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Brandon Burton (00:01.109)
Hello, Chamber Champions! Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your host, Brandon Burton, and here on the podcast I introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community. You’re joining us for a special episode in our 2026 ACCE Chamber of the Year Finalist series. And today we’re joined by Ricardo Mora.
President and CEO of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce. Ricardo has built a dynamic career in the intersection of entrepreneurship, regional development, and cross-border collaboration, launching and managing ventures across real estate, telecommunications, venture capital, and hospitality. Now leading the El Paso Chamber, he’s focused on strengthening binational relationships and advancing the borderplex region as a hub for innovation, commerce, and economic growth.
With deep roots in interconnected economies of El Paso, Las Cruces, and Ciudad Juárez Ricardo brings a unique perspective on what it takes to build opportunity across borders. He uses the chamber’s platform to foster collaboration, support business growth, and position the region as a competitive center for trade and investment. Beyond his work with the chamber, Ricardo has also supported STEAM education and workforce development.
Development through Fundacion Axcel AC helping prepare the next generation for jobs and industries of the future. Fluent in both Spanish and English, Ricardo is a connector, advocate, and community builder dedicated to creating partnerships that drive long term prosperity for the region. Ricardo, I’m excited to have you with us today here on Chamber Chat Podcast. Congratulations to you and your team for being selected as a Chamber of the Year finalist. I’d love to give you an opportunity
To say hello to all the listeners, and if you would, to share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little better.
Ricardo Mora (02:01.87)
Well, thank you, Brandon. It’s we’re very excited and thrilled to be part of the finalist for this your great award. Just being a finalist to us is has meant so much to our team. We’re we’re just thrilled to to our existence being part of it. And something interesting about myself that I’d share with you that might be unique is that being part of this cross-border community is is quite different than most would understand.
Brandon Burton (02:09.404)
If you have the save those two pieces, too much.
Ricardo Mora (02:29.942)
And I actually lived in Mexico, which is a five minute drive across the border for about thirty five years and commuted back and forth to school. And this is both communities are really tied by the hip. So that’s come kinda something unique that some people don’t understand. That when you live on a cross border community like El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, it’s the same thing. All that that really is between us is a couple of just a bridge. You get right across and have lunch in one country and have
Brandon Burton (02:56.811)
Yeah.
Ricardo Mora (02:59.8)
Dinner in the other one. So that’s something cool about this this area and about myself.
Brandon Burton (03:05.193)
It’s blown me away as I’ve gone through El Paso, you know, multiple times that you can just look out your window as you drive by. You see Mexico right there. And it very it is very close and very much a cross border town. So I I’m sure the work is very much unique to you guys versus other in other places in the country.
Well, if you would tell us a little bit more about the El Paso chamber, help give us an idea of the size of the chamber, staff, budget, scope of work you guys are involved with to kind of set the stage for our discussion today.
Ricardo Mora (03:42.529)
Sure. So the El Paso Chamber is a 127-year organization. it has been here through since 1899. we currently run a staff of 17 folks on our team, and they’re all high, effective leaders, really hitting on all all cylinders. our annual budget is around 2.6 million dollars, and and we service the cross-border community. So the chamber unites businesses, government, and
Brandon Burton (04:09.333)
The change is
Ricardo Mora (04:12.054)
and community leaders who advocate for growth, champion innovation, and create sustainable prosperity across our entire region. And we do that through three main pillars economic development and innovation, public policy and government relations, and infrastructure and transportation.
Brandon Burton (04:13.215)
Is it here?
have an innovation and create sustainable.
Brandon Burton (04:30.837)
I just want to
Very good. It sounds like you’ve you’ve you’ve given that presentation a few times, right? Of what the mission of the chamber is and those pillars and that that work you guys are involved with. Can tell it’s part of your being.
Ricardo Mora (04:46.542)
We’re all it is, it is. It’s so important to know what you’re doing and where you’re going. We love it.
