Greater Phoenix Leadership has learned a lot since its beginnings as the ‘Phoenix 40’ about how to plan for an even more impactful future.
Ken Van Winkle
| opinion contributor
Phoenix area history: From 1920s to 2025, coaches, governors, laws
From the 1920s to 2025, see how things have changed in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Chandler, Gilbert and Peoria, from coaches to governors to parks to laws.
- Greater Phoenix Leadership is a group of business executives working to address community challenges in the Phoenix metro area.
- Founded in 1975, GPL has evolved over the years, expanding its focus to include education, infrastructure and social impact.
- The organization consists of 125 members from diverse backgrounds and political affiliations who work collaboratively and often behind the scenes.
In February 1975, less than a month after being sworn in, Arizona’s 14th governor, Raul Castro, met with 25 Phoenix businessmen at the Arizona Biltmore to discuss challenges the fast-growing city was experiencing.
Eugene Pulliam, publisher of The Arizona Republic newspaper, had been talking with bank executive Walter Bimson and Richard Snell, an attorney, about needing to address rising crime, education deficiencies and transportation issues.
He encouraged selected leaders to meet, writing: “This is probably one of the most important letters you have ever received because the immediate future of Phoenix may depend on the response to this challenge.”
More than 50 years later, the commitment to addressing challenges by the engagement of greater Phoenix community business leaders that began as the Phoenix 40, lives on as Greater Phoenix Leadership (GPL).
Our mission is to help the broader community
Today, 125 business executives — women and men, leading many of Arizona’s most significant enterprises — work together to address the region’s needs and challenges to promote high quality of life and economic prosperity for Arizonans.
We do not serve any specific business interest. That role is competently filled by chambers of commerce and sector-focused organizations with their essential advocacy.
Instead, our mission is to address systemic issues that uplift and improve the entire community. Our distinction has always been an extended mission and dedication of service to the greater good.
Arizona and the Phoenix metro region are significantly different than in 1975 when the Phoenix 40 was founded. The metro population then was under 1.2 million people. Today, we are home to 4.8 million people.
GPL has evolved from those ‘Phoenix 40’ days
Three and a half million new Arizonans over 50 years means just about every aspect of life has evolved and changed.
The same can be said for our organization. In the early 1990s, while former Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo was board chair, the Phoenix 40 changed its name to Greater Phoenix Leadership and actively sought to grow and diversify its membership.
It was a smart and necessary move.
After 9/11, in early 2002, GPL commenced a focus on education from preschool through post-secondary that remains.
And in 2020, the organization added issues related to community infrastructure and social impact to the portfolio of member engagement, reflecting members’ interests and growing needs across the region.
While remaining a private organization that carefully identifies and selects accomplished business leaders for membership, our visible roster of members has evolved from the Phoenix 40 tradition of the past.
Our members work quietly behind the scenes
Most of our members are active with other community organizations and boards, an important factor for new member consideration as it broadens our understanding of community needs.
Prior to my leadership involvement with GPL, I served as chair of Ballet Arizona and currently am on the Downtown Phoenix Inc. and Banner Health Foundation boards of directors.
Other GPL members regularly organize support behind the scenes. I know several who secured COVID-19 testing, vaccination capacity and locations, brought Afghan refugees to Arizona and helped lead numerous community initiatives identified as critical to the growth and success of the region.
Whether leading regional transportation and education funding campaigns over the decades, addressing housing attainment needs, working for a vibrant and successful downtown, helping shape and pass bond programs for arts and culture assets, or supporting K-12 and higher education investment as an economic development driver and workforce plan, we are always eager to partner and collaborate with elected officials and other business and community organizations to help get the job done.
We won’t be in many photos, and we rarely issue a news release. We simply lead, support and help when and where needed.
GPL focuses on pragmatic solutions
One might assume that a group of business leaders are monolithic in philosophy and approaches to public policy, but GPL’s membership today comprises leaders with different views and political affiliations.
We focus on pragmatic solutions to benefit the greater good, knowing that when the community is strong, businesses will succeed and the economy will grow for all.
Members take seriously the impact our positions and involvement will have on the broader community and nearly 350,000 Arizonans who are employed by the organizations we lead.
As we looked back over the 50-year history of our organization, we learned much about how to plan for an even more impactful future.
We are observing the 50th anniversary of our founding as much more than a walk down memory lane. It’s a strong catalyst for discerning how we will better answer the call to serve this wonderful place we call home.
Ken Van Winkle is 2024-2026 board chair of Greater Phoenix Leadership and managing parter of Womble Bond Dickenson. Reach him at boardchair@gplinc.org.