With nearly three decades of economic development experience, Christine Mackay began service with the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC) as President & CEO in October 2025 after serving as the City of Phoenix Community and Economic Development director for 11 years. During Mackay’s tenure with Phoenix, the department facilitated the creation of over 100,000 high-value jobs, saw the average wage of those jobs increase from over $30,000 in 2014 to more than $86,000 in 2024, and closed deals with more than $75 billion in capital investment to date. She led a department of over 70 full-time staff that encompassed the full spectrum of economic development areas including business attraction, retention and expansion, community development, international relations, Sister Cities, the Phoenix Business and Workforce Development Board, administration, research, marketing, the city-owned Mortgage Matchup Center and Phoenix Bioscience Core.
Christine was named one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year and received the Arizona Association for Economic Development’s (AAED) William Lampkin Award for Long-Term Excellence in 2024. In 2021, Christine was named as one of the Top 50 Economic Developers in the Country by Consultant Connect. She is a three-time honoree as “Economic Developer of the Year, Large Community” by AAED. Mackay was recognized as “Leader of the Year in Economic Development–Public Policy” by the Arizona Capitol Times, and “Industry Leader of the Year – Economic Development” by Arizona Commercial Real Estate Magazine. She has also been on the list of the Arizona Business magazine’s “50 Most Influential Women in Arizona.”
She is a member of Maricopa Association of Government’s Building a Quality Regional Community committee, Flinn Foundation Biosciences Roadmap committee, the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), Commercial Office Real Estate Executives (CoreNet), and the Arizona Association for Economic Development (AAED).
Christine has more than 28 years’ experience in economic development overlapping 35 years of commercial real estate experience. She has spent both her personal and professional life in Greater Phoenix.