FEBRUARY 2026

Cover Story

Jobs: Creating and Saving Employment in Arizona

The Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity’s jobs data is projecting sustained opportunities and growth across all sectors in 2026. Observing, “Businesses of all kinds are investing in Arizona, creating a diverse range of employment … [More]

Features

What Gen-Z Workers Want – and How Phoenix Employers Can Deliver

The Phoenix metro area, with its growing technology, healthcare, finance and manufacturing industries, is becoming a draw for Gen-Z workers. According to a recent ADP Research analysis looking at the best labor markets for this demographic, Phoenix … [More]

The Maverick Manifesto: How to Hijack Attention When the World Is Screaming

The most dangerous place in business isn’t on the edge of a cliff; it’s in the middle of the herd. If you aren't disrupting the status quo, you're just funding it. Be the exception. Event season in the Valley isn’t just a calendar of games and … [More]

How Arizona’s Marketing Leaders Are Shaping the Future of Business in 2026

As Arizona’s marketing ecosystem becomes both more sophisticated and more interconnected, the state is attracting more attention for how businesses operate locally while competing nationally. For local businesses, this shift carries tangible … [More]

Bossware Surveillance Is the Death of Workplace Culture

Bossware — surveillance software that tracks, analyzes or flags employee activity in real time — didn’t appear out of nowhere, and it didn’t start with the pandemic. For years, companies in logistics, retail and call centers quietly have used … [More]

AI Arms Ransomware Gangs for Historic 2025 Haul; 2026 Could Be Worse

Artificial intelligence may not be orchestrating major cyberattacks on its own just yet. However, it’s making attacks easier to carry out and it’s putting smaller, less protected businesses at even greater risk. What the Data Is Telling … [More]

How the Tempe Diablos Turned Civic Pride into Lasting Impact: From the Ballpark to the Heart of Tempe

For more than half a century, the Tempe Diablos have demonstrated how civic pride, when paired with committed volunteer leadership, can evolve into lasting community impact. What began in the late 1960s as an effort to put Tempe on the map as a … [More]

Roundtable

Why We Chose an ESOP for Our Growth, Succession and Legacy Options

In October 2025, our family-owned restaurant announced we were doing something unique: After more than five decades, Spinato’s Pizzeria & Family … [More]

Economy

8 Important Sales Tax Trends for 2026

In 2025, it is estimated that there were mor than 500 changes to sales tax rules and regulations throughout the country, more than in any single year … [More]

Nonprofit

The Generosity Commission

The number of Americans who volunteer in civic organizations and who give to nonprofits has plummeted in recent years, with as many as 20 million … [More]

By The Numbers

An Economy in the Chips

Thanks to a purposeful focus and our vaunted collaborative environment among economic development organizations that include Arizona Commerce … [More]

From the Top

Justin Steltenpohl: From Law to Leadership

Justin Steltenpohl’s innate drive led him to study law at The University of Toledo College of Law. Looking back on his time there, he cites what many law students do: that law school teaches you to … [More]

Legal

Personal Guaranties: A Liability Every Arizona Business Owner Should Understand

Don and Dora are Arizona natives who’ve built a stable, comfortable life in their three decades of marriage. Dora works as a bookkeeper. Don spent 20 years growing his small business, Don’s Donuts, … [More]

Startups

Bibvy – the Full-Containment Bib

Bibvy’s patent-pending product, Bibvy™, is a children’s bib designed to “make mealtimes, crafts and everyday messes dramatically easier for families,” explains its creator, Danielle Bohannan. “Our … [More]

Refer A Friend App Rewards Consumer Referrals

Refer A Friend App makes word-of-mouth referrals — the most powerful form of marketing — simple and scalable for small businesses. Users join for free and build their own personal referral … [More]

Healthcare

Under the Hard Hat: How Construction Businesses Can Turn Mental Health Awareness into Action

One third of a person’s life is spent at work — and in construction, that time is marked by long shifts, physical strain and constant pressure to perform. Those conditions take a toll on the mind, with real consequences for safety, productivity and … [More]

Technology

How RESO-Aligned Data May Reshape Community Governance

For decades, real estate data has centered on listings such as price, square footage, location and transaction history. While essential, these attributes tell only part of the story, particularly for the more than 77 million Americans living in … [More]

Semi Insights

Semiconductor Chemicals Firm Targets Casa Grande for Next Arizona Facility

Arizona’s semiconductor growth is starting to show up in places beyond the major fab sites. Increasingly, it is appearing in land transactions, rail-served sites and industrial facilities built to support large-scale manufacturing. One of the … [More]

Strong AI Demand Pushes TSMC toward Its Next Phase in Arizona

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is having a moment, and Arizona is watching closely. The world’s largest contract chipmaker reported a 35% jump in fourth-quarter profit, beating market expectations and capping a year of record performance … [More]

CRE

Retail Isn’t Back — It’s Evolved: Inside Commercial Development’s Weirdest, Smartest Year Yet

For years, commercial retail development lived under a single, exhausting headline: Is retail dead? In 2026, the answer is finally clear — and it’s neither yes nor no. Retail didn’t “come back.” It evolved. Nowhere is that evolution more … [More]

Buyer Demand Is Quietly Reshaping Phoenix Industrial

Buildout expenses, improved financing and elevated vacancies are creating a prime scenario for those wanting to own their metro Phoenix industrial real estate. Phoenix developers are taking note of this trend as well, and it is quietly (or not so … [More]

Briefs

Structured Loss Control Programs: Protecting Against Rising Costs in High-Risk Industries

In sectors like construction and manufacturing, a single incident can trigger escalating claims that may snowball into nuclear verdicts, high premium costs and long-term reputational damage. More than checking compliance boxes, structured loss … [More]

BODI Scottsdale Trends with Red Light for Fitness, Recovery

Red light therapy has quickly moved from a popular beauty treatment to one of the most talked-about innovations in fitness and fitness recovery. Long recognized for its dermatological benefits, including improved skin texture, reduced fine lines, and … [More]

Comparing Wages and Numbers of Women in Construction

Construction has historically been a male-dominated sector. In the 1960s, only about 6% of construction industry workers were women. This figure began to rise sharply between 1970 and the early 1990s, coinciding with increasing rates of female labor … [More]

Avnet, Job Trends and Best Buddies

Employment growth is strongest in sectors shaped by digital transformation and artificial intelligence. IT roles are expanding due to increased demand for cloud computing, cybersecurity, software development and data analytics. STEM positions are … [More]