On July 19, 2019, Brooks was awarded the 2019 Citizen Diplomacy Corporate Responsibility Award from Sister Cities International. Leo Gomez, President and CEO of Brooks, accepted the award on behalf of the Brooks team. Here are his reflections on winning the prestigious award.
At Brooks, we are establishing our mixed-use campus as both a San Antonio and an international destination. For our local community, we are a hub of activity where people can live, learn, work, play and stay. We have also developed a hub of economic development activity that attracts business interest from around the country and the world.
Our vision has always focused on bringing high-paying jobs to our community by attracting marquee employers to campus. Through our efforts of creating a clear land use and development strategy, we are building a community that people want to be a part of and we have already begun to fulfill our vision by attracting quality employers from around the world. These employers currently include South Korea’s Mission Solar, Japanese manufacturer Nissei Plastic Machinery Industrial Co., Ltd., and Czech business services provider OKIN BPS while France’s Cuisine Solutions will open the largest sous vide plant in the world at Brooks in 2020. All this together with the development of Mission Trails Baptist Hospital, DPT Labs, the UIW School of Osteopathic Medicine and complimentary residential, greenspace and retail development.
These employers choose Brooks for many reasons, but above all I believe it is because of the passionate and engaged community we are creating. These employers believe quality of life for their employees matters and the quality of life developing on the Brooks campus is not easily found elsewhere.
This past weekend, I was honored to accept the 2019 Citizen Diplomacy Corporate Responsibility Award from Sister Cities International at their annual conference in Houston on behalf of the Brooks team. This prestigious award recognizes the work we are doing in partnering with these international companies to bring their operations to campus, creating relationships that build and promote diplomacy.
I am thrilled to bring this award back to Brooks and San Antonio, and get back to work on building more international partnerships and attracting more businesses to our thriving community.
Learn more about the Sister Cities program and the award here: San Antonio Receives Sister Cities International’s Award for Best Overall Program