“Every day I have the privilege of helping to build our city of the future for businesses and residents.” Phoenix Community and Economic Development director, Christine Mackay, has served the people of Phoenix since August 2014. She is responsible for leading and fostering an environment where businesses can create and retain jobs, make capital investment and reinvestment in the community, and connect our workforce to employers and training opportunities. During Mackay’s tenure with the City of Phoenix, the department has facilitated the creation of over 100,000 high-value jobs, seeing the average wage of those jobs increase from over $30,000 in 2014 to more than $84,000 in 2024, and closed deals with more than $190 billion in capital investment. Christine leads a department of over 70 full time staff that encompasses the full spectrum of economic development areas including: business attraction, business retention and expansion, community development, international relations, Sister Cities, the Phoenix Business and Workforce Development Board, administration, research, marketing, the City-owned Footprint Center and Phoenix Bioscience Core. Christine was named one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year for 2025. The recognition highlights women who have made a significant impact in their communities and across the country. Chris was the only woman nominated from Arizona. In 2021, Christine was named as one of the Top 50 Economic Developers in the Country by Consultant Connect. She is a three-time honoree as "Economic Developer of the Year, Large Community"by the Arizona Association for Economic Development. Mackay was recognized as "Leader of the Year in Economic Development–Public Policy"by the Arizona Capitol Times, and "Industry Leader of the Year – Economic Development"by Arizona Commercial Real Estate Magazine. She has also been on the list of the Arizona Business magazine’s "50 Most Influential Women in Arizona." She is a member of the Economic Development Director's Team for Greater Phoenix, Maricopa Association of Government's Building a Quality Regional Community committee, Flinn Foundation Biosciences Roadmap committee, the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), Commercial Office Real Estate Executives (CoreNet), the Arizona Association for Economic Development (AAED), and the Arizona Business Incubator Association. Christine has more than 28 years’ experience in economic development, overlapping 30 years of commercial real estate experience. Christine Mackay has spent both her personal and professional life here in the Valley.