EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT TEAM

Sandra Watson is an economic development professional with over 30 years of leadership experience in business attraction and expansion, innovation, entrepreneurship, economic policy and workforce development. The ACA has successfully landed 1,329 companies that have committed to creating more than 303,000 quality jobs and investing more than $174 billion in new capital in the state.

Currently, Ms. Watson serves as the President & CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA), a public-private partnership that leads statewide economic development. The unique structure of the ACA brings together leaders from private industry, academia and all three branches of state government. She previously oversaw the Workforce Arizona Council and Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity, a data-driven team focused on economic and labor market analysis. In addition to leading the ACA and serving on its Board of Directors, Ms. Watson serves on Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs’ leadership team as her Senior Economic Policy Advisor. 

Ms. Watson is a member of the U.S. Investment Advisory Council, advising the U.S. Secretary of Commerce on policies to attract foreign direct investment. In addition, she is an inaugural member of Natcast’s National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) Workforce Advisory Board. She also serves as a founding member and the Chair of the State Economic Development Executives Network Board of Directors, a founding partner on the Institute for Automated Mobility Board of Directors and serves on the boards of the National State Science and Technology Institute and the Make-A-Wish Arizona Foundation. 

Ken Burns serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA), where he oversees teams responsible for financial incentive program administration, accounting, information technology, human resources and overall operations.

Prior to ACA, Mr. Burns served in a similar capacity for the Greater Phoenix Economic Council for more than seven years, where he was active on Finance, Audit, Resource Development and other strategic planning committees. In his earlier years, Mr. Burns held leadership positions in diverse industries including manufacturing, telecommunications and the construction trades.

In addition to his economic development experience, Mr. Burns has served as an independent management consultant and with a regional CPA firm. His executive experience includes serving as Chief Operating Officer for two mid-sized law firms. He also served on the firms’ executive management committees.

He currently serves on the Clearinghouse CDFI Arizona Board of Advisors and on the Board of Directors for the Arizona Industrial Development Authority and the Arizona Finance Authority.

Mr. Burns earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Business Administration, Mathematics and Computer Science from Wayne State College in Nebraska and an MBA from Arizona State University. Mr. Burns has also completed University of Arizona’s Basic Economic Development Course and is a Certified Public Accountant, licensed in Arizona.

Fernando Garcia serves as the Executive Vice President of International Trade and Investment at the Arizona Commerce Authority. He is responsible for leading and executing ACA’s international strategy for trade, foreign direct investment and early stage companies. Mr. Garcia and his team amplify Arizona’s value proposition throughout the globe to showcase assets in the state and how Arizona will continue to provide solutions for industry as they expand into the U.S. market. Mr. Garcia also leads ACA’s international offices which include Mexico City, Chihuahua, Taiwan, Republic of Korea, Europe (based in Germany) and Israel. 

Previous to joining the ACA in May 2021, Mr. Garcia worked at the City of Casa Grande where he first started his career in economic development focusing on business attraction. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a Master of Public Administration which introduced him to the economic development field. Throughout his career, Mr. Garcia has been highly involved with the Arizona Association for Economic Development where he was part of the Board of Directors and a recipient of the “New Member of the Year” award for outstanding achievement and contributions to the state.

In addition, Mr. Garcia is a Captain in the United States Marine Corps Reserves serving in Miramar, California and recently completed Expeditionary Warfare School as part of his professional military education.

As Executive Vice President for Venture Development & Innovation Strategy, Melissa Lamson serves Arizona’s startup and venture funding ecosystem by initiating and executing on strategic projects, programs, and events to ensure innovation in Arizona thrives. Ms. Lamson is the liaison for the Plug and Play Accelerate AZ program, facilitates the ACA’s prestigious startup Mentor Program, initiated the Founders Advisory Forum and Concierge Services for startups. She recently developed a 3-Year Integrate & Scale Plan with key stakeholders in Arizona’s innovation ecosystem to meet current founder and funder demands. Ms. Lamson, with her team, is launching a suite of new programs to support startup launch and growth; Venture Start, Venture Raise, and Venture Scale, the latter supports our signature grant program, the Arizona Innovation Challenge (AIC).

