Common Goals, Forward Momentum
What a difference a focused organization like TREO can make.
Paul Bonavia is president and CEO of UniSource Energy and Tucson Electric Power Company, and Chair of the TREO Board of Directors. He came to Tucson just two and a half years ago. But in the short time he’s been here, he’s seen a remarkable change in the way the region addresses economic development.
“There is just a feeling of coming together,” Bonavia says. “People are uniting.”
This is especially true in the solar industry, something that pleases Bonavia. “Tucson is a natural for solar. Tucson is branding itself as the solar capital, but early on people wondered if we would chase solar energy away,” he said. There was a fear that, through the lack of consensus and a unified vision, Tucson would drive solar companies away to other markets.
But, Bonavia said, Tucson is coalescing around solar and he believes this will be a huge boon to the region. This is evidenced, he said, by the Pima County Board of Supervisors’ recent 5-0 vote in favor of the SunEdison (formerly FRV) solar project. The 25-megawatt array will sit on 305 acres of former farmland in the Marana area and will be Southern Arizona’s largest solar generating project to date. Tucson Electric Power will purchase the energy output from the system. Construction begins this fall, and is estimated to create 250-300 short-term jobs.
Bonavia acknowledged that Tucson has many challenges; however, he believes TREO is well positioned to address them.
“Tucson has been very fragmented,” he explained, “But we now have the right leadership in place. It’s a real opportunity for us as a community.”
Bonavia also believes that Tucson showed the world what kind of community it is in the days after Jan. 8. He said he expected negative attention directed toward the city, but he received compliments about how the community rallied together.
“We got great calls commenting on the community support and outpouring in the days after the tragedy. You find strength when you’re tested, and Tucson demonstrated that,” he said.
In his role as chair of the TREO Board of Directors, Bonavia has several goals. “I want to build on the unity of the business community,” he said. “Our big task is engagement – keeping the community engaged in our mission.”
Another goal is to build on the region’s strength in research coming out of the University of Arizona. TREO is ready to forge ties with the new university leadership.
“The university is – and probably always will be – one of our number one assets as a community,” Bonavia said.
Like Joe Snell, Bonavia also believes Tucson is at a crossroads. “The big question – the challenge – is to keep building. We have to recognize and address our challenges, and build on our strengths.”