A Look Back at 2022

The past year had its challenges for businesses locally and nationwide – from inflation to labor shortages to continued supply chain disruptions. Yet we still saw progress in northern Arizona, from the opening of businesses and facilities to plans for future growth in Flagstaff, Camp Verde, Sedona, and Winslow.

Among the highlights this year were:

• ECoNA received more than 70 inquiries from businesses interested in relocating to northern Arizona.
• FrameTec, a manufacturer and framing services company, began construction of a wall panel manufacturing facility in Camp Verde. Expected to be fully operational in 2024, it will create more than 180 new jobs.
• Addition of the Buxton data analytics platform. Buxton leverages real-time insights to drive growth with data-driven business decisions.
• Our newly expanded ECoNA collaborative has secured a consultant and has launched the beginnings of a first-ever regional 5-year strategic plan.

The plan will address what each municipality has to offer, but also identify common opportunities and challenges for the region. It will evaluate and compare northern Arizona to similar areas, using criteria that includes existing industry clusters, labor supply, the entrepreneurial ecosystem, supply chains, and workforce housing.

The plan will fine-tune current economic development efforts to increase the area’s competitiveness over the next five years, and makes us very optimistic that, working together, we will accelerate quality economic growth for northern Arizona.

Meanwhile, before we close the books on 2022, I wanted to make sure to thank two people who were instrumental to ECoNA’s success in the past year.

The first is former Flagstaff City Councilmember Regina Salas who served on our Executive Board and has always been a champion of the business community. We also wanted to thank Kelly Culbertson, who was our Director of Operations for most of 2022. In that role, she managed our social media, handled executive assistant tasks, and coordinated some of our committee work.

To them and to all of you, we wish a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!