Before coming to the ACA, Ms. Lamson ran her own consultancy working with high-growth companies like SAP, LinkedIn, Coinbase, Zillow, and Space X to build programs, provide leadership coaching, and develop organizational strategy. During the pandemic, she started an accelerator for women called RECREATE to launch businesses and at the end of nine months, three out of twelve women were funded. Merging RECREATE with Venture Café Phoenix and turning it into the Women Entrepreneur Network (WEN), Ms. Lamson also joined the VCP team and contributed to global strategy, VIP programming and secured sponsorships. Attendance grew from 50 to 150 every Thursday and Ms. Lamson raised over $350K in donations.

Additionally, Ms. Lamson has authored two relevant books, Market Entry into the US (in German and English) and The New Global Manager: Learning to Manage in a Complex Business Environment.

Jena Coolidge McGovern serves at the Executive Vice President of Marketing & Communications at the Arizona Commerce Authority. She is responsible for leading and executing the ACA’s strategic marketing plan. Ms. McGovern and her team amplify Arizona’s unique value proposition across a variety of tactics including paid and earned media. She believes the recipe for marketing success is achieved with three key ingredients: a team of passionate professionals, a culture that promotes creativity and leading-edge tech tools.

Previous to joining the ACA in November 2017, Ms. McGovern worked as a digital strategist and copywriter at local Phoenix advertising agencies where she developed marketing experience across CPG, B2B, health care and non-profit sectors. Ms. McGovern is also passionate about growing and supporting the state’s marketing community. From 2019-2021 served as President of the Arizona Innovation Marketing Association. She has held a position on the AZIMA board of directors for seven years and currently serves as the TIM Awards Co-Chair. Ms. McGovern is an alumna of Texas State University - San Marcos where she earned a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Journalism.

Shawn Neidorf oversees several research teams at ACA that collect, code and analyze employment data and produce bespoke research products to support ACA’s business attraction and expansion efforts, workforce development and marketing outreach. In addition to overseeing the ACA's research initiatives, Ms. Neidorf identifies and capitalizes on strategic opportunities and funding. A core focus of her role is leveraging research, grants and other opportunities to develop strategies that enhance Arizona’s competitive position. 

Previously, Ms. Neidorf worked in public opinion polling at the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C., and as a newspaper and magazine journalist, most recently at The Mercury News in San Jose, California.

Ms. Neidorf has a doctorate in economic and organizational sociology from the University of Illinois at
Chicago, where she completed a concentration in survey methods. She also has a master’s degree from UIC in sociology and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Patrick believes in the power of compelling storytelling and is passionate about the art of simple, effective writing. At the ACA, he leads strategic public relations and external communications efforts, alongside the Executive Vice President of Marketing and Communications, with responsibilities that include sharing Arizona’s story of economic diversification, technological innovation, and policy leadership with local, national, and international audiences.

Mr. Ptak joined the ACA in December 2020. Prior to that, he spent a decade doing communications and legislative work for elected officials and political campaigns, starting as an unpaid intern on Capitol Hill. He served in the press offices of U.S. Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Martha McSally in Washington, D.C. before moving to Phoenix in 2017 to serve on the team for Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, eventually joining the governor’s senior staff as Communications Director from 2018 to 2020.

Originally from Illinois, Mr. Ptak earned bachelor's degrees in English and Political Science from the University of Dayton (go Flyers!).

Ryan Ruiz serves as the Executive Vice President of Business Development at the Arizona Commerce Authority, the state’s leading economic development organization. In his role, Mr. Ruiz is responsible for attracting businesses to Arizona and supporting the growth of in-state expansions. Mr. Ruiz and his team serve as a client’s single point of contact, facilitating streamlined connections with the state’s economic development stakeholders from municipalities, utilities, universities, workforce partners and more. With a focus on the battery technology and semiconductor sectors, Mr. Ruiz is especially talented at supporting leading-edge advanced manufacturing companies identify long-term solutions in Arizona.

Prior to joining the Arizona Commerce Authority, Mr. Ruiz worked more than decade in the private sector, serving in various leadership roles with a globally recognized telecommunications company. Mr. Ruiz earned a Bachelor of Science in economics from The University of Arizona and an MBA from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington.

As Executive Vice President for Infrastructure, Marisa Paula Walker focuses on the intersection of economic development, infrastructure and transportation innovation. Ms. Walker leads several initiatives on behalf of the ACA, including Institute of Automated Mobility (IAM): A public-private consortium focused on defining the safety standards science and policy required for a future of ubiquitous automated transportation in Arizona and the nation.

The IAM is currently working on identifying a safety assurance methodology and the specific safety metrics to evaluate the performance of ADS-equipped vehicles. The IAM also includes an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) initiative, AZSkyTech, which facilitates a robust ecosystem of strategic partnerships to position Arizona as the most advantageous location for research, testing and safety in deploying these aerial vehicles.

