← Econ Dev Show Podcast - Economic Development
Econ Dev Show Podcast - Economic Development
229: How Monterey Bay Became an Advanced Air Mobility Hub with Lavera Alexander
00:28:31
Lavera Alexander explains how Monterey Bay is building an inclusive advanced air mobility ecosystem by coordinating airports, infrastructure, workforce pathways, community engagement, and regional partners.
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- [00:02]
A
Welcome to the Econ Dev Show. We explore the strategies, ideas and insights that are driving economic development forward into the future. You'll hear new insights from passionate EDs about their successes and struggles. And you'll learn from attraction and retention experts about how to apply actionable strategies inside your edo. We'll help take your organization, your community and and your career to the next level. Here's your host, Dane Carlson.
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B
Welcome back to the Econ Dev Show. Today we're here with Lavera Alexander. She's the Chief Growth Officer and the CAAMCI Director at the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership. Lavera, welcome to the show.
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C
Thank you. And thank you for having me.
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B
Absolutely. Tell us a little bit about the Monterey Bay region.
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C
So there are so many amazing things to lift up about the Monterey Bay region. It is a very diverse space. It's majority minority, huge agricultural component to the region. You have a lot of different terrains that are at work there, which makes it ideal for a lot of the activity that we're going to be talking about today around advanced air mobility. And I think one of the things that folks realize when they travel to the Monterey Bay region is that it's beautiful, very wealthy space, but it's also a space that has a lot of need. And that's one of the reasons that economic development is so important in this type of space. Knowing that we're dealing with not only majority minority, but we're also dealing with three counties that make up the Monterey Bay. And two of those three counties are considered rural. And so there's a lot of need there, there's a thirst for opportunity. And so through, through economic development, which is the hallmark of Monterey Bay Economic Partnership, we are trying to bring forth more and more opportunities for the folks that live, work and play in the region.
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B
Maybe for our listeners who don't know, Monterey Bay is on the coast of California, south of the San Francisco Bay. So I've spent a lot of time in your county or passing through your county through the, you know, the agricultural parts of the county and then the coastal parts of the county. So I feel like I'm really familiar with it and this is going to be exciting. Exciting.
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C
Good.
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B
So tell me a little bit about the organization you mentioned. Is it new? Is it old? Has it been around? What's its mission?
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C
So MBEP has been around for 10 years. We just celebrated our 10th anniversary this year. So we have been moving forward economic development in the Tri county region for 10 years. We've been doing that through a variety of different sectors. Housing, transportation, health, Care really looking at the cross sector component being really important to bring about transformational change. And so we're under the leadership of Tara Gharaya, our CEO and president. She's been at the helm now for about four and a half, five years and has just done an extraordinary job of continuing to build out the portfolio of work that we hold, making sure that as we bring forth opportunity and at the core of our mission, that's what we're doing. Opening up the space for more economic prosperity, making sure that all of those who want to live, work and play in the region can do so. Doing that through cross sector collaboration, knowing that there is no one single sector that's going to be able to bear the fruit economically that the people in the region are expecting. And so for us, it's economic development all day, every day. And looking at the various sectors, bringing them all together and thinking through how do we make sure that we are maximizing opportunity and potential for everyone in this region. Doing that through housing, transportation and a variety of other sectors.
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B
That's so interesting that you mentioned transportation. You know, a lot of economic developers are dealing with housing, workforce, health care, but nobody else has ever mentioned transportation. What does that look like there?
