Accustomed to generating headlines, the Tulsa’s Future regional economic development partnership produced a slew of watershed moments in 2023.

And it did so with a bevy of collaborators. Leveraging the City of Tulsa, Tulsa County, our roughly 140 private investors and many regional and tribal partners, Tulsa’s Future: Acceleration engaged with existing businesses to support economic stability. It also attracted many major new employers with high-paying jobs and created potential careers for the workforce’s next generation with the help of innovative programs.

Topping the list of accomplishments was the Tulsa Regional Chamber being named Economic Development Organization of the Year by the International Economic Development Council. The area also attracted a $1 billion investment from Enel North America, whose affiliate 3Sun USA is scheduled to build a solar cell and panel manufacturing plant at the Tulsa Port of Inola.

Many other companies, including AAON and Lufthansa Technik Component Services, chose to expand in Tulsa in 2023.

All this economic development was generated with the support of the Tulsa’s Future investors and partners. Please take time to read the 2023 Tulsa’s Future Annual Report for more on the past year’s growth in our region.

As satisfying as this year was, we are poised for an even more successful 2024. Thank you for accompanying us on that journey.

No one threw Tulsa’s Future a ticker-tape parade in 2023, but its achievements certainly were confetti-worthy.

The Tulsa Regional Chamber’s economic development partnership – which works with the City of Tulsa, hundreds of private investors, and regional and tribal partners – attracted a billion-dollar investment to the Tulsa region in the form of a solar panel manufacturer.

This high-impact project was facilitated by Public Service Company of Oklahoma’s generous donation of more than 2,000 acres of industrial land to the Tulsa Port of Inola.

Tulsa’s Future also gained global acclaim when the International Economic Development Council named the Tulsa Regional Chamber the world’s top economic development organization (population 500,000 or greater).

The Economic Development Organization of the Year Award is presented to organizations that have demonstrated long term strategic planning, organizational development, and significant community impact and innovation. Awards are judged by a diverse panel of economic and community developers. “This award means as much to our region and all our economic development partners as it does to Tulsa’s Future,” Arthur Jackson, senior vice president of economic development for the Tulsa Regional Chamber, said in September. “Our staff strives daily to raise the profile of existing companies and attract young talent and new companies to the region, and we will continue to represent the Tulsa region as a vibrant and innovative destination for businesses.”

Since its inception in 2005, Tulsa’s Future has generated more than 80,000 jobs and more than $6 billion in capital investment. At least 200 public and private investors have supported Tulsa’s Future over that span.

That momentum is expected to continue. 2023 marked the second year of a multi-year economic development strategy, Tulsa’s Future: Acceleration, which seeks to leverage the region’s existing industry strengths and capitalize on emerging trends.

In the second year of Tulsa’s Future: Acceleration, the initiative continued to make its mark. In 2023, Tulsa’s Future and its partners:

  • Brought more than $1.6 billion of new capital investment to northeast Oklahoma
  • Supported the creation of 4,083 jobs with an average salary of more than $95,347
  • Provided externship opportunities to 33 Black Tulsa-area high school students through the Tulsa’s NextGEN Talent program
  • Hosted 56 site visits for prospective companies and initiated 88 new projects

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Business Attraction

In terms of fishing for industry, Tulsa’s Future helped land a whopper in April. That is when Enel North America, through its affiliate 3Sun USA, chose the Port of Inola to invest more than $1 billion into a solar cell and panel manufacturing plant.

What began as a conversation at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club ended with a commitment to a project expected to create create 1,900 direct jobs at full scale through phase II of the buildout.

The proposed 2-million-square-foot factory will continue Enel’s presence in Oklahoma, where it operates a regional office (Oklahoma City) and more than a dozen wind farms.

Other 2023 arrivals included:

  • Global engineering technology and consulting service provider Expleo, a Paris-based company that is partnering with Spirit AeroSystems to deliver 30 full-time jobs by the end of 2023.
  • SHD Composites, a composites materials maker that will employ 100 at a new facility in Tulsa.
  • WindShape, a Swiss company that opened an indoor drone testing and validation facility at the Skyway 36 Droneport, establishing its North American headquarters.
  • Laundris, a software company that relocated its headquarters to Tulsa from Austin, Texas.

Existing Business Retention and Expansion

Tulsa’s Future: Acceleration pooled every available resource to aid existing businesses, which are the foundation of a regional economy.

It did this via its workforce development and business retention and expansion efforts.

Through the first 10 months of 2023, the business retention and expansion (BRE) team within the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s economic development division contacted 409 existing companies in the Tulsa region and conducted meetings with 112 companies.

The BRE team also provided individual assistance to 76 companies and worked with 15 others on expansions, including Spirit AeroSystems (aerospace), Roxtec (cable/pipe manufacturing) and XRG Technologies (information technology).

Many area companies enlarged their facilities or added jobs. AAON, a commercial heating and air company, added 600 jobs (above $50,00 average wage) with a $30.5 million capital investment, and Lufthansa Technik Component Services tacked on 280 new jobs.

The BRE team also supported key industries in the region through the Aerospace, Manufacturers’ and Technology councils, which provide a forum to share best practices and engage industry professionals with networking opportunities.

To help local start-ups and companies expanded nationally, Tulsa’s Future rolled out a new, OpenAI platform with Mind the Bridge, a Silicon Valley-based company.

Additional 2023 expansions included:

  • SWEP, a heat-exchanger company that underwent a $35 million expansion, adding 77 jobs above the $50,000-average-wage threshold.
  • Eaton Thermal Products, an aerospace business that created 55 new jobs. The average wage of those positions above $50,000 was $62,589.

Workforce and Talent Strategies

The lifeblood of a workforce is its talent, which must be trained. And to keep pace with labor dynamics, companies must help educate students on career opportunities.

