Regional collaboration has long been one of the Rio Grande Valley’s most powerful economic tools. In this episode of the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal Podcast, Editor Naxiely Lopez-Puente sits down with Paco Sanchez, the newly appointed president and CEO of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership, to discuss how the organization is working to unify business, government, and community leaders across the four-county region.
Sanchez outlines the Partnership’s mission to advocate for the Valley’s priorities in Austin and Washington, D.C., while strengthening the region’s economic environment through workforce development, infrastructure investment, and coordinated legislative strategy.
The conversation explores the Partnership’s influential RGV Legislative Tour, its new RGV Connect sessions, and the growing need for regional solutions to workforce shortages in industries like healthcare, water infrastructure, and construction.
The following is a rough, AI-generated transcript of Naxiely Lopez-Puente’s interview with the president and CEO of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership, Paco Sanchez. There may be slight errors in the transcription and possible misspellings of proper names. For the full, unabridged story, take a listen above, or get the episode from your favorite podcast host/provider!
PACO SANCHEZ: What do you hear from them is that, you know, they want to make sure that the economic environment down here stay strong for us, but also that we provide support for the workforce. The Valleys Chamber of Commerce, and what differentiates us from other chambers is that we have a focus on legislative advocacy and making sure that we take our regional priorities and issues up to Austin and D.C. to advocate for, for the Valley.
PACO SANCHEZ: And then we also show them, you know, the investments that we made in to our infrastructure and to the Valley, and also show them the needs that we have.
NAXI LOPEZ: Right? Because, you know, like we said, everybody is asking for their community. Right? But I think when we come together as one region, one voice, you know, and advocate for the bigger infrastructure projects, for, you know, the bigger issues, we definitely get more attention that way.
PACO SANCHEZ: Oh, yes.
NAXI LOPEZ: Hi, and thank you for joining us on this episode of the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal podcast. I’m Naxi Lopez-Puente, and today we are with the new president and CEO of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership, Paco Sanchez. Paco, thank you so much for joining us today.
PACO SANCHEZ: Thank you, Naxi. I really appreciate it. I want to thank you and the the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal for the invitation and the opportunity to come here, talk about, you know, the partnership and our goals and what we’re doing here.
NAXI LOPEZ: Of course, you know, the work that you guys do is very important, right, for the region. For those of us that don’t know what the Valley, the RGV partnership is, tell us a little bit about the organization. Okay.
PACO SANCHEZ: Thanks. Well, the RGV Partnership, we’re a business led regional nonprofit that really focuses on promoting advocacy, regional priorities across our four counties. Hidalgo, Cameron, Willacy, and Starr. And, we do that by bringing together business leaders, elected officials, community stakeholders, to really work through those issues and bring them together under one region, one voice.
PACO SANCHEZ: You know, that’s what we’d like to say. And I have it here on my, my lapel pin. But that’s what we do to make sure that we have a strong economy that is going to be friendly towards business and then also benefit, you know, the workers here in the, in the Arab.
NAXI LOPEZ: You know, so I’ve kind of heard it described as kind of a, chamber of commerce, but for the entire valley.
PACO SANCHEZ: Yes. Yeah. So the valley’s chamber of commerce, and what differentiates us from other chamber, differentiates us from other chambers is that we have a focus on legislative advocacy and making sure that we take our regional priorities and issues up to Austin and DC to advocate for, for the Valley.
NAXI LOPEZ: And this is an organization that has been in the Valley for a long time, I think like 60 years or something.
PACO SANCHEZ: What a long time. I think it was from the 40s when I first began.
PACO SANCHEZ: And so it was, you know, the RGV Chamber of Commerce and you can still see on the front of our building, you know, that original name, but that’s really, you know, that kind of sets the stage for the history of the partnership and how we’re moving forward.
NAXI LOPEZ: And so you mentioned one of the key components of this organization is that legislative advocacy. Right. And so I mean who better than you to to be leading this effort. Tell us about yourself.
PACO SANCHEZ: No. Well, so I have a background in, in the Texas Legislature. I’ve been a staffer for about 20 years. I started off with Rep Armando Martinez as an unpaid intern. Finished up law school and undergrad, and then came back and also the legislative director for about a decade, then, spent a year out in personal injury working within a wholesale law firm.
PACO SANCHEZ: And then in late 2020, chairman of school and Geary asked me to come as chief of staff. So I went back into the building and I was his chief for about six years. And I say that because not to see how long I’ve worked in the building, but it’s given me access, and it’s really taught me the legislative process, the little tricks the important players, not just the elected officials, but, you know, certain, committee directors or committee clerks that really move the process along.
