About

Strategy at the intersection of government, capital, and industry.

Wasatch Public Strategy is a Utah-based advisory practice serving cities and counties, aerospace and defense companies, and the developers building the state's next decade of growth.

How We Work

A clear process from first call to execution guidance.

1) Decision framing

Define the core decision, constraints, and success criteria with your leadership team.

2) Scenario and stack analysis

Evaluate policy pathways, financing structures, and execution risks with practical options.

3) Action plan

Deliver clear recommendations, sequencing, and stakeholder actions your team can use immediately.

Our Approach

Built for the intersection.

Utah is in the middle of the most significant economic and infrastructure expansion in its history. Hyperscale data centers, advanced manufacturing reshoring, defense industry growth, small modular nuclear reactors, and a doubling of the state's energy generation capacity are all moving forward in parallel. Each decision shapes the next forty years of the regional economy.

The firms and agencies leading these decisions need advisors who can move across all three worlds: the public sector, where the regulations and financing tools live; private capital, where the deals get done; and industry, where the operational realities determine what is actually buildable. Most advisors are fluent in one of these. Wasatch Public Strategy is built for the intersection.

The firm pairs senior public-private partnership leadership with AI-enabled analysis, which collapses the cost and timeline of regional studies, feasibility work, and strategic positioning by an order of magnitude. Clients receive the depth of a traditional advisory engagement at the speed and price that today's decisions require.

Practice Areas

Three intersecting practices, one integrated firm.

Wasatch Public Strategy serves three client groups whose decisions increasingly depend on one another. The firm's value is in the connections between them.

Regional Economic Development

Strategic advisory for cities, counties, and economic development organizations on housing delivery, redevelopment, capital stacking, business attraction, and the public financing tools (CRA, SSBCI, HOME, CDBG) that make projects pencil. Built for elected officials and senior staff making decisions that shape regional economies for decades.

Defense and Advanced Manufacturing

Industry strategy, supply chain assessment, and government relations advisory for aerospace, defense, and advanced manufacturing companies operating in Utah. Drawing on direct experience leading Utah's industry strategy, defense community liaison, and the Defense Manufacturing Community designation.

Public-Private Deal Strategy

Feasibility analysis, financing stack design, and decision frameworks for developers, investors, and brokerages working at the public-private edge. The firm translates between government processes and private capital timelines so that complex projects move forward with all parties aligned.

Founder

Chanel Flores

Founder and Principal

Chanel Flores, Founder and Principal, Wasatch Public Strategy

Chanel Flores founded Wasatch Public Strategy after fifteen years building public-private partnerships across Utah's most strategically important sectors. Her career spans economic development, aerospace and defense industry strategy, and advanced manufacturing, with a focus on the moments where these worlds converge.

As Economic Development Director for Davis County, she led countywide strategy aligning cities, state agencies, and developers, and established six Community Reinvestment Areas to advance investment-ready redevelopment. She managed and expanded the Davis Loan Fund and SSBCI small business financing programs, and positioned Davis County to become a HOME Consortium, expanding the region's capacity for housing investment.

Earlier, as Industry Director at the Governor's Office of Economic Development, she led Utah's aerospace, defense, and advanced manufacturing strategy. She served as Utah's liaison to the national defense community, directed the framework analysis for urban air mobility and the space industry, prepared Utah's Defense Manufacturing Community RFP submission, and led Utah's submission to the U.S. Air Force for Space Command HQ consideration.

As Deputy Director of the Utah Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Initiative (UAMMI), she led implementation of the Utah Defense Manufacturing Community program, established a strategic partnership with the Uintah Basin to advance alternative energy and rare earth minerals, and served as lead coalition member on a Build Back Better proposal with Utah coal communities.

Selected Experience

Economic Development Director, Davis County, Utah

Countywide strategy, CRA project areas, Davis Loan Fund, HOME Consortium

Deputy Director, Utah Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Initiative

UDMC implementation, supply chain strategy, Uintah Basin partnership

Industry Director, Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development

Aerospace, defense, and advanced manufacturing; Space Command HQ submission

Career Timeline
Current Board and Leadership Service
Education

Master of Strategic Communication

Westminster College

B.S. Organizational Communication, Training and Development

Weber State University

Considering an engagement, or have a decision that needs a serious framework?

Wasatch Public Strategy works with a small number of clients at any given time. Initial conversations are confidential and without obligation.

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