Summer Issue 2022
From the Publisher
When we started this magazine, there was one underlying theme that motivated us from the very first issue – “Why The World is Watching Tucson.” To this day, this continues to be what drives us in reporting all the incredible business news coming out of this region. So, for our Summer issue, our staff has compiled an impressive “11 Reasons The World is Watching Tucson.”
From our globally recognized cuisine and world-class cycling to our world-famous spas and devotion to wellness, from our monumental achievements in space and defense to our emerging significance in mining technology and biosciences, this incredible region is not only referred to as “Optics Valley,” but also “the Silicon Desert.” Our downtown is bustling. We are a mecca for tourism.
We thank reporters Jay Gonzales, June Hussey, Tara Kirkpatrick, Christy Krueger, Rodney Campbell and Romi Carrell Wittman for filing reports on these monumental 11 Reasons The World is Watching Tucson.
The annual Sun Corridor Inc. Special Report offers a glimpse of the dedicated behind-the-scenes efforts of our business leaders to build a strong economic base. Jay Gonzales reports that as a region, we were admittedly scattered in our priorities for many years, and Sun Corridor Inc., the region’s economic development arm, has helped lead us to a more collaborative approach. Leaders say that over the last several years, the public and private sectors have banded together with the common goal of making Tucson a better place culturally and economically.
It couldn’t have come at a better time as the region is competing with communities all over the U.S. for more than $1 trillion in federal funds being made available through multi-million-dollar grants to improve infrastructure. For years, we’ve talked about the need to improve our roads and infrastructure. The time is now to act for the long-term good of our community, and to make our region more attractive to the top employers with the best jobs.
Roche Tissue Diagnostics, one of the pioneers of the region’s biosciences industry, continues to demonstrate its commitment to the greater Tucson region at its headquarters in Oro Valley.
Roche held a ribbon-cutting for its multi-million-dollar corporate center they call “The Forum,” where employees can meet, eat, exercise and get personalized healthcare at its wellness center. It’s a state-of-the-art facility that can accommodate meetings of up to 500 people at any given time with spectacular views of the Catalina Mountains.
Best of all, employees were given the opportunity to provide their input on everything from what should be included in the center to the design. “We continue to grow in Tucson because of the people here,” said Jill German, head of Roche Tissue Diagnostics. Reporter Ken Cook was at the grand opening and provides a look at everything “The Forum” has to offer.
Once again, we present some of the rising stars in Tucson business with the second installment of our Next Gen Leaders. This year we are recognizing 22 young leaders who are already being seen as visionaries for our community and who are demonstrating that we have the homegrown talent that major employers can tap into for their operations. There’s more to come in this annual feature in future issues of our magazine.
Steven E. Rosenberg
Publisher & Owner
BizTucson