Brandon Burton (04:52.661)
Yes, absolutely. Well, that definitely will help set the stage for our discussion today. As we do these Chamber of the Year finalist series, we like to spend the majority of our time talking about the programs that were submitted on your Chamber of the Year application. So as soon as we get back from this quick break, we’ll dive into those programs and learn more of those details.
All right, Ricardo, we’re back. As I mentioned before the break, that we’re gonna dive into the the two programs that were on your chamber of the year application. I know one of them has to do with the infrastructure project with the the Bridge of the Americas. Would you like to start there with that project or that program and tell us what it’s about and what all it involves?
Ricardo Mora (05:35.983)
Of course. Of course. So in our community, here in El Paso, Texas, on the Texas side, we have three ports of entry that allow commercial capacity to cross back and forth for production. Our community is known for manufacturing and logistics heavily. There’s 350 manufacturing facilities, 70 Fortune 500 companies here, and
So it’s it’s a it’s a big thing for us as we understand commerce in our community or cross border trade is equivalent to commerce. So as the Chamber of Commerce for El Paso, we believe in cross border trade. And every minute that trade does not get through a cross border entry, it really hinders our entire economy, it locally and also on the national level. So I’ll take you back a little bit.
And the Bridge of the Americas was a port that was started. It’s it’s about sixty years old. It is a federal bridge, it is owned by the federal government, it is owned by the general services administration, and like all ports of entries, they are it’s administered by CBP and Homeland Security. Those are the folks that are there day and night. through the Biden Bipartisan Act, there was seven hundred million dollars allocated close to five years ago.
For modernization of this particular bridge and others across the country. There was a bill that passed for about $3.4 billion, and one of our bridges got selected to be modernized. Although last year, through a record of decision by the General Services Administration, there is a formal record of decision to remove commercial traffic from this Bridge of the Americas. And this Bridge of the Americas today is still operating.
it has car vehicles that go north and they go south. it has pedestrians that cross both ways. And it also has cargo that goes to the north and then cargo or or empty trucks that cross southbound for our production model here in in in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. And for us, when we understood that the record of decision was to remove commercial traffic, this particular port has six booths.
Ricardo Mora (07:58.233)
Where trucks drive up and there’s six inspection booths. if we look at the next bridge we have, it’s called Zaragoza Isleta, and that one has eight, and that is on the east side. And there’s a farther booth that is a brand new bridge called Tornillo. that one has three, but one only operational. It’s about 60 minutes to get there. And on the Mexican side, there’s hardly any infrastructure. So it’s a future project. If you add those 15
Areas where trucks can take their paperwork, deleting or eliminating the ones at Bridge of the Americas at six really hinders us close to 40% reduction of our capacity to cross goods. And that is when the chamber said, listen, we really need to step up and understand that cross-border trade is commerce in our community. And there’s many lives that depend on this.
So for every three jobs across the border in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, there’s one job on the El Paso side. That is about a hundred and ten thousand jobs that will be affected by this d record of decision if it comes to fruition. So from the chamber perspective, it’s been a difficult challenge for us, but we also represent many businesses. We have over seven hundred businesses that rely on us that really come together.
Brandon Burton (09:15.063)
I don’t know.
Ricardo Mora (09:23.648)
And and and we are vocal for them to allow them to have a voice at the local, state and federal level. So we’re very concerned about competitiveness as most chambers are across the country. Currently, El Paso is at about sixty seven percent of the national per capita income average. If we move back about thirty years ago, El Paso was one of the lowest cities per capita income in the nineties.
Brandon Burton (09:29.857)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Brandon Burton (09:53.577)
Yeah.
Ricardo Mora (09:53.577)
And removing this commercial capability of an infrastructure that’s existing, it’ll make our city less competitive. when we started studying the process, we learned that the record of decision states that GSA did not take into account the positive or negative effects of removing commercial cargo to the trucking industry, to the manufacturing industry.
Brandon Burton (10:10.583)
GSA did not have negative.
