, but it does have a minimum wage much higher than the federal minimum: $12 per hour as of 1/1/2020, compared to $7.25/hour under federal law.

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Mind Matters

Mindfulness – three-part series Pushing Down the Pain: Trauma’s impact on high-performance leaders (In Business Magazine, November 2019) Leadership Disrupted: How trauma impedes our work and relationships (In Business Magazine, December 2019) Restoring Wholeness through Mindfulness: From fragmentation to wholeness (In Business Magazine, January 2020)

Andy Maurer brings wholeness to the fragmented lives of leaders. As a keynote speaker and licensed therapist, he works with high performance leaders — including CEOs, founders, entrepreneurs and influencers — educating and equipping them on the issue of toxic stress and trauma and its impact on their work and relationships. He holds both a Master of Divinity from Phoenix Seminary and a master’s degree in marital family therapy from Fuller Theological Seminary. andymaurer.com

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BUSINESS OF THOUGHT

Restoring Wholeness through Mindfulness From fragmentation to wholeness

by Andy Maurer

As we have seen from parts one and two of this series, trauma fragments a leader’s ability to thrive relationally, cognitively and emotionally. The new science of trauma has consistently shown that when unresolved trauma is present, logic and reason become hijacked, creativity and innovation are thwarted, emotional intelligence is inhibited, and relationships become a source of threat. In order for leaders to move beyond fragmentation and flourish in their work and relationships, they must pursue rhythms of wholeness.

Wholeness — the opposite of fragmentation — is the process of an individual embracing his or her full capacity as a leader by having the courage to no longer disown the painful parts of his or her stories, but face them with courage and compassion. In order to accomplish this, an individual must pursue a practice of mindfulness. KabatZinn defines mindfulness as “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, nonjudgmentally.”

The Benefits of Mindfulness Mindfulness is essential in restoring emotional wholeness where trauma has created fragmentation. Research has consistently shown that a consistent mindful practice enhances nearly every facet of human performance, communication and overall well-being. For instance, mindfulness reduces stress, emotional outbursts, depression and anxiety, and trauma symptoms. In addition, mindfulness can increase focus, cognitive flexibility, relationship satisfaction, immune functioning and wellbeing, and bodily satisfaction.

Correlated to brain function and structure, Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, found brain volume increasing in multiple regions of the brain after an eight-week mindfulness program. For example, mindfulness increased brain structures correlated with learning, cognition, memory, emotional regulation, and empathy and compassion. Lazar’s research even found a reduction within the amygdala — the portion of the brain that initiates fight, flight or freeze responses.

As seen, mindfulness isn’t just helpful for healing trauma and boosting cognition, it is essential to becoming a whole and healthy leader. In pursuing wholeness, there are three main mindful rhythms that every leader should practice.

Becoming the Mindful Leader First, leaders should listen to their body by paying attention to it. Research by Harvard professor Gerald Zaltman showed that 95 percent of all cognition — all thinking that drives our decisions and behavior — is subconscious. Therefore, it is important to slow down and listen to one’s body in order to gain awareness of subconscious patterns, thoughts and feelings. One cannot change what one does not know and, therefore, self-awareness is the first step to creating powerful change. One of the most helpful questions a leader can ask during the day is, “What is my body telling me right now?”

They should then take three deep breaths and turn their focus inward. Next, they should simply wait 15 to 30 seconds to see what they notice when they’ve slowed down — such as being hungry, tired, lonely, tense or angry.

Second, leaders should become curious about their emotions on purpose and with intention. Contrary to what many believe, there are no bad emotions, only uncomfortable ones. When a leader chooses to name what he or she feels and becomes curious about it, that emotion will oftentimes subside and wash through rather than getting stuck and building. When emotions are avoided, they often increase rather than decrease in intensity. A simple practice: Take 30 seconds to notice what emotion you are feeling. Next, try to put a name to it (e.g., sadness, fear, loneliness, joy, etc.). After this, notice where this emotion is stored in your body. Lastly, find someone to share this feeling with.

Finally, leaders should focus on their five senses in the present moment. As a practice, go on a walk or sit comfortably in a chair and take 30 seconds to notice what you hear (e.g., the wind blowing through the trees, dogs barking in the distance, the air conditioning turning on, etc.). Try to attune only to that one sense and take in as much as you can. Once you have done this, continue the process with all the other senses (smell, taste, touch/feel, and sight). As you sit with each sense for 30 seconds and pay attention in the present moment, notice if your body becomes relaxed or tense, and if you feel calm or agitated afterward.

If leaders chose to avoid the painful parts of their stories, they will only become more fragmented, thus losing their ability to connect with themselves, others and their work.

Alternatively, if leaders chose to pursue wholeness through mindfulness, they can become the kind of leaders who change the world for the better.

Mindfulness isn’t just helpful for healing trauma and boosting cognition, it is essential to becoming a whole and healthy leader.

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Social Impact

• Inspire: Inspire generosity and positive change by paying forward.

• Share: Give a helping hand. Everyone can do their share.

• Advocate: Advocate for change and raise awareness.

Tyler Butler (“Tyler Butler | Giving in Style”), founder and CEO of 11Eleven Consulting, is a corporate social responsibility practitioner and expert leader in the corporate citizenship space. She has served on numerous national and local boards and is often cited as a subject matter expert by Forbes, Entrepreneur, U.S. News & World Report and more.

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Isagenix Promotes Health and WellBeing for Communities Worldwide Founders dedicated to helping people

by Tyler Butler

As we embark on the new year, so comes the time-honored tradition of setting resolutions, many of which will be keenly focused on health and fitness. According to Inc. Magazine, losing weight and eating healthier is ranked at the very top of those resolutions set by Americans annually. So, it should come as no surprise that the new year brings about a natural inclination to focus more on wellness. Here in Arizona, we have many health-oriented companies, but there are few that are more dedicated to helping people live well than that of Valleybased Isagenix.

The company was launched in 2002 and was the product of a collaboration between John W. Anderson and Jim and Kathy Coover. Together, these entrepreneurs launched a company dedicated to creating health and wellness products that would change lives. And through their direct sales format, they were able to scale the organization with lightning speed.

They quickly grew their wellness empire into an international company, which today boasts more than 200,000 associates in 13 countries. With this tremendous growth, the founders recognized that they had a responsibility to give back. It was in 2012 when Isagenix began to investigate how it might be a leader for positive societal change.

From its early campaigns supporting causes like Make-AWish, where, together with its customers and employees, it has now raised more than $10 million in 12 countries, to the launch of its ISA Foundation in 2012, the company has ingrained giving into all corners of its business. Its mission is simple: to partner with multiple nonprofits that can help the company ensure that children have proper nutrition, people are educated and empowered to live a healthy life, and families can recover from natural disasters. Jim and Kathy Coover felt so strongly about the foundation that, when it launched, they matched every dollar raised for the foundation during its first 24 hours of fundraising, up to $1 million.

“The Isagenix family is dedicated to serving others and making a lasting impact on people’s lives, so it’s been phenomenal to see the ISA Foundation become such a powerful force for good in communities around the world,” says Kathy Coover, Isagenix co-founder and executive vice president. “Jim and I are so grateful to partner with the foundation’s donors and grant recipients so Isagenix can provide support to those who need it most.”

This dedication to giving has helped countless communities, but there are more ways this wellness giant is helping those in need. Isagenix activates employees and customers and has even leveraged the products it creates to help those in need.

For employees, it has designated two days of paid time off that can be used for volunteerism, and it has worked to facilitate some large-scale campaigns to inspire them to be of service.

Isagenix’s largest volunteer initiative is its annual Global Give Back Day, which promotes helping local communities and the environment through volunteer and donation activities around the world. This year’s activities ranged from packing food boxes and stuffing backpacks to sprucing up a local youth center and serving meals to families in need. The result of this effort was 67,400 meals, which was donated to food-insecure individuals, contributing to the more than 3 million meals packed at events in eight cities across the United States — 500,000 more meals than expected.

In 2018, the company contributed $7.2 million in monetary and product donations to charitable and disaster-relief causes worldwide. Through its efforts, the company made donations that included giving shakes, protein bars and meal replacement bars worth nearly $1 million to St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix and to Matthew’s Crossing Food Bank in Chandler, collectively.

As the ISA Foundation has gained momentum, it has continued to expand its outreach. Last year, its funding provided more than 1 million nutritious meals, including ongoing support in the Northwest region of Kenya, where extreme drought conditions make finding stable food sources nearly impossible. Through a partnership with Georgia-based SERV International, the meals provided in Kenya have helped ensure zero deaths from starvation in the Kikiring village for the past six months.

The intent with the ISA Foundation has always been to leave a positive imprint on those whom it has supported. And as Isagenix grows its business, it also continues to develop methods to support communities worldwide. As Lisa Ceballos, Isagenix senior community relations coordinator, says, “We’re honored to make a difference in the world together, and we’re excited about what’s ahead for the foundation, our amazing nonprofit partners and the communities we serve.”

Isagenix isagenix.com

Isagenix Pays It Forward through Its Products In alignment with its desire to give back, Isagenix has tied some product sales to worthy causes. One campaign has it donating 5 percent of the profits of its new BĒA™ Sparkling Energy Drink to the foundation. For more details, see the article online at www. inbusinessphx.com

Photo courtesy of Isagenix

The Isagenix Foundation In August 2018, Isagenix launched the ISA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, in the United States. “ISA” reflects the foundation’s three guiding principles:

BUSINESS GIVES BACK

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Capacity

FOR-PROFIT & NONPROFIT GROWTH

Build Capacity with High-Performance Teams Bruce Weber is founder and president/CEO at Weber Group. Weber brings more than 20 years of experience to the for-profit and nonprofit community, working with startup, growth and mature organizations. His focus is in strengthening organizations through strategic planning, organizational development, leadership and board development. He is a BoardSource Certified Governance trainer and a founding partner of the Nonprofit Lifecycles Institute.

