People always ask me what I like most about my job.
Honestly, it’s hard to answer succinctly. If I had to narrow it to my top three, I’d have to say that I love working with our team, learning about a variety of different industries, and partnering with our great member communities. I’ve developed an insane amount of Utah pride since I started down this path of economic development. At every turn I learn about something that makes our State unique and interesting.
Working with true partners is a joy. I have been engaged on a few projects in Utah County lately, and I have come to develop a tremendous amount of respect for Utah County’s leadership at both the County and the City levels. Utah County is a unique animal since it has a mix of developed communities and agricultural communities, and bedroom communities and dense commercial communities. As someone who grew up in Utah, I’ve been astonished by how much Utah County has changed over the last two decades, becoming quite tech-centric and even cosmopolitan. Based on all of the latest demographic forecasting, that trend will only continue.
An example of a city that seems to have totally transformed over the last several years is Provo. While Provo is largely developed, through Mayor John Curtis’s leadership the City has become increasingly dynamic. Over the years, the City has strengthened its ties with the tech community, become one of 2 Utah Google Fiber cities, forged new partnerships with the area Universities, landed Duncan Aviation as a major employer, and the list goes on. Those are things that I might have learned or read about on the periphery in my prior life, but being able to partner side by side with Provo on some of those initiatives or to learn about them through the City’s leadership to understand how it fits into their strategic plan is a real joy for me and something that I love about this job.