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C
It's a mini splendored thing. It's not one thing. When you're talking about transportation in the region, you have to keep in mind that it's in a very expensive region. And so there are people who have to commute in and out of it to come into the region to work and then leave to go home. That's a problem we're trying to solve for through economic development. But you have a lot of people commuting. And so thinking about that element, what do we need to do to make sure that folks have an easier time coming in and out of the region? We're also thinking in terms of how do we make sure that folks who want to live and work and play in the region can do so. What would that look like when it comes to transportation? Knowing that a lot of the larger cities across California are dealing with different types of transportation issues. When it comes to people traveling every day on the roads, working within, say, LA and within San Francisco, what does that look like for them versus what it would look like for us? And so for transportation issues, it varies. Knowing that we have a large segment of our population that's coming in and out of the region to work and that there are those who are living there who are trying to think through how do we make it easier for people to get around across the three counties, knowing that, you know, there's a lot of different terrain that you're having to navigate. How do we make sure that as we're solving for economic development across the region, we're taking that into consideration and we're making it easier for people to get to where they need to go? With Camzi, you mentioned it earlier, the California Advanced Air Mobility Corridors Initiative, that's one of those pieces when we're talking about transportation now, it's focused on advanced air, but it's a part of that space that's looking at multimobile and making sure that as we're thinking about mobility elements in the region and across the state, how do we use new technology like advanced air mobility to help people get to where they're trying to go and also to help people get the things that they want a little bit faster and easier? And so that's what we're looking at when it comes to that element of transportation. But just across the board, it's thinking about how we can make things faster, more efficient and easier for people who are living in the region or coming in and out of the region to work and play.
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B
Camzi. That's better than the jumble of letters that I thought it was. It's. It's the first FAA compliant multi airport flight network in the. Is it in the state or in the. In the country?
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C
We're being told it's in the country. And so we're doing something that no one else is doing. And even when you look at the different projects that are moving forward under the new EIPP program for the federal government, none of those are really focused on what we're focusing on with Camzi. And that really is, you know, honoring the work that's been happening in the region now for almost a decade around Advanced near mobility. The four airports that kind of serve as the anchor for the pilot of Camzi, each of them have been hosting different OEMs, and that's the Jobys, the Archers, the WISC at their airports for quite some time. And so for Camzi, it was looking at the different types of activities that were happening there at each of these airports and thinking about how do we bring them together, how do we consolidate, if you will, and coordinate these activities so that it's a broader space that these aircraft are able to test within and able to demonstrate use cases for public benefit. How do we take these isolated activities and bring them together into a coordinated system of flight so that these aircraft can better test and get to commercialization a little bit easier and faster. And. And while doing that, demonstrate to the public. These are the use cases that you can expect to see when we become commercialized in this space. And so for us, we make it very simple when we're talking about camsi. It's a coordinated system of flight that's taking what's already happening with these airports, bringing it together and making it easier for the aircraft to demonstrate that what they're trying to bring to market is actually going to serve the people on the ground.
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B
That's a good way to put it. Why do you think it sort of developed there? What unique characteristics made it the right place, the right time to develop this industry?
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C
Diverse terrain. And so a lot of these aircraft will have very specific requirements that they're trying to meet when they're moving towards certification. And so they're looking for different types of terrain, and you can find various types of terrain there on the central coast. And so that's really important to each of these different types of aircraft. I think there is an ecosystem that kind of built out organically in that space. You have the research institutions that were already looking at gaps in this space and thinking about how do they kind of lean in and start thinking about certification that will help not only with legacy aircraft, but also thinking in terms of the emerging aircraft that those in the university system we're already seeing kind of show up on the radar. And so when you think about that portion of the space being there and ready to act, having been tracking what's happening currently and what's showing up to happen in the future, that along with this kind of innovative environment that you find on the central coast, all of those different pieces came together as a welcoming committee, if you will, to the different aircraft manufacturers that were trying to figure out where do they want to set up shop and how do they do it in a space that's going to allow them to not only manufacture, but to start thinking about how they do testing in a way that will demonstrate to the FAA that they're ready to go into commercialization. And then we just started to realize that as a region, as we went through a variety of planning processes, it became very apparent what we have here is special. Let's make sure that we are pouring into the ecosystem, making it more and more mature as we go along and strengthening it so that the aircraft and the FAA can do what they need to do when it comes to the friendly skies, and that we can do what we need to do on the ground, making sure that we're building out the infrastructure and also making sure that we're making the effort to bring forth the community in such a way that it felt that it was ready to embrace the new technologies that were evolving in this space.
