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Commerce Authority names Watson as new CEO
An eight-month, $75,000 nationwide search for a new Arizona Commerce Authority CEO ended when the only identified candidate – who worked in the building – was selected and unanimously approved today.
The ACA board today named interim CEO Sandra Watson to the job permanently after more than an hour in executive session.
The veiled power behind Arizona commerce
A private, tax-exempt organization created to support the Arizona Commerce Authority has a big decision to make about whether it will publicly disclose the names of its contributors and the amount of money it raises.
Mum’s the word on next Commerce Authority CEO
More than a month after it called off a planned announcement on its next CEO, the Arizona Commerce Authority is staying tight-lipped about how it will choose the successor to Don Cardon when he leaves the economic development agency at the end of the month.
What finalists?
Though Commerce Authority officials have said they are reviewing whether they will release the names of the finalists being considered in the search for a new CEO, current CEO Don Cardon told our reporter today that the selection committee doesn't even have a list of finalists.
ACA backtracks on plans to announce new CEO
After initially saying it would announce its new CEO at a meeting Friday, the Arizona Commerce Authority now says the selection may be pushed back and that it doesn’t even have a list of finalists yet.
Commerce Authority backs off controversial ‘stipends’
The Arizona Commerce Authority announced late Friday afternoon that it will not be awarding the $5,000 stipends it had earlier promised to15 companies eliminated from a competitive grant program.
The Goldwater Institute’s Clint Bolick sent a letter to the ACA earlier this month, warning that the awards for unsuccessful semifinalists in the agency’s Innovation Challenge could be a viol[...]
Commerce Authority lawyers exploring whether Cardon should pay back $50K
Attorneys for the Arizona Commerce Authority are poring over outgoing CEO Don Cardon’s contract to see whether the agency can recoup a $50,000 signing bonus he received, and will likely put safeguards into his successor’s contract to make sure it won’t be a question next time.
Capitol Quotes: April 1, 2011
‘I think Arizona would not be in the top 10.’ — Former Intel CEO Craig Barrett, saying Intel would not consider Arizona as a site for investment if it had to start anew.
Commerce Authority board says transparency, integrity are high priorities
Members of the Arizona Commerce Authority pledged that the state’s new quasi-private economic development agency take a zero-tolerance approach to backroom deals and cronyism as it gives out millions of dollars in incentives to the businesses it hopes to attract.
Commerce Authority: State pays, but has little say
When the Arizona Department of Commerce becomes the Arizona Commerce Authority, the quasi-private agency will be free of much of the oversight and regulations that accompany being a fully public part of state government.
Brewer unveils jobs bill, calls special session
Calling it the most important legislation Arizona has taken up in generations, Gov. Jan Brewer on Monday unveiled the details of the long-awaited Arizona Competitiveness Package, a raft of tax cuts and incentives that she said will boost job growth and make Arizona a haven for businesses.
