Feedback: December 2021

Question: What economic trends do you expect will impact your business in 2022? 

Simon Beltran

President and Chief Revenue Officer
O’Neil Printing
Sector: Business Services

Supply chain challenges will continue to impact our business and the clients we serve. From raw material availability and associated inflation to the impact on timing from logistics providers, we will continue to see the effects on our client programs. We are doing everything possible to communicate early and often with our vendor partners and clients. 

Our operations and procurement teams are closely managing our inventories of paper, ink, plates and packaging supplies. Our on-hand inventories are certainly higher than in years past to help us deliver quickly on client expectations. 

We have proven that much of the impact of supply chain stress can be overcome with proactive decision making, better planning, and risk management.

Simon Beltran is a recognized business and thought leader with more than 12 years of executive level history, excelling in leadership within the distribution, manufacturing, e-commerce, physical and digital communication marketplace. In his role as president and CRO of O’Neil Printing, Beltran oversees all aspects of the technology and revenue organizations, including sales, marketing, product, technology solutions and client experience to ensure clients benefit across a full spectrum of technology-driven solutions, excellence in print and fulfillment services, and marketing supply chain expertise.

Lorry Bottrill

Chief Executive Officer
Mercy Care
Sector: Healthcare

As with all sectors, the pandemic has had an impact on the workforce in the healthcare industry. Workforce opportunities will continue to impact the healthcare industry in 2022. Mercy Care is in the process of developing a Workforce Development Task Force to help address the situation. This task force will include participation from providers, so we can hear from them directly. The task force will be focused on developing additional effective workforce recruitment and retention strategies, to create a strong pipeline of workers throughout the healthcare continuum. Our plan is for this pipeline to include physical health and behavioral health workforce opportunities. 

As with all projects of this scope, the most important thing we can do in this early stage is to listen, and that’s what we’re doing. We’ve had many conversations with multiple providers in recent weeks and months to further understand the situation. Solutions will require innovation, flexibility and collaboration to ensure continuity of quality care for patients, and an environment that supports those delivering that care. 

Lorry Bottrill, CPA, is chief executive officer of Mercy Care. In addition, Bottrill serves on the board of directors for the Desert Southwest Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Foundation for Senior Living and Health Current, which is Arizona’s electronic health information exchange. She also leads the Home Matters Governance Fund in Arizona and is vice president of the Arizona Health Plan Association. 

Charles Eckert

Principal and Managing Director
Red Hawk Garage Suites by Red Hawk Development Corporation
Sector: Real Estate

Being an economist by training and having started my career in the late ʼ70s when inflation was raging, I see inflation as the elephant in the room. it is a nasty bug. Call it the coming pandemic of 2022. However, real estate, like other hard assets, is often an inflation hedge provided demand does not dry up — and demand for all things real estate in Arizona is increasing, not diminishing. 

For new construction, and as business owners generally, our inflation challenge is to determine where to price our products to preserve a sufficient profit margin without destroying our business’s value proposition. For new construction specifically, given the opaque and volatile nature of construction cost fluctuations, the pricing model is even more difficult to discern. 

However, Red Hawk’s Garage Suites is a market niche and, as such, our value proposition covers more than a storage solution: It is a lifestyle choice and a commercial real estate investment as much as it is a place to store your “stuff.” While we have seen some fallout because of market uncertainty generally, we continue to experience strong demand because of our multidimensional value proposition. Great products with a valid value proposition will continue to see solid demand in growing markets, even in inflationary times. 

An accomplished real estate developer operating principally in north Phoenix/Deer Valley, Red Hawk Development offers services in land acquisition, site planning, zoning and entitlements and offsite, onsite and vertical development, and brokerage. Charles Eckert has developed 16 successful projects in Arizona with a market value of $50 million. Eckert’s past roles include VP at Marcus & Millichap and Colliers International, senior positions at Oracle & MCI, and founder of Southern Capital Mortgage. 

Emil J. Molin

President and Owner
Cove Mesa Vineyard, LLC

On the negative side, we can expect supply chain issues. Bottles, barrels, tanks and equipment are all seriously impacted by current supply chain issues. We are fully equipped with first-class, new equipment, so that will not be an issue in the near future. We will deal with the other items by planning and ordering far in advance of our needs.

Additionally, increasing costs of supplies and transportation will impact the cost of goods sold — but this will be ameliorated by efficiencies of scale with increased production and sales.

On the positive side, the Verde Valley has just received status as a new AVA (American Viticultural Area)! This recognition will create additional demand for the wine and increased visitors to the area. At the same time, the worldwide pandemic has reduced international travel and increased local and regional travel, and this, too, will result in more visitors to our wine region.

Emil Molin, president and owner of Cove Mesa Vineyard Winery, Tasting Room and Vineyards in the Verde Valley, is a business and community leader with extensive wine industry experience, knowledge and relationships. A member of numerous industry organizations, he holds a Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctorate from Indiana University and Associate of Applied Science in viticulture and enology from Yavapai College in Arizona.

Jennifer Reynolds

Principal
Ideation Design Group 

There are several trends I see impacting us in 2022, but the biggest by far is supply chain issues. As a retail and restaurant design firm, we have always been very conscious of lead times. Our clients, projects and workflow are much faster than the average design firm. We have always made it a practice to note lead times, order items early and in general follow what the current lead time issues are. 

In the past six to nine months, we have spent 40% to 50% more time tracking lead times, re-selecting items due to availability issues and mitigating the increased costs not only in raw goods but in shipping as well. The additional time spent has also resulted in an increase in our initial fees as we are accounting for the issues at least for the next year. 

Our biggest goal for 2022 is to source domestically. We have become more conscientious of finding materials and products that are made here in the U.S. so as to avoid the shipping and port logjam we are facing now. We are constantly researching and doing quite a bit of continuing education to find and fill that void as well as looking at alternative solutions to design challenges.

Reynolds offers more than 25 years of experience in hospitality, restaurant and retail design and implementation. Reynolds’ primary focus is designing beautiful yet highly functional spaces. As an award-winning designer, she continues to innovate and propel all of Ideation’s projects into the future. As one of the founding principals of Ideation Design Group, Reynolds’ vast expertise and commitment to progressive strategies has helped grow the company to be one of the country’s top hospitality firms.