Sandra Watson

Sandra Watson is an economic development professional with 28 years of leadership experience in business attraction and expansion, innovation, entrepreneurship, economic policy and workforce development. She and her teams have worked with more than 1,000 companies that have committed to creating more than 205,000 quality jobs and investing more than $58 billion in capital in the state.

Currently, Sandra serves as the President & CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA), a public-private partnership that leads statewide economic development. The unique structure of the ACA brings together leaders from private industry, academia and all three branches of state government. She also oversees the Workforce Arizona Council and Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity, a data-driven team focused on economic and labor market analysis. In addition to leading the ACA and serving on its Board of Directors, Ms. Watson serves on Arizona Governor Doug Ducey’s leadership team as his Senior Economic Policy Advisor.

Sandra is a founding partner on the Institute for Automated Mobility Board of Directors, a current member of the National State Science and Technology Institute Board of Trustees and a member of the Make-A-Wish Foundation Arizona Board of Directors.