Business Attraction

Beale Infrastructure said its proposed $3 billion data center in Tulsa will make the internet stronger and the community safer. Mike Neal, president and CEO of the Tulsa Regional Chamber, labeled it a transformative investment. “A project of this scale doesn’t just change the workforce; it changes futures,” he said. “Over the life of this development, Beale’s investment will create thousands of construction jobs, performed by the men and women who make progress possible. And when the data center is up and running, it will bring high-quality jobs ranging from data center technicians to operations and security, with full-time employees earning an average salary of $100,000. “That’s real opportunity for Tulsa-area families, for small businesses and for every part of our regional economy. And what’s even more exciting is that the benefits won’t stop here. As Beale looks ahead to future phases, the positive impact of these jobs will continue to multiply, building a stronger and more dynamic economy for years to come.” Foreign direct investment played a major role in Tulsa’s Future success. A company from the United Arab Emirates announced plans to build a $4 billion aluminum production facility at the Tulsa Port of Inola. Emirates Global Aluminum’s commitment, which is scheduled to produce 1,000 full-time jobs, will represent the first new primary aluminum production plant in the United States in 45 years. Brazil-based CBC Global Ammunition has proposed a $300 million facility at Pryor’s MidAmerica Industrial Park, a project expected to create 350 jobs. The 550-acre CBC campus will occupy land that used to house Oklahoma Ordnance Works, a munitions complex used to support the country’s military during World War II. SIXT USA, whose more than century-old roots are in Germany, opened a shared services center in downtown Tulsa. The new hub will complement SIXT’s North American headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., by broadening the company’s capabilities across essential business functions. Agile Space Industries, an in-space propulsion company based in Colorado, plans to invest $36 million into a hot-fire, rocket engine testing center for external customers in Tulsa. Scheduled to be located on 20 acres adjacent to Tulsa International Airport, it will support NASA, commercial space companies and the U.S. Department of Defense with testing for in-space propulsion technology. Founded in 2009, the company employs close to 100 people and has watched its revenues triple in the past four years, said Agile CEO Chris Pearson, who has more than 25 years of experience in the space industry.

“I was blown away when I came over,” Pearson said of Tulsa. “The cost of living and the quality of living is pretty phenomenal.

“The level of support we had in Tulsa, when I compare that to other states we looked at…it’s just been a massive difference. That kind of culture, that business friendliness, that was what made it obvious that was the place we were going to be able to scale.” And Google, whose Pryor facility is the second-largest data center in the world, announced that it is expanding its footprint in Oklahoma, investing an additional $9 billion into the state during the next two years. Google said part of the funds would be earmarked for an expansion of the company’s Pryor campus. Building and maintaining relationships with site location consultants is key. Ensuring we have an opportunity to stay in front of them to keep Tulsa top of mind is important. This year, the business attraction team has attended 23 national and international site consultant conferences, marketing trips and trade shows. These events provide opportunities for us to spend more exclusive time with them, such as an intimate dinner after the International Economic Development Council’s (IEDC) Annual Conference.

Workforce and Talent Strategies

Rue Ramsey, vice president of Workforce and Talent Strategies, was part of an Oklahoma delegation that took a week-long trip to Germany to study the country’s dual training that combines education and employment, offering debt-free entry into the workforce. Oklahoma representatives from the business, education and government sectors visited companies involved in the aerospace, energy and automotive industries, including Airbus, Volkswagen and Lufthansa Technik, which has a presence in Tulsa.

“It was such an honor visiting and learning about the apprenticeship training model,” Ramsey said.

“We are inspired by the time and commitment that German employers make in training their workforce. We would like to bring key components of the German apprenticeship system to Oklahoma to provide students deep, varied training experience in preparation for dynamic, long-term career pathways.”

About 420 people attended the Chamber’s State of Workforce and Talent event, which convened reps from area education institutions and career tech and workforce training partners to hear about current and future trends, innovation and opportunities in the talent and education ecosystem. The workforce and talent team celebrated its fifth year of NEXTGEN-Tulsa’s Next Generation of Talent initiative, a shadowing program that pairs Black high school students with local companies to provide three weeks of career exploration and experiential learning.

Ramsey and her team paired with Tulsa Public Schools to realize two priorities championed by 2025 Chamber Chair Bill Knight: the College Essentials and Career Exploration initiatives. As part of the Chamber's College Essentials Initiative, a total of 67 students from all nine TPS institutions received backpacks, sheets, towels and other basics designed to prepare them for their first year of campus life. Each package was personalized from a wish list that included the student's college choice and intended field of study.

Modeled after the Angel Tree, the Initiative allowed employers to provide TPS up to $150 in gifts. By the program's end, 33 employers provided items to the students, making the initiative a 100% match. The Career Exploration initiative paired 10 local employers with 200 high school students from Tulsa Public Schools to offer them real-world career discovery. Businesses opened their doors and allowed students to tour their facilities and learn about various career opportunities they could find right here at home.

The Chamber’s Education Leadership Summit hosted leaders from the region’s public-school districts and higher education institutions to discuss the opportunities and challenges in preparing students in the modern workforce and the new world of AI.

The workforce team also held a pair of Workforce and Talent Council meetings and three HR Forums, hearing about best practices from HR professionals, educational institutions, nonprofits and tribes. Spearheaded by Ramsey, Tulsa’s Future launched a new initiative designed to retain and attract talent in high demand occupational clusters. Starting with engineers of all disciplines and industrial machinery mechanics occupational clusters, we convened and connecting those who build the early career talent pipeline for to our employers who need this talent. We want education providers to interact with employers to help recent graduates and completers launch their careers from the Tulsa Region. The Chamber also is addressing the critical need for experienced talent in those high-demand occupational career clusters by working with companies to recruit experienced talent. This is the first time we have recruited talent for specific hard-to-fill positions together as a region. Using targeted advertising, the talent recruitment ads run in cities with a high concentration of engineers and industrial machinery mechanics, which allows seasoned professionals to access job openings directly with local companies throughout the Tulsa region. The Chamber plans to expand with several more high-demand occupational clusters in 2026.