Celebrating
Our
Anniversary
Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance
Jobs Created over 30 years
CAPX over 30 years
Our 30 YEAR JOURNEY
In our early formative years with Doña Ana County and the City of Las Cruces significantly smaller in population, MVEDA looked like many economic development organizations in smaller markets, publicly funded and more reactive in their economic development efforts. We were modestly successful…but could do better. In the early 2000’s with a larger population and business base, we shifted our business model to a private/public funded organization, proactive in our recruitment and retention efforts and metric/results driven in our accountability to our private/public sector partners, to include private sector leadership on our Board of Directors. With the increase in funding, we were also able to recruit our first Professional Economic Development Director from the Phoenix area in Steve Vierck. During that same timeframe under the Richardson Administration and the direction of Rick Homan, Secretary of Economic Development, MVEDA was the lead organization in the creation of the New Mexico Partnership, the eventual marketing arm of New Mexico’s Economic Development Department. This new generation of economic development effort at the local and state levels allowed us to be more competitive in attracting new industry, the retention of existing industry, and the creation of better paying jobs with benefits, not only in Doña Ana County, but the state as well.
Fast forward to today and under the direction of Davin Lopez, formally with the New Mexico Partnership, MVEDA has evolved into the premier Economic Development Organization in New Mexico. Over the years, both Steve and Davin, the MVEDA staff, and Board of Directors, were keenly aware that a successful and proactive economic development effort would translate into wealth creation, prosperity, opportunity, and the improvement of quality of life for the residents of Doña Ana County. The results speak for themselves, with over 14,000 jobs created, $2.2 billion in capital invested in the last 30 years. MVEDA has made a difference in people’s lives.
More recently, with the alliance and partnership with the Borderplex International Economic Development Alliance, to include El Paso and Juarez, what I refer to as the next generation of economic development effort in our Region, MVEDA is even more poised to make Doña Ana County and Las Cruces the best place to live and do business in New Mexico and our Region.
On a personal note, I’ve had a front row seat observing MVEDA evolve to the organization it is today, not only as the first private sector Chairman of the Board and longtime Board Member, but as a fundraiser and private sector investor as well. And it didn’t happen without the leadership and dedicated effort from the MVDEA staff, committed and involved public and private sector leadership, and funding from our tax payers and business community. This is what a successful, efficient, and effective collaboration of the public and private sector looks like. Stay the course and I truly believe our best years still lie ahead!
Tom Hutchinson
Former Chairman of the Board
Meet the team
Davin Lopez
President & CEO
Oversees all areas of the organization’s operations, programs, and initiatives and ensures the implementation of an effective regional marketing plan for business attraction and expansion.
Davin Lopez joined the organization in February 2009. Prior to joining MVEDA, he served as Vice President of the New Mexico Partnership, the private economic development business attraction arm of the State of New Mexico which he joined at its inception in September 2003.Davin Lopez, MVEDA President & CEO
Davin spent five years in corporate real estate with two of the largest Real Estate Investment Trusts in the U.S., General Growth Properties (GGP) and the Macerich Company (MACE), where he held roles as Director of New Business Development and Strategic Planning. He also spent two years in private business consulting advising smaller, high growth companies on their strategic initiatives and growth plans.
Davin is a member of several national associations including the International Asset Management Council and the International Economic Development Council. He is also a board member and advisor to the New Mexico Partnership, Arrowhead Center at NMSU, the Las Cruces Greater Chamber of Commerce, and the Bridge of Southern New Mexico. Davin holds an MBA from Yale University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of California, San Diego.
Brian Garcia
Vice President, Business Development
Oversees the daily business development strategies inclusive of marketing, lead generation, retention/expansion initiatives, project response, and business client/project management.
Brian received his Bachelor’s degree and MBA from New Mexico State University. Besides performing a wide variety of custom research, Brian develops custom proposal packets and operating cost comparisons for prospective companies. He is an affiliate member of the State Data Center’s Business & Industry Data Center Program.
Eldelisa Nava
Vice President, Operations
Manages the day-to-day operations of the organization including human resources, accounts payable/receivable, events, facilitation of volunteer committees, partner engagement,and special projects/initiatives.
Eldelisa joined the organization in May 2021. Prior to MVEDA, she worked as a Sales/Catering Manager for Heritage Hotels & Resorts and the Director of the Las Cruces Hispanic Chamber of Commerce respectively. She brings to the organization 25+ years of experience working with non-profits, streamlining business processes, providing customer service, and project management.
Jessica Lyn Robles
Director of Business Development
Executes initiatives and activities to facilitate local business expansion and retention to include incentive awareness, needs analysis, and connections to information and resources.
Jessica Lyn earned her MBA and Bachelor’s from New Mexico State University. She comes to us from Farm Bureau Financial Services where she served as a commercial focused agent throughout Doña Ana and Otero Counties. With over 20 years of customer service management, client retention, and business operations focus, she will be expanding the Business Retention and Expansion program to better address the needs of existing businesses throughout Doña Ana County.
Bret Buchanan
Business Development Specialist
Provides support to the business development team through market analysis, the management of data systems and reporting, and by supporting the organization’s traditional and digital marketing outreach.
Bret joined the MVEDA staff in March of 2022. He graduated from New Mexico State University (NMSU) in May of 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Business while minoring in Business Administration. While in college, Bret has previously been very involved within the agriculture industry and worked as an intern on a congressional campaign.
Carlos Parra
Director of Marketing
Oversees the branding and marketing efforts of the organization and its initiatives and works with the business development team to create and implement successful lead generation strategies and campaigns.
With a degree in Advertising Art, Carlos brings years of experience over many different mediums of marketing. Carlos has helped local and national business grow online organically for over 20 years and is bringing these techniques to Economic Development. When Carlos isn’t obsessing about algorithms and content, he’s always happy to discuss the influences of video games and comics in today’s culture.
LETTER FROM PRESIDENT & CEO
As MVEDA enters our 30th Year Anniversary, I reflect upon the impact our efforts have made to Dona Ana County, Las Cruces, and the residents of our region; over 13,500 new jobs created with over $2 billion in new capital investments. The creation of a new tax base to local government and schools, helping fund and support community development and quality of life initiatives throughout the region along with thousands of consultations with local businesses supporting growth and retention in the region. The creation of MVEDA was a public/private effort. The first of its kind in southern New Mexico, and as such, I pay homage to the leaders who came together to spur this effort, along with our partners who have sustained our growth throughout the years.
MVEDA begins this new fiscal year with great momentum along with new services that will expand our reach and impact. Through our partnership with the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico we are finding new, unique ways to build a local incentive toolbox via the NM Borderplex Closing Initiative. MVEDA is tackling workforce and has created “AutomateUP,” a program to develop skill sets in new manufacturing processes via micro certifications. We are also partnering on new innovative approaches to attract industrial development investments to the region. As a result of these efforts, our project pipeline entering this new Fiscal Year is one of the strongest we have had in my time at MVEDA.
The Federal Reserve of Dallas, El Paso Branch, recently stated that “southern New Mexico demonstrates impressive economic vitality…outpacing both state and national averages. This growth underscores the region’s attractiveness for business and workforce development.”
This success is only made possible because of you, our partners, both public and private, at all levels. On behalf of the MVEDA team, we thank you for your support and look forward to a prosperous New “fiscal” Year together and another 30 years of positive growth.
Davin Lopez
President & CEO
