MVEDA executive shares national award with colleagues, community

Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance (MVEDA) Vice President for Business Development Eric Montgomery is a recipient of the 2021 Economic Development 40 Under 40 Award, the biennial award recognizing rising stars under 40 years old in the economic development industry nationwide.

“It’s almost like a toast to the great work the organization has done since its inception and during the course of my career,” said Montgomery, 38, who joined MVEDA in 2012.

“I think it is a tip of the hat to the past and current leadership and the community support throughout the years,” he said. “The award may have my name on it, but the kudos go to the leadership and the amazing co-workers I’ve had.”

“This recognition is well deserved,” MVEDA President and CEO Davin Lopez said in a news release from MVEDA and the two organizations that sponsor the award, DCI and Jorgenson Consulting. “Eric is a true economic development professional, and his passion and efforts have positively impacted economic development efforts both locally and at the state level year after.”

Nominations for the award are accepted every two years, and more than 200 applications were submitted for 2021, from across the country and some internationally, Montgomery said.

“We’re very mission-driven,” Montgomery said about MVEDA. “We’re focused on very specific aspects of recruitment, on very specific companies that we look to recruit. That work has led to companies locally that have grown with us,” he said, and new companies that have relocated to Doña Ana County from Germany, Taiwan, Turkey and Ireland.

The pandemic has definitely impacted MVEDA, Montgomery said, but the nonprofit has continued recruitment efforts.

The current digital environment necessitated by COVID-19 has made it more difficult to establish the personal relationships that encourage companies to make large investments in the community, Montgomery said. But throughout the pandemic, MVEDA has “done an incredible job of shifting to adjust and utilize technologies in new ways that we hadn’t done before that allow us to accomplish both the relationship-building as well as the marketing to achieve our goals,” he said.

And, while Montgomery continues to work from home and MVEDA staff haven’t begun traveling again, MVEDA continues “stretching our resources further than we ever have before,” he said. “The personal interactions, the one-on-one conversations are still necessary. However, we have found a lot of new efficiencies and digital marketing techniques that we’ll be using going forward to spread the word about Doña Ana County’s communities.

“We’re here to get the deals done and to market and to land more job opportunities and to get companies to make that risk and invest in our community,” Montgomery said.

Montgomery said his favorite part of the job is that, “I learn something new every single day. My motivation in doing the work is to see future opportunities for everybody in the family and for all of our friends and neighbors to know that when their kids grow up, they are going to have a place that they can land and stay within the community. My wife and my kids are my main motivation in what I do,” he said.

Montgomery and his wife, Brooke Higginbotham (director of Studio G at NMSU’s Arrowhead Center), have four children, ages 7, 9, 12 and almost 13.

Montgomery grew up in the suburbs of South Bend, Indiana. His mother was recruited to a medical office in Hobbs, so his family moved from St. Joseph’s County, Indiana to Lea County, New Mexico. Montgomery graduated from Hobbs High School and came to Las Cruces to attend New Mexico State University. At NMSU, he earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology and his master’s degree in public administration. Montgomery worked for the City of Las Cruces and LaserShield  before joining MVEDA.