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B
One of the things I love about this story is that sort of challenges the assumption that industries, emerging industries like this only happen in existing tech hubs and big metros. How did MBEP help to bring together the public, the private, the airport, the workforce, and the regional partners to make KAMSI possible?
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C
Mbep, at its core, is a convener. And so we are always monitoring what's going on across the economic landscape. And how do we make sure that we are bringing partners together to think about common sense, practical solutions that we can lift up collectively to make sure that we are solving problems, you know, for the region in a way that's going to bring about maximum impact. And so as we were leading a lot of the planning efforts through the region's Rise Together effort that was first initiated by the Newsom administration around 2019, and then leaning in as the regional convener for the Newsom's, you know, next project, which became Community Economic Resilience Fund, that would turn into the California Jobs first project. As we were leaning into those different initiatives moving forward by the state that were being moved forward by the state state, we were bringing together partners in the region to make sure that we were all participating and that we were ready to maximize the investment that was going to be coming in from the state into the region. And so for us, it was about being ready. We knew that we were not the big players in the game. We'll never be in LA or a San Francisco, but we are very unique in the sense that we are under a million people in population, but we've always had a very big spirit. We've always wanted to be at the forefront of things that are changing, the forefront of innovation and implementation. And so when it was time for MBEP to show up and lead in this space, that's exactly what we did. We were one of many projects that were being lifted up across the state in different sectors. But we were the only project that was selected by the administration under the banner of Advanced Aviation or Advanced Air Mobility that would receive funding. And so that's how we received the $7.45 million for Camzi. We had been doing that work through the planning, and we'd also lifted up an Advanced Air Mobility Activation Plan in June of 2025 that was sanctioned by the state that we put forward by, on behalf of the region. And they decided that having seen that, it was time to make the investment. And so they made that $7.45 million investment into Camzi with the belief that it could scale. It would start on the central coast, but eventually become a connection hub that would scale across the the state. And eventually it may be something that could scale across the country. The administration believed that the 7.45 million could be leveraged, that others would see what was happening in the space and would want to invest eventually. And so for us, it's all that work that we had been moving forward through the planning and the convening and the facilitation, making sure that all of these different partners that represent this broader ecosystem were at the table. And when it was time for us to put together a project, and that's exactly what MBEP did, we wrote the proposal, pitched it to the state, secured that $7.45 million. We knew that we were ready to move this work forward and be able to stand up a one of a kind type of initiative that was not being stood up anywhere else in the country.
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B
That's amazing. And you've described this as being about who gets to participate in the next aerospace economy. So what does that inclusive design look like in practice?
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C
So for us, you know, for mbep, and I would say specifically for me, I have been an economic development practitioner that's been focused on inclusive economics for quite some time. And so for Camzi, it's just, you know, coming out of that space, it's not new to us. We've always wanted to make sure that in addition to moving forward the hallmarks of economic development, that we added inclusion to that space and that we were creating a middle table of sorts that would allow folks to come from all of these different spaces that they stood in, gather around this table, and to advocate for the things that are important to them, such as the case with Camzi. We know that as we continue to build out the advanced air mobility space on the central coast, that community has to be there advocating for what's important for them in the different spaces that they're standing in and making sure that we're not focusing only on the features of the aircraft, but for us, it's making sure that we're not just focusing on the beauty of the aircraft, but that we're making the case for the public benefit to the people on the ground. They want to know how these aircraft will serve them, what's in it for them, what is their get. And so for us, it's making sure as practitioners that we're telling that story to that this is what you can expect to see as the technology continues to evolve, as these aircraft move towards commercialization. These are the use cases that you can expect to see in this space. And so for us, it's making sure that we're bringing community along, that we're not expecting them to catch up later, but that we're making the case for this very inclusive space for them to stand in and to be able to not only consume, but what's coming out of this space when it comes to the use cases, but to start thinking about how they become producers as well, so that they can be in a space where if they decide that they want to build an aircraft, they can do so. We're not limiting the expectations here when it comes to how people participate. Rather, we're trying to create more access points so that folks can see themselves in the work and determine where it is that they want to stand.
