At its annual meeting last week in Salt Lake City, the Economic Development Corporation of Utah (EDCUtah) celebrated the economic successes it saw during its recently ended fiscal year. The group also honored a pair of community leaders for their roles in the economic growth occurring in the state.
According to EDCUtah, the state won multiple expansion and relocation commitments, highlighted by projects for high-profile companies like Facebook, Pluralsight, Adobe, Black Diamond and PillPack. EDCUtah credited work by its staff, partners and community members for successes such as:
• Thirty-five project wins. Project wins are defined as companies making a decision to relocate or expand in Utah. Thirty-five wins represents a win rate of about 23 percent of targeted projects, right around EDCUtah’s historic average.
• A net new project total of 153 — the total number of projects that entered EDCUtah’s pipeline in 2017-18. A “project” is defined as an interested company able to commit to minimum values in three of the following: number of jobs, capital investment, square footage, project timeline and budget approval. This year’s number is a new state record — almost 20 more than last year, EDCUtah said.
• Capital investment of $1.7 billion. Often referred to as “capex,” capital investment quantifies the total amount of money that relocating or expanding companies have committed to investing in Utah real estate and equipment over the life of their projects.
• New or retained jobs numbered 11,558. This is defined as the number of jobs that companies have committed to create (9,827) or retain (1,731) over the life of their projects.
• Incoming projects will occupy 3.2 million square feet in new building space over the life of the committed projects.
“Economic developers have the best jobs in the state. We get to promote all of the things that make this state unique,” said Theresa Foxley, president and CEO of EDCUtah. “I’m so thankful for the opportunity to serve in this role and help to build on EDCUtah’s great legacy. Next year, we will double down on what we’re good at and what we know works: building a sharp and talented team, driving value for our partners and continuing to attract high-value companies to Utah while strengthening relationships with those already here.”
At the meeting, EDCUtah presented awards to two people deemed outstanding leaders in economic development. Jerold G. Oldroyd, chairman of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development board and senior counsel at Ballard Spahr, was honored with the Thayne Robson Leadership in Economic Development award for his work in the public sector. Scott Anderson, president and CEO of Zions Bank, received the Nick Rose Leadership in Economic Development citation for his work in the private sector.
Since 1987, EDCUtah has worked with state and local government and private industry to attract and grow competitive, high-value companies and spur the expansion of local Utah businesses.