TOP SAN ANTO ECO-DEV TOYOTA EXEC OFFERED GBIC GIG

By Juan Montoya

If everything comes together – and the behind-the-scenes machinations by Mayor Tony Martinez and the Galonskys and Cowens don't sabotage the process – the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation might just land economic development superstar Mario Losoya who helped Toyota succeed in San Antonio as its new director.

Losoya edged out other applicants to garner a majority vote opposed by GBIC board members Nurith Galonsky and John Cowen. Both, seen as the spoke pieces for Martinez, opposed Losoya.

The majority, chair person (and city commissioner) Jessica Tetreau, member David Betancourt (Cameron County Treasurer), and her fellow city commissioner Cesar de Leon, chose Losoya.

Losoya is currently the External Relations and Government Affairs Director for Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Texas Inc. (TMMTX).

Losoya still has to accept the contract offer, inside GBIC sources say. But if he does, as he is expected to do, the economic development strategy the company implemented there could give the local economy a boost it needs to uplift its workforce component. Toyota, at its full workforce, employs 2,900 workers at its plant.

Top among the needs, GBIC members agreed, is the development of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workers who are more sought after than ever and businesses are want to develop new ways to cultivate that workforce.

The deliberate method is using to develop its local workforce there is not only yielding results in San Antonio, but is gaining national attention as the federal government looks to adopt Toyota practices.

Called the "Toyota Way," it is defined as a set of guiding principles on continuing improvement that underlies underlies the company's managerial approach to enhance its production system, but is the foundation of principles that defines everything Toyota does.That approach is being used to help create skilled employees for its Southside plant.

That approach to community engagement evolved over time, according to Losoya. During its first five years in San Antonio, there were plenty of misconceptions about the company’s approach to philanthropy.

“When we first started out (in November 2006), I’d say we used more of a shotgun approach, funding across multiple counties,” Lozoya said. “You have to remember, we’re the only Toyota manufacturing facility in the entire state of Texas, yet we were getting lots of gift requests. Our ability to respond to gift requests is based on the footprint of the San Antonio plant, not Toyota global’s budget.”

That led to the company defining its workforce approach, he said.

“In our first five years we weren’t effective in moving the needle on workforce development, so five years ago we decided to work on ways to improve our effectiveness,” Lozoya explained.

In an interview with the Rivard Report's Iris Gonzalez, Losoya said that the company chose to the push for better results started with looking at where the plant’s employees lived, its own backyard.
The results showed that the majority lived near or in close proximity to the plant. This led the company to adopt its ‘backyard’ strategy of focusing development efforts in areas where future workers would most likely live – in and close to the plant in Bexar County.

To foster interest in robotics, Toyota started by supporting five student teams in robotics competitions in 2011, a number that has grown to 30 teams from school surrounding the Southside plant. It also established programs for younger students to compete in contests that emphasize seeking solutions to robotics problems through Lego robotics.

It also awarded a grant to the Bexar County Correctional System to help inmates get their GED and then working with lawyers to diminish its liabilities and to ease this population's entry to the car makers production lines which makes up 80 percent of its workforce.

Toyota also reached a Memorandum Of Understanding with Alamo College and funded a two-year scholarship for to fill its need for fill Toyota’s need for skilled tech workers. The agreement will help produce technicians needed in advanced manufacturing economy.

The key elements in Toyota's (and Losoya's) strategy for economic development?: Target Toyota’s backyard, look for leverage points where Toyota can be most effective, and find community partners for maximum collective impact, Gonzalez wrote.

Landing a player like Losoya to lead the GBIC would give it a director with a proven track record to guide it in its first efforts at economic development after its members refused to renew its three-years, $5.3 million contracts with the Brownsville Economic Development Corporation. The result of that relationship produced dismal results and embarrassing disclosures about its spendthrift ways, often taking Martinez and other city and regional honchos on junkets to Europe and Latin America.

Nurith Galonsky, daughter of downtown real-estate mogul Abraham Galonsky (of the $2.3 million La Cas del Nylon sale infamy) is not only on the board of the GBIC, but also on the Public Utility Board and the chair person of the committee to choose Brownsville's next city manager.

If the Galonskys, Martinez, and GBIC's Cowen – whose close relationship to commissioners Ralph Cowen and John Reed at the Port of Brownsville – sabotage the opportunity to bring Losoya to Brownsville, they must bear the responsibility for what's to come, or more appropriately, what may not come with another candidate.