Courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin
Business leaders from Las Cruces, El Paso and Cuidad Juárez met last week in El Paso to hear plans for the Borderplex Bi-National Economic Alliance, a new region-wide economic development organization. The alliance will include two groups that are merging, El Paso’s Regional Economic Development Corporation (REDCo) and Paso del Norte Group (PdN Group).
Garrey Carruthers, dean of the New Mexico University College of Business and a member of the alliance steering committee, said after the meeting that the group is composed of private sector participants. “For development to be successful it must in large part, in my mind, be driven by the private sector,” said Carruthers, who is a former governor of New Mexico. “We are no longer turning to the public sector and saying, ‘Save us.’ The private sector is taking the leadership to drive the agenda for attracting growth in our region.”
The job of the alliance will be to develop programs and influence government, he said. He said a small group of business leaders from the three communities in the alliance has been meeting for about a year in preparation for launching the initiative.
“It is time for our entire region to thrive economically, to leverage our strategic location on the U.S. – Mexico border, develop competitively to become economically prosperous, and to convert our combined communities into a 21st-century skills-based economy,” said Rick Francis, chairman of Paso del Norte Group, during the presentation.
“As individual communities, we each have our unique strengths and potential, but presenting ourselves individually is less efficient and makes it more difficult to compete. As a combined entity, our opportunity for economic growth is unmatched, and poised strategically for significant development.”
The new regional alliance is made up of Las Cruces, El Paso and Ciudad Juárez as a single region, offering a population of 2.6 million people. The combined economic assets include billions of dollars in cross-border trade, major manufacturing and distribution centers with a significant number of logistics and applied technology companies, regional higher education research institutions and the medical school, as well as critical regional military installations and national research laboratories.
The presentation positioned the goal of the Borderplex Bi-National Economic Alliance as a regional approach for a competitive economy.
The group will aim to evolve the Las Cruces, El Paso and Ciudad Juárez communities into a bi-national, globally competitive economy, develop a regional policy strategy, align and leverage the combined region’s economic assets and establish regional public-private partnerships. The group will seek collaborative measures to solve chronic policy problems faced by the region including the trade and commerce chokehold on bridges, the acceleration of higher skill development, and the development of regional demand for such skills.
The first step the alliance took was to evaluate the existing regional business development organizations, and take action by merging the functions of REDCo and the PdN Group to form the basis of the Borderplex Bi-National Economic Alliance.
“The merging of the Paso Del Norte Group and REDCo is just one component of a much larger effort,” said Russ Vandenberg, chairman of REDCo.
“The new model we are establishing will be focused on strategic economic development driven by policy analysis directed at not a single area, but a region-wide approach in critical or significant areas fundamental to growth, expansion, and development,” said Susan Melendez, executive director of the PdN Group. Melendez said the alliance represents a more streamlined process than traditional economic development.
The structure of the Borderplex Bi-National Economic Alliance will include a board of directors and an executive committee focused on governance and policy. The organization will have a CEO and executives dedicated to economic development, policy/ advocacy and marketing/membership.
In addition to Carruthers, Las Crucen Tom Hutchinson of La Posta de Mesilla serves on the steering committee. Current leadership members from Las Cruces are Carruthers; Hutchinson; Laura Mathers Coniff, Mathers Realty Inc.; Gary Lenzo, Century Bank of Las Cruces; David McCollum, Las Cruces Bulletin; Kari Mitchell, Las Cruces Machine Mfg & Engineering; and Raymond Palacios, Bravo Cadillac/ Bravo Chevrolet Cadillac.
