SkyBridge Turns 10 (Almost): Still changing face of East Valley, cross-border cooperation

Then-Arizona Chamber of Commerce President Glenn Hamer (inset at left) chats with former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey about the SkyBridge Arizona cross-border logistics project at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport at the 2018 Legislative Forecast Luncheon.

By Mark Nothaft / MAP Strategies Group

MAP Strategies Group created the initial launch campaign for SkyBridge Arizona in 2017 and 2018, unpacking for the public, local business community and then-Governor Doug Ducey the importance and functionality of a U.S. Customs International Port of Entry site at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in the Southeast Valley.

The launch in part paved the way for the international influence Arizona now holds, attracting investment from regions beyond traditional NAFTA partners Mexico and Canada.

Gov. Ducey was so impressed with SkyBridge leadership and the cross-boarder narrative MAP created as its communications partner, along with other relationships we cultivated at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry and with then-president Glenn Hamer, that he included SkyBridge Arizona as a focal point within his Arizona State of the State address in January 2019. The moment validated a year of hard work and reminded us of the public good we had embarked upon.

Since then, SkyBridge has fueled more than $98 million in additional building construction at Mesa Gateway and created hundreds of jobs at four separate projects, which are all fully leased, with a new hotel in the works outlined below.

“Nine years on, it’s wonderful and gratifying to see announcements like a new hotel being built at the SkyBridge campus in Mesa,” says MAP Strategies Group CEO Mi-Ai Parrish. “We knew SkyBridge was something special and we’re pleased to have been able to play a role in its enduring brand and mission of international cooperation.”

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