Those were the goals during the third cohort of the Tulsa’s NextGEN Talent (TNT) program.

Over three weeks, 33 Black high school juniors and seniors from regional public schools gained experience at 17 companies, nonprofits and educational institutions. Tulsa’s Future created the TNT externships as a growth and talent initiative designed to increase economic mobility and development for diverse talent in the Tulsa region.

“I want them to stay in Tulsa,” said Rue Ramsey, the Chamber’s vice president of workforce and talent strategies, at the 2023 TNT celebration. “I want them to know there are great jobs, excellent employers and people who are rooting for them all over the region.

“What better way for them to know that than to connect them with employers to build their professional network, to build their professional language, to spend time with adults, to spend time in the world of work?”

For the first time, the Chamber’s workforce team expanded its TNT program to accommodate college students. The expansion is designed to recruit young talent from universities within a four- to six-hour drive, particularly in career pathways that are traditionally difficult to source local. By expanding our university relationships, we are helping to enlarge our talent pools and increase our bachelor-degreed demographic.

In April, the program met with campus leadership and career services at four Lone Star State universities: University of North Texas-Denton; University of Texas; Dallas; University of North Texas-Dallas and the University of Texas-Arlington.

In November, the TNT college program networked with five Show Me State universities: Park University; Missouri Southern State University-Joplin; Rockhurst University; University of Missouri-Kansas City; and Missouri State University-Springfield.

Accentuating a fabulous year for the workforce team, TNT also took home an International Economic Development Council Excellence in Economic Development Award, capturing a Bronze in the talent development and retention category.

Focusing on the Future

2023 was a perfect example of what can be accomplished through coordinated effort across our region. But plenty of objectives remain.

Tulsa’s Future has many projects in the works that will elevate the region’s status as a job-creator in 2024.

Closing on these opportunities will take a village of regional and tribal partners. This type of cooperation keeps us at the fore of innovative economic development and ingenuity.

We are grateful to all our collaborators and thank you for your continued support.

Thank you to our regional partners and our corporate investors for their generous support of northeast Oklahoma’s economic prosperity.

Investors

  • AAA Oklahoma
  • American Residential Group
  • Arvest Bank
  • Bama Companies, Inc.
  • Big Elk Energy Systems
  • Bill Knight Automotive Group
  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield
  • of Oklahoma
  • Blue Sky Bank
  • BNSF Railway Company
  • Case & Associates Properties, Inc.
  • CBIZ Stinnett
  • CF Industries
  • Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies
  • Commerce Bank
  • CommunityCare
  • ConsumerAffairs
  • Cox Communications
  • Cyntergy
  • Dewberry
  • Dolese
  • Don Thornton Automotive Group
  • Eller & Detrich, P.C.
  • Ernst & Young, LLP
  • Flintco, LLC
  • FORVIS, LLP
  • Frederic Dorwart, Lawyers
  • GableGotwals
  • Gateway First Bank
  • GH2 Architects, LLC
  • Google, Inc.
  • Grand River Dam Authority
  • Greater Tulsa Association of REALTORS®
  • Greenheck Group
  • Griffin Media
  • Hall Estill
  • HoganTaylor, LLP
  • Ingredion, Inc.
  • JE Dunn Construction
  • Jim Norton Toyota
  • Joshi Technologies International, Inc.
  • JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
  • LUXA Enterprises, LLC
  • Mabrey Bank
  • Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P.
  • Manhattan Construction Group
  • McElroy Manufacturing, Inc.
  • McGraw Realtors
  • Nabholz
  • Northeastern State University
  • Oklahoma Aquarium
  • Oklahoma Blood Institute
  • Oklahoma Central Credit Union
  • Oklahoma State University
  • Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences
  • Oklahoma State University-Tulsa
  • Omni Air International
  • OU-Tulsa
  • Oral Roberts University
  • Regent Bank
  • Rogers State University
  • Roxtec
  • Sanguine Gas Exploration, LLC
  • Schnake Turnbo Frank
  • Security Bank
  • Senior Star
  • Small Business Capital Corporation
  • Sofidel
  • Summit Financial Group, Inc.
  • TEDC Creative Capital
  • The Anne & Henry Zarrow Foundation
  • The Persimmon Group
  • The Robson Companies, Inc.
  • The University of Tulsa
  • TTCU Federal Credit Union
  • Tulsa Bone & Joint Associates
  • Tulsa Community College
  • Tulsa Tech
  • Tulsa Zoo Management, Inc.
  • University of Oklahoma Foundation
  • Vast Bank
  • Wallace Design Collective
  • WebberLP
  • Webco Industries, Inc.
  • Whiptail Midstream, LLC

Regional Partners

  • Bixby Metro Chamber of Commerce
  • Broken Arrow Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development Corporation
  • Cherokee Nation
  • Cherokee Nation Businesses
  • City of Bixby
  • City of Broken Arrow
  • City of Catoosa
  • City of Claremore
  • City of Collinsville
  • City of Glenpool
  • City of Jenks
  • City of Sand Springs
  • City of Skiatook
  • City of Tulsa
  • Claremore Industrial & Economic Development Authority
  • INCOG
  • Jenks Chamber of Commerce
  • MidAmerica Industrial Park
  • Muscogee (Creek) Nation
  • Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology
  • Okmulgee Area Development Corporation
  • Osage Casinos
  • Osage Nation
  • Owasso Chamber of Commerce
  • Port Muskogee
  • Public Service Company of Oklahoma
  • Rogers County
  • Rogers County Development
  • Sand Springs Chamber of Commerce
  • Tulsa County
  • Tulsa Ports
  • Wagoner County Economic Development