Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon began his career in public service when he was elected at 25 years old to the Syracuse Common Council. He quickly established himself as a bipartisan problem solver and quickly rose as a trusted community leader.

In 2011 he was successfully elected to the County Legislature and subsequently elected as Chairman of that same body by his colleague’s making him the youngest Chairman in county history. He quickly got to work focusing on creating economic opportunities across Onondaga County. Specifically, he led the effort to develop White Pine Business Park into the premier site for a semi-conductor manufacturer.

Despite facing criticism for his efforts from both the media and other local officials, County Executive McMahon recognized the unique and valuable opportunity that the White Pine Business Park offered.

Under his leadership the White Pine site grew from 400 acres to nearly 1,400 acres, but it would take more than just additional land to successfully lure a semi-conductor manufacturer. The White Pine site also offered a potential end user access to a tremendous amount of power thanks to its proximity to a massive substation, as well as access to an abundance of clean, reliable water – both critical components for any semi-conductor manufacturer. County Executive McMahon and his team also worked diligently and deliberately to ensure that the White Pine site was shovel ready which included performing an initial environmental review of the site to identify and implement any necessary mitigation measures, as well as a thorough review of the wetlands located on the property. Other issues such as zone changes and geo-technical reviews were also proactively addressed.

Upon becoming County Executive in 2018, McMahon accelerated his efforts to market the White Pine site to high-tech manufacturers.

In 2022 those efforts paid off when Micron Technology announced they had selected Onondaga County and the White Pine site as the location where they would invest up to $100 billion to create a memory technology mega-complex that is expected to create 9,000 direct jobs and an estimated 40,000 supply-chain and construction jobs. Even more exciting, this investment will now make Onondaga County and Central New York the hub for memory technology manufacturing in the world.