Arizona Business execs push education – Group set to take on bigger policy role

Two and a half years ago, Valley business leaders came together in the aftermath of 9/11 to deal with a deteriorating local economy.

On Friday, the coalition’s second summit conveyed a more confident group willing to go to bat for its top issue: improving the state’s education system.

Jonathan J. Higuera
The Arizona Republic

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0306bizsummit06.html

"The coalition was built partially on fear that the economy would get worse. But fear won’t build a successful economy," said Bill Post, who chairs the group’s leadership council and is chairman of Pinnacle West Capital Corp.

With a new name reflecting its statewide membership, The Business Coalition is ready to become a much stronger player in the state’s economic policies, its members said. That confidence was apparent at Friday’s summit at the downtown Phoenix Hyatt Regency.

Although it covered a number of areas, a recurring theme was improving the state’s public education system.

Raising the area’s intellectual capital will be the key to attracting and retaining industries that pay good wages, speaker after speaker told about 200 attendees, most of whom were high-profile business leaders.

"In the final analysis, we will rise no higher than our human capital allows us to," said Rick Weddle, president of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.

Talk on education ranged from improving primary public education to creating greater support for the state’s higher education institutions, including streamlining the transfer of technology and scientific innovations from academia to the private sector. Some members spoke of taking a greater role in urging the state Legislature to support such efforts.

The summit included presentations from sports executive Jerry Colangelo on downtown redevelopment and from former Tempe Mayor Neil Giuliano, who discussed transportation and the half-cent sales tax set for a vote in November.

Gov. Janet Napolitano described her administration’s approach to the economy.

"From a state perspective, the real investment is in education," she said. "For too long we’ve viewed education as a social program. It’s not. It’s an investment."

In a discussion panel, Arizona State University President Michael Crow and University of Arizona President Peter Likins said the state’s new strategy for attracting high-wage industries is at a beginning stage.

"We’ve started but we need to understand the scale of the competition," said Crow, who described recent visits to China and San Diego, where the number of engineers and bioscience companies dwarfs the Valley’s.

When asked about the huge amounts of venture capital that flow into the San Diego area compared with Arizona, Likins said, "We don’t need venture capital. We need more ideas that attract money."

Several attendees were encouraged by the summit.

"All you can expect is that everybody in the room will want to work on the topics discussed here today," said John Kelly, public affairs manager for Intel Corp. "For me, the most important topic is educational excellence. . . . I’m cautiously optimistic."

While education dominated discussions, Colangelo provided his take on how to liven up downtown Phoenix through a community process.

"This is our chance to come together as a community and create the road map where we want to be," he said.

"We’re not sure what it’s going to be when all is said and done, but it’s going to be a great process."