Expanding Economic Development in Arkansas with Mike Malone
This week on the podcast Matt sits down with Mike Malone, Vice Chancellor for Economic Development at the University of Arkansas. Mike has been very involved in the growth of Northwest Arkansas, serving previously as the VP of Community and Corporate Affairs at Runway Group and President and CEO of Northwest Arkansas Council. The discussion begins with Mike explaining what economic development at the University of Arkansas is and how he intends to use the partnerships of the University to continue creating a positive impact on the state of Arkansas. Mike and Matt then dive into the emergence of next generation mobility and how the University of Arkansas will influence research in this new sector. The episode concludes with Mike discussing the importance of preparing the next generation of the workforce and connecting students with Arkansas-based companies.
Transcript
But from a University's perspective, some
Mike Malone:of the areas where we can be most impactful are in ways that
Mike Malone:people I think, know and generally think of when they
Mike Malone:think of university economic development, for example, taking
Mike Malone:the research that's done on a campus and creating companies
Mike Malone:out of that research, the commercialization of research.
Matt Waller:Excellence, professionalism, innovation, and
Matt Waller:collegiality. These are the values the Sam M. Walton College
Matt Waller:of Business explores in education, business, and the
Matt Waller:lives of people we meet every day. I'm Matt Waller, Dean of
Matt Waller:the Walton College, and welcome to the Be Epic Podcast. I have
Matt Waller:with me today, Mike Malone, who is Vice Chancellor for Economic
Matt Waller:Development at the University of Arkansas. Mike has an amazing
Matt Waller:background that has really preparing him well for this job
Matt Waller:at the University of Arkansas. For almost six years, he was VP
Matt Waller:of Community and Corporate Affairs at Runway Group. He was
Matt Waller:President and CEO of Northwest Arkansas Council for 10 years.
Matt Waller:And he has many other experiences that are relevant as
Matt Waller:well. Thank you, Mike, so much for joining me today. I
Matt Waller:appreciate it.
Mike Malone:Thank you. I'm excited to visit with you.
Matt Waller:Well, Mike, you had, you've been around
Matt Waller:Northwest Arkansas a long time, obviously. But you you've really
Matt Waller:been involved during a time when Northwest Arkansas has
Matt Waller:transitioned so much. It's a little hard to believe how much
Matt Waller:things have changed. But you were heading up the Northwest
Matt Waller:Arkansas Council, which is quite an organization during the time
Matt Waller:of tremendous change from 2006 to 2016. And, of course, you
Matt Waller:were head of Runway Group, which was having a huge impact on the
Matt Waller:region. And now you're you're almost at a year, I believe, as
Matt Waller:Vice Chancellor for Economic Development. So it's kind of
Matt Waller:nice, because you've seen the development of Northwest
Matt Waller:Arkansas from many different angles. But I'd love for you to
Matt Waller:if you wouldn't mind before we get into your past a little bit.
Matt Waller:If you could share just a little bit. What is Economic
Matt Waller:Development at the University of Arkansas?
Mike Malone:That's a great question. And it's a story I'm
Mike Malone:telling regularly. And so I'm really glad you started with it.
Mike Malone:The economic development is about the different ways in
Mike Malone:which we can take the talent, the knowledge, the expertise,
Mike Malone:the resources, our facilities, our ability to convene, all the
Mike Malone:different things that we can do so well on so many different
Mike Malone:fronts, and deploy those for use for benefit in communities or
Mike Malone:for businesses and industry around the state. Our knowledge
Mike Malone:is so deep, our talent bench is so long. And we have so many
Mike Malone:people here who I know want to have an impact on our state
Mike Malone:through their work. And so a lot of our role is really trying to
Mike Malone:find those connections, activate or stimulate those partnerships
Mike Malone:so that the University of Arkansas can have an even
Mike Malone:greater impact on the economy of our state. It's already a very
Mike Malone:massive impact. At this point, the last time we quantified the
Mike Malone:University of Arkansas economic impact on the state of Arkansas
Mike Malone:it was placed at 2.2 billion annually. $2.2 billion worth of
Mike Malone:impact that we have on our state. That numbers a little
Mike Malone:dated, one of the things I want to do soon is update that number
Mike Malone:and regularly refresh that number. Because I think with our
Mike Malone:enrollment growth and our outreach and our initiatives,
Mike Malone:I'm confident that that number is going to be much larger. I
Mike Malone:wouldn't predict what it is. I'm not an economist, but I do know
Mike Malone:it's much greater than what it was calculated at five years
Mike Malone:ago. And so we look our team, our different units, our
Mike Malone:industry engagement partners look for opportunities to really
Mike Malone:connect and extend what the campus and the University of
Mike Malone:Arkansas does so well for the benefit of the state of
Mike Malone:Arkansas.