Ms. Walker began her professional career at the University of Arizona, where for more than a decade she held positions that advised the University’s Associate Vice President for Economic Development on Arizona-Mexico and NAFTA issues; analyzed border economic development opportunities and competitive advantages; and organized forums and symposiums on trilateral collaborations among academic institutions in Canada and Mexico in the areas of university research parks, agricultural biosciences and optical sciences-photonics. She has authored several reports on subjects including cross-border economic integration and development, targeted industry assessments of Arizona’s Bioscience and Software Industries, and women entrepreneurship and business ownership in the state.

Ms. Walker also served as the Executive Director for the Arizona Governor’s CANAMEX Task Force where she was responsible for managing projects and priorities regarding transportation and telecommunication infrastructure; technology and process enhancements for cross border shipments; and international trade policy.

Keith Watkins serves as the Senior Vice President for Economic and Rural Development for the Arizona Commerce Authority.  In this capacity, Keith plays a vital role in advising the ACA and Governor’s office on rural economic development issues and opportunities.  Under his leadership, the ACA has played a direct role in creating and executing more than $6 million in new rural investment grant programs, assisting more than 60 businesses expand or locate in Arizona’s rural communities, creating more than 6,000 jobs, and generating $542M in private capital investment.

Mr. Watkins also serves as Vice Chairman of the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA), a public bonding authority that works with Arizona communities and publicly regulated water and wastewater companies to develop, acquire and expand water-related projects.  With a bond portfolio of over $1 billion, WIFA serves as a vital financing arm for these core infrastructure needs.

Prior to his work at the Arizona Commerce Authority, Mr. Watkins was Vice President of JF Companies, a privately-held diversified real estate development and water resources firm with holdings in the Western United States.  Mr. Watkins managed a real estate holdings portfolio worth nearly $100 million and was responsible for negotiations for property acquisitions, entitlements, public affairs, marketing, and dispositions.

A third-generation Arizona native and University of Arizona graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Regional Development, Mr. Watkins has earned a national reputation for his work in economic development.  He has extensive public and private-public economic development experience, having served in executive positions in many organizations. 

Mr. Watkins spent nine successful years at the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC), where he led the organization’s high performing business recruitment efforts, helping to land companies such as Vanguard, Charles Schwab, and Midwestern University.  Playing a direct role in the retention and recruitment of more than 200 firms, Mr. Watkins's leadership helped generate over 165,000 new private sector direct jobs and more than $2 billion in private capital investment.  He also served as a founder of the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore, where he was recruited to start up this new private-public partnership that serves the City of Baltimore and five adjacent counties. While there, Mr. Watkins developed and executed the first region-wide business retention and attraction enterprise, helping to recruit more than 24 new employers during his tenure and helping to retain an existing General Motors plant.  He also served as Economic Development Director for the Town of Buckeye where he initiated the airport master plan and aggressively marketed the Town.

Mr. Watkins also serves on many boards and commissions, representing the Arizona Commerce Authority and State of Arizona, including:

• Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA), Vice Chairman
• Maricopa County Economic Development Council, Member – this group advises the Maricopa County Government on economic development issues and opportunities
• Rural Business Development Advisory Council, Board Member – this group advises the Arizona Commerce Authority on rural policy and issues
• Arizona Association for Economic Development (AAED), Board Member
• Commission of Indian Affairs, ex-officio Board Member
• Greater Prescott Regional Economic Partnership, ex-officio Board Member

Kolu Wilson serves as the Chief Workforce Officer at the Arizona Commerce Authority where she focuses on ensuring Arizona’s talent ecosystem aligns with the business needs in target industries. Through partnership with academia and industry, Ms. Wilson develops innovative talent programs to grow Arizona’s robust talent pipeline. Ms. Wilson is a Senior Executive with over 15 years of experience managing and administering workforce and economic development programs including serving as Workforce Administrator for the State of Arizona (Arizona Commerce Authority and Office of Economic Opportunity), Assistant Commissioner with the State of Minnesota – Department of Employment and Economic Development and leading regional workforce programs for Amazon Web Services. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Urban Studies from the University of Minnesota and Juris Doctorate from Arizona Summit Law School. She is a Licensed Attorney in the State of Minnesota. Ms. Wilson is currently earning her Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) certification from the International Economic Development Council.