Charlie Smith is managing partner at the Weber Group.

Smith brings decades of experience in the financial services industry, including an extensive background working within organizations to develop high-performance teams. His focus is working with nonprofit CEOs, executive directors and board chairs to build smarter high-performance organizations focused on strategy and execution. He is a BoardSource Certified Consultant, a certified 6 Sigma Black Belt and a Master Black Belt in planning. webergroupaz.com

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The third of a six-part series on developing and sustaining organizational capacity

by Bruce Weber and Charlie Smith Capacity is about performance. An organization’s structure embodies its culture by defining how people work together; that is, what performance means, what is valued and what is measured and celebrated as success. When people bring their hands, hearts and minds to their work, the groundwork is laid for building capacity. Individual contribution is important; however, it is when those individuals come together, blending their complementary skills in a drive toward a common goal, that operational effectiveness flows and results follow.

Why is a team structure so effective? Teams enable cross-discipline and cross-organizational interaction. Most organizations have silos, which are discrete units of operation.

Silos are necessary because it is the linkage and flow of value-creation activities through operational silos that allow organizations to achieve mission objectives. Think of silos as critical functionality areas or critical success factors (CSFs); Wikipedia describes silos as “an element that is necessary for an organization or project to achieve its mission.” Weber Group describes them for nonprofits in five key areas: People + Finance + Programs + Systems + Governance. For-profit CSFs will vary based on industry and markets. These critical success factors must work together seamlessly for an organization to achieve optimal performance.

Teams are the connective tissue that links the expertise residing in each silo into a dynamic force that informs and empowers the life of the organization to realize its potential.

Teams brings ideas to life in ways that silo-focused activities never can. Teams move projects and priorities forward by successfully navigating bureaucracy and overcoming resistance. Teams are also excellent ways to discover talent and provide opportunities to develop future leaders.

High-performance teams (HPTs) are an effective organizational structure that discovers talent and drives exceptional operational results. They are not naturally occurring but, once set in motion, they are self-defining. An organization must be deliberate about identifying these HPTs, empowering them to get the job done, and providing resources and training. Then, the organization must give the team freedom within a framework to create new ways of doing work, to self-identify leadership within the team, and to move organically across and throughout the system to harvest what is needed to produce results that support the mission.

High-performance teams excel at strategy and connection. SHRM, the Society for Human Resources Management, describes a high-performance team as “a group of goal-focused individuals with specialized expertise

and complementary skills who collaborate, innovate and produce consistently superior results. The group relentlessly pursues performance excellence through shared goals, shared leadership, collaboration, open communication, clear role expectations and group operating rules, early conflict resolution, and a strong sense of accountability and trust among its members.”

High performance teams are enablers. They build capacity by empowering the organization’s talent to focus on key objectives.

Big ideas move organizations. Innovation, informed through curiosity and listening, bubbles up from inside the organization. High-performance teams, by their very nature, thrive on big ideas and innovation because they challenge the status quo, pierce operational silos and identify hidden talent. They are a combination of art and science. These teams have a clear strategy toward a common purpose and unique skills, such as listening, storytelling, collaborative mindsets and emotional intelligence grounded in self-awareness. They are eager to share their stories and to invite others into the conversation.

High-performance team characteristics: Storytelling

Connections

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Why do we need HPTs? A recent Glassdoor Survey revealed that the three greatest challenges facing CEOs today are “finding the right talent, building better operational processes and aligning employees to strategy.”

High-performance teams allow leaders to rise organically within the unit. People trust that kind of leadership because they participated in creating it. They create sound processes for others to follow and build relationships to ensure that the work is understood across all stakeholders and process partners. They are great storytellers who inspire passion and encourage engagement. They are capacity builders.

Explore ways to create a culture that discovers talent and encourages the formation of high-performance teams. Then, allow them to flourish.

“The performance challenges that face companies in every industry … demand the kind of responsiveness, speed, on-line customization, and quality that is beyond the reach of individual performance. Teams bridge this gap.” —Jon Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith, The Wisdom of Teams

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LAW MATTERS TO BUSINESS

Five Legal Issues to Consider when Starting a Special Needs Business Entrepreneurship may be the answer to employment woes for people with disabilities

by Annette Hines

“I want to encourage families to consider business ownership as a means of discovering purpose in the life of a special needs individual, but it is critical to have a well-thought out plan that addresses key elements for successful entrepreneurship! Good Luck!” says In Business Magazine contributing author Annette Hines, Esq. Annette Hines, Esq. is the author of Butterflies and Second Chances: A Mom’s Memoir of Love and Loss. She is a powerhouse advocate for the special needs community. Not only has she founded the Special Needs Law Group of Massachusetts, PC, specializing in special needs estate planning, where special needs families comprise 80 percent of the firm’s clients, Hines also brings personal experience with special needs to her practice, as the mother of two daughters, one of whom passed away from Mitochondrial disease in November 2013. This deep understanding of special needs fuels her passion for quality special needs planning and drives her dedication to the practice. specialneedscompanies.com specialneeds-law.com

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Finding employment is very challenging for people with disabilities across the United States. Most disabled adults will be unemployed or underemployed for a good part of their adult life. Some families and disabled individuals have gotten creative and have decided to solve this issue of employment by becoming entrepreneurs. They have started small businesses like making baked goods, pet sitting and grooming, or even selling their artwork and other products online and at shows.

However, what starts out as an opportunity for someone to be productive with his or her day and perhaps earn a bit of money, too, is actually fraught with potential legal pitfalls.

Here are the five legal issues to consider when starting a business with a special needs individual.

Formation What form of entity should the business be? Most will choose a Limited Liability Company (LLC) or a sole proprietorship. These are the easiest to form and can usually be accomplished online and without an attorney. LLCs do offer some liability protection and may be a good choice when selling items that may have consumer concerns such as food or pet care. Sole proprietorships in most cities and towns just require the business be registered with them. There are also S-Corporations, which are easy to use for tax purposes and also offer some liability protection.

However, there is an additional consideration with a specialneeds-operated business. Who will the owner be? Will it be the individual or a family member or some combination of both?

Take, for example, the father who sets up a lawn-mowing business with his son. He decides to own the business for his son so that it doesn’t impact with public benefits and because he is concerned about management of customers. This step requires careful counsel to review all the factors.

Funding Where will the money will come from to start the business?

Will it be a loan, savings of the individual or investment from outside? There are many factors in deciding how to fund a business, but the first step is to create a business plan that looks at the scale of the business and its cash and equipment needs. Those starting a cookie business will need to evaluate whether or not they will need a commercial kitchen to make the product. Loans or gifts from families need special consideration regarding how they will be carried on the books.

Employees Will this company require employees, and, if so, who will manage them? The cookie business may have been started because the disabled individual is a talented baker and has created some fabulous recipes for cookies, but if the business

grows, that person may not be skilled at hiring, directing and firing. With employees also comes compliance and additional record-keeping. This issue needs to be well-thought-out in the business plan. Each product or service comes with the option to restrict growth or use an alternative method for growth. To use the cookie business again as example, the manufacturing, packaging and distribution of the cookies can be outsourced to a co-packer, thereby eliminating the need for employees. Or, perhaps, the company will stay within the family.

Intellectual Property / Equipment Property If there is a recipe, a trademark or brand, or artwork involved, who will own the property and who will store it?

Again, ownership of valuable property or equipment might impact public benefits — although, if the business does well, this may not be an issue for the person with special needs.

For example, let’s look at a business of lawnmowing and snow removal. There may be care, maintenance and storage of valuable equipment. The business plan needs to reflect who is legally responsible for this equipment should there be an accident or waste.

This will most likely come up when the owner seeks to insure the equipment and the business. A good solution in this instance may be to have the equipment owned by a family member and leased to the company for use. But the contracts for the lease do need to be in writing and, even if simple, need to spell out each party’s responsibility with maintenance and storage.

Compliance Even the simplest of business have rules that they need to comply with. And some businesses, such as food preparation and service, have many complex rules that need to be adhered to. With a special needs individual as owner, the business plan needs to carefully assess responsibility for this compliance.

As we discussed earlier in this article, decisions do need to be made whether to have a special needs owner or a family member owner, and compliance will be a determining factor in making that decision.

The Labor Force Participation rate for people 16 and older with disabilities in September 2019 is 20.6 percent; for people without disabilities, it is 68.7 percent.

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Coupe features chiseled lines and a graceful, low roofline in a four-door configuration.

The M850i comes standard with Integral Active Steering that powers front and rear wheels to work together, allowing for greater agility at slow speeds and swifter responsiveness on highways. Improved damper control in the standard Adaptive M Suspension allows the best control of BMW's response, from everyday comfort to weekend excitement.

The exclusive design of the standard 20-inch M wheels stands out on the road, while the blue-calipered M sport brakes bring everything to a standstill.

Style 728 M with performance run-flat tires come standard, with several options available to enhance the already rocket-like look of this coupe/sedan.

OCT.

An impressive V-8 engine is only part of the story. The M850i xDrive Gran Coupe is loaded with standard features to bring out every ounce of performance. It has a 4.4-liter BMW M Performance TwinPower Turbo V-8 engine, xDrive; and intelligent all-wheel drive — mean performance at its best and speed with perfect handling when needed. With 523 horsepower, this machine will explode off the line.

