GPEC reports continued project pipeline; Goodyear credited with recent locates and jobs

Chris Camacho, president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, briefed the Goodyear City Council on March 17 with an annual update on GPEC efforts to attract and support high‑wage industries across Metro Phoenix.

Camacho said GPEC represents public jurisdictions across Maricopa and Pinal counties and leverages a mix of public and private funding to assist companies with site selection, due diligence and workforce connections. “When companies are evaluating the market, they don't know the difference between Phoenix and Goodyear and Glendale as much as you want them to,” Camacho said, arguing that the region competes as a trade area rather than a single municipality.

The presentation highlighted several regional metrics: GPEC has supported roughly 1,000 projects in the valley historically, generating nearly 190,000 jobs in aggregate by GPEC’s accounting; in recent years the organization said the average wage associated with new, higher‑value projects has risen to about $97,000. Camacho said the region had about 180 active qualified projects in the pipeline at the time of his briefing and that international investment was increasing.

Camacho also reviewed Goodyear‑specific results: he said GPEC’s records show 17 assisted locates in Goodyear over the last five years, roughly 5,000 associated jobs and just under $2 billion in reported capital investment tied to those projects. He identified GTI Fabrication, Romac and Meyer Berger among recent projects that used GPEC services.

Council members and staff discussed how cities can remain competitive for high‑wage employers. Camacho urged cities to focus on site readiness—shovel‑ready land, utility and energy infrastructure, and workforce pipelines through career and technical education (CTE/JTED)—and noted that resilient energy and grid redundancy are increasingly important to advanced manufacturers. He said GPEC is meeting with energy providers and has been addressing potential implications of federal and regulatory developments, including an upcoming Environmental Protection Agency engagement on ozone and attainment issues that could affect permitting and industrial operations.

Camacho described GPEC’s funding model as a mix of public per‑capita contributions and private corporate investments; he said Goodyear’s annual public contribution figure appears in GPEC materials as $54,000. He also said GPEC would soon launch a new branding and national outreach effort intended to raise Greater Phoenix’s profile for target industries.

Council members thanked GPEC for its partnerships and asked whether geopolitics, tariffs and changes in global supply chains were affecting company decisions. Camacho said he expected continued re‑shoring and near‑shoring trends—particularly among Taiwanese supply chains tied to semiconductors and battery industries—and that tariffs and policy moves could accelerate companies’ decisions to locate closer to customers and manufacturing partners in North America. He said workforce preparation is a central concern as manufacturing returns.

The update was informational; no council action was taken. Council members requested continued coordination with GPEC and Goodyear economic‑development staff on site readiness, workforce programs and targeted outreach to attract high‑wage employers.

Clarifying details from the presentation included GPEC’s regional counts (about 1,000 assisted projects historically and roughly 180 active qualified projects in the current pipeline), the rise in average wages for newly located projects (Camacho cited about $97,000), and Goodyear‑specific tallies (17 assisted locates in five years; about 5,000 associated jobs and just under $2 billion in capital investment, per GPEC’s third‑party analytics). Camacho also flagged national trends such as semiconductor and energy‑storage investments (TSMC and Mayo Clinic were mentioned as regional anchors) and said GPEC planned a privately funded national branding campaign in the coming months.