Ricardo Mora (10:22.422)
Or to businesses. It states it on the NIPA study, a very small study that they did around the bridge. And they said this did not include an economic impact study, but could be done at a different time. So, as understanding what we’re doing to the chamber, we’ve commissioned a full-blown economic impact analysis study that we believe it’s an independent study will show the negative effects of removing.
Brandon Burton (10:25.481)
All right, so I’ll tell you.
Ricardo Mora (10:50.902)
40% capacity to our competitiveness as a region. And we’re just blown away by these decisions that are being made, not taking into account the business community. Today we’re over 250 businesses that are part of a coalition behind us, very active. and we’re pushing our narrative to be able to keep commercial traffic at Bridge of the Americas.
Brandon Burton (11:03.391)
Yeah.
Brandon Burton (11:07.671)
So what stage are you in with that with the economic impact study? Is it in the early stages, or are you guys in the the middle of it? How
Ricardo Mora (11:25.326)
We would be in the middle of it. we’re expecting to have the economic impact analysis findings by the first week of July. But hold on, June no August, I’m sorry. First week of August. So yeah, July is just around the corner. And and we’ll see what happens there. I know that the Hunt Institute for Global Competitiveness is doing this economic impact study at the University of Texas at El Paso. And and we’ll see what that means. there is also gonna be a positive effect.
Brandon Burton (11:34.591)
Okay. Yes.
Ricardo Mora (11:54.349)
Because the current remodel of modernization is calling for about 30 to 35 car lanes going northbound. Today we have about 15 only. So it would be just basically a lot of vehicles heading northbound. And that would definitely have a positive effect on retail and other industries. However, we believe strongly that since manufacturing and cross-border trade and logistics is so important to our community.
We can’t let that infrastructure project continue. And right now it’s on phase two of the process through the GSA. Basically, they did the record of decision is one, and process number two is there in an RFP to solicit the work to be done, and supposedly it’d be another six months before that RFP is awarded, which will take him to step three of the five step process.
Brandon Burton (12:28.864)
Yeah.
Brandon Burton (12:51.689)
Okay.
So my mind goes around to to what all can a chamber do, you know, in a situation like this with the with the bridge and it obviously advocacy is gonna be heavy, right? Getting in front of the right decision makers and being able to to try to influence, but doing this economic impact study as well is gonna be key to being able to have that evidence to back up the arguments that you guys are making. are there other approaches from a chamber standpoint that you can do to to further stand
And make your stance as far as the the impact that it makes to the the local and national economy.
Ricardo Mora (13:30.255)
Well, we we are doing other things. we are convening normally at least once a month our membership. we bring experts to talk about these facts. Any new members that come into the chamber as well. I personally have a chance to speak to them about this cross-border situation that we’re dealing with. And we do find a path forward. I mean, our path forward and our formal ask at the at the state and at the federal level is to pause the implementation.
of this record of decision and allow this decision to be data based on the economic impact analysis. As community members, I would encourage anybody that is dealing with similar issues and maybe not a cross-border international crossing, but anything that is hindering commerce, it’s the chamber’s responsibility. And we have to fight for it. And and I would share that, you know, sometimes we’re not on the same page
Brandon Burton (14:23.02)
Yeah.
Ricardo Mora (14:28.844)
With some of our elected officials. we admire all the work they do and they’re out there doing it. But from an economic side, we need we are really being standing our position that this is not going to be good for our community in the long run. And we just don’t want supply chains to move, relocate, and a lot of things could happen in the future if we don’t get this one right.
Brandon Burton (14:53.289)
Right. And you know, to your point with the elected officials, you know, they they come into office with a limited point of view. They have a limited scope of of understanding and you know, th many of them are very intelligent people, very smart people.
But they get there with only the knowledge they know. And they need chambers like yours to be able to advocate for the local economies and for the the infrastructure and everything else that that takes place and be able to shine a light on it and say, Hey, what you’re doing may have good intentions, but here’s some side effects that are are happening from this as well. well let’s let’s
switch topics now if if if you’re good with that to your second program on your Chamber of the Year application. do you you would like to introduce that to us and tell us what it’s all about?