Sized like a sedan, designed like a sports car, the first-ever 8 Series Gran

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Experience Performance In conjunction with Monticello Motor Club, BMW North America is proud to offer exclusive, custom, highperformance driving experiences designed for everyone from the novice to the seasoned expert, whether they want to experience life as a member with unprecedented access to the most exclusive motorsports club in North America, develop or improve their racing technique, or enjoy an adrenaline-fueled bonding experience with their team. monticellomotorclub.com

JAN 43 2020 INBUSINESSPHX.COM

MEALS THAT MATTER

BY RAEANNE MARSH

Hog & Scallops Poutine

$19

OEB Breakfast Co. Raises the Bar for Breakfast - and Lunch Breakfast is more than a meal as OEB Breakfast Co. serves it up — it’s an experience. And that is exactly what Chef Mauro Martina intended when he launched his concept in Canada in 2009. This past holiday season, he ventured out of Canada to bring OEB to Scottsdale, having fallen in love with this area over the course of many visits to the annual Barrett-Jackson Car Auction in Scottsdale.

French Toast Trifle Brioche, Meyer lemon curd, market berries, pistachios and torched pavlovas $14

The menu superbly supports OEB’s mission to “fill the soul” — also expressed as an elegant work of art that sets the tone for the upscale restaurant’s cheerful and welcoming interior, with carved wooden letters mounted on a sunrise painting of yellows shading up into deeper hues of orange — with an assortment of dishes that creatively elevate the familiar classics.

Among the eggs Benedict is the Waterfowl Benny, made with slices of smoked Peking duck breast and a porcini mushroomtruffle ragû. The Pheasant Benny on the Scottsdale menu — hog and pheasant mortadella, pistachio, peperonata and Spanish Manchego cheese — is evidence of Chef Mauro’s commitment to sourcing locally, replacing the Canadian version of the dish built around rabbit.

Poutines are the “bowl” dishes, most made with poached eggs, built on a base of herb-seasoned, duck-fat fried potato strips (several taste rungs higher than their cousin, French Fries), or fresh spinach or field greens. A-Lott A-Laks stars cold

JAN 2020

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smoked salmon, with fresh local cheese curds, fresh dill, fried capers and a brown-butter Hollandaise — which this writer found perfect on top of spinach leaves. Hog & Scallops pairs large, seared scallops with slow-cooked bacon lardons, also with fresh local cheese curds and brown butter Hollandaise.

The hearty Scrambled Crêpe is a medley of scrambled eggs (pasture-raised), mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and American Asiago cheese, wrapped in a crisp-edged crèpe, mounded with field greens and topped with brown butter Hollandaise.

“Sweets” on the menu serve as both breakfast and dessert, living up to the section heading “Fully Worth the Calories.” Sweet Dreams Are Made of These, for instance, features a slice of New York-style cheesecake sandwiched between slices of French toast, the whole drenched in Bailey’s crème Anglaise.

Breakfast makes a fine meal any time during OEB’s 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. operating hours, but for those who prefer a more traditional lunch dish for lunch, OEB offers a selection of OEB-elevated sandwiches that include grilled cheese and hamburgers. And there’s a full-service bar along one wall that serves hand-crafted cocktails, local beer and Frizzante on tap.

The celebrated, classically trained Chef Mauro defines each letter of “OEB” to illustrate the philosophy he brings to his craft: “O” stands for “outstanding people,” as Chef Mauro believes in recognizing the farmers, for instance, who rise before dawn to feed their animals. “E” stands for “embracing evolution,” in this case getting away from modern culture’s ubiquitous processed foods. “B” stands for “bold integrity” in sourcing the best ingredients directly from carefully selected farmers, ranchers, bakers and others, to serve the guests — who also can count on a menu that accommodates vegetarian, vegan and glutenfree diets.

OEB Breakfast Co.

17757 N. Scottsdale Rd., Scottsdale (480) 597-4463 eatoeb.com

Classically trained Chef Mauro Martina built his culinary foundation in Europe before moving to Canada in 1992, where he embarked on his career as an executive chef when he was just 21 years old. Throughout his career, he has worked at Michelin Star restaurants alongside some of the best chefs in the industry.

INBUSINESSPHX.COM

Craft Meatballs

Photos courtesy of OEB Breakfast Co.

Poached eggs, duck-fatfried herb potatoes, fresh local cheese curds, seared scallops, slow-cooked bacon lardons and brown butter Hollandaise

TEMPE CHAMBER

ADVANTAGE Winter 2O2O • tempechamber.org

EVCCA Launches Healthcare Program for Businesses The Tempe Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the East Valley Chambers of Commerce Alliance (EVCCA) recently launched Lifestyle Health Plans. This health insurance program is designed to help East Valley employers save money on healthcare premiums and provide a robust wellness plan and quality care to employees.

This level-funded program can save members 5 to 15 percent or more on their healthcare costs and offers unique benefits such as: • Integrated wellness incentives and cash-rewards • Up to a $500 deductible credit to wellness participants • Chamber-negotiated economics of scale pricing • Value-added benefits to save out-of-pocket • No cost 24/7 concierge telemedicine, • Free lab screening and diabetic supplies The Tempe Chamber is proud to offer this exclusive benefit to its members, with up to 16 different standard plan options and up to four plan designs to choose from. This is also the only healthcare plan that will cover a group of two. The plan has additional no-cost benefits ranging from brand name prescriptions to full coverage on preventive care.

This plan has shown to save businesses from 5 to 15 percent on premiums versus standard association plans, and some local Valley businesses have seen larger savings of up to 40 percent.

If you are asking what “level-funded” means, it means that the plans are pre-packaged, self-insured health plans with low attachment stop-

Te m p e C h a m b e r. o r g

loss coverage. For the right groups, level-funded plans can save 30 percent versus a fully insured ACA small-group plan. And, because of their structure, level-funded plans do not have the volatility in monthly cash flows associated with self-insured plans that can cripple a small business.

Launched in 2006, Lifestyle Health Plans is a group major medical benefits platform designed to address the root causes of our escalating healthcare costs: employee health behaviors. Today, it is the largest PPO network in Arizona and manages more than $136 million in premiums annually. Operating in more than 35 states, its core belief is a long-term solution and aims to provide a multi-year strategy creating a “culture of health.”

Lifestyle Health Plans believes that the only way to truly manage healthcare costs is to improve the health and wellness of its members.

By providing innovative plan designs that integrate wellness and lifestyle improvement, the plan is meant to help companies with: • Reduced absenteeism • Improved productivity • Reduced injuries • Improved morale and employee retention For more information on the Lifestyle Health Plan, please call the chamber office or use the online quote request at tempechamber.org/ lifestyle-health-insurance-plans.

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Women in Business Council Announces the 2019-2020 Mentoring Program The Tempe Chamber of Commerce’s Women in Business Council launched its annual mentoring program with 10 pairs of mentors and protégés. The selected participants began the six-month program on December 12th, 2019.

The Mentoring Program was created in order to assist women and men in reaching and achieving their personal and professional goals and to create an environment in which they can prosper and celebrate their success. Each participant was asked to complete a TTI/DISC online assessment that provides customized insight into each participant and is used for pairing purposes and sessions — including communication style, driving forces and values.

The 2019-2020 Mentoring Program culminates with a graduation ceremony at the 2020 Leadership Conference & Expo presented by the Women in Business Council. The conference is set for May 22, 2020, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Phoenix Tempe.

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This year’s program participants are: Mentors Sherri Barry FABRIC – Arizona Apparel Foundation Felicity Blackwater Purpose Community Goal Network Chelsea Cruzan-Rea Waste Management Angie Ferguson Northern Trust Becky Gonzales Metromile Albert Loveland Strabo Norma Lua Northern Trust Michele MacLachlan Yoga for Today Dr. P Aneesah Nadir Legalshield Rochelle Poulton The Arizona Credit Law Group, PLLC

Protégés Heather Albert SRP Thomas Binge Renaissance Financial Ayrianna Drayton Tempe Chamber of Commerce Lu Gan Versum Materials Rochelle Geryol Boulders on Broadway Chris Grigoriou TechData Wydale Holmes City of Tempe Jennifer Mosley TechData Terri Thomas TechData Matthew Villar Paylocity

Tempe Chamber Launches Hownd Partnership The Tempe Chamber of Commerce launched its inaugural Affinity Partnership with Hownd (formerly FetchRev) in November 2019, to bring a patent-pending effortless promotions platform to its members.

Hownd’s platform generates the new and repeat customers local merchants need to grow their business and consistently generate more profitable revenue. It delivers a local merchant’s promotions through an elegant combination of web, social media, email and the free MyHownd™ consumer mobile app.

The partnership means the Tempe Chamber will include Hownd’s Effortless Foot Traffic™ platform with each membership. Members can create their account in only five minutes with a free Starter plan, or upgrade and get a 10-percent chamber discount on the Essentials and Plus plans. Through Hownd’s Pay-Per-Visit™ pricing model, members who sign up for the zero-risk Starter plan only pay the company when it brings them customers. Consumers who have downloaded the app from the Apple Store or on Google Play can easily redeem a member’s special offer when at their location.

“The Tempe Chamber of Commerce partnership with Hownd is directly aligned with our objective to promote our members throughout the business and residential community through social and digital media,” says Anne Gill, President and CEO. “Hownd and the Tempe Chamber share a vision to keep our community and economy vibrant, and this partnership empowers both of our organizations to move closer to achieving this.”

To learn more, please visit www.hownd.com/tempechamber/

Te m p e C h a m b e r. o r g

Tempe Chamber Welcomes Ayrianna Drayton, Marketing & Event Coordinator The Tempe Chamber of Commerce hired Ayrianna Drayton to serve as the Marketing and Event Coordinator this past June.