Matt Waller:Well, you know, what, it's really exciting what
Matt Waller:you're doing. And, of course, you're right. We've got so many
Matt Waller:resources and rich expertise in areas that a lot of times people
Matt Waller:are surprised to learn about when they find out what kind of
Matt Waller:expertise we have. I was just thinking, you know, I look at
Matt Waller:different colleges, you know, College of Engineering, for
Matt Waller:example. There's been many times when I've done seen people that
Matt Waller:were surprised to find out that we had rich expertise in some
Matt Waller:area. That's happened certainly in the College of Business, the
Matt Waller:College of Education, etc, etc, all the colleges. But I can see
Matt Waller:why you're well prepared to do this. Of course, you're drinking
Matt Waller:from a firehose right now trying to get everything from the
Matt Waller:University, but you, you've been around the University a long
Matt Waller:time. You know, your role as President and CEO of Northwest
Matt Waller:Arkansas Council. Let's start with that. The Northwest
Matt Waller:Arkansas Council is an unusually successful entity that
Matt Waller:coordinates amongst these different cities, many other
Matt Waller:communities have tried to do things similar with not the same
Matt Waller:level of success that we've had in Northwest Arkansas. Would you
Matt Waller:mind speaking a little bit just about your experience there and
Matt Waller:how that is valuable to what you're doing now?
Mike Malone:Absolutely. The Northwest Arkansas Council is a
Mike Malone:nonprofit organization. It was founded in 1990, by some of the
Mike Malone:business leaders in the region, who at the time knew that they
Mike Malone:needed a lot more coordination, a lot more support, especially
Mike Malone:on on getting some infrastructure projects done
Mike Malone:than any of the towns and small cities were able to provide on
Mike Malone:their own at that point. And so these business leaders said,
Mike Malone:let's get together, pull some resources, form an organization,
Mike Malone:set some regional goals. And so they they banded together raised
Mike Malone:a little money, it was not a lot of money, but 1990 terms, but
Mike Malone:they they pitched in some dues among the different member
Mike Malone:organizations. But what they they did that made that
Mike Malone:organization work so well was set clear. They were aggressive
Mike Malone:goals, but they set clear goals that everyone in the region
Mike Malone:could get excited about or see the benefit, if we're able to
Mike Malone:achieve them. So it was goal setting function. But then the
Mike Malone:other thing they did and this isn't magic or anything secret,
Mike Malone:but they hired professional staff, people with policy
Mike Malone:experience, with government relations experience that could
Mike Malone:help bring different community partners and organizations in
Mike Malone:the cities themselves along toward accomplishing those
Mike Malone:goals. And the the magic of the place was having professional
Mike Malone:staff that woke up each day, thinking about how to stitch
Mike Malone:together coalitions find support, find funding for
Mike Malone:achieving the goals, the big, audacious goals that were set by
Mike Malone:these business leaders that got together at the time. Again, I
Mike Malone:said it was about physical infrastructure, Northwest
Mike Malone:Arkansas, had a municipal airport that was fairly
Mike Malone:unreliable because it was surrounded by mountains, the
Mike Malone:Boston Mountain Range in South Fayetteville made created
Mike Malone:weather issues. And so scheduled air service was fairly
Mike Malone:unreliable and their runway was too short to be able to land
Mike Malone:certain planes so the region needed an airport for the region
Mike Malone:to grow. And for these industry partners to grow, it seems
Mike Malone:simple to say hey, we need an airport. But there have only
Mike Malone:been three new airports built in the United States. In the last
Mike Malone:35 years, there have been a lot of airports expanded in the last
Mike Malone:35 years. No greenfield projects except for Northwest Arkansas
Mike Malone:and Denver airports. Another one and maybe one one other example
Mike Malone:in Florida. I wasn't around when they they worked on the airport
Mike Malone:I came in after that I was the second director of the Council.
