Celebrating Excellence: Introducing the 2025 Pima County Small Business Award winners
The Pima County Small Business Commission is proud to honor the remarkable small businesses that continue to strengthen our local economy, create opportunities, and enrich the fabric of our community.
Each year since 2010, the Pima County Small Business Commission has recognized outstanding organizations that demonstrate innovation, resilience, and a commitment to serving their customers and the broader region. The 2025 award recipients, selected from 106 nominees, exemplify what makes Southern Arizona a thriving place to do business.
Ascent Aviation expands operations with new hangars
Ascent Aviation Services celebrated the opening of two new 90,000-square foot widebody maintenance hangars at its operations center at Pinal Airpark just north of Marana with a ribbon-cutting event on Dec. 8.
The new hangars represent a $70 million investment to increase hangar capacity by 200%, expanding Ascent’s heavy maintenance capabilities and strengthening Ascent’s position as one of the leading non-original equipment manufacturer (OEM) maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) conversion facilities in North America.
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Southern Arizona Hispanic Chamber hosting 2026 Governor’s State Report
The Southern Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has once again been selected to host Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs for the 2026 Governor’s State Report, to be held on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, at the Tucson Convention Center.
This annual address offers an important opportunity for Governor Hobbs to share key updates on Arizona’s priorities, progress, and vision for the year ahead — directly with leaders and community members from across the Southern Arizona region.
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UACI’s new digital hub
redefines incubation
For more than 20 years, the University of Arizona Center for Innovation (UACI) has been Southern Arizona’s innovation powerhouse — helping over 300 founders turn big ideas into real-world impact.
As part of the ongoing evolution in elevating the programmatic experience, UACI is pleased to announce the official launch of its platform: The UACI Program Roadmap© Hub. A digital resource hub designed to enhance the UACI Program Roadmap© — a comprehensive guide with 28-points covering ideation, market research, business planning, product development, funding strategies and scaling for science and tech startups.
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Take the survey: How has USMCA impacted your business?
Governor Katie Hobbs and the Arizona-Mexico Commission have engaged ASU’s Seidman Research Institute to collect key industry insights on the value and impact of the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement in Arizona.
As part of this economic study, the Seidman Institute is conducting a survey, which can be completed by any company with operations in Arizona that is also exporting/importing goods or services with Mexico and/or Canada.
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Pima County Economic Development in the news
The work of the Pima County Economic Development team has been hitting the news recently.
Director Heath Vescovi-Chiordi recently met with KGUN9 to discuss the developing relationship with Mexico in the aerospace and semiconductor industries that have been developing with partners in Baja California, Mexico. Also interviewed are partners at University of Arizona who are developing training programs to build a pipeline for the jobs of the future.
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Follow us on LinkedIn
Keep up on the latest economic development news in the region by following the Pima County Economic Development Department on LinkedIn.
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