In her new role, Ayrianna Drayton is responsible for the development, coordination, implementation and maintenance of marketing campaigns and events. Her role is vital to enhancing and expanding the Chamber’s membership base, programs, special events and brand. Her education and experience in both marketing and communications has prepared her for this new role at the Chamber.

“Ayrianna is self-motivated with a diverse and notable communication background,” says Anne Gill, Tempe Chamber president and CEO. “She is a great addition to the team, and will help grow and enhance the Chamber.”

This past spring, Drayton received her bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication from Arizona State University.

As a resident of Tempe, Drayton is excited to help create a flourishing business community for the residents of Tempe and a platform through which Chamber members can connect.

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4 T E M P E C H A M B E R A D V A N TA G E

Ironwood

Soggy Food Sucks

Maxor

Tech Data

Pure Barre

University of Dubuque

Sauce

VooDoo Daddy’s

Slices on Mill

Woodrow Technology Solutions

21st Annual State of the City with Mayor Mark Mitchell “The Evolution of Our City” was the theme of this year’s 21st Annual State of the City hosted by the Tempe Chamber of Commerce at the Marriott Phoenix Resort Tempe at The Buttes.

Mayor Mark Mitchell welcomed a sold-out crowd of 600 distinguished sponsors and guests to hear him reflect on the past year’s success and how Tempe is planning ahead and evolving for the future of an urban metropolitan area some call home.

Mark Holthaus, with Presenting Sponsor Edward Jones, welcomed guests after breakfast following a captivating performance of the national anthem by the Arizona State University all-female a cappella group, the ASU Pitchforks.

Mayor Mitchell’s creative video was played before his entrance to the stage, showcasing his morning routine and all of the helpful resources Tempe has to offer, like the Orbit bus

and ride-sharing apps.

program helping high-school students get paid

The morning was full of excitement as the audience heard about the success of new Tempe businesses; 16,500 new affordable housing units coming to Tempe; and how Tempe plans to build upon the systems, assets and innovations it has now.

As the event came to an end, Mayor Mitchell discussed Career Ready Tempe, a

internships, and how Tempe will continue to set new standards for the cities around it by evolving policies, programs and much more.

The Tempe Chamber of Commerce would like to thank all the sponsors, the City of Tempe’s Communication Team, the Mayor’s staff, and our event host for partnering in this historic morning.

Ken Blanchard College of Business | College of Education | College of Nursing | College of Arts & Sciences | College of Fine Arts & Production

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A R I Z O N A’ S P R I VAT E U N I V E R S I T Y S I N C E 1 9 4 9 Get started today! 855.287.0174 | www.gcu.edu/inbusiness Grand Canyon University is regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. (800-621-7440; http://www.ncahlc.org/ ).

Te m p e C h a m b e r. o r g

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Upcoming Events

2020 Leadership Speaker Series The Tempe Chamber Women in Business Council and presenting sponsor BD proudly presents the 2020 Leadership Speaker Series themed: IGNITE! The dynamic speakers are experts in their field and will cover topics ranging from millennials in the workplace to the mindset of a leader. Receive 20 percent off when you purchase the full series!

Friday, January 24 | 8:00-9:30 a.m Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Jodi Low, Founder & CEO, U + Improved

Friday, January 31, 8:00-9:30 a.m Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Olenka Cullinan, Founder & CEO, #istartfirst

Friday, February 7, 8:00-9:30 a.m

Friday, February 14, 8:00-9:30 a.m

Tempe Center for the Arts

Tempe Center for the Arts

Joan Jakel, Empowerment Instigator

Adam Lee Brooks, Founder, Youth Awareness & Safety

Red, White & Blue Awards March 11, 2020, 8:30 – 10:30 a.m Embassy Suites by Hilton Phoenix Tempe The Tempe Chamber Military Affairs Committee is proud to host its 2nd Annual Red, White & Blue Awards Ceremony. This breakfast event honors outstanding members of our local military and will include several scholarships awards.

Awards will include:

Scholarships include:

944th Fighter Wing

The Merle Fister Veteran’s Scholarship

“Graydon Williams Award” Navy Operational Support “BUC Joel E. Baldwin Memorial Award” 63rd Fighter Squadron “

ASU ROTC Scholarship - Army ASU ROTC Scholarship - Navy ASU ROTC Scholarship - Air Force

Professional of the Year” Kyle Brayer Veteran in Public Safety Award Registration is open. For sponsorship opportunities, please call the chamber office.

6 T E M P E C H A M B E R A D V A N TA G E

Tempe Chamber of Commerce Receives Youth Advocacy Award On November 13th, the Tempe Chamber was honored with the Youth Advocate Award at Tempe Coalition’s 3rd Annual Celebrating Champions for Youth event. The award recognizes the success of the chamber’s Career Ready Tempe program and its impact on reducing youth risk behaviors in Tempe.

Last summer, the Tempe Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the City of Tempe, launched Career Ready Tempe, a program connecting low-income high school students with work-based learning experiences. This pilot workforce program helps tackle barriers to employability for income-eligible youth while also allowing employers to create a robust talent pipeline.

In its first year, Career Ready Tempe had eight student participants paired with these Tempe

Chamber business: Tempe Elementary, Arizona Tax Advisors, Bullock Training & Development, Landings Credit Union, Printing Specialists, Wilson Electric Services, Special Moments Catering, and Remitter. The eight weeks of summer internships culminated in a celebration ceremony where student participants walked away with new workplace skills and the dedication to taking the next step in their education.

Looking ahead to 2020, Career Ready Tempe will be opening up business applications to additional industries such as advanced business services, biotechnology, and advanced manufacturing services. Contact the Tempe Chamber office to learn more.

Put your business on the road to sweet success Apply for a Wells Fargo Equipment Express® loan today Growing your business is how you’ll achieve the dreams you have for yourself and your family. Wells Fargo is here to help. Our Equipment Express loan is a flexible way to purchase the new or used vehicles or equipment you need to move your business forward.

Stop by or call and speak to your banker today.

Finance cars, trucks, trailers, commercial vehicles, or other business equipment

© 2014 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. Member FDIC. (1211586_13013)

Te m p e C h a m b e r. o r g

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Board of Directors Board Chair: Jihan Cottrell Incoming Chair: Chad Akin Treasurer: Raveen Arora Vice-Chairs: Mark Holthaus, Kyle McIntosh, Marshall Hunt Immediate Past Chair: Jenna Rowell

Tempe Chamber Staff Anne Gill, IOM, President and CEO president@tempechamber.org Sukki Jahnke, CMP, Vice President of Marketing & Programs sukki@tempechamber.org Erika Acorn, Vice President of Business Development erika@tempechamber.org Ayrianna Drayton, Marketing & Event Coordinator ayrianna@tempechamber.org

Directors: Maria R Brunner, Jayashree Ganesan, Suzy Greenwood, Clark Landrum, Megan Martin, Jennifer Ochoa, Deborah Ostreicher, Joe Theiss Ex-Officios: Stephen Alexander, Kate Borders, Andrew Ching, Robert Cox, Brian McCartin Committee Chairs: George Gadzik, Nicole Spracale, Jihan Cottrell, Brian Stinson, Anthony W. Contente-Cuomo, Bobby Zavala, Shereen Lerner, Suzy Greenwood

Mark Tarabori, Membership Relations Specialist marktarabori@tempechamber.org Julie Flanigan, CPA, Director of Finance julieflanigan@tempechamber.org Tempe Chamber of Commerce P.O. Box 28500 • Tempe, AZ 85285 (480) 967-7891 www.tempechamber.org

The Tempe Chamber of Commerce strengthens the local economy though networking, advocacy, professional development and influence. It regularly advocates for a favorable business climate through interactive public policy engagement and provides ongoing representation in government at local, state and federal levels.

CONNECT WITH THE TEMPE CHAMBER! JOIN US ON FACEBOOK /tempecc WATCH OUR VIDEOS /tempechamber

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @tempechamber

FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM @tempechamber

FOLLOW US ON LINKEDIN /company/tempe-chamber-of-commerce Visit our website at www.tempechamber.org!

8 T E M P E C H A M B E R A D V A N TA G E

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Impressions in a Handshake Some handshakes will hurt your influence

by Stacey Hanke

Have you ever wondered what your handshake says about you? Your handshake is like your business card. It conveys your confidence, credibility and influence without a single word being spoken. Studies have shown this one simple gesture can enhance a social situation and make a positive impact on others.

In our culture, a handshake accompanies almost every introduction and initiates many conversations. It sets the tone for new relationships by signaling others of your integrity.

People often admit to judging others based on this small gesture.

Because of this, The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology encourages everyone to pay attention to their handshake as it has found significant consistencies in a firm handshake and a positive first impression.

Make a great first impression by considering your handshake and what it says about you, and avoid these eight types of handshakes that will hurt your influence with others: Dead Fish — Also known as the limp noodle, this handshake conveys weakness and uncertainty. It gives people the impression

you have a passive personality and can be easily overrun. Don’t use this handshake even when tempted to be gentle with a person due to age or gender.

Hand Crusher — Want someone to forget your name immediately? Squeeze their hand with constant force. They’ll be so distracted by the pain that they’ll tune out anything you say.

This type of handshake diminishes trust others are willing to place in you. It sends the message you’re trying too hard, and people will likely question what you say after that.

Long Lingerer — Few things can make a handshake recipient more uncomfortable than someone who won’t let go of their hand. Handshakes should be no more than two seconds in length.

Anything longer begins to cross personal boundaries and feels like a desperate invasion of space.

