Chris Pengra stepped into his role last month as the new executive director of S3R3 Solutions, the West Plains public development authority that encompasses a 9,500-acre area surrounding Spokane International Airport.

Before moving to Spokane, Pengra, 45, was the economic development director for the city of West Jordan, Utah, a small municipality in the Salt Lake City metro area, for the past three years. Prior to that, he was the economic development director for Rocky Mountain Power, a utility that operates in southeast Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming.

Pengra is a native of Southern California and left the Golden State for Utah shortly after his 18th birthday. He is a former aircraft maintainer with the U.S. Air Force and received his bachelor’s in business administration from the University of Maryland.

The Journal recently sat down with Pengra to discuss his first 30 days on the job, his experience in economic development, and what he hopes to accomplish in his new role.

How have your first 30 days as executive director been?

It’s been awesome. There’s an amazing staff who’ve been holding down the fort through a couple of interim directors. I’ve been able to meet with many stakeholders in the community so far. There’s a lot of passionate people here who really care about the future of Spokane, from the directors of other public development authorities to the elected officials, city and county administrators, and utility stakeholders.

There are quite a few people who are excited about what the future holds, and it’s a big reason why I’m here.

What are some of the things you want to start working on right away?

S3R3 is situated to be a convener of stakeholders, specifically for the development activity that’s taking place in the West Plains. I definitely want to strengthen those ties with all the stakeholders as we begin recruitment efforts for target industries to facilitate pretty efficient and rapid development. My focus is understanding the existing conditions and where we have a mutual competitive advantage, then strengthening those areas where we may require making ourselves more competitive against other regions so we can begin active recruitment for industries like aerospace, defense, logistics, or life sciences, for instance.

What drew you to work in economic development?

When I was younger, I had lots of different jobs in which I was searching for that thing that I was passionate about or that gave me a sense of purpose. After I got out of the military in 2007, I was living in a community in Utah called Eagle Mountain. It was all residential, and there was very little commercial business in Eagle Mountain, which means that the burden of providing services falls on taxes generated from the residents. So, we had significant economic needs. In 2013, because I wanted to serve the community based on the serious needs I saw, I ran for mayor and won that election.

It was through that role that I got into economic development and was thrown into the deep end of the pool, just out of necessity. With the help of an amazing team in that community, we were able to do some amazing things and really launch Eagle Mountain into economic development in a way that was transformative.

How were you able to move the community forward?

Because of the financial circumstances that the city was in, we recognized we needed to have some of the largest capital investments being made anywhere in the nation. We researched to find out where that was happening in the country already and find out who was winning at bringing big industrial projects that came with large capital investments, like $100 million or more.

Storey County, Nevada, was doing some amazing things. We flew out and met with the county’s administrator and asked a lot of questions to find out how they were being successful. We took that information back to Eagle Mountain, and we created property rights for specific types of businesses that were interested in the community. What it did was streamline the process and made it easy for them to come in with minimal risk. It enabled the city to move more at the speed of business rather than the speed of government.

As a result, there is a Facebook data center campus there today with billions of dollars of capital investments made on that single project. There’s also a Tyson Fresh Meats plant there that offers employment opportunities for people in that community—and other investments that are being made there today.

I was hooked at that time, because I saw how economic development can transform a community and create opportunity for people to have upward mobility. It feels good to do that.

Did you run for a second term?

I didn’t have any political motivations behind running for mayor. I just saw a need. In fact, I was hesitant to run for mayor. It wasn’t something that I specifically wanted to do. But when no one else seemed to be stepping up, I threw my hat in the ring. Over that four-year period, we were able to accomplish so many things that really surpassed my expectations. I felt they needed something different from somebody else. 

Do you plan to stay here for the long term?

Yes. I do have ties to Spokane; my wife has family in Spokane. We’ve long held our annual family vacation at Priest Lake, in Idaho. So there’s that familiarity. But making a big move like this doesn’t come without some pretty serious commitments beyond family ties and opportunities for creations, which we had in Utah.

I’ve long been driven by mission. When I saw the agreement that memorializes the partnership between the city of Spokane, the county, and the airport, I saw an opportunity to do that here in a way that I haven’t been able to do since I was mayor. While these roles are very different, I see the opportunity to have transformative impact. There are jobs. There are careers. And then there are missions. This is in the mission category for me.

Big picture, I want to be part of a team that draws in a large investment to the West Plains area that creates jobs and opportunity for upward mobility for people of Spokane and even Eastern Washington.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.