COLLEGE STATION, TX – (December 10, 2025) – Moderated by Adam Bruns, Editor in Chief of Site Selection Magazine
In an interview at Texas A&M University, Adam Bruns, Editor in Chief of Site Selection Magazine, interviewed 5 CEOs on their experiences relocating or expanding a company in Texas. What was the decision making process, turning points, and sticking points?
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Mike Berry – President of Hillwood
So we just did a very exciting project with Wistron, a Taiwanese contract manufacturer to NVIDIA. The significant part of that project was that it was an output of the Trump administration‘s push towards more AI, more chip related advanced manufacturing in this country, and the data center expansion that we’re seeing. It was indicative of these national security and critical industry sector manufacturing pushes that we’re beginning to see. This project was on a super fast track because of the pressures coming from the administration to stand up bricks and mortar capital to expand manufacturing. The project happened super fast, the state was very, very responsive and the the local municipalities were very, very responsive in terms of accelerating both incentives, permitting, etc. This project with Wistron is indicative of of the business environment that we’re we’re enjoying here in Texas.
John Boyd – Principal at The Boyd Company
I would highlight UPS, which is one of our major clients. We do a dozen or so projects for them every year, and they’re expanding a lot here in Texas, in Mesquite, El Paso, Schertz (outside of San Antonio), and they have a major facility at Alliance Texas. UPS is an interesting company. It’s sort of indicative of the current labor market, with the role that AI and automation and robotics are playing. And when you look at the logistics sector, particularly the growth of cold storage, it’s applying pharmaceutical and food and beverage growth. These are highly automated facilities. We talk about Texas being a shining star. Its connectivity advantages with respect to logistics, market access, reliable utilities, but also automation and robotics. I can tell you that El Paso Community College, Dallas, College, UTI in San Antonio, are all leaders and enjoy terrific relationships with UPS. We have similar case study examples on the automation front with PepsiCo in Houston also.
Charlie Vogt – Principal at Bowen
Like so many of us, I moved my family to Texas 25 years ago. I became a first time CEO 24 years ago. I worked with a private equity backed company based in Boston. I remember them asking me if I would be open to taking the job. And I said, would you be open to moving the company to Texas? They said yes. Over the last 24 years, I’ve brought four additional companies to Texas, one from Denver, two from California, with over 5000 employees in the mix. This resulted in 25 subsequent acquisitions that also fueled a lot of human capital. Despite the fact that there are no not mountains and oceans, those people found Texas to be a great place. A lot more to talk about, but it’s been a great journey. Thank you.
Brian Daniel – President at NYSE Texas
Over the last 10 years, I’ve had a great sort of vantage point to help hundreds of companies make their move to Texas. Whether they’re starting off here, they’re moving from somewhere else, or they’re just expanding their operations. First, in the governor’s office. I was governor Abbott’s Chief Economic Development official in his first term, and a little bit of the second, then I went to the Workforce Commission where we helped people iron out their workforce type issues. Companies that are that are looking at Texas are looking at some very specific things. It’s where their customers are, maybe it’s where their suppliers are, and maybe they’re just really like fleeing some sort of oppressive state government in another state. It happens. A lot of the decisions other states in this country make astound me. The things that they do, the way they’ve structured their government, the way they’ve done their taxes, the way they’ve done a lot of things. I don’t I don’t understand what economic textbook that came out of because it’s not going to work. I think in Texas, probably 20 years ago, we made a decision that we’re not gonna repeat some things from the past that have been really problematic for us. The average age in this room is actually pretty young. You guys remember Texas as it is now, and you’re hopeful for the job you’re going to get. When I graduated from college, in the early 90s, we just wanted a job. And when we were seven years removed from the banks closing and oil had crashed, there was nothing and it was because we had all our eggs in one basket. Coming out of the 80s into the 90s, I think a lot of local leaders made some good decisions, business leaders, elected officials, the state became involved with some really good decision making, and they’ve made this environment in which companies can really contemplate the ability to move. Literally hundreds of companies I got to participate in some form or fashion with.
In August of this year, I was hired to be the new president of NYSE Texas, the new stock exchange in Texas. We’re up and running as of March. I joined in August, and now I’ve got a company that’s relocated to Texas from another place that is here because their customers are here in Texas, and now the businesses here in Texas because of alll the things that I have been talking about for 10 years. Now, I’m on the business side of that. There are two takeaways here. The first is, thank goodness I was right about all the stuff I’d been selling for the 10 years prior to that. I’m thankful for that. Secondly, I get it now, like this is a place where you can actually contemplate how you’re going to grow. There will not be unnecessary obstructions put in that it’s up to you to figure out how to serve your customers, how to get things done, how to comply with the regulations that we all know, what they are and how to be part of a state that wants to see businesses succeed. I’m happy to be part of a state that wants businesses to succeed.
Robert Ahdieh – COO of Texas A&M – Fort Worth
One of the hats I wear here at Texas A&M is helping the university and the system as a whole build this new innovation campus in Fort Worth. Ultimately, we expect it will be a billion dollar plus Innovation Campus. To add a frame of reference, from the outset we asked how do we use the academic assets and resources of the university, around R& D, around Workforce Training and Development, and around graduating students from certificate programs and degree programs, etc. to advance industry development, growth and attraction for Texas. That campus is one of five being built to open open in May. Let me give you an example of this helping with a companies attraction. So, A&M has a long standing expertise in visualization virtual reality. Think of it as everything around, gaming, movies and television, but also healthcare and aerospace and aviation. Everything that involves visualization. We were talking about how that program might have a place in Fort Worth, similar to what we have with Lockheed and Bell.
There’s a successful gaming company based in Seattle that had been looking around the country to relocate to. They had realized that it had become very hard for them to continue to do business in Seattle. Turns out, there were a couple of investors in that company from Fort Worth who heard about A&M. They didn’t know anything about our strength in this visualization space, but they heard about it. Someone said, “hey, why are you not looking at Fort Worth?” In Fort Worth, you’re going to get all the benefits of Texas generally, but you’re also going to find this academic partner who’s there to provide you future training, future employees, to help for your workforce training and to collaborate on cutting edge research. The company is now in the process of relocating from Seattle to Fort Worth. Have now have a foothold here, where A&M students are spending a semester at a time in Fort Worth, working with the company and partnering with them. We’re now in the process of building this virtual production studio, a kind of high end Film Television visualization facility that will support the growth of Fort Worth in this sector as well. So, that’s an example of the way in which this academic component can add to the business, attraction work as well.
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Adam Bruns is editor in chief and head of publications for Site Selection magazine, where he served as managing editor from February 2002 until fall 2023. In the course of reporting hundreds of stories for Site Selection, Adam has visited companies and communities around the globe. A St. Louis native who grew up in the Kansas City suburbs, Adam is a 1986 alumnus of Knox College, and resided in Chicago; Midcoast Maine; Savannah, Georgia; and Lexington, Kentucky, before settling in Greater Atlanta with his wife and daughter.
e-mail: Adam.Bruns@conway.com
