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Global Contact Services
announces 330 jobs
Global Contact Services (GCS) is the first tenant of the 20-acre Mt. Hope Industrial Park, bringing 330 jobs and a $3.5 million investment.
GCS, an insurance services firm, is an affiliate of Global e-Connect, an agency management firm focused on contact center services and help desk functions.
“West Virginia provides us with an unbeatable combination: a new building, an available, trained work force and incredible cooperation at all levels of government,” said Brian Helton, vice president of operations.
Nearly all the employees will be licensed insurance agents ready to answer media-generated inquiries. GCS clients include multiple Fortune 500 insurance companies.
InfoCision breaks ground
on new $1.4 million facility
Gov. Bob Wise and representatives from InfoCision Management Corp., a leader in providing call center services for nonprofit organizations and Fortune 1000 companies, broke ground for a new $1.4 million facility.
The company currently employs 235 people at its location in Clarksburg and at full capacity will have 420 employees.
The new 15,000-square-foot facility just off Interstate 79 will include 156 fully automated call center stations.
IMC raises more money for nonprofit organizations than any other outbound telephone marketing company in the world. The company operates 18 call centers at eight locations in Ohio and West Virginia and employs more than 2,400 people.
Smith Services, Inc., dedicates
$14.5 million expansion at park
Smith Services, Inc., opened a 180,000-square-foot, $14.5 million expansion in the Turnpike Industrial Park in Princeton.
Since opening in 1981 with 11 employees, the company has grown into a 300-employee plant - the largest independent motor repair facility under roof in the continental United States.
West Virginia University students
to re-engineer SUV
As part of the 2002 FutureTruck competition, West Virginia University students, along with teams of students from 14 other top North American university engineering departments, will re-engineer a Ford Explorer SUV to improve fuel economy while retaining the vehicle’s utility and customer appeal.
Ford Motor Co. and the U.S. Department of Energy sponsor the competition to develop technologies that reduce total cycle greenhouse gas emissions.
The contest also bridges the widening gap between the declining number of students pursuing degrees in high-tech fields and the increasing number of engineering jobs that will need to be filled in the future. FutureTruck 2002 is scheduled for June 11-21.
FCX Systems
announces expansion
Gov. Bob Wise announced the expansion of FCX Systems to a new 36,000-square-foot building in the Chaplin Hill Road Industrial Park, Monongalia County.
FCX systems, which designs, manufactures and sells solid state frequency converters worldwide for commercial aviation, private, government, corporate and industrial lab applications, employs 67 people and plans to double its work force within three years at its new location, with an investment of $2.7 million.
KeyLogic a finalist
for software award
KeyLogic, a Morgantown-based business, is a finalist for the Software & Information Industry Association’s (SIIA) 2002 Best Business Productivity Product Codie Award.
Its product, TeamLeader 2002, allows interactive work, with users assigning and managing documents, monitoring work flow and tracking progress.
Other nominees include QuickBooks 2002, Intuit; Adobe Acrobat 5.0, Adobe Systems Inc.; GoBack, Roxio; and Talaris Virtual Assistant, Talaris Corp. Winners of the 2002 Codie Awards will be announced at a gala during the SIIA 2002 Annual Conference at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego on April 15.
Founded in June 1995, KeyLogic (www.keylogic.com) provides reliable IT consulting and software development services, as well as team automation products to federal and commercial customers worldwide. The Software & Information Industry Association has 1,200 member companies worldwide.
Magazine ranks Weriton Steel
for information technology usage
Information Week magazine included Weirton Steel on its list of the top 500 largest and most innovative users of information technology.
At 282nd, the company was one of five steel companies on the list, which includes banking, retail, insurance, automotive, health, chemical, hospitality and travel, utility, manufacturing and metal companies.
Gocke new director
of European office
Morgantown native Jack Gocke is the new director of the European Trade Office in Munich, Germany.
Gocke was an assistant vice president in business development for Marsh, Inc., a Marsh & McLennan company. He received a bachelor of arts degree in international studies from West Virginia University and studied