Ricardo Mora (15:46.691)
Of course. So as any city that that is expanding, and anybody that potentially has not visited El Paso, Texas, we’re on the west tip of Texas, very just right next to New Mexico. Texas, the largest state in the US, Chihuahua, the largest state in Mexico, and we really convene three states and two countries.
And and in our process as a city, a lot of people that drive by by El Paso, there’s I-10. And I-10 goes from east to west and it goes both ways. So Text Dot Text Dot has a project, it already has a phase of part of the project. It’s a $1.4 billion project to make I-10 wider down at at it will start at downtown, which is
We have about seven bridges that connect our downtown to the north part of town. And this is today it’s called elevate the ten. But Techstot is coming in, they’re doing this regardless. The funding is there already to do it. So out of the 1.4 billion, 500 billion are already allocated, the design and the engineering is already on on its way. And as a community, we came together to say, listen.
This is the best opportunity for El Paso to have, instead of having six bridges and a wider highway on both sides, you know, five lanes and five lanes on the other one. Right now we have three downtown. Why don’t we build a cap on top of it? And this will be a green space, like Clyde Warren Park in Dallas that will allow investment, that would allow growth for downtown and
And we’re we’re working together with with the El Paso Foundation, the Deck Foundation, alongside other partners. currently, we’re very excited that we have been making progress and again uniting businesses, government, and community leaders to really understand the impact that this can have on future generations. And this is an impact that is not just, you know, we want to put a cap on it. so as a community, we’re we’ve come together and the community has been able to raise
Ricardo Mora (18:06.306)
About $75 million of a project that is estimated to cost about $207 million in 2027 dollars. But it’s important that the timing is done right because Text Ot is coming anyways. They’re gonna start their construction and we need to be ready to be to do the engineering work, to making sure that we have the columns. As of now, we look very good. It’s moving forward and and making sure that we have the right structure to hold this.
this deck park. We’re super excited about it. And and El Paso it is growing east and it is also growing west and to the northeast. But it is, as you know, downtowns are vibrant and and many downtowns require the heartbeat to be very strong. so so we’re tracking, I mean it’s a huge investment and an outlay for our community. We’re tracking over yeah over a billion dollars in the next thirty years of of of actual
you know, funding for this project that will bring in revenue and and also one to one point five million visitors to El Paso. And we’re just thrilled to be able to form our city.
Brandon Burton (19:13.601)
Yeah. That’s great. But and it’s nice to be able to have examples like Clyde Warren Park in Dallas to be able to look at and see, you know, what does this do for a downtown? What does this do for local economy? What does this do for just the overall
you know, feel and vibe for a city where you can have art and cultural things and being able to to really drive interest to the downtown. I think it’s a a great example. I assume you guys are working with engineers and you know people doing studies to figure out these dollar amounts of what needs to be raised to make this happen. Is that is that something that the chamber takes on, are you working with the city on that, or how does that come together?
Ricardo Mora (19:56.409)
So so it it takes a long time for this to drive, and obviously it is a public private partnership. So recently our city and our county signed the memorandum of understanding to make sure that we’re all working together towards this larger goal. And and then on the on on putting it together, there’s really a lot of meetings that go on in our community. And there’s a lot of concerns as well that need need to be addressed from c our, you know, the entire community about taxes and about
maintenance on this project. So so something important to share is that yes there have been studies. There’s been studies of of other places that have had this and the economic downdrafts of having these type of projects present in a community and we just wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity. this proposed like I mentioned this proposed deck park would be about a six mile deck park that would bring
Brandon Burton (20:27.66)
Yeah.
Ricardo Mora (20:53.834)
Over 1.5 million visitors to our community that would go to local restaurants, that would go to the hotels, that would visit our great mountains and and track all that. And there are studies that show the positive effect of having this. So we are working with our local engineering firms. And it is so so funny you mentioned that because one of our pillars is infrastructure and transportation. And on infrastructure and transportation.
