Take a municipality flanked by the most scenic of mountains. Now, add a heaping helping of young, well-educated workers, a major airline hub (Delta) and a city still riding high from hosting the Winter Olympics (2002).

Those were among the ingredients that helped catapult Salt Lake City to success roughly a quarter century ago, a speaker told a Tulsa Regional Chamber delegation last week.

“For a smaller city like Salt Lake, those were a really unique set of circumstances,” said Erin Laney Barr, vice chair of the Salt Lake City Chamber and managing director and market leader of CBRE, a commercial real estate services and investment firm. “That evolved into a pro-business, pro-economic development platform (under then-Gov. Jon Huntsman, 2005-09).”

“And he was able to do it in a way that didn’t alienate the more rural parts of the state. It didn’t alienate the folks who were clinging to the not-in-my-backyard mentality. He was able to talk about from the standpoint of `This is better for you, and make sure your children stay in the state because good things are happening.’ He was able to meet them where they were.”

Barr was among the guest speakers Oct. 6-8 at the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s Intercity Visit in Salt Lake City. The Chamber hosted a delegation of about 125 people at the event, the organization’s 16^th trip to peer cities to learn about best practices.

Barr focused her talk on the “Utah Way,” a term that broadly refers to a political culture that emphasizes consensus-building, dialogue and a respectful resolution of differences.

Huntsman helped form the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, chasing industries most likely to grow in the state, including the financial services and aerospace sectors.

“It created a really targeted blueprint,” Barr said. “And he coalesced chambers and local governments, cities and counties. And he got everybody speaking the same language.”

Goldman Sachs has been among the corporations that has prospered in Salt Lake City.

Opening its first office there in 2000, the company now operates out of two Class A buildings downtown, employing more than 5,000 people. The Salt Lake City office remains the firm’s top transfer destination, Barr said.

“I think there are a lot of reasons for that,” she said. “But I think it also speaks to there is a special sauce here. And people can see themselves raising a family here, staying here and still being able to drive 30 minutes to ski. There used to be a saying that you can ski in the morning and golf in the afternoon.”

Goldman was the catalyst for getting people hooked on the Salt Lake City’s competitive wages and high quality of life, Barr said.

“And we don’t think it’s just Goldman,” she said. “We think we can do this for aerospace. We think we can do it for life sciences. We can do this in key sectors, and we believe in this. That just started the train rolling.”

In the governors since Huntsman, Salt Lake City has largely been able to maintain the economic development momentum, Barr said. Ten years ago, Boeing transformed a vacant, roughly million-square-foot warehouse in nearby West Jordan, Utah, into a composite fabrication production center.

More recently, the city completed a more than $5 billion expansion of its airport, and it is planning a sports and entertainment district downtown. Also, the 2034 Winter Olympics will be in the Salt Lake City area.

But hurdles lie ahead. With the city’s rapid growth and the anticipated influx of visitors, there is a pressing need for enhanced transportation infrastructure. Major remediation, too, is needed on the shrinking Great Salt Lake.

“I’m still incredibly pro-Utah; I believe in growth,” Barr said. “I believe that the Olympics is really giving us this gift again. But we really do have to get back to that Team Utah, that Utah Way or we just missed a huge opportunity. You don’t want to look back and wished you would have.”

This article covered programming from the Tulsa Regional Chamber Intercity Visit to Salt Lake City. Each, fall, the Chamber leads a three-day Intercity Visit during which leaders learn how other regions approach growth and learning challenges. Topics often include development, infrastructure and workforce.

Click here to view takeaways from previous visits.