About

Christine Mackay has served as the Director of the City of Phoenix Community and Economic Development Department since August 2014. In that role, she is responsible for fostering an environment where businesses can create and retain jobs, make capital investment and reinvestment in the community, and match their workforce needs with employees and training opportunities.  During Mackay’s tenure in Phoenix, the department facilitated the creation of more than 100,000 highvalue jobs, seeing the average wage of those jobs increase from around $30,000 in 2014 to more than $84,000 in 2024, and closed deals totaling more than $190 billion in capital investment. She leads a department of more than 60 full-time staff that encompasses the full spectrum of economic development areas, including business attraction, business retention and expansion, community development, international relations through Sister Cities, the Phoenix Business and Workforce Development Board, administration, research, marketing and communications, and the City-owned PHX Arena and Phoenix Bioscience Core – a 30-acre life sciences innovation hub in downtown. Mackay was named as one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year for 2025, a recognition that highlights those who have made a significant impact in their community and across the United States. In 2021, she was named as one of the top 50 economic developers in the nation by Consultant Connect, and is a three-time honoree as Economic Developer of the Year (large community) by the Arizona Association for Economic Development.  Throughout her career, Mackay has been named 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. Mackay has also been recognized as one of Arizona Business magazine’s 50 Most Influential Women in Arizona. She is a member of various professional committees and associations, including the Economic Development Director's Team for Greater Phoenix, Maricopa Association of Government's Building a Quality Regional Community committee, Flinn Foundation Biosciences Roadmap committee, International Economic Development Council, Commercial Office Real Estate Executives, Arizona Association for Economic Development, and Arizona Business Incubator Association. Mackay has more than 30 years of experience in economic development, overlapping 30 years of work in commercial real estate. She is a native Phoenician.