Area business leaders are forming the Borderplex Bi-National Economic Alliance, a new region-wide economic development organization, including Las Cruces, El Paso, and Ciudad Juárez.
“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 L. Frederick Francis, Chairman of Paso del Norte Group, during a presentation earlier this week. “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,” he said.
The new regional alliance is made up of business leaders from Las Cruces, El Paso, and Ciudad Juárez as a single region, with 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, 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.” Strategically, the group aims 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. “This initiative is not about overtaking any single entity, but rather bringing the talent, functions and other assets together under one roof.”
“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 PdNG. “This is a newer, more streamlined process of actually developing our economy, versus what is traditionally thought of as 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. The alliance will focus on four core areas: Economic Development; Policy Development and Advocacy; Business Intelligence, Applied Research and Data Analysis; and Member Services, Operations, and Outreach. The group will be comprised of members from all three of the communities represented by the organization.
A 13-member Steering Committee has been formed with an initial focus of recruiting membership to the organization. The following regional leaders are members of the Borderplex Steering Committee:
Garrey Carruthers, Ph.D., New Mexico State University
Richard Castro, Castro Enterprises
Myrna Deckert, Paso del Norte Health Foundation
Alejandra de la Vega Foster, Grupo de la Vega
Miguel Fernandez Iturriza, Plan Estrategico
Paul L. Foster, Western Refining
L. Frederick Francis, WestStar Bank
Woody Hunt, Hunt Companies
Tom Hutchinson, La Posta
Raymond Palacios, Bravo Cadillac/ Bravo Chevrolet Cadillac
William D. Sanders, Strategic Growth Bank
Francisco Uranga, Foxconn
Russell Vandenburg, TVO International
The Borderplex Bi-National Economic Alliance, through regional members, will work in the coming months to finalize the membership and leadership of the organization (list below).
Current Leadership Members, Borderplex Bi-National Economic Alliance:
Las Cruces
Garrey Carruthers, Ph.D., New Mexico State University*
Laura Mathers Coniff, Mathers Realty, Inc.
Tom Hutchinson, La Posta*
Gary Lenzo, Century Bank of Las Cruces
David E. McCollum, Las Cruces Bulletin
Kari Mitchell, Las Cruces Machine Mfg & Engineering
Raymond Palacios, Bravo Cadillac/ Bravo Chevrolet Cadillac
El Paso
Scott Adkins, Currey Adkins
Richard Castro, Castro Enterprises*
Myrna Deckert, Paso del Norte Health Foundation*
Edward Escudero, Sierra Finance
Paul L. Foster, Western Refining*
L. Frederick Francis, WestStar Bank*
Leonard Goodman, Goodman Financial Group
Ruben Guerra, Guerra Investments
Chuck Harre, CAS Group
Gary Hedrick, University of Texas at El Paso
Josh Hunt, Hunt Companies
Woody Hunt, Hunt Companies*
Mary Kipp, El Paso Electric Company
Enrique Moreno, Law Office of Enrique Moreno
Dr. Diana Natalicio, University of Texas at El Paso
Raymond Palacios, Bravo Cadillac/ Bravo Chevrolet Cadillac *
Jose Antonio Rico, ESEI
Jimmy Rogers, Jr., Wells Fargo Insurance, ret’d
Gerald Rubin, Helen of Troy
Alan Russell, TECMA
William D. Sanders, Strategic Growth Bank*
Thomas Shockley, El Paso Electric Company
Emma Schwartz, Medical Center of the Americas
Russell Vandenburg, TVO International*
Oscar Venegas, Venegas Engineering Management and Construction
Robert Wingo, Sanders Wingo
Ciudad Juárez
Estuardo Alvelais
Guillermo Alvelais, Sistemas AXIS S.A. de C.V.
Dr. Roberto Assael, Clinica Médica Internacional de Juarez
Jaime Bermudez, Bermudez International
Alejandra de la Vega Foster, Grupo de la Vega*
Federico de la Vega, Grupo de la Vega
Miguel Fernandez, Transtelco
Miguel Fernandez Iturriza, Plan Estrategico*
Angelica Fuentes, OmiLife
Enrique Muñoz, Grupo S-Mart
Eduardo Romero, Baker McKenzie
Francisco Uranga, Foxconn
*Also a member of the Steering Committee.