Staff

Rob began his career with the City of Scottsdale in 1992 in the City’s Municipal Services Department, and since then has gained significant experience and yielded positive impact across multiple departments. In 1994 Rob was hired to help create and implement the City’s very first Citizen Service Center located at Los Arcos Mall, the City’s One Stop Shop for City services. He spent the next two years opening various Citizen Service Centers throughout Scottsdale until he received an opportunity in 1996 to become the city’s first Neighborhood Services Liaison where he implemented the City’s first neighborhood college program. Rob then went on to become a Citizen Liaison prior to serving as the Mayor’s Chief of Staff from 2006-2008.

As Business Attraction Manager, he is responsible for recruiting industry and commerce to the City of Scottsdale, administers the Scottsdale Cultural Council contract, serves as auto dealership liaison, and provides leadership over redevelopment programs. As auto liaison, Rob has coordinated the opening of two dealerships, lead efforts to increase sales, and fostered dealership communication and enhanced collaboration.

Rob holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration, is a member of Arizona Association for Economic Development, and is a graduate of Scottsdale Leadership Class 17 and the Arizona State University Institute for Public Executives.

Jorge Hernandez is our new Economic Development Specialist. A planner by trade, Jorge spent the last four years as a Program Manager for the Department of City Planning in New York. He could not be happier to have relocated from NYC to Arizona with his wife, a Phoenix native. When he's not producing flow charts or conducting research for the department, Jorge can be found xeriscaping his front yard or hiking throughout the region with his dog, Benny.

Josh Utterback joined the City of Scottsdale in March 2018 as an Economic Development Specialist for the Economic Development Department.

Josh works in concert with the economic development team in support of the advancement of the Scottsdale economic development strategic plan through robust research, strategic marketing business development support.

Josh has a successful track record in the private and the public sector. An Arizona native who grew up around real estate development, his work in commercial real estate started in 2006. Over the course of the next 10 years he gained experience in a variety of disciplines from ground up development, asset management, property management, financing, leasing and budget review. In addition to collaborating with various general contractors, civil engineers, brokers, City, state, tribal and federal officials he had the privilege of working with prominent companies such as Target, Kohl’s, Weingarten Realty and CVS.

His previous experience in the public sector was at the City of Mesa serving as an Economic Development Specialist where his real estate background proved beneficial when acting as a liaison between developers and business owners and the Planning and Development Services Departments. He worked closely with Greater Phoenix Economic Council and the Arizona Commerce Authority on site selection inquiries and provided support to project managers on business attraction and business retention and expansion efforts. He also played instrumental roles in the successful recruitment and relocation to Mesa for Dexcom and Feed My Starving Children respectively.

Josh holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Economics/Bible Theology from Wheaton College (IL) and a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Real Estate Development from Arizona State University. He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute and stays involved with the Arizona State University MRED program. He is also an active member with the Arizona Association for Economic Development and is actively working to become a Certified Economic Developer (CeCD) through the International Economic Development Council (IEDC).