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B
Yeah, and let's talk about the workforce pathways for people who maybe don't have four year college degrees. What, you know, what does their future look like in aviation Logistics, robotics, maintenance and advanced mobility.
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C
That's one of the reasons that as an organization we move forward CAMSI and put it before the state, because all of the research that had been, you know, moving forward over the past years had started to indicate something very clear. And that is there is a way for people who do not have a four year degree to earn up to six figures or more through this new technology space that was emerging through advanced air mobility. And we know that because there are already pilots that are demonstrating with some of these aircraft even before they're in commercialization. They're already demonstrating that they can take folks who have been working in another industry that may have a ceiling when it comes to what they can earn, bring them into this space, and suddenly they're on track to start earning six figures without a four year degree. That's happening through the certification programs that are being lifted up through the UC Santa Cruz system as well as others. There are lots of community colleges in our region that are also participating in that certification space. And the goal is to make sure that the paper ceiling that has been in place for a lot of those who live in this region, that paper ceiling is no longer a barrier when it comes to economic growth and opportunity. They're able to get certified through some of these programs and most of them are free. They're not charging people in the region to come through the certification a Lot of that work is being supported through philanthropic dollars as well as grant funding from the state. And so there are these pathways that are now available to people who in the past may have felt that they had hit their ceiling and that this was as far as they were going to be able to go. And in that space, they were struggling to make ends meet. They were having to hold down several jobs just to make sure that they were taking care of their families. With this space that we're standing in, they're now seeing that there's a path forward that will allow them to earn a higher salary without having to get a four year degree.
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B
That's fantastic. So talk to me now sort of about the, not the losses, but what have been the biggest challenges. Have they been regulatory or political, or has it been the community or maybe infrastructure or something else?
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C
I would frame it as opportunities because we're dealing with growth. And anytime you're talking about growth and change, you're going to see certain things show up. There's, there's the questioning, there's the resistance because people don't know what this is. You know, they don't know how this is going to impact their quality of life. And then there are, you know, the opportunities for us to wait and see what is going to happen in the spaces that are outside of our control. In December of last year, the federal government moved forward the roadmap for advanced air mobility. That happened in a way that allowed people to start to prepare for this to become a real thing across the board. It was already a real thing for us on the Central coast, but for others across the U.S. it was that moment where people started to pay attention and realized this is really happening. This isn't something that people are talking about in a few select spaces. It's about to be something that we're going to see across the U.S. and so when that playbook came out in 2025, and I was fortunate to be at the unveiling of the Playbook in D.C. with Sarah Cena Toukan, who was one of the architects of that strategy. You know, one of the things that happened for the Central coast, we weren't now in a place where we're like, okay, it's time to get ready. We were like, okay, now we have to really like, you know, deepen our commitment to this space. And we have to make sure that we're bringing everyone along, that we're educating folks and that we're preparing people to stand in this space and take advantage of the opportunities. And so as we were dealing with that change and with that growth phase, we were seeing a lot of the same things that we see anytime change is about to happen. The challenges, I would say, really have come from knowing that most of these public use airports are going to be at the center of this kind of revolution that's happening here when it comes to advanced aviation. And in looking at that space, a lot of them have not been updated or upgraded in many years. And so one of the beauties of this grant that we received from the state is that a lot of the money is going to be focused on infrastructure readiness. What do these public use airports need in order to be the stars of this show that they're in right now? To make sure that they're prepared to. To not only continue to host, you know, the aircraft that are currently at their facilities, but to be able to open up that space and to bring more into the region and to be able to deal with that capacity. For us, that opportunity when it comes to infrastructure is leaning in with these airports and making sure that we're doing our part to identify what's needed so that other airports, and we know that in the state of California, there are over 200 of these public use, general aviation airports that could eventually plug into camsi. How do we make sure that as we're doing the work with these four public use airports, we're lifting up to them what they're going to need to do to get ready to plug into camsi? And so for us, you know, we're focused on the infrastructure and what's needed there for the airports. That's been a big focus, focal point for us, a big focus for this entire pathway of work, but also thinking about how do we make sure that