NAXI LOPEZ: Right, right. So a lot of insider, you know, knowledge that you’re bringing to this post, right. And so one of the big things that the partnership does is that legislative tours, right. Talk to us about what what it encompasses. You know, what is it right now.
PACO SANCHEZ: So the the RGV legislative tour, it’s really our premier event. Every legislative session, which happens in odd numbered years here in the state of Texas. We bring down representatives, state senators, along with key staff members to the Valley, and they’ll tour, you know, and in 27, it’s going to be Cameron County and Willacy County. So what we do is we show them, you know, our strengths, our resources, our geographic and cultural uniqueness down here in the valley.
PACO SANCHEZ: And then we also show them, you know, the investments that we made in to our infrastructure and to the valley and also show them the needs that we have. So that way when those decision makers and those appropriators are sending out money to projects or they’re deciding on their votes, it’s a lot easier for them to make that decision.
PACO SANCHEZ: Having seen firsthand, what we have here in the Valley, you know, if they’re going to give money to a project, you know, they can say, oh, I was down in in Cameron County, I saw this facility. They’re asking for money to expand it. It’s a lot easier if they’ve seen it firsthand as opposed to in the legislative process.
PACO SANCHEZ: You hand them a one page doc with a summary of it. They feel a lot more comfortable, shelling out money and investing taxpayer dollars when they’ve seen what that can actually turn into.
NAXI LOPEZ: Right. And how many people are at their office every day handing them those, you know, one cheaters.
PACO SANCHEZ: Yeah. You’ll get a giant stack of paper. That’ll be two rings big. You know, that’s just the way that the state runs. We have a lot of, really involved communities that want to advocate for themselves. And the partnership, really organizes the Valley community and make sure that we speak in that unified voice together.
NAXI LOPEZ: Right? Because, you know, like we said, everybody is asking for their community. Right? But I think they and we’ve seen right when we come together as one region, one voice, you know, and advocate for the bigger infrastructure projects for, you know, the bigger issues. We definitely get more attention that way.
PACO SANCHEZ: Oh, yeah. So now and I think you see, we have seen that with the RGV, MPO, with the merger and the creation of RGV. It gives us a louder and stronger voice at the table when it’s, you know, it’s one region.
NAXI LOPEZ: And so what are you hearing from business owners. You’ve been on this job for about five weeks right. And so I imagine that a lot of your your initial work has been kind of getting in touch with these, you small businesses or how do you about your process, you know.
PACO SANCHEZ: So really, I’ve been trying to get out and make, make a lot of visits and phone calls and meetings with our members, and letting them know, you know what my vision is for the partnership, why I was brought in, kind of letting them know that they’re going to be in some really steady hands that knows what they’re doing, especially with the mission of the partnership.
PACO SANCHEZ: But what do you hear from them? Is that, you know, they want to make sure that the economic environment down here stay strong for us. But also that we provide support for the workforce. Because, you know, they’re kind of the stepping stone as a, as a young student or young worker is moving their way up.
PACO SANCHEZ: They want to make sure that they have the resources to really take care of them and that they can go, go in and help those small businesses if they’re properly educated and ready to to do that job.
NAXI LOPEZ: And so obviously, we have some workforce shortages, right? We’ve covered, at the Journal, we recently just ran a story about the water infrastructure projects, right, that are going to get funding soon, but there’s nobody to kind of work those projects to run those plans. And so I know that there’s been an effort recently to kind of shore up that industry, construction to I mean, what where are those shortages here in the Valley?
PACO SANCHEZ: So, I think you see, in any community in the Valley, health care is one of those big issues. Nursing, those support, you know, staff that that helps with that. The water. So we actually hosted that that workshop here in our offices in this boardroom. Okay. And so we brought together irrigation districts, municipal districts that deal with water.
PACO SANCHEZ: And, we brought in South Texas College nad Bank provided funding for the grant. And again, we’re the regional convener. We’re kind of the glue that brings together different industries to make sure that we can work together, that we know what our needs are and where we need to step it up. But they’re saying, you know, a large part of their workforce, doesn’t have the basic certifications and that can impact, you know, a municipality or an entity.
PACO SANCHEZ: And then the existing workforce is retiring as well. So they need to fill those positions. We have region one here. They said they had about 1200 students that were interested in the agriculture and water industry, and maybe a couple dozen actually went on to to work in that industry. And this is a way to show them that there’s a career in that pathway.
