In February 1975, less than a month after being sworn in, Arizona’s 14th governor, Raul Castro, met with 25 Phoenix businessmen at the Arizona Biltmore to discuss challenges the fast-growing city was experiencing.

Eugene Pulliam, publisher of The Arizona Republic newspaper, had been talking with bank executive Walter Bimson and Richard Snell, an attorney, about needing to address rising crime, education deficiencies and transportation issues.

He encouraged selected leaders to meet, writing: “This is probably one of the most important letters you have ever received because the immediate future of Phoenix may depend on the response to this challenge.”

More than 50 years later, the commitment to addressing challenges by the engagement of greater Phoenix community business leaders that began as the Phoenix 40, lives on as Greater Phoenix Leadership (GPL).

Today, 125 business executives — women and men, leading many of Arizona’s most significant enterprises — work together to address the region’s needs and challenges to promote high quality of life and economic prosperity for Arizonans.

We do not serve any specific business interest. That role is competently filled by chambers of commerce and sector-focused organizations with........

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