Hip Hipster — First bumps and fancy handshakes have their place — with friends and family. They have no business in the workplace. They reflect a lack of awareness and a need to be revered as “cool” not credible. Images of frat boys

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success of your next great event. In Business Magazine has compiled this guide so companies can compare amenities and make choices for their local events. This guide will be online at www.inbusinessphx.com for a full year.

uctions Media Prod Inn Executive Thunderbird Spa Resort & tin Kierland The Wes Pro One

INBUSINESSPHX.COM

JANUARY 2020

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» and football parties come to mind instead of

experienced professional.

Brush Off — A handshake is intended to kick-start a meaningful connection. When shaking someone’s hand, be deliberate with your eye contact and don’t rush the exchange. Nothing makes someone feel like they’re unimportant or being blown off quite like shaking hands with a person in a rush or looking around at others.

Wet Weasel — We all get nervous and have anxiety before big meetings or introductions. It’s natural. What isn’t natural, however, is the feeling of contacting someone’s sweaty palms. So, if you know you are likely to have unusually wet palms, carry a handkerchief in your pocket to use just before an introduction. Also, you can wash your hands with cold water to help keep them cool under pressure.

Hand Hugger — We’ve all shaken hands with someone who uses both of theirs to embrace ours both top and bottom. While this is perfectly normal in a personal situation with friends and family, it’s out of place in a professional setting. You can convey a message of warmth with your eyes, smile and choice of words. There is no need to embrace someone’s hand in such a personal manner.

Shugger — This is a handshake that pulls the receiver closer to you physically, almost as if you were going to hug the other person. It forces that person to come closer as your hand stays closely tucked into your body. While this type of handshake is common among friendly colleagues and peers, it sends a message of favoritism to those on the outside looking in. Remember your handshake conveys a message to everyone, not just the person with whose hand you’re shaking.

Perfecting the Perfect Handshake

Practice the perfect handshake first by seeking feedback on yours. Ask someone you trust to help identify areas of opportunity. Then practice it on others to solicit feedback and more guidance until you’ve mastered the art.

Some keys to the perfect handshake: • Anticipate the handshake. Ensure your hand is free, out of your pocket and not holding onto any items. Switching hands to shake is distracting and awkward.

• Use your right hand. Even if you’re a leftie, our culture dictates right-handed handshakes as key.

• Maintain a strong, confident posture. Remain upright and refrain from leaning. If necessary, take a step toward the person with whom you’re greeting. If you’re seated upon meeting someone, stand up before shaking their hand. This signifies respect to the person you’re meeting.

• Make intentional eye contact as you greet the other person. Once your hand makes a connection, ensure your eyes connect, too. Use a kind greeting such as “nice to meet you” or “great to see you again.” Incorporate their name with your greeting to help better solidify your introduction. This interaction trifecta will warm up anyone with whom you connect.

• Remain firm throughout the handshake. Grasp the other person’s hand with a firm grip without squeezing. Maintain the grip for two seconds before releasing. Don’t allow your hand to fall limp upon the initial grip.

• Shake from your elbow, not your wrist. Two or three pumps will do. Any more and your partner will begin to feel uncomfortable.

You want to be so confident in your handshake style that it is second nature. Seeking feedback and frequent practice will help solidify your good habits, so you can concentrate more on meeting the person and less on the impression you’re making. The more comfortable you become, the more confidence you’ll convey.

Stacey Hanke is the founder and communication expert of Stacey Hanke Inc. (staceyhankeinc.com). She is the author of Influence Redefined: Be the Leader You Were Meant to Be, Monday to Monday and Yes You Can! Everything You Need From A to Z to Influence Others to Take Action. Hanke and her team have delivered thousands of presentations and workshops for leaders of Fortune 500 companies, including Coca-Cola, Nationwide, FedEx, Kohl’s and AbbVie.

How High-Performance Organizations Make Meetings Effective Tip 1: Set clear expectations for all meetings.

Meeting norms, ground rules, guidelines — these set the foundation for building an effective meeting habit. They often include things like use of an agenda and keeping meetings on time. Whatever your rules, the leadership team must follow them.

The way the leadership group meets sets the real standard everyone else follows.

—J. Elise Keith, co-founder of Lucid Meetings (www.lucidmeetings.com) and author of Where the Action Is: The Meetings That Make or Break Your Organization

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INBUSINESSPHX.COM

Largest Room

Total Meeting Space

# of Sleeping Rooms

n/a

900,000

62,000

Tempe

n/a

n/a

67,000

5,600

Mesa

n/a

n/a

49,000

5,000

Phoenix

6

1200

20,000

277

Chandler

5

1,800

6,800

159

Scottsdale

4

1,360

2,200

180

Phoenix

8

5,376

9,300

290

# of Meeting Rooms n/a

City

Venue

# of Sleeping Rooms

Total Meeting Space

Largest Room

# of Meeting Rooms

City

Venue

Phoenix

Conference Centers

Convention & Visitors Bureaus (con’t)

Black Canyon Conference Center 9440 N. 25th Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85021

Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau 125 N. 2nd St. Phoenix, AZ 85004

(602) 944-0569 blackcanyonconferencecenter.com

Phoenix

21

5,169

51,000

n/a

(602) 254-6500 visitphoenix.com

Desert Willow Conference Center 4340 E. Cotton Center Blvd.

Phoenix, AZ 85040

Tempe Tourism Office 222 S. Mill Avenue, Suite 120 Tempe, AZ 85281

(602) 431-0001 desertwillowconferencecenter.com

Phoenix

11

5,435

40,000

n/a

(480) 894-8158 tempetourism.com

Poco Diablo Resort & Conference Center 1752 Arizona 179 Sedona, AZ 86336

Visit Mesa 120 N. Center St. Mesa, AZ 85201

(928) 282-7333 pocodiablo.com

(480) 827-4700 Sedona

10

3,300

8,500

137

Thunderbird Executive Inn & Conference Center 15249 N. 59th Ave. Glendale, AZ 85306

Hotels

(602) 978-7987 thunderbirdexecutiveinn.com

Glendale

24

3,450

40,000+

134

thecamby.com

(623) 930-4300 Glendale

2

12,788

40,000

n/a

chandlersouthgatehotel.com

(480) 644-2178 Mesa

15

19,000

40,000

n/a

Courtyard Scottsdale Old Town 3 3311 N. Scottsdale Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85250

(480) 429-7785

Phoenix Convention Center 100 N. 3rd St. Phoenix, AZ 85004

bit.ly/phxsc-courtyard

(602) 262-6225 phoenixconventioncenter.com

Chandler Southgate Hotel 7475 W. Chandler Blvd.

Chandler, AZ 85226

(480) 961-4444

Mesa Convention Center 263 N. Center St. Mesa, AZ 85201 mesaconventioncenter.com

Camby Hotel 2401 E. Camelback Rd. Phoenix, AZ 85016

(602) 468-0700

Glendale Civic Center 5750 W. Glenn Dr. Glendale, AZ 85301 glendaleciviccenter.com

visitmesa.com

Phoenix

90

46,000

160,000

n/a

Crowne Plaza Hotel Phoenix – Airport 4300 E. Washington St. Phoenix, AZ 85034

(602) 273-7778

Convention & Visitors Bureaus

crowneplazaphx.com

Experience Scottsdale 4343 N. Scottsdale Rd., Suite 70 Scottsdale, AZ 85251

(480) 421-1004 experiencescottsdale.com

Scottsdale

n/a

n/a

100,000+

14,000

Glendale

17

95,000

612,500

8,500

Glendale Convention & Visitors Bureau 9494 W. Maryland Ave., Third Floor Glendale, AZ 85305

(623) 930-4500 visitglendale.com

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JANUARY 2020

57

bit.ly/phxmpdt

12

7,493

30,000

270

10

4,000

10,000

224

Mesa

17

5,600

25,000

260

Phoenix

10

3,159

10,000

242

Phoenix

2

702

1,200

128

Scottsdale

11

4,000

13,000

191

Phoenix

32

12,000

45,000

693

(480) 833-5555 bit.ly/hilton-phxmesa Phoenix

10

3,500

10,000

242 Hotel Palomar Phoenix, A Kimpton Hotel 2 E. Jefferson St. Phoenix, AZ 85004

Embassy Suites by Hilton Scottsdale Resort 5001 N. Scottsdale Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85250

(602) 253-6633

(480) 949-1414

hotelpalomar-phoenix.com Scottsdale

21

11,200

25,000

312 Hotel San Carlos 202 N. Central Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85004

Four Points by Sheraton North 2532 W. Peoria Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85029

(602) 253-4121

(602) 943-2341 bit.ly/fpsphxn

bit.ly/eshp-tempe Hilton Phoenix/Mesa 1011 W. Holmes Ave. Mesa, AZ 85210

(602) 225-0500

chaparralsuites.com

Tempe

(480) 897-7444 Tempe

DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Phoenix 320 N. 44th St. Phoenix, AZ 85008 doubletreephoenix.com

# of Sleeping Rooms

(480) 967-1441

Total Meeting Space

Embassy Suites Hotel PhoenixTempe 4400 S. Rural Rd. Tempe, AZ 85282

Largest Room

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Phoenix Tempe 2100 S. Priest Dr. Tempe, AZ 85282

# of Meeting Rooms

Hotels (con’t)

City

Venue

# of Sleeping Rooms

Total Meeting Space

Largest Room

# of Meeting Rooms

City

Venue

Hotels (con’t)

hotelsancarlos.com Phoenix

13

5,400

13,000

250 Hotel Valley Ho 6850 E. Main St. Scottsdale, AZ 85251

Embassy Suites by Hilton Phoenix Biltmore 2630 E. Camelback Rd. Phoenix, AZ 85016

(480) 376-2600 hotelvalleyho.com

(602) 955-3992 bit.ly/eshp-biltmore

Phoenix

8

3,696

10,000

232

Hyatt Regency Phoenix 122 N. 2nd St. Phoenix, AZ 85004

(602) 252-1234 phoenix.hyatt.com

How High-Performance Organizations Make Meetings Effective Tip 2: Document and share meeting results.

