C AT E R P I L L A R
u Rio Nuevo unveiled the design for Caterpillar’s Tucson Mining Center, a three-story, 150,000-squarefoot building that will be constructed northeast of Sentinel Peak and west of Interstate 10
HEXAGON MINING
a rocket-building company, and World View, with its high-altitude balloon technology, arrived and relationships are building that strengthen Southern Arizona’s profile in the aerospace and defense sector. “Raytheon is fueled by innovation,” said White, who also is vice chair at Sun Corridor Inc. “The greater the level of local talent the greater our ability to help each other to succeed. We had contracts with World View to do research together within months of them starting up. Once they were here and once we ran into each other and talked to each other, we began doing business with each other.” Ben Cordani, lead human resources manager at Caterpillar, said the selection of Tucson just made good sense. “We wanted to be in mining country, www.BizTucson.com
and Tucson is in the heart of it, with such a rich mining heritage,” he said. Long term, Caterpillar’s success and that of other high-tech companies will depend on continued access to highquality talent to fill the company’s many high-tech jobs. “We’re establishing a strong linkage to educational resources such as the University of Arizona,” Cordani said. Hexagon considered moving to Denver some years ago and Denver pulled out all the stops to encourage the move. “We wanted to stay,” Samora said, “but it had to make sense for the business.” Samora admits that, at first, Denver was winning the race. Then Sun Corridor Inc. stepped up and worked closely with the company to meet its needs. “We needed a more modern building and access to subject-matter experts
in mining,” he said. “The university is known for engineering and it also has a very good computer science degree. We’re a technical company so having that talent here is very good for us.” Samora said that, in the end, Tucson’s diversity, talent and community were the deciding factors. “Everything made sense in the end,” he said. Now he calls the region a “hub,” a term that Sun Corridor Inc., as the local economic development leader, would like to see used on multiple sectors. “I don’t know where Tucson ranks,” White said of the region’s profile as a potential location for aerospace and defense companies, “but I will tell you just having Raytheon with roughly 12,000 people in one location puts it pretty high up there.”
Biz Fall 2017
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