Meet Robert Medler: Arizona Advocate for Western Growers
By Tim Linden R obert Medler joined Western Growers in mid-January as the organization’s new manager of Arizona government affairs. He hit the ground running as the Legislature was in session, but the transition was seamless as he was previously the chief lobbyist for the Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce. Q: Briefly detail your path from college to Western Growers? A: I was employed by the Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce from 2007 to last month (January 2021). In the early years, I focused on local city and county government, eventually running our entire policy program. While working, I earned my master’s degree in organizational leadership from Gonzaga University (which is in Spokane, WA). During my career, I was involved in many different aspects of the chamber but at the end, I was focusing on state and federal government as vice president of government affairs.
Q: What was the impetus for change? A: I was looking for a change and something new. The chamber is focused on the entire business community, which is both a blessing and a curse. I was looking for a new challenge. My wife actually found the Western Growers job posting and thought it sounded perfect for me. Q: Of course, you are still representing business before the Arizona Legislature. Do you see the two jobs as being similar? A: There is synergy between the two but there are also differences. Agriculture is a specific type of business so there are issues that were very similar to the ones I dealt with for the chamber. At the chamber, our goal was to help businesses prosper in the most efficient manner as they work through various governmental rules and regulations. And that piece will be similar. When I was at the chamber, I worked very well with the agricultural industry lobbyists. But there are also new issues that are very important to agriculture that I didn’t deal with, such
as pesticide regulations and immigration issues. Currently, we are dealing with many issues surrounding COVID-19, including vaccinations and agricultural workers being identified as front line workers. Q: Arizona was in the middle of the action this election season as President Biden carried the state. Has Arizona’s political atmosphere changed as much as pundits say? A: Of course, things have changed a lot in the last 20 years. I came to Arizona to go to college in the summer of 2001. Three weeks later we had 9/11 and the whole world change. Arizona has changed demographically, economically and politically. And more changes are coming that are very difficult to predict. But I do not agree with the assessment that Arizona is now a ‘Blue State’. Arizona is some shade of light purple. We are blue federally, but a solid red below that. Democrats won the presidency and the Senate, but they lost a lot of legislative races that they thought they were going to win. We are a mixed bag. I see my job as creating coalitions
Name: Robert Medler Title: Manager of Arizona Government Affairs Hometown: Marana, Arizona (between Tucson & Phoenix) Upbringing: I was a military brat and lived in many places in the United States and around the world including California, Alabama, Virginia, Connecticut, England, and West Germany. Family: My wife, Bonnie, and I have a three and half year- old daughter named Katherine. Favorite Childhood Home: We lived in London from 1993 to 1996. It was a great place to be a 10-year-old boy with all the nearby castles. Education: I went to undergraduate school at the University of Arizona and graduate school at Gonzaga. My dad joked that I picked my colleges based on their basketball programs. I almost always have two teams in
the NCAA March Madness Tourney. Favorite Hobbies: I love spending time with my wife and daughter. I love lots of outdoor activities: playing golf, fly fishing, hunting, scuba diving. Favorite Vacation: We love to travel. We love Hawaii and in recent years we’ve also been to China, all of Scandinavia and the Dominican Republic. Personal Motivation: I am an education geek. I am always looking for new things to learn. I especially love getting out and learning. Fun Fact: After I applied for the Western Growers position, I noticed that Kim Sherman (senior director of membership) worked here. We had been friends as we met at conferences and were in a chamber leadership class together when we both worked for different chambers of commerce. I reached out and she raved about Western Growers and said it was a great place to work.
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