Mike Malone:But the goals when I was hired were very similar to continue to
Mike Malone:work on physical infrastructure projects and build regional
Mike Malone:consensus and cohesion. And so it evolved during my time there
Mike Malone:but that experience on working across a region to build
Mike Malone:partnerships and coalition's were really translates very well
Mike Malone:to this job. It's a statewide focus here, the State's
Mike Malone:land-grant university, we're looking for ways to have an
Mike Malone:impact and add value around the state the entire state of
Mike Malone:Arkansas and so that's really been fun for me but my
Mike Malone:experience in working with for profit, nonprofit and
Mike Malone:governmental entities to build consensus and move things
Mike Malone:forward translates very well to this new role.
Matt Waller:I would think one challenge in your job is just
Matt Waller:becoming aware of everything going on at the university.
Matt Waller:There's so much.
Matt Waller:Mike, what are some of the things that the University of
Mike Malone:That's exactly right. So before in my last
Mike Malone:couple of roles, I worked with the university lot and I grew up
Mike Malone:in Fayetteville, I spent a lot of time on campus, my parents
Mike Malone:both worked here. So I certainly knew some. But job one this past
Mike Malone:year, the past nine months, really that I've been in the
Mike Malone:role has been to get a much deeper understanding and build
Mike Malone:relationships and, and honestly gain trust among partners on
Mike Malone:campus, so that they understand what role the Division of
Mike Malone:Economic Development can play, and how we can help them better
Mike Malone:have an impact even beyond what they're already having. It's
Mike Malone:been a lot of fun and learn so much. And, you know, my biggest
Mike Malone:observation from my first nine months and deep dive on campus
Mike Malone:is we do so many things so well. I want as many people to know
Mike Malone:about those things and really feel like people don't have an
Mike Malone:understanding is comprehensive and understanding of how good we
Mike Malone:are in so many different areas.
Mike Malone:Arkansas that you're pretty excited about from an economic
Mike Malone:development perspective?
Mike Malone:There's some emerging economic sectors and fields like in
Mike Malone:Arkansas, and in the middle part of the country that were really
Mike Malone:poised to be a big player in. One example, the last governor
Mike Malone:appointed a Smart Mobility Council, and they put together a
Mike Malone:report on how to make Arkansas a leading state in next generation
Mike Malone:mobility. Our researchers and our research facilities and our
Mike Malone:areas of expertise, like their expertise, like supply chain
Mike Malone:logistics, fits so nicely, already in to making us
Mike Malone:competitive in that emerging sector. And with some additional
Mike Malone:resources and additional focus, I think we can be the best
Mike Malone:university in the country in the area of smart mobility and the
Mike Malone:enabling technologies and supply chain and logistics, expertise
Mike Malone:that's involved in all of that. So that that's really exciting.
Matt Waller:That is exciting. I mean, it's so clear, there's so
Matt Waller:many demographic and economic characteristics, changes that
Matt Waller:are taking place that really point to the need to for this
Matt Waller:advanced mobility. And, and really just the advances in
Matt Waller:artificial intelligence, machine learning, those kinds of things,
Matt Waller:really make it more achievable, as well.
Mike Malone:Absolutely. When we're good at in those areas,
Mike Malone:cybersecurity is going to be important to the growth of
Mike Malone:mobility and equipment and technology. And we're very good
Mike Malone:at that. As we are with research into batteries, electric motors,
Mike Malone:just goes on and on, we're already in great position to
Mike Malone:have an influence in where the next generation of mobility is
Mike Malone:going. And so it's gonna be fun to be a part of that.