PACO SANCHEZ: You know, if you if you go in and do the work for it. And yes, like you said, construction, I think, you know, the general environment politically, when it comes to immigration, that’s had an impact. Home builders, you know, they’re they’re really trying to make sure that they’re not hindered in their, in their processes because, you know, there may have been a dip in home buying and home construction nationwide.
PACO SANCHEZ: But here in Texas and especially in the Valley, there’s just such still such a high demand.
NAXI LOPEZ: Wow. Okay. And what if what if anything can the partnership do to, you know, address those shortages.
PACO SANCHEZ: And I think it’s what we’ve been doing right now in the first five weeks that I’ve been here, is making sure that the stakeholders that are involved in these, in these, and these issues know, what their resources are now, the folks are going to be able to help them. And then we kind of, point them in the right direction in a lot of ways.
PACO SANCHEZ: You know, if you want to talk to a certain committee, a certain representative, we can make that introduction. That’s one of the big pillars of the partnership is we give you direct access to legislators, decision makers, agency heads. You know, we can make those introductions. And that’s a lot of a large part of why I was brought on.
PACO SANCHEZ: Because of my experience. In that area.
NAXI LOPEZ: You know, and I feel like, And correct me if I’m wrong. Right. But I feel when constituents. Right obviously reach out to their lawmakers and things like that, they do get the attention. But when the small business owners start getting together and, you know, these are the movers and shakers, right? These are the backbone of the economy.
NAXI LOPEZ: When they start reaching out to lawmakers, does that make a bigger impact?
PACO SANCHEZ: I’m not sure if it makes a bigger impact, but it makes an equally important impact. You know, the Valley, a lot of our growth has been because of our economy has been very helpful to small businesses. Larger businesses have been moving in, you know, international companies. And we want to make sure that they, they can collect their voices together so that our representatives and elected officials can hear those, you know, those issues, because at the end of the day, it’s, you know, if if a small business has to shut down, that’s 4 to 6 folks that lose their jobs, that their families are impacted.
PACO SANCHEZ: And if you make sure that they keep those positions and that they have access to, you know, maybe upskill, you know, become a better, a stronger candidate in the workforce, you know, we can really make a difference across the valley.
NAXI LOPEZ: And so I know that one of the new things that you guys are instilling are the RGV connect sessions.
PACO SANCHEZ: Yeah. So RGV connect and thanks for the for the opportunity to talk about that. But you know, since the state legislature meets every other year, they meet odd numbered years. In the even numbered years, the partnership would really have to be based primarily on membership driven. And that’s important. And it is. But, you know, with our focus on advocacy and legislation, what we wanted to do was connect the interim.
PACO SANCHEZ: When we’re not in session. We call that the interim. You wanted to connect the interim, to our mission as well, tied into our legislative agenda for next session. So RGV connect, we had our first session and mission. It was really, really successful. We will take an issue to a community throughout the Valley. We’ll highlight that.
PACO SANCHEZ: So we had transportation and trade. We had pizza, pulled it out from Cameron County. We had the Donna Bridge, and we also had the Port of Harlingen come in and talk about the issues that they’re facing, how that’s impacting their their you know, their bottom line, the general economy. We got to have audience members kind of come up with solutions and ideas to ask some questions about, about those issues.
PACO SANCHEZ: And then the latter half of it, we provided the opportunity for the local city to highlight one of their issues and the mission, see their tech glow. Garcia, who’s been awesome. He’s just a great guy. He went ahead and he, you know, mentioned the City of Missions, new innovation district that they’ll be having. And that’s kind of the thing.
PACO SANCHEZ: You know, we have regional priorities, but we all know that our local communities make up those priorities. So if we can highlight the regional as well as the local, that ties into what we’re trying to do here in the partnership. And so we’ll do that throughout the year. Our next one is going to be in April. We’re going to touch on water because that’s such a hot issue and an important issue.
PACO SANCHEZ: And then from there we’ll have roundtables where we go through those issues and kind of filter through the ideas that came out there, the solutions, and use that to build up our agenda. Going into session for the RGV tour and then RGV days in Austin, which we also organize.
NAXI LOPEZ: And I don’t know if we made it very clear, but the RGV tour is really we’re not bringing, you know, our lawmakers, we’re bringing lawmakers from across the state right to our region.
PACO SANCHEZ: Yes. And so you would have, you know, 100 plus folks that we bring down, we’ve had, you know, 50, 60 representatives, 13 senators, there’s only 31 senators. So that’s a really great turnout. And then the staff on top of that is, you know, we’ll get an 80, 150, you know, staffers and and in the, in the legislature, they really do make the, the drive, the process.