community is ready and that we're pouring into them and getting them to where they need to be? Because they do have a lot of questions. I received a call from a realtor who services the Santa Cruz Mountains, and she was concerned about what's going to happen with the aircraft, how will they be used for her residence, knowing that a lot of them that are moving into that space are older, they're further away from healthcare facilities. And so really thinking about what does that look like for them? Not in a sense that there was nervousness, but there was expectation and really thinking about how will this serve her clients. And so for us, what we've seen more than anything is the excitement around the opportunity, but knowing that we're in a space where change is happening in real time. And so with that Change. We're trying to make sure that we're preparing people for everything that's coming that we can see right now, knowing that there are things that we can't anticipate in this moment, but we're trying to create that infrastructure, both the physical infrastructure when it comes to the airports, as well as the infrastructure that is the community, to make sure that they're ready. And so that's how I kind of look at this space each and every day. What is the opportunity going to be to educate, to make sure that people have the right information to be able to participate in this space? How do I make sure that folks who are kind of looking at what's going on here, but thinking that's not for me because that's outside my wheelhouse. How do I make sure that I bring them in and that I open up doors for them to have access and to participate? Those are the opportunities that I see in this space. Instead of seeing them as challenges, I really think that we're in a very special moment. And everything that we can do to prepare both the physical structures as well as the human structures for what's coming, that's what we're called to do as an organization, and that's what I'm called to do as the director of this project.
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B
How did you end up in this position? I'd imagine you didn't go to college and decide to run this.
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C
I'm currently finishing up my PhD in public private partnerships. But even prior to that, what was kind of a through line in all of my work was really thinking about how do I open up opportunity for others, how do I use systems like economic development to bring forth that opportunity? And how do I tweak an existing system to make sure that we're adding crucial components like inclusion so that folks can see themselves in the work as it's being built out? And so for Camzi, when I landed at mbep, initially I was serving as a senior advisor to the CEO and then would eventually become the Chief Growth Officer. As I was going through that transition from one role to the next, things were happening at the state level and continuing to happen across the region around Advanced Near Mobility. And so as we were continuing to lean into the planning processes, moving towards that place where the state was going to start funding projects for implementation, the CEO turned to me and was like, are you ready to do this? Are you ready to put this piece together, pitch it and bring it over the finish line? And because for the work that I do, I don't look at sectors, I look at the opportunity. And so even though it was an advanced aviation sector that we would be going through, the work was going to be the same for me, and that is economic opportunity. And so I accepted the challenge, I moved it forward, we secured the funding, and as a result of that, I found myself standing in this space as the director of this initiative. What I can say is that my work in the past has served me well here, and that is I know the importance of the public private partnership model and making sure that that's a part of everything that we're doing here. But I also know the importance of assembling a strong team. And that's what we've done here. We've brought in Crown and Wolpert. Those two firms have been working in advanced aviation and with airports for decades. And I think for me, it was also thinking in terms of how do we make sure that this is something that's unique, that everyone in the region can be proud of and can embrace? And you can only do that by making sure you're activating the different sectors and that you're bringing community along. And so for me, even though it was not a sector that I had been a part of in the way that most folks that are working on advanced young mobility could claim, I knew that one of the important elements of this work would be inclusive economic development. And so I knew that I was standing in familiar territory, even though the variables that were associated with advanced air mobility were somewhat unique to me.
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B
Lavera this has been fantastic. I have. I've learned a lot and I'm sure that our listeners have as well. If they want to learn more about Camzi or mbep, is there a website they should go to?
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C
Sure. Visit Mbep Biz Forward slash Kamsi and you can always reach out to me. L AlexanderBep Biz.
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B
I hope they do that because I think that there are a lot of opportunities for other communities in areas that are similar to yours to learn from your experience and, you know, do something great like you're doing. So I appreciate you coming on the show today.
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C
Thank you so much. I appreciate the conversation and thank you for having me.
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A
You've been listening to the Econ Dev show with Dane Carlson. If you're an economic developer who never stops learning, for more expert strategies, fresh insights and new ideas to take your career, organization and your community to the next level, visit us on the web@econdevshow.com.