Fear of missing out (FOMO) compels people to attend meetings

out written meeting results. When people can see in advance

they shouldn’t. Organizers don’t want to leave people out, so they

what a meeting is for, then see afterwards what happened,

invite everyone who might possibly want to weigh in. Having

they can decide whether they need to attend. This

irrelevant people in the room de-energizes the conversation and

keeps meetings more focused, and it keeps everyone

disrupts productivity.

more productive. —J. Elise Keith, co-founder of Lucid

Documented meeting results are the fastest and easiest way to combat meeting FOMO. Before the meeting, clearly document the

Meetings (www.lucidmeetings.com) and author of Where the Action Is

meeting purpose and desired outcomes. After the meeting, send

58 JANUARY 2020

INBUSINESSPHX.COM

Thunderbird Executive Inn & Conference Center | Glendale, Arizona

1 Global

Thunderbird Executive Inn & Conference Center is a unique Arizona destination serving clients from around the world.

Nestled on the historic campus of Thunderbird School of Global Management, the recently renovated Thunderbird Executive Inn will surprise and delight you with: 4 134 upscale guest rooms 4 More than 40,000 square feet of meeting space, including six state-of-the-art auditoriums and 24 breakout rooms 4 Unique diversions such as the world famous Thunderbird Pub, located in an historic WWII military airfield control tower Whether you’re planning a conference, business meeting, training program, trade show or simply a vacation escape to sunny Arizona — our hotel and conference center is an exceptional choice.

www.thunderbirdexecutiveinn.com 1 Global Place, Glendale, AZ 85306 Inquiries: 602.978.7987 Email: hotelsales@thunderbird.edu

FOCUSED. marketing • sales • social • training • events

HIGH PRODUCTION. HIGH QUALITY. 480.948.9310 • ProOneMedia.com

bit.ly/phxairport-marriott

Phoenix

15

750

24,716

347

20

20,000

50,000

527

9,181

209

sheratonphoenixdowntown.com

Phoenix

20

27,170

112,00

1,000

Mesa

12

3,600

8,500

114

Phoenix

4

5,000

5,000

160

Windemere Hotel & Conference Center 5750 E. Main St. Mesa, AZ 85205

(623) 937-3700

(480) 985-3600 Glendale

17

3,400

115,085

320

Scottsdale Marriott Suites Old Town 7325 E. 3rd Ave. Scottsdale, AZ 85251

windemerehotelmesa.com Wyndham Garden Phoenix Midtown 3600 N. 2nd Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85013

(480) 945-1550 bit.ly/otsc-marriott

3,450

(602) 262-2500 Phoenix

Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel & Spa 9495 W. Coyotes Blvd.

Glendale, AZ 85305 renaissanceglendale.com

9

Sheraton Grand Phoenix 340 N. 3rd St. Phoenix, AZ 85004

(602) 333-0000 bit.ly/ren-phxdt

Tempe

(480) 967-6600 sheratonphoenixairport.com

Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel 100 N. 1st Street Phoenix, AZ 85004

# of Sleeping Rooms

(602) 273-7373

Total Meeting Space

Sheraton Phoenix Airport Hotel – Tempe 1600 S. 52nd St. Tempe, AZ 85281

Largest Room

Phoenix Airport Marriott 1101 N. 44th St. Phoenix, AZ 85008

# of Meeting Rooms

Hotels (con’t)

City

Venue

# of Sleeping Rooms

Total Meeting Space

Largest Room

# of Meeting Rooms

City

Venue

Hotels (con’t)

(602) 604-4900 Scottsdale

13

1,400

9,755

243

Phoenix

18

8,064

40,000

342

bit.ly/wyngar-phxmid

Sheraton Crescent Hotel 2620 W. Dunlap Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85021

(602) 943-8200 sheratoncrescent.com

How High-Performance Organizations Make Meetings Effective Tip 3: Define ‘The Way’ to meet for all core processes.

There are 16 different types of business meetings, and each has a

High-performance organizations know the type of

purpose. A regular team meeting is good for confirming progress and

meetings they need to run and how to run each

identifying problems, but it’s a lousy place to make a big decision. Big

one well. Each meeting gets a name and becomes

decisions demand a dedicated decision-making meeting. Similarly,

“the way” that kind of work gets done. For example,

the initial meeting with a prospective client (or funder) should look

the team’s check-in meeting becomes “the huddle.”

very different from the meeting where you ink the deal. Each of

The meeting to impress prospective clients early in the sales cycle

these pivotal meetings can be optimized to drive the results your

becomes a “services briefing.” Anything called simply a “meeting”

company needs.

isn’t specific enough. —J. Elise Keith, co-founder of Lucid Meetings (www.lucidmeetings.com) and author of Where the Action Is

60 JANUARY 2020

INBUSINESSPHX.COM

AMERICA’S PREMIER KART RACING CENTER

ARRIVE & DRIVE ADULTS AND JUNIORS 48” AND UP TEAM BUILDING EVENTS

CORPORATE EVENTS

SPACIOUS LOBBIES

PROFESSIONALLY DESIGNED TRACKS

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JANUARY 2020

61

Total Meeting Space

# of Sleeping Rooms

Fairmont Scottsdale Princess 7575 E. Princess Dr. Scottsdale, AZ 85255

Largest Room

Arizona Biltmore, A Waldorf Astoria Resort 2400 E. Missouri Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85016

# of Meeting Rooms

Resorts (con’t)

City

Venue

# of Sleeping Rooms

Total Meeting Space

Largest Room

# of Meeting Rooms

City

Venue

Resorts

Scottsdale

49

23,000

<150,000

648

Scottsdale

13

6,800

14,000

240

Scottsdale

8

5,940

35,920

210

Grand Canyon

3

3,400

4,500

250

Maricopa

4

4,020

5,000

300

Scottsdale

4

1,989

2,326

34

Scottsdale

7

10,000

25,000

235

(480) 585-4848

(602) 955-6600

fairmont.com/scottsdale

arizonabiltmore.com

Phoenix

76

24,576

200,000

740 FireSky Resort & Spa 4925 N. Scottsdale Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85251

Arizona Golf Resort & Conference Center 425 S. Power Rd. Mesa, AZ 85206

(480) 945-7666 fireskyresort.com

(480) 832-3202 arizonagolfresort.com

Mesa

9

5,170

12,000

186

Arizona Grand Resort & Spa 8000 Arizona Grand Pkwy.

Phoenix, AZ 85044

(480) 515-5700

(602) 438-9000

fourseasons.com/scottsdale

arizonagrandresort.com

Phoenix

125

14,031

120,000+

744 Grand Canyon Squire Inn 74 Arizona 64 Grand Canyon Village, AZ 86023

Civana Carefree 37220 N. Mule Train Rd. Carefree, AZ 85377

(928) 638-2681

(480) 653-9000

grandcanyonsquire.com

civanacarefree.com

Carefree

26

11,000

60,000

224 Harrah’s Ak-Chin Hotel & Casino 15406 N. Maricopa Rd. Maricopa, AZ 85139

CopperWynd Resort & Club 13225 N. Eagle Ridge Dr. Scottsdale, AZ 85268

(480) 802-5000

(480) 333-1900 copperwynd.com

Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North 10600 E. Crescent Moon Dr. Scottsdale, AZ 85262

caesars.com/harrahs-ak-chin Scottsdale

4

6,000

8,000

32 The Hermosa Inn 5532 N. Palo Cristi Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85253

Crowne Plaza Phoenix Chandler Golf Resort 1 N. San Marcos Pl. Chandler, AZ 85225

(602) 955-8614 hermosainn.com

(480) 812-0900 sanmarcosresort.com

Chandler

16

9,600

35,000

249

DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hotel Paradise Valley Scottsdale 5401 N. Scottsdale Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85250

Hilton Scottsdale Resort & Villas 6333 N. Scottsdale Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85250

(480) 948-7750 bit.ly/hilton-sc-r-v

(480) 947-5400 http://bit.ly/dtr-pvsc

Scottsdale

23

12,064

40,000

378

How High-Performance Organizations Make Meetings Effective Tip 4: Train everyone.

