Jun. 25—Earlier this month, Mesa officials helped cut the ribbon on a 93,000-square-foot headquarters north of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport for KP Aviation, a global jet parts supplier that recently completed a relocation from Reno, Nevada, to Mesa.
CEO Kim Schulze co-founded the aftermarket parts business in her garage in San Diego in 2001, a volatile time in aviation, she said, before moving to Reno for a larger space.
Times of crisis are sometimes fertile grounds for opportunity, and Schulze's company took off. Growth has been especially strong the past six years, and last year the company decided to find a new home for its next phase of growth.
After looking everywhere from Florida to Chandler, the company decided on Mesa.
KP has come a long way from Schulze's garage; its Mesa headquarters is a sleek office and warehouse building complete with an employee gym and large dining and kitchen area, where employees gathered to celebrate the ribbon-cutting with an impressive spread of food and beverages.
Mesa leaders covet business migrations with high-wage jobs, and the desire to attract companies like KP Aviation drives policy-making at the city. After the ribbon-cutting, the Mesa Tribune spoke with Schulze and two employees who moved with the company to Mesa to better understand their attraction to the community.
Schulze said the need to grow its workforce was a primary reason for the move to its new home in Mesa. In Reno, KP Aviation largely hired workers from outside the region, and the company wanted a place where it could find professionals closer to home.
So far, it's had success, hiring 31 employees in Mesa, with plans to hire 20 to 22 more.
Workforce seems to be critical for many businesses right now. Jet maker Gulfstream Aerospace, which recently signed a contract to build a maintenance hub to the south of KP Aviation, also cited the presence of skilled workers in its decision to settle in Mesa.
While workforce has been an asset for Mesa in attracting companies — the East Valley boasts relatively high levels of education — local companies still report a challenging environment for recruiting workers.
At a June 7 Mesa Economic Development Board meeting, Kathleen Jolivette, vice president of attack helicopters at Boeing, told the board that finding experienced aerospace workers is a "struggle" and an area where the city could continue to improve.
But for KP Aviation, the Valley represents a "massive talent base" compared to Reno, Chief Financial Officer Linn Shaw said.
Schulze said she also liked the Valley for reasons that are harder to quantify: the quality of entertainment, hotels and restaurants. These amenities were important to the company because even though KP Aviation's services are technical, the business is based on relationships, she said, so the ability to host and entertain clients when they visit headquarters is important.