Matt Waller:Your experience is really interesting. As a young
Matt Waller:man, back in 1994 through 98, you held various positions,
Matt Waller:including Deputy Assistant to the President, and you've held
Matt Waller:positions as Congressional Affairs liaison for the Federal
Matt Waller:Emergency Management Agency. You've had various positions in
Matt Waller:the White House, Director of Administration, Committee Staff
Matt Waller:Member on US Senate Rules Committee, a Minority Clerk in
Matt Waller:Transportation, HUD and Independent Agencies
Matt Waller:Subcommittee. I mean, you so you do have a lot of experience in
Matt Waller:the state of Arkansas, as we just described earlier. But you
Matt Waller:also have a lot of understanding of the federal government and
Matt Waller:how it works. How does that help you in your role as Vice
Matt Waller:Chancellor for Economic Development here?
Mike Malone:That's a good question, Matt. I think
Mike Malone:certainly understanding the federal budget and how that
Mike Malone:process works, and potentially how to have an influence there
Mike Malone:will be helpful, in some ways, especially as it relates to
Mike Malone:grants. But I think more importantly, those were just
Mike Malone:really big, complex environments. My first job out
Mike Malone:of graduate school was working in the executive branch and a
Mike Malone:lot of acronyms, a lot of different budget, center cost
Mike Malone:centers, budgets, power centers, those kind of things. And so
Mike Malone:figuring out how to build consensus and drive toward big,
Mike Malone:significant goals was really my biggest lesson and learning from
Mike Malone:those years that very much helps here, that state of Arkansas
Mike Malone:economy is incredibly diverse and dispersed. We're large state
Mike Malone:geographically, even if we're not population wise. And so
Mike Malone:figuring out how to learn the systems of players and forge
Mike Malone:consensus and drive things forward is is definitely what's
Mike Malone:most applicable from my executive branch and
Mike Malone:congressional days.
Matt Waller:It is amazing how you can see, the federal
Matt Waller:government can even benefit a lot from some of our expertise.
Matt Waller:And I think they don't often know about it. I know, one
Matt Waller:professor that I know really well in civil engineering. His
Matt Waller:name is Andrew Brown, and he's an expert in pavement and
Matt Waller:asphalt. It doesn't sound very exciting to some people. But
Matt Waller:when you look at how much our road system and our federal
Matt Waller:interstate system, it's so extensive, and so much money
Matt Waller:goes into it. And I know over the years, he's always telling
Matt Waller:me, if we would only do this, you know, our roads would last
Matt Waller:longer, they would cost less to repair on and on. And I said,
Matt Waller:wow, I wish I wish people in the federal government could hear
Matt Waller:this, you know, we meet about once a month. And so I always
Matt Waller:hear I've learned a lot about asphalt over the last eight
Matt Waller:years. It doesn't sound interesting, but when you really
Matt Waller:think about the impact it has, right, because when roads are in
Matt Waller:disrepair, it also affects the cars. So the cost is much higher
Matt Waller:than what people often realize. So I'm just using as a sort of a
Matt Waller:esoteric example that, you know, if you'd look through all the
Matt Waller:research we're doing, at the U of A you may not realize we have
Matt Waller:the top expert in the country on this. And, you know, I don't
Matt Waller:know to what degree his expertise is utilized at the
Matt Waller:federal level.
Mike Malone:Yeah. And I know ARDOT partners with the
Mike Malone:University of Arkansas on pavement research and other
Mike Malone:transportation research. But that is a great point. One of
Mike Malone:the things that I love seeing both before I got to the
Mike Malone:university, and also during my time here is that our
Mike Malone:congressional delegation does know how much expertise is here
Mike Malone:and relies on us and puts that expertise to work in solving
Mike Malone:problems. So they, they are good at that. But again, it's back to
Mike Malone:what I'm finding in my kind of learning journey here in my
Mike Malone:first less than a year. And that is there's so much significant
Mike Malone:important, transformative work that's happening here. It's hard
Mike Malone:to keep all of that in mind or tell that story. Because there's
Mike Malone:so much so many great things happening. And so our, our
Mike Malone:division will certainly try to play a role in communicating
Mike Malone:more and communicating in ways that people can receive it. But
Mike Malone:it's it's just hard to keep up with how much talent knowledge
Mike Malone:and expertise is here. That's a good problem to have. But it's
Mike Malone:still a problem if people don't know it. We can do more if
Mike Malone:people know more about our capabilities.
