In a virtual Q&A last week, EDCUtah executive director Ryan Starks shared his “Vision Forward” with investors statewide. Ryan kicked off the discussion with a parable about American professional football coach and National Football League (NFL) executive Vince Lombardi and “getting back to basics.” He offered a high-level overview of EDCUtah operations and then took a series of questions.  

We’ve recapped the Q&A session below. This discussion has been edited for more concise reading, but you can access the full recording here.

It's been about a year since we've combined with the Salt Lake Chamber family of teams. How does EDCUtah's mission differ from that of the Salt Lake Chamber?

EDCUtah is a division of the Salt Lake Chamber, but we have a unique mission. We have our own budget, financing, and marketing team. The strength of our relationship with the Chamber is that now we're an economic development organization with a built-in policy arm.

We met with some companies in the past couple of weeks that have said, “We're interested in relocating to Utah or expanding. There's this one issue, though, from a policy perspective that's really challenging.” The nice thing about our partnership with the Chamber is now we can say, “Well, you're in luck, because we have this inherent relationship where we can tackle the policy issue.”

We're grateful to be part of the Chamber. We also have the independence and the autonomy to act as an independent economic development organization. So, the synergy between EDCUtah and the Chamber is strong and palpable.

The Salt Lake Chamber’s mission is to stand as the voice of Utah business, support their members’ success, and champion community prosperity. EDCUtah’s mission is to catalyze capital investment and strategic economic opportunities to create quality jobs in Utah.

You spent six years working for the State of Utah, and you saw a few iterations of EDCUtah over that time. How would you describe the current and future relationship between EDCUtah and the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity (GOEO)?

The GOEO relationship with EDCUtah is one of the most important relationships we have. It sets the tone. GOEO’s tools are powerful, from the Economic Development Tax Increment Financing (EDTIF) incentives to various grants. GOEO has the backing of the state seal and can open doors in a way nobody else can.  

I loved every day of my job at GOEO. Now that I'm here, I see opportunities to collaborate even more. If there ever were gaps or misunderstandings, I'm excited to address those.

I think [new GOEO executive director] Jefferson Moss is a tremendous leader. I think their management team, rural team, and business development team are tremendous. The opportunity for us to work hand-in-hand is going to create synergy.  

There have been some questions to the effect of: “Should we work with EDCUtah, or should we work with GOEO?” My response is to work with both of us. We're synced with trade shows. We're synced with corporate recruitment activities, and with messaging. The relationship is just going to get stronger and stronger.

As we think about partnerships, how does EDCUtah work with industry associations?

Utah’s industry associations are powerhouses. Look at what's happening in the life sciences, aerospace and defense, tech, or manufacturing—just to name a few. Each of these groups is elevating Utah’s profile in a big way.

A recent project win – an aerospace and defense project – said that not only is the State incentive program and EDCUtah’s project management process robust, but they have also never been to a state with such a robust ecosystem for aerospace and defense. This partnership between the State, EDCUtah, and industry made all the difference for this company.

EDCUtah team members are not experts in all things. We can lean heavily on our industry partners for support, data, insight, and connections – whether it be 47G, BioUtah, BioHive the Bankers Association, or Silicon Slopes, and so on. The associations are additive to what we offer and help make Utah competitive.

Can you speak to EDCUtah’s partnership with the Utah Inland Port Authority (UIPA)?

I've had the opportunity to serve on the Port Authority Board for the past few years, and I’ve seen the great work they're doing. They have port areas across the state from San Juan all the way up north. They're filling an economic development need for communities.

As they establish those project sites, that's fuel for Team Utah to recruit the right companies—manufacturers, logistics companies, energy companies, and retail. UIPA offers public financing tools, including a property tax differential, to incentivize companies to locate within a port area. Companies can use those alongside GOEO’s EDTIF and REDTIF incentive programs. And then they can access the project management and partner support coming from EDCUtah. When you put GOEO and UIPA and EDCUtah together, it becomes clear that Utah offers clear competitive advantages to expanding companies.  

In terms of recruitment, we frequently talk to companies in other markets. Another organization doing that is the World Trade Center of Utah (WTCU). How would you differentiate between us and WTCU?

[WTCU president] Jonathan Freedman is a dear friend, and I think of EDCUtah and WTCU as being Yin and Yang. WTCU can take a company in Utah that's seeking to expand globally, and take them onto the world stage, through trade shows and trade missions. There are so many good examples of companies that have grown internationally because of WTCU.

If you ask who's bringing capital, infrastructure, and high-quality jobs to the state, that's where EDCUtah plays a role. We recruit those companies, some of which are international.

When WTCU goes on a trade mission, they may interact with a company that's interested in Utah. They can hand that lead off to us. We then can walk that company through the process, in partnership with GOEO, just as we would do with a domestic company, to help that company get established within the state. Likewise, as EDCUtah works with our members and our projects, if we learn there’s an opportunity for them to expand internationally, we’ll direct them to WTCU. We have a two-way relationship that is mutually beneficial.

You touched on recruitment being a source of new project leads in EDCUtah’s corporate expansion and relocation pipeline. Can you talk more about that?

Our bread-and-butter is corporate recruitment. Moving forward, you can expect EDCUtah to have a clear focus on visiting key cities and key companies to recruit new businesses. We call the program Global Strategy & Outreach (GS&O), and it has yielded many project wins over the years. We're excited to get back in the saddle.

We’re also planning inbound activities. EDCUtah has a database of site selection consultants whom we keep in touch with frequently through email marketing campaigns. Next year, we’ll host a group of site selectors for a summer event in Utah. We’ll provide information to our investors on how to get involved when details are firmed up.