PACO SANCHEZ: So that’s just, you know, that’s an equally important part of, of that. And, you know, there’s not an organization, across, you know, the state that does something like this. It’s it’s unique to the Valley. And I think a lot of the improvements and progress that we’ve made in our region is really due to the tour.
NAXI LOPEZ: And, you know, I’ve been lucky enough. I before, you know, working with the journal, I was with mission EDC under Tech Glo, and I got to be part of the organizing, you know, that part of the event, the tour when they made a stop at the scene. And so it’s, you know, kind of a full circle moment to and also, I participated in the RGV partnerships leadership class.
NAXI LOPEZ: So I am a graduate of the class. Talk to us about that. You know, I found that super interesting. You know, I’m obviously biased because I went through it, but you tell us about it.
PACO SANCHEZ: Now, the, you know, RGV leadership, the leadership program through the partnership here is really great. We recruit members from across our community, people that are associate with some of the banks, with nonprofits, hospitals, we make sure that they come in, they see the varied, you know, industries that we have across, you know, across the valley.
PACO SANCHEZ: So we had an education session where we went to Texas Southwest College, Texas State Technical College, we had panels where we had, you know, different programs come in and talk about how they recruit students. The next one is going to be health care. So we’ll be, you know, hitting up Driscoll Children’s Hospital. Da our, South Texas health systems and really show them the programs and the initiatives that are going on across the valley.
PACO SANCHEZ: Across different industries and really preparing them for, you know, to move up and take that next step themselves as leaders.
NAXI LOPEZ: And, you know, as somebody who completed the class, if I could explain it right from my point of view, it felt like, every month you got together with a lot of very driven individuals that are, you know, in every sector of the community. And you got together and you went on pretty much a field trip across the valley to learn about either the Port of Brownsville or I know we went to visit, Distillery and Stark County.
NAXI LOPEZ: You know, you learn about these different things. So, and that is that application. Right? Comes.
PACO SANCHEZ: Yes. So, the, the current class is will graduate in May and then maybe a month or two after that, that’s all open up, for the next class. And so we’ll start recruiting and we’ll be promoting that and really trying to build the program up, even bigger from what it is, because it’s it’s really intensive. You know, we have a great committee, led by Deborah Court of, one of our board members.
PACO SANCHEZ: And she, you know, she spends a lot of time. We have a 3 p.m. zoom tomorrow, so we’re finalizing the next couple of of dates, for the for the leadership class.
NAXI LOPEZ: Wonderful. Yeah. Know it. I, I highly recommend it. You know, the the the amount of knowledge that you walk away with. You know, I covered the valley when I was with the monitor. I, you know, covered the valley for about ten years. And I thought, oh, I already know about this, but, you know, going and sitting in on those sessions and really hearing from from these different sectors, I mean, there’s so much to learn still.
NAXI LOPEZ: And, you know, just a wonderful thing that that the partnership puts together. Right? And it’s all part of, you know, creating this, I guess, this one region, one voice, right, where everybody kind of knows about what we’re doing here.
PACO SANCHEZ: Yes. Now, when I think even if we want them to join the partnership, right, even if they don’t, if they go on to another chamber or an EDC or any other organization, they have that highlight on the importance of regional collaboration. And really they they’ll be able to see firsthand what that’s done and how it’s transformed the valley.
NAXI LOPEZ: All right. Anything else that you’d like to add that maybe I didn’t ask.
PACO SANCHEZ: You know, one thing that I, I, I’m saying this because the chamber style is very new to me. You know, the legislation, advocacy I’ve worked in that industry. But meeting the other chambers and the other ex, the other staffers, you really see how how knowledgeable everyone is, how hard and how driven, how hard working and how driven they are, in doing their missions.
PACO SANCHEZ: And, I mean, everyone is just incredibly motivated here in the Valley. And so that’s been really encouraging to me personally. And I just had so many people that have said, hey, come over, see what we do, learn this process, you know, so you can make sure that the partnership succeeds because at the end of the day, our mission is to improve and drive progress in the Rio Grande Valley.
PACO SANCHEZ: So seeing that, you know, there’s so many groups that are involved and really want to do that, and the partnerships mission is really to bring them together so that we work together. And if there’s any issues or differences, we can work them out easily. And then go back, you know, to working for the rest of the valley.
NAXI LOPEZ: And so how many, members does the partnership have?
PACO SANCHEZ: We are, 230 or so, give or take. And that’s the numbers have been changing because we’ve had a lot of members join, you know, which has been really it’s made me happy, to see that, you know, we’re bringing in folks that really didn’t think about the partnership in the past, and they know that our value is going to be to make sure that we make connections with them and other businesses that they can work together with other institutions that they can partner with.