Brandon Burton (21:19.467)
There you go.
Ricardo Mora (21:22.956)
The El Paso Chamber hosts a coalition that is called the El Paso Mobility Coalition. And within this coalition, we see everything that is infrastructure and transportation, whether it’s the I-10 widening, the deck park, what’s happening on international bridges, what’s happening in New Mexico, anything that has to do with infrastructure projects or loop projects, we’re very engaged.
So studies are have shown that by doing this, it’ll allow our community to move forward and scale as a community of our size would, as we need this infrastructure moving forward. So we’re very excited to be part of it. I have a 15-year-old daughter that I want to grow and and she’ll go to college and come back and and see her community, I don’t know, 10 years later, really modified and and and and now thinking that.
The time that I’m here at the chamber and what our team is doing alongside other key partners is making that effect. We’re looking for long term for our community to really be proud of something we were part of.
Brandon Burton (22:28.725)
Yeah. So you bring up a good point of i i it it’s a great vision to have, but there are those things that you need to overcome where people have questions about who’s gonna pay for this, who’s gonna pay for the maintenance and the taxes and so how do you confront that it within the community to be able to
put people’s minds at ease and be able to to show the positive impact that this will have on the city instead of just a a a negative is I I see it all being positive, but I can see where the concerns might come up.
Ricardo Mora (23:00.202)
No, and that’s a great question. So as this began happening, this is several years ago, the there is a definite concern about the community. Alone we’re tracking about five million dollars a year to maintain this actual infrastructure project. but through private public partnership, there was there’s a foundation that was established for this particular project called the Downtown Plaza organization.
That is the organization that has taken the lead and will fund the project and will fund the maintenance. So in the initial conversations, the citizens’ concerns were like, is this going to raise our taxes? Is it going to go on the city budget? How is this really going to affect us? So by this private public partnership and by being part of it, you start getting a little bit of clarity on this overcast sky.
Where people start understanding, okay, so this is really for the good of our community. And we’ll be able to take, you know, for example, this recent announcement is to build an amazing dock park downtown. And it’s a million dollar investment from one of our local community car dealerships that has long been standing here in El Paso. And I don’t know if you know, but El Paso downtown has a magnificent baseball stadium called the Chihuahua Stadium.
Brandon Burton (24:07.414)
Yeah.
Ricardo Mora (24:22.86)
And you can actually take your dog to the park. So so this is quality of life. And I know I’m kind of getting a little bit out of that, but just sharing how our downtown really embraces and how we work through this as a community on open forums and conversations. So I feel very confident that that with our partnership with the Decktown Plaza Foundation, the city, the county, and the businesses, this will get built.
Brandon Burton (24:25.426)
Awesome.
Brandon Burton (24:52.031)
I love that. I love the vision. I love the the influence you guys are showing as well in the community of being able to to see these projects through and answer questions along the way as you convene the right people and and make sure that the ball’s moving forward. as we begin to wrap things up, I wanted to ask you for those listening, for
a tip or action item that you might share with those listening who are interested in taking their organization up to the next level. What would you suggest for them?
Ricardo Mora (25:25.398)
I would suggest to any any other chamber across the country to know that you have a voice. And the voice that you represent truly represents a body of members that you’re driving progress for. And in our case, our value proposition is very simple. We are business-centric. We are we serve our businesses. It is we are a membership-based organization.
So as long as we keep track of that and we know we’re serving our businesses, you have a voice and your voice needs to be heard. So I’m I’m ecstatic about sharing to everybody that don’t feel that you need to, you know, be quiet on topics that you know you have to speak on because everybody in their own community has a challenge like a bridge of the Americas that requires our ch we’re challenging the federal government, and it’s okay.
We live in this beautiful country and we have access to do that and we are the right voice to do it. So I would just encourage all the chambers to take their voice and make sure that they’re they’re aligned to their mission and their vision. And don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid because we can we can move things forward with what we’re trying to push together as chambers.