You consider branding very important. What role does branding play in EDCUtah’s work?

Utah has a fantastic story to tell. From being a scrappy, startup state in the mid-1800s to having the world's best economy today, there's certainly something there that's worth sharing.

When you factor in the 2002, and now the 2034, Olympics … When you factor in the continued growth in key industry sectors, and Utah having the largest middle class, there’s something compelling happening here. EDCUtah’s opportunity is to partner with the State to share that good news. As my friend Brad Mortensen, president of Weber State University, likes to say, “We need to be louder and prouder about Utah and about who we are.”

What role, if any, will EDCUtah have in helping Utah communities and businesses prepare for the 2034 Olympics?

The term that comes to mind is “momentum”. The buzz is palpable. People are asking, “What can we do to get ready for the Olympics? How can we support?”

Just this past week, I had the opportunity to visit with the CEO of the Olympic Committee, Brad Wilson. We talked about what role EDCUtah could play in terms of community readiness. We're not at liberty to announce it yet, but we have put in motion plans for a partnership to help cities stand up their best messages for the Olympics. That could be through planning and zoning, business attraction, workforce development, wayfinding, community development, or other aspects. We’ll make some big announcements at our fall annual meeting, so buckle up. There are good things in the works.

What do the next 12 to 24 months look like for EDCUtah?

We're going to focus on recruiting corporate headquarters, especially among Fortune 500 companies. We're going to get back into high-level, high-execution corporate recruitment.

We also want to grow our membership base. In May, we saw a significant increase in new and renewed investment. We'd love to grow that incrementally, strategically. One of our aspirational goals is to secure up to 300 investors by the year 2030. And then, we'd love to grow to 340 investors by the 2034 Olympics.  

Arie Anderson of Bank of Utah asked:

Who does EDCUtah partner with to ensure the growth coming to Utah is balanced with the available natural resources, specifically water and utility needs?

Ryan: It's a great question, Ari. When I was at GOEO, we required every EDTIF-eligible project to go through a rigorous analysis of water consumption, power usage, and other aspects of sustainability.

The beauty of EDCUtah’s model is our collaboration with cities and counties. Mayors and city managers and economic development professionals are best equipped to understand how a project impacts their community. We certainly want balanced growth. That's why we're not just focused on the Wasatch Front – we conduct site visits statewide.

Sina Sharafin asked:

Given last year’s funding changes from GOEO, how is EDCUtah's financial situation different? How secure is that situation?

Ryan: We’ve had a rough go for the past year. I was part of the GOEO team that limited the contract funding to EDCUtah. I take full responsibility for that. There were a lot of factors that went into that decision. Part of it was an experiment. Part of it was a political decision, and part of it was a hope that we would see a greater focus on some of the core competencies that EDCUtah offers.

Since that time – I’ll compliment the EDCUtah team here – they have been scrappy and hungry and willing to work hard and innovate. The EDCUtah team is committed to elevating the organization. We had a successful fundraising golf tournament just last week, and we have seen more investment coming in from both public and private sector organizations. We're seeing membership dollars come in at a greater rate than we've seen in a long time.

Let me clarify that GOEO has always been an investor. Even when EDCUtah lost the state contract, GOEO still committed a sizable annual grant. With that, I think EDCUtah is in a good place, but we are not satisfied with just being in a good place. We want to be in a great place, so we're continuing to look for opportunities to monetize some of our services, to generate revenue which ultimately benefits the investor community and the greater Utah economy.

Jim Tozer of Vectra Management Group commented:

I’m thrilled to see corporate headquarters as a new focus. I know that we've had a lot of success with target industries, but I'd like to suggest that regional headquarters is probably our largest opportunity. Utah is the best location to cover the western half of the United States. Salt Lake City's economic development is part of that, and the success of the state is a strong downtown. We’ve got an education base, a transportation base, a quality of life base second to none in the West. So go for it, Ryan, and make that one of your hallmarks of success.

Ryan: Awesome, Jim. Thanks. You're spot on that Utah is the place, and we think that we can capitalize on that. I'll just give our friends at Salt Lake City a big shout out. Salt Lake City Economic Development Director Lorena Riffo Jenson and her team are tremendous partners, and we think that a healthy capital city translates to a healthy state of Utah.

Kelly Stowell, economic development director of Kane County, commented:

Please consider county elected officials as well. It's not enough just to coordinate with economic development directors or others.

Ryan: Kelly, you're always full of good advice, and this is another gem. Thank you. We'll definitely keep that in mind, and we love our friends down in Kane County.

Edward Castro Bennett, Green River city manager, commented:

I wanted to second the comment about the team being scrappy and ready to rock and roll. We in Green River secured our first EDCUtah project win this year, and we're working hard with the team to bring more projects to the middle of the state and our rural communities.  

Ryan: I would love to just emphasize one key thing. Everything that we do at EDCUtah isn't just us. It's the culmination of so many people working together. Every single project includes multiple touch points. “We build together” – this is the theme we want to emphasize. The Airbuild project in Green River, for example, came as the result of collaboration among the City of Green River, EDCUtah, Utah State University Eastern, Better City, Utah Inland Port Authority, and the University of Utah PEAK water sustainability engine.

Ratio Therapeutics in West Valley City is another example. This project was the result of contributions from Jonathan Springmeyer of West Valley City, Doug Cole of NAI Premier, EDCUtah, Wasatch Group, the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, and Kelvyn Cullimore of BioUtah. We're grateful for those partnerships.  

In short, what can you expect from ECDUtah moving forward? Deeper partnerships than ever.

“Building Together” highlights examples of the collective impact of your investment and EDCUtah’s work in communities across the state. Do you have a story you’d like us to share? Email connect@edcutah.org.