PACO SANCHEZ: And at the end of the day, if there’s a need, we can fill that for them.
NAXI LOPEZ: So if somebody out there is watching, right, and they want to join the partnership, what should they do?
PACO SANCHEZ: Honestly can go to our website. You can call us here at the at the partnership offices. RGV partnership.com. And look us up on social media. Just call us. We’re really active. We’re really excited to bring more folks in and to really grow the partnership. Well.
NAXI LOPEZ: All right. What are some of the challenges that you see ahead for the Valley that you’re you know, that you’re hearing from small business owners.
PACO SANCHEZ: From small business owners? I think, making sure that our economy is going to be strong this next, you know, upcoming year, the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank put out, you know, the 2026 economic outlook, you know, in 25, the, the economy was a little stagnant, grew a bit, without job growth was the unfortunate part. And we stayed steady.
PACO SANCHEZ: At least I think we gained about 10,000 jobs. Right?
NAXI LOPEZ: Yes. Which is very small, because when you say 10,000, normally what we were bringing in was like 200,000, right? So it’s fraction of the job growth just to put it into perspective.
PACO SANCHEZ: Oh yeah. And so I think 26 it’s looking, you know, promising. But there’s going to be a lot of factors that are going to have to be taken into consideration. You know, Usmca, the new NAFTA, the new NAFTA, renegotiations, trying to see how that will end up, you know, that tariff issue had come up also.
PACO SANCHEZ: And so making sure that our business community and our economic industry down here has the voice to let the decision makers know, like, hey, maybe we should take a look at it through, you know, through this pathway as opposed to this one. That’s empowering our, our economy down here, our business folks down here, to make sure that we have a strong Rio Grande.
NAXI LOPEZ: Valley, and so I know that, we focused a lot on the legislative efforts at the state. Right. But some of these, right, the Usmca and the tariffs, that’s a federal issue. How does the partnership get involved when it comes to that? That that area of government, which is the federal government?
PACO SANCHEZ: Yeah. Now, making sure that we have a relationship with them. And one of the first things I did was, you know, I wrote an introductory letter to the staff in DC for our senators and our representatives, for our entire valley delegation, introduced myself, told them I’m a resource. We do have RGV to DC that will be doing June 10th through the 12th this year.
PACO SANCHEZ: I let them know the dates, and we started planning, for that already. We’ve reached out to a couple of cities that are really interested. But it’s also making, you know, giving the opportunity to our communities to be up in DC with decision makers at that level to talk to them as well. You know, we, hosted a roundtable with Senator Cornyn and, some of our mayors, really closed doors so they could talk about their concerns directly to the senator.
PACO SANCHEZ: And, you know, that’s something that will do for the rest of the delegation as well. Any opportunity that we can, we really want to highlight our, our communities and our businesses and give them, again, direct access to to those decision makers.
NAXI LOPEZ: All right. Okay. So anything else you’d like to add that maybe I didn’t ask.
PACO SANCHEZ: No it again I just want to say the next RGV connect is going to be in April. It’ll be touching on water. And, and I think we all know that that’s going to be the big issue I think in the state legislature next session, we had a constitutional amendment dedicating $1 billion a year from Texas to water projects over the next 20 years.
PACO SANCHEZ: But that’s a drop in the bucket, really. We’ve had USDA down here trying to gather information from our communities because they think that there may be some funding sources coming up. So we’re trying to get everything lined up and really trying to be prepared, you know, for to make sure that we don’t run out of water down here.
PACO SANCHEZ: As the as our communities grow, we have that need for water to make sure we have the capacity to really push water out to our communities, the new businesses. And that’s what we’re really going to highlight in April. We’re looking in Cameron County. We’re still finalizing the agenda. But that’s one thing that, you know, if you want to attend, there’s not a charge.
PACO SANCHEZ: Just follow us on social media and you’ll be, you know, set up with the dates and locations and the opportunity to register and attend.
NAXI LOPEZ: I was going to ask, is it open to the public?
PACO SANCHEZ: Yes. No, it’s open to the public. You can go ahead and register online. And even if you don’t register, we want you to come and attend anyway. At the end of the day, we want to spread the message and the regional collaboration that we have here in the Valley and really make sure that RGV connect succeeds, because that’s building into our agenda and making sure that, we fulfill our mission here at the partnership.
NAXI LOPEZ: Wonderful. Well, Packard, thank you so much for joining us today. A lot of interesting topics to, to follow along. A lot of this, you can find at our website. Right. We’ve, delved into a lot of these issues. So make sure to subscribe and check us out at the RGV Business journal.com, and we’ll see you next week.