Brandon Burton (26:42.229)
Yeah, that is one of the great things about being in America, is it’s okay to challenge the federal government and and push back a little bit. So I love that you made that point. Ricardo, I like asking everyone I have on the show about the future of chambers and I’d like to get your take on how you see the future of Chambers of Commerce and their purpose going forward.
Ricardo Mora (27:06.856)
I I believe that that chambers of commerce have been in our communities for so long. Sometimes new businesses have a hard time understanding our value proposition. So so chambers of commerce will always be here. I believe they will, but it really depends on each chamber and how integrated they are with their own community. In our case, what I could share is that.
We’re very, as you can tell, we’re very integrated cross-border. we understand businesses on both sides of the border. in my particular case, I’m a small business owner and I’ve been a small business owner all of my life. So I understand the pain that businesses go through. And and with that in mind, you know, believe in your in your value proposition and believe that you can also go to the community and have your community think about thriving.
Brandon Burton (27:39.83)
Yeah.
Ricardo Mora (28:06.432)
About how they can scale their businesses and how you can help them move forward. In our case, we’ve built programs since last year, where this is our second year running with AI programs for small businesses to help them really understand the tools that are out there to be able to scale and grow. We have businesses of all sizes. About 95% of our businesses are small, but we deliver, I call this like we deliver caviar.
So every chamber across the country delivers caviar. And when you deliver that on a dish, you also have to collect the caviar price. So my process is to say, listen, as long as you have a strong value proposition that you believe in, you go out there and you that you say this is what the value that we bring, this is why we charge X amount of dollars. So I would encourage every chamber member, every chamber across the country to look at their current offering.
Brandon Burton (28:34.292)
Okay.
Brandon Burton (28:49.751)
Yeah.
Ricardo Mora (29:03.414)
And have a strategic plan and think about how you can move forward. Because in order for chambers to thrive in this new economy, we really need to look at the at the at the revenue models. In our community, it’s doing great, but we’re different than than most. And and our members believe that they need to invest into the chamber that invests into El Paso. They’re really investing in in everything that we’re doing and how we’re driving forward.
Brandon Burton (29:15.553)
Yeah.
Brandon Burton (29:31.243)
Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. Too many chambers undervalue what it is that they bring as far as influence, about as far as impact to the community. And if you can take a hard look and see what that caviar is that you’re delivering and charge accordingly. Make sure you’re getting the value out of that. And but y but you have to deliver the impact with it, right? You you can’t just charge, you gotta deliver the impact. So I love that that vision.
Ricardo Mora (29:53.432)
That is correct.
Brandon Burton (29:59.247)
Ricardo, before I let you go, I wanted to give you an opportunity to share any contact information for listeners who may want to reach out and connect with you or learn more about how you’re approaching things there in El Paso. What would be the best way for someone to reach out and connect?
Ricardo Mora (30:12.856)
Sure. So we are obviously located in El Paso, Texas. Our website is elpaso.org. Very simple. Elpaso.org. And if anybody wants to reach me, my name is Ricardo, ricardo@elpaso.org. And if you can’t remember my name, and maybe you’re old enough, you’ll remember Ricky Ricardo from I love Lucy. So it’s just Ricardo at elpaso.org.
Brandon Burton (30:38.635)
Ricky Ricardo, yeah.
Ricardo Mora (30:42.72)
Shoot me an email. Love to chat and share what’s working for us and what is not.
Brandon Burton (30:49.279)
That’s perfect. Well, I knew you were going there with Ricky Ricardo, so that’s that’s great. Well we’ll make sure we get your contact information in our show notes for this episode. But this has been great to have you on the show. And again, congratulations to you and your team, and I wish you guys the best of luck as Chamber of the Year.
Ricardo Mora (31:10.648)
Thank you very much, Brandon. Thank you for having us and we look forward to seeing you soon.
Brandon Burton (31:15.384)
Yeah.
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