Matt Waller:Mike, as we know, we had an economics group
Matt Waller:analyze the financial impact of university on the economy here
Matt Waller:in Arkansas a few years ago, several years ago and we found
Matt Waller:that it was over $2 billion. It's probably a lot more than
Matt Waller:that at this point. But what are some of the specific ways the
Matt Waller:University of Arkansas impacts the economy?
Mike Malone:And economic development can be defined
Mike Malone:fairly broadly. And, you know, AEDC recruits companies to
Mike Malone:Arkansas, private equity groups create sources of funding to
Mike Malone:invest in companies to attract them to Arkansas. And those are
Mike Malone:all real important components within economic development writ
Mike Malone:large. But from a university's perspective, some of the areas
Mike Malone:where we can be most impactful are in ways that people I think,
Mike Malone:know, and generally think of when they think of University
Mike Malone:Economic Development, for example, taking the research
Mike Malone:that's done on a campus and creating companies out of that
Mike Malone:research, the commercialization of research, whether it's
Mike Malone:faculty led companies that are founded or whether that
Mike Malone:intellectual property gets licensed out that that's a
Mike Malone:really important way that new companies are started or the
Mike Malone:knowledge gets transferred to existing companies through a
Mike Malone:license arrangement and that that has a big impact. We need
Mike Malone:to make sure that Arkansas companies have it as much access
Mike Malone:and visibility into the intellectual property that we
Mike Malone:have for their benefit, y'all, I know provide all kinds of
Mike Malone:technical assistance and consulting assistance in
Mike Malone:partnerships with industry as well. And that knowledge
Mike Malone:transfer is key. But one of the areas, I don't want to lose
Mike Malone:sight of probably one of the most important maybe the most
Mike Malone:important way that we impact the economy, and that's through
Mike Malone:preparing the next generation of workforce. We're going to
Mike Malone:graduate in six or 7000 more students this year, and every
Mike Malone:year looking forward, I hope and those to the extent we're
Mike Malone:training students with skills that employers want that have
Mike Malone:that are work ready as soon as they graduate and can move into
Mike Malone:positions and start to contribute to those companies.
Mike Malone:That's a massive economic contribution that the University
Mike Malone:of Arkansas and other institutions around our state
Mike Malone:make to the economy. So I want to make sure that many of those
Mike Malone:students as we can have job opportunities in Arkansas. And
Mike Malone:that we can keep as many of them as we can in Arkansas, because
Mike Malone:that that really, we we train them, we get the benefit of them
Mike Malone:being here while they're in school. But the more that we can
Mike Malone:put to work and connect in an Arkansas based companies, the
Mike Malone:better because that that workforce transfer is really a
Mike Malone:massive way that we impact the economy.
Matt Waller:Well, Mike, thank you for what you're doing here
Matt Waller:for the University of Arkansas, we really appreciate it. And, of
Matt Waller:course, it's not only a benefit to the University of Arkansas,
Matt Waller:it's a benefit to the state, as well. And your background really
Matt Waller:prepares you exceptionally well for this type of a role. So
Matt Waller:thank you.
Mike Malone:Well, Matt. Thank you. It's a real pleasure to
Mike Malone:work with you and the Walton College and the partnerships
Mike Malone:around campus are what makes this work and what makes it such
Mike Malone:a great place to be in so thank you for the opportunity and for
Mike Malone:the time today.
Matt Waller:On behalf of the Sam M. Walton College of
Matt Waller:Business, I want to thank everyone for spending time with
Matt Waller:us for another engaging conversation. You can subscribe
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