Leaders spend up to 80 percent of their workday in meetings, yet

participate in the meetings, defined as “the way” to get

many have never received meeting training. Meetings aren’t just

their job done. Meetings represent an enormous salary

conversations with a lot of people; there are skills and techniques

investment, and high-performance organizations

to learn that radically improve meeting results.

ensure their people get a good return on that

High-performance organizations provide skills training to people leading meetings. They also train everyone how to

62 JANUARY 2020

investment. —J. Elise Keith, co-founder of Lucid Meetings (www.lucidmeetings.com) and author of Where the Action Is

INBUSINESSPHX.COM

# of Sleeping Rooms

thephoenician.com Scottsdale

32

14,280

70,000

26

20,533

160,000+

643

Tempe

15

10,000

40,000

354

Phoenix

46

9,760

<48,000

563

Phoenix

36

16,000

65,000

584

Paradise Valley

11

3,204

8,000

105

Scottsdale

24

5,005

14,527

266

Scottsdale

21

10,080

40,000

404

Scottsdale

50

10,000

50,000

326

493 Phoenix Marriott Resort Tempe at The Buttes 2000 W. Westcourt Way Tempe, AZ 85282

JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa 5350 Marriott Dr. Phoenix, AZ 85054

(602) 225-9000

(480) 293-5000 http://bit.ly/jwmarriott-phxdr

Scottsdale

(480) 941-8200

(480) 444-1234 bit.ly/hyatt-gainey

Total Meeting Space

The Phoenician Scottsdale 6000 E. Camelback Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85251

Largest Room

Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Gainey Ranch 7500 E. Doubletree Ranch Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85258

# of Meeting Rooms

Resorts (con’t)

City

Venue

# of Sleeping Rooms

Total Meeting Space

Largest Room

# of Meeting Rooms

City

Venue

Resorts (con’t)

bit.ly/marriott-buttes Phoenix

40

33,218

311,853

950 Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort 7677 N. 16th St. Phoenix, AZ 85020

JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa 5402 E. Lincoln Dr. Scottsdale, AZ 85253

(602) 997-2626 squawpeakhilton.com

(480) 948-1700 bit.ly/jwmarriott-camelback

Scottsdale

20

19,968

91,119

453

The Legacy Golf Resort 6808 S. 32nd St. Phoenix, AZ 85042

(602) 866-7500

(602) 305-5500 bit.ly/legacy-golf-resort

tapatiocliffshilton.com Phoenix

3

1,200

2,164

328 Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort & Spa 5700 E. McDonald Dr. Paradise Valley, AZ 85253

The McCormick Scottsdale 7401 N. Scottsdale Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85253

(480) 948-5050 http://bit.ly/mccormick-scottsdale

(480)607-2350 Scottsdale

6

2,365

13,000+

125

Mountain Shadows 5445 E. Lincoln Dr. Scottsdale, AZ 85253

sanctuaryoncamelback.com Scottsdale Marriott at McDowell Mountains 16770 N. Perimeter Dr. Scottsdale, AZ 85260

(480) 624-5400 mountainshadows.com

Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort 11111 N. 7th St. Phoenix, AZ 85020

Scottsdale

10

4,475

12,835

n/a

(480) 502-3836 bit.ly/marriott-mcdowell

Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia 4949 E. Lincoln Dr. Scottsdale, AZ 85253

The Scottsdale Plaza Resort 7200 N. Scottsdale Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85253

(480) 627-3200

(480) 948-5000

omnihotels.com/hotels/ scottsdale-montelucia

scottsdaleplaza.com Scottsdale

16

9,216

27,000

293

Orange Tree Golf Resort 10601 N. 56th St. Scottsdale, AZ 85254

The Scottsdale Resort at McCormick Ranch 7700 E. McCormick Pkwy.

Scottsdale, AZ 85258

(480) 948-6100

(480) 991-9000

shellhospitality.com/hotels/ orange-tree-resort

INBUSINESSPHX.COM

destinationhotels.com/scottsdale-resort Scottsdale

4

5,000

10,000

160

JANUARY 2020

63

Chandler

30

17,376

180,000

100,000

331

Chandler

10

8,000

12,000

242

Phoenix

2

15,000 (ice rink)

15,700

n/a

Phoenix

Outside space only

n/a

45,000

n/a

Phoenix

9

n/a

n/a

n/a

Phoenix

1

22,000

22,000

n/a

Phoenix

2

10,000

10,000

n/a

(520)796-4923 wildhorsepass.com/destinations/wildhorse-pass-hotel-casino/ Scottsdale

11

2,925

8,300

162

Talking Stick Resort 9800 E. Indian Bend Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85256

Special Event Venues

(480) 850-7777 Scottsdale

22

25,000

113000

496

Az Ice Arcadia 3853 E. Thomas Rd. Phoenix, AZ 85018

(602) 957-9966

Tempe Mission Palms, A Destination Hotel 60 E. 5th St. Tempe, AZ 85281

arcadiaice.com

(480) 894-1400 missionpalms.com

Tempe

20

9,384

30,000

303

Arizona Center 400 E. Van Buren St. Phoenix, AZ 85004

(602) 271-4000 arizonacenter.com

W Scottsdale 7277 E. Camelback Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85251

(480) 970-2100 Scottsdale

8

3,500

14,000

230

Arizona Science Center 600 E. Washington St. Phoenix, AZ 85004

(602) 716-2000 azscience.org

We-Ko-Pa Resort & Conference Center 10438 N. Fort McDowell Rd. Scottsdale, AZ 85264

Bentley Gallery 215 E. Grant St. Phoenix, AZ 85004

(480) 789-5300 Scottsdale

15

18,000

25,000

248

The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa 6902 E. Greenway Pkwy.

Scottsdale, AZ 85254

(602) 340-9200 bentleygallery.com Boojum Tree 16026 N. 36th St. Phoenix, AZ 85032

(480) 624-1000 kierlandresort.com

10,800

Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino 5040 Wild Horse Pass Blvd.

Chandler, AZ 85226

(480)367-4616

wekoparesort.com

25

500

Sonesta Suites Scottsdale Gainey Ranch 7300 E. Gainey Suites Dr. Scottsdale, AZ 85258

wscottsdalehotel.com

# of Sleeping Rooms

wigwamarizona.com

wildhorsepassresort.com

talkingstickresort.com

Phoenix

(623) 935-3811

(602) 225-0100

bit.ly/sonesta-gainey

Total Meeting Space

The Wigwam Resort & Golf Club 300 E. Wigwam Ln. Litchfield Park, AZ 85340

Largest Room

Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass 5594 W. Wild Horse Pass Rd. Chandler, AZ 85226

# of Meeting Rooms

Resorts (con’t)

City

Venue

# of Sleeping Rooms

Total Meeting Space

Largest Room

# of Meeting Rooms

City

Venue

Resorts (con’t)

Scottsdale

41

25,000

200,000+

732

(602) 867-8975 boojumtree.com

How High-Performance Organizations Make Meetings Effective Tip 4: Train everyone.

Leaders spend up to 80 percent of their workday in meetings, yet

participate in the meetings, defined as “the way” to get

many have never received meeting training. Meetings aren’t just

their job done. Meetings represent an enormous salary

conversations with a lot of people; there are skills and techniques

investment, and high-performance organizations

to learn that radically improve meeting results.

ensure their people get a good return on that

High-performance organizations provide skills training to people leading meetings. They also train everyone how to

64 JANUARY 2020

investment. —J. Elise Keith, co-founder of Lucid Meetings (www.lucidmeetings.com) and author of Where the Action Is

INBUSINESSPHX.COM

# of Meeting Rooms

Largest Room

Total Meeting Space

# of Sleeping Rooms

n/a

n/a

n/a

Scottsdale

14

3,364

13,000

54

Phoenix

9

5,300

<20,000

n/a

Phoenix

6

2,980

9,000

n/a

Phoenix

2

1,000

1,500

n/a

Phoenix

3

4,500

6,000

n/a

Phoenix

6

9,300

30,000

n/a

Phoenix

1

10,000

10,000

n/a

Phoenix

2

2,500

5,000

n/a

Phoenix

5

6,600

8,600

n/a

City

Venue

# of Sleeping Rooms

Total Meeting Space

Largest Room

# of Meeting Rooms

City

Venue

Phoenix

Outdoor picnicstyle only

Special Event Venues (con’t)

Special Event Venues (con’t)

Carnegie Center - Downstairs 1101 W. Washington St. Phoenix, AZ 85007

Enchanted Island Amusement Park 1202 W. Encanto Blvd.

Phoenix, AZ 85007

(602) 926-3604 http://bit.ly/azlibrary-carnegie

Phoenix

2

1,800

3,000 (for nonprofits only)

n/a

(602) 254-1200 enchantedisland.com

Castles ‘n’ Coasters 9445 N. Metro Pkwy. E. Phoenix, AZ 85051

Franciscan Renewal Center 5802 E. Lincoln Dr. Scottsdale, AZ 85253

(602) 997-7575 castlesncoasters.com

Phoenix

2

3,935

5,000

n/a

(480) 948-7460 thecasa.org

The Cedars Banquet Hall 1702 E. Northern Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85020

Heard Museum 2301 N. Central Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85004

(602) 944-2566 cedarsbanquethall.com

Phoenix

1

3,600

3,600

n/a

(602) 252-8840 heard.org

Chase Field 401 E. Jefferson St. Phoenix, AZ 85004

Herberger Theater Center 222 E. Monroe St. Phoenix, AZ 85004

(480) 339-5000 azchasefield.com

Phoenix

21

39,600

100,000+

n/a

(602) 254-7399 herbergertheater.org

Children’s Museum of Phoenix 215 N. 7th St. Phoenix, AZ 85034

K1 Speed 2425 S. 21st St., Phoenix, AZ 85034

(602) 253-0501 childrensmuseumofphoenix.org

(602) 275-5278 Phoenix

3

5,000

<14,000

n/a

Comerica Theatre 400 W. Washington St. Phoenix, AZ 85003

MonOrchid 214 E. Roosevelt St. Phoenix, AZ 85004

(602) 379-2800 comericatheatre.com

(602) 253-0339 Phoenix

5

40,000

80,000

n/a

The Croft Downtown Phoenix 22 E. Buchman St. Phoenix, AZ 85004

(480) 478-6000 n/a

2

5,000

8,500

n/a

Cutler-Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center 122 E. Culver St. Phoenix, AZ 85004

(619) 384-3545 thepalaceaz.com Phoenix

2

2,500

5,500

n/a The Penske Racing Museum 7125 E. Chauncey Ln. Phoenix, AZ 85054

Desert Botanical Garden 1201 N. Galvin Pkwy.

Phoenix, AZ 85008

(480) 538-4444

(480) 941-1225 dbg.org

mim.org The Palace 8035 N. 43rd Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85051

(602) 241-7870 azjhs.org

monorchid.com Musical Instrument Museum 4725 E. Mayo Blvd.

Phoenix, AZ 85050

(602) 462-970 thecroftdowntown.com

k1speed.com/phoenix-location.html

penskeracingmuseum.com Phoenix

5

4,200

5,000

n/a Phoenix Art Museum 1625 N. Central Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85004

(602) 257-1222 phxart.org

INBUSINESSPHX.COM

JANUARY 2020

65

CONSIDER US THE LAST RESORT. BECAUSE YOU’LL NEVER NEED TO LOOK ANYWHERE ELSE You’ll know you’ve made the right choice before the meeting even begins. Because we listen. We never rest. Our facilities and support staff handle your meeting with effortless elegance. And we stay focused on you, your vision and your clients. It’s how we work. So it never feels like work to you. It just feels right.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT KIERLANDMEETINGS.COM OR CALL 480.624.1000

© 2014 Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. All rights reserved. Westin is a registered trademark of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., or its affiliates.

Anderson, Chris, 17

Cullinan, Olenka, 50

Hansen, Mark, 14

Markuson, Daniel, 22

Ricotta, Todd, 10

Balasubramanian, Svanika, 14

Davidson, Erik, 12

Hartman, Stephen, 10

Matthews, Geoff, 17

Scott, David Meerman, 31

Barthelemy, Joel E., 20

de La Salle, James, 17

Hines, Annette, Esq., 42

Maurer, Andy, 36

Scott, Reiko, 31

Bird, Adam, 22

Dermer, Elik, 16

Ingrassia, Lawrence, 31

Mitchell, Mark, Mayor, 49

Smith, Ben, 30

Bowman, Diana, Ph.D. , 24

Dodge, Jeff, 24

Jakel, Joan, 50

Montanile, Domenick, 10

Smith, Charlie, 40

Brooks, Adam Lee, 50

Doyle, Doug, 13

Keith, J. Elise, 56, 58, 60, 62

Morgan, Fred, 13

Taylor, Yalanda, 11

Butler, Tyler, 38

Drayton, Ayrianna, 47

Lamb, Simon, 68

Murphy, Alice, 14

van der Feltz, Lennard, 32

Chasson, Jill, 34

Gallego, Kate, Mayor, 9

Linssen, Ian, 24

Paape, Scott, 12

Weber, Bruce, 40

Colton, Jack, 11

Goodwin, Bill, 20

Livshits, Vladimir, Ph.D. , 24

Papa, Dominic, 24

Zeto, Mike, 24

Camacho, Chris, 24

Gordon, Dave, 31

Low, Jodi, 50

Ramsey, Daniel, 11

Corlett, Colin, 20

Hanke, Stacey, 55

Mackay, Christine, 24

Rhea, Dan, 18

#startfirst, 50

CruitScout, 11

K1 Speed, 61

Talus, 12

11Eleven Consulting, 38

Desert Financial Credit Union, 12, 23

Lucid Meetings, 56, 58, 60, 62

Telia Carrier, 10

Adeline, 17

Enterprise Bank & Trust, 8

Maricopa Association of Governments, 24

Tempe Chamber of Commerce, 45

Airbnb, 17

Equality Health, 70

MeMD, 20

Thunderbird Executive Inn &

Alerus, 37

Excentium, 20

MereStone, 61

APS, 41

Experience Scottsdale, 54

Mesa Forklift, 12

Arizona Care Network, 10

Fired Pie, 13

Mesa, City of, 24

Arizona Commerce Authority, 7

First Bank, 6

Mobivity Holdings Corp., 11

Arizona Diamondbacks, 70

FirstService Residential, 12

MyOutDesk, 11

ASU Center for Smart Regions and

FLI Right LLC, 14

NordVPN, 22

GlobalMed, 20

OEB Breakfast Co., 44

Grand Canyon University, 49

Offices at Chandler Veridian, 18

Greater Phoenix Economic Council, 24

Phoenix, City of, 9, 24

HDE Agency, 12

Pinnacle Financial Advisors, 32

Hines, 17

Pro One Media Productions, 59

Hownd, 47

Quarles & Brady LLP, 39

Insight, 24

Redirect Health, 21

Institute for Digital Progress, 24

rePurpose, 14

Ironwood Development Group, 17

Santana Equipment Trading Company, 12

Isagenix, 38

Silent Rich, 11

Jive, 6

Snell & Wilmer, 3

JLL, 19

Special Needs Law Group, 42

/InBusinessPHX

JobAdder, 22

Stacey Hanke Inc., 56

@InBusinessPHX

Joint Chiropractic, The, 8

Sterling Grove, 18

Cities, 24 AT&T, 24 Barro’s Pizza, 12 BetterAir, 43 BMO Harris Bank, 33 BMW, 43 BOK Financial, 35 Chandler Veridian, 18 Cigna, 12 CIL, 17 Colliers International in Arizona, 17 Comparisun, 16 Confy, 22 Coppersmith Brockelman, 34

In each issue of In Business Magazine, we list both companies and indivuduals for quick reference. See the stories for links to more.

Bold listings are advertisers supporting this issue of In Business Magazine.

Conference Center, 59 Toll Brothers, 18 Townline Ventures, 17 U + Improved, 50 UnitedHealthcare, 5 Venezie’s Pizzeria, 10 Waste Management Phoenix Open, 15 Waterfall Villa Residences, 17 Weber Group, 40 Wells Fargo, 51 Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, The, 66 World Press Photo Exhibition, 2 Xcellerate Biomedical Technologies, 30 Youth Awareness & Safety, 50

CHECK US OUT

www.inbusinessphx.com

JAN 67 2020 INBUSINESSPHX.COM

A CANDID FORUM

BY

How to Halt the Tide of Environmental Decline that Threatens the Viability of Our Modern World The case for responsible Capitalism

by Simon Lamb

Simon Lamb is a writer, businessman, farmer, countryman and passionate conservationist. He has studied evolution, human development and market economics extensively in the context of their combined impact on the natural world and human society. A father, dog-dad and grandfather, Lamb lives in Dorset, England. junglenomics.com

JAN 2020

68

INBUSINESSPHX.COM

This question haunts everyone who cares about the world our grandchildren will inherit. Older readers will remember how it was just half a century ago — vibrant and thriving. In the post-war economic boom, governments were oblivious to the slippery slope ahead, the warnings of respected ecologists left unheeded. In due course, this generation will pass on, and, like those who fought in the last war, only archived interviews will remain to relate how it used to be — unless the slide is not only stopped but reversed.

From amongst the pervading din of sustaina-babble, two dominant solutions have emerged: one political, the other economic. Radical politicians, desperate to cast their wellworn clichés into the rising tide of public concern, do what they always do — denounce the capitalist, globalist bogeymen.

But this is irresponsible and unconstructive, because in doing so they immediately alienate most of the public just when consensus is essential. The economic dystopia they would have adopted is never going to be the solution, as most businesspeople very well know.

Nevertheless, it is undeniable that capitalism in its present form is behind the environment crisis, because markets are at the heart of it. Markets have been not just free to trade, but free to pollute, degrade and destroy the natural world. Those involved have remained competitive only because they have not had to factor environmental costs — “externalities” — into their balance sheets. The environment has thus become the casualty of un-environmentally accountable economic activity on an epic scale. Urgent, profound reform is now essential. But stifling the vast energy of capitalist enterprise is not the way.

Instead, whereas it has been encouraged to leave a trail of destruction in its wake because it pays to do so, this economic energy needs to be harnessed to benefit the natural world — to profit from doing the right environmental thing rather than the wrong. That’s a whole new economics ballgame, and it’s going to take some radical thinking and careful planning to achieve. For sure, it needs a masterplan; a blueprint. As it happens, there is a tried and proven one out there ready and waiting. It’s called Nature.

To understand this, first consider that, in reality, we humans inhabit an “economic ecosystem” that is a subset of the ecology from which it derived. We are thus economic “species,”

fulfilling roles to acquire resources like any in the wild; except that we are “avatars,” able to slip from one role to another.

Evolution here is provided by advancing technology, and this has reached breakneck speed; a new “Cambrian Explosion” is under way.

This perspective reveals the underlying problem: Whereas natural ecosystems have evolved over millions of years so that symbiotic species can coevolve to profit from cleaning up after others, creating a balanced and mutually supportive whole, species in our economic system evolve much too fast for it.

Their avatar mobility allows them to exhaust and destroy, and then move to another niche to start over. Environmental accountability is absent. However, we have one big advantage: We can influence the system. By acting decisively, we can avoid the deep decline that inevitably overtakes species that degrade their environment.

So how do we make this transformation without sucking energy from the world economy? The answer is that a Naturebased manifesto which does exactly that could be actioned as soon as tomorrow. Capital naturally flows to where profit is, so the key is to shift profitability from “bad” to “good” by charging for external costs, using the proceeds to support greener alternatives, and to fast-track new green technology into the market.

However, this has to come from government, which could take time that we don’t have. Businesspeople can help speed it up, though. There are two main ways to do this. The first is to lobby political representatives, directly or through business groups, to change the dynamics of profitability by adopting the “ecosystem economics” model advocated here. The second is to get ahead of the curve, because that’s what good businesspeople do. Audit supply chains and practices and look for greener ones. Divest from dirty and carbon-expensive investments, supply chains, technology and practices. The writing is on the wall for them anyway. Instead, take financial stakes in promising green technology and services. Clean profits can help usher in the future we owe our children.

There is an exciting green business arena bursting into life out there. Don’t get left behind, or you, too, could end up like the dinosaurs.

“Environmentally irresponsible capitalism has been destroying the natural world. If you want to understand how to fix it without killing the golden goose, Nature has the answers.” —Simon Lamb

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