Ugalde: The Rio Grande Valley is at the same inflection point as San Antonio was in 1980s

MISSION, Texas – A marketing and community outreach specialist with NASA says the Rio Grande Valley is at the same “inflection point” San Antonio was back in the 1980s – that is, all set for exponential growth.

Walt Ugalde, who is part of NASA’s technology transfer expansion program at the Johnson Space Center, spoke about the evolution of NASA and the Valley’s opportunities to partner with the agency in a presentation made the Center for Education and Economic Development in Mission. The event was hosted by the Council for South Texas Economic Progress.

Ugalde said he was going to date himself by looking back at the growth of San Antonio back in the 1980s.

“So, in the 80s, when I was a college student, I used to go and sit in on economic development meetings with (San Antonio) Mayor Henry Cisneros, Ralph Bender and Marty Wender when they were developing the master plan for the Alamodome, for SeaWorld, Fiesta Texas, that 151 Corridor. And I got to see firsthand how all that played out,” Ugalde said.

“This region is at the same inflection point that San Antonio was back then.”

Ugalde said it is important for Valley communities to be “working together, building those bridges.”

Ugalde said: “Think about what your broader mission is. Where you guys are at right now is, in my personal opinion… it is very important for you guys to start thinking about that. I know you’ve got South Padre and Brownsville and Harlingen and Edinburg, McAllen. 

“I got out a map of the Rio Grande Valley the other day and overlayed Houston on it. It’s basically the same size. So, all these outside groups kind of look at this region… (and view it) as one region when you come here. So, that’s going to be the challenge. There are enough slices of pizza for everybody to eat.”

Ugalde said Valley cities should not think they are giving up something by working with other municipalities in the region. 

“Each time you are giving up a piece of your company. But as you are giving up a piece of your company, it’s scaling, and you’re making more and more money,” Ugalde said. “So, you have to decide, do I want control and have my own little piece of the pie, or am I willing to share so that we all have bigger pieces of the pie? And I’m pulling on my non-NASA experience now, a guy that’s done marketing and urban planning out in industry.”

Ugalde said he has worked in the private sector in Honolulu, Las Vegas, and San Antonio Center Mall fields the Texas architecture Honolulu. 

“So, I can bring all that to the table. You guys have an incredible opportunity. You really, really do. It’s kind of hard to see unless you kind of pull back and you kind of see (the bigger picture). So, I would encourage you all to really start working together. The talent, the people are here. It is just fantastic coming down here. It feels like my second home.”

Focus on Latin America

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A slide used by Walt Ugalde in his power point presentation at the CEED building in Mission. (Photo: RGG/Steve Taylor)

Earlier in his presentation, Ugalde suggested Valley leaders forget closer relationships in Latin America. He said this after showing a slide of the United States’ Artemis Accords. These are a series of non-binding multilateral agreements between the U.S. government and other world governments that dictate the norms to be followed in outer space. The accords outline the principles for cooperation in civil exploration and use of the Moon, Mars, Comets and Asteroids for peaceful purposes.

Ugalde circled the countries in Latin America that have signed the Artemis Accords. They include Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil.

“I put this up here for a reason and I’m going to pivot into my own personal opinion this has nothing to do with NASA,” Ugalde said of the slide.

“I’m going to put on my economic development hat. I’m a consultant and I’m advising CEOs. If you look at where we’re going with space, you see that you have a human landing system with a starship (SpaceX) in your backyard. You know that international (entities) are going to be involved with building the gateway. And you’ve got Spanish speaking countries,” Ugalde said.

“What is your core region’s strength that you can leverage in order to kind of enable this ecosystem and then to create that connection point, not only to a core provider, but back to the national program, and that leverages your talent and your core base, your culture?”

Ugalde argued that one of the core strengths is the predominance of the Spanish language.

“If it were me, I would seriously start considering, how do I do this? Do I create a United Nations of Latin spacefaring countries here in the region? Do I call them up and say, hey, if you guys ever want to come here, we’ve got some office space, you can hang out for a month or whatever. Whatever that looks like to kind of build those connection points.”

Ugalde said the return on investment could be worth it. 

“You’re spending money on travel. You’re spending money shaking hands, what you’re doing is you’re spending money on creating those synapses that allow the business (with Latin American countries) to happen,” Ugalde said.

“There’s a saying in the business world, that conversation is the grease for business development and making things happen. It comes down to full contact people stuff and you have to do it. It is building it into your budget as an operating expense, part of your marketing component. You know what you are missing when someone else is getting these opportunities. and you’re not. It’s like, hey, what’s going on?”

Garcia’s perspective

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In the Q&A portion of the meeting, Ralph Garcia, McAllen Economic Development Corporation’s vice president of international business recruitment, said he had a comment to make, rather than a question.

“I think it’s important to recognize something,” Garcia said. “We talk a lot about industry and attracting industry and evolving opportunities for higher paying salaries. But it’s important to note, if we look at ourselves truly as a region, some of those jobs are already here. We have technical talent that’s developed. We have technical talent that’s developed in Mexico. We have companies that are doing robotics, automation, already, even in McAllen.”

Garcia added: “I think it’s important to know that we need to expand on that and not just say that we’re looking to attract it. It exists. And so, we need to look at how we evolve in greater scale, attracting that type of industry here, utilizing and leveraging what we already have.”

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