From interim to permanent CEO

The search for a new leader for the Yuma-area's economic development efforts went nationwide. In the end, the best candidate was found in Yuma already doing the job on an interim basis.
 
Julie Engel, an employee of Greater Yuma Economic Development Corp. since 2003, has been named the new president and CEO, announced Ross Wait, board chairman.
 
"This is great news as far as I'm concerned," Wait said, adding that the decision was unanimous. "She's qualified to do the job and we wanted to give her the opportunity to do it."
 
It was an extra bonus that Engel already knows the community, he said. "She knows all the players and all the connections."
 
The deciding factor, he said, is the job Engel has been doing for GYEDC, first as a project manager, then as interim president and CEO since July when Chris Camacho, her predecessor, left to take a position in Phoenix.
 
"I'm gratified the board had confidence in me and offered me the position," Engel said. And now that she's moved beyond an interim basis to the permanent position, she's ready to begin taking the organization in some new directions.
 
She said she's working with a couple of organizations to reorganize GYEDC's marketing strategy. That's being driven by a growing interest in the Yuma area as a hub in the desert Southwest for renewable energy generation, in particular solar energy.
 
"Yuma is the logical choice for alternative energy," Engel said. "Now we're working on making sure the community embraces it."
 
The industry itself hasn't even grasped the full potential, she said.
 
"Renewable energy is the only industry that will grow in the next few years," she said. "And it will grow at a rapid pace. Our assets make us the obvious choice with our sunshine, our desert land and our location."
 
She said that by 2010, California is requiring that 20 percent of its energy come from renewable sources while Arizona is aiming for 15 percent by the year 2025 and Nevada 20 percent by 2015.
 
"We've been very busy, but primarily with solar projects," she said.
 
However, there is renewed interest in developments in Mexico as a result of increased fuel prices and the state of the U.S. economy, she said. To help strengthen its binational strategy, GYEDC has added Andrea Bereznak to its staff as a project manager to work with the organization's partners in Mexico. That includes the newly created Copresan, GYEDC's counterpart in San Luis Rio Colorado, Son.
 
A closer partnership with Yuma military presence and Yuma International Airport is also part of GYEDC's shifting focus on military spin-offs, Engel said. With Marine Corps Air Station Yuma expected to be the first to receive the new F-35 and the important role of Yuma Proving Ground in testing technology and weapons used in the Middle East, there is growing demand for facilities for defense contractors.
 
"We're partnering with the airport on that," Engel said. "We will assist with trying to attract companies and the airport is providing the infrastructure."
 
While those three sectors hold promise, the economy is impacting prospective new businesses, she said. "Projects have gone into a holding pattern that were very close."
 
GYEDC is a private-public partnership charged with attracting new industry to the community to create new jobs.
 
Looking back over the years since she joined GYEDC, Engel has the satisfaction of knowing she had a hand in a number of projects that became a reality, adding to the community's economy. But most of all, she said, is the satisfaction of the jobs created.
 
"This is where I feel I need to be," she said. "It's truly a way to give back."
 
Engel, who is from Nebraska, came to Yuma in 1996 with her husband, who took a job with the Arizona Game and Fish.
 
"We got here on Friday," she recalled. "On Saturday I was reading the paper and saw an ad for a finance director in Somerton. I drove my resume over Monday and was at work on Wednesday."
 
She stayed with that position 5-1/2 years, leaving to become finance director for the Cocopah Nation. In 2004, she was asked to become the administrative services director for GYEDC and take care of the books.
 
After attending a basic economic development course in Tucson, she said, "I knew immediately I wanted to do that. I saw it as a way to serve the community."

Being a project manager also presented a constant learning experience, she said. With each new client, she had to quickly become knowledgeable about the business, its needs and how the Yuma community could meet them. In her new role as CEO, she will be able to apply that knowledge to her relationships with GYEDC's partners.
 
She's also grateful for the mentoring provided by Camacho. "He opened a lot of doors in the community," Engel said. "I want to continue those relationships he developed."
 
In addition to Bereznak, the GYEDC staff includes project manager Greg LaVann, project specialist Stephany Turner, administrative assistant Lauren Patrick and intern Xiomara Bojorquez. LaVann and Turner have been with GYEDC for some time and have been promoted. Patrick, who will receive her business degree in December, was originally hired as an intern and now has a permanent position. Bojorquez currently is a business major at Northern Arizona University-Yuma.
 
"I would like to give thanks and praise to the staff, without whom I and the organization could not succeed," Engel said. "They are a dynamic, energetic group. I feel privileged to work with them."


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Joyce Lobeck can be reached at jlobeck@yumasun.com or 539-6853.