Salt Lake City has been named one of the 15 “hottest” cities in the world for business by Fortune Magazine, and Gov. Gary Herbert played a role in this.
“This was an opportunity to showcase how Utah is business-friendly, with low taxes and low energy costs, an impressive workforce and one of the strongest local economies,” the governor said in a news release. “I was thrilled to see Salt Lake City get this well-deserved and timely recognition.”
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Allyson Isom, Herbert’s deputy chief of staff, explained how the governor’s long-term policy objectives have helped Salt Lake City achieve this recognition.
“The governor’s 10-year Strategic Energy Initiative is focused on keeping energy costs low,” Isom said. “It makes a meaningful difference, not only for the quality of life for Utah residents but also in attracting and retaining business, especially manufacturing.”
She also explained how energy resources determine how they capitalize on managing that resource before other states exploit it.
Isom relates how Herbert shot Salt Lake City to the top of the list.
“The governor rejects the pom-pom stereotype, but he takes very seriously his role as the state’s chief cheerleader,” Isom said. “Despite a demanding schedule, he carves out time regularly to go to New York and D.C. to meet with business and government leaders, regulators and commentators alike, to pitch Utah — not in a superficial, spotlight-seeking way but in a meaningful dialogue about the very foundational principles I mentioned above. He’s focused on securing high-quality, sustainable Utah jobs, whether it’s growing them from within or recruiting them from elsewhere.”
Isom said about three weeks ago she received a tip from their GOED team that Fortune was doing a piece on the 15 hottest cities in the world to do business. They thought perhaps a call from the governor would help get the reporter’s attention. With a scheduled 15 minute cushion between a press conference at the University of Utah and an appointment at the Capitol, she asked the governor if they could squeeze in a call between appointments, so they stopped at the mansion to get on a land line. Thirty minutes later, she gave the governor an animated signal that they needed to get back on schedule. She was not sure the reporter said much during the exchange, but she knows the governor was delighted to have an opportunity to tell Utah’s story in glowing detail. By the end of the call, the reporter told the governor that, while there were no guarantees, Salt Lake City had shot to the top of the list, and he’d learned many things he did not know about our great state.
Fortune also cited the many start-ups emerging from the University of Utah in addition to the low-cost utilities.
“I don’t think that reporter got two words in,” said Chief of Staff Derek Miller in a news release. “For 30 minutes, the governor touted one accolade after another in rapid fire fashion — things the reporter had not considered. Those accolades require a broad-based effort by many in the private and public sectors, something the Governor calls ‘Team Utah,’ and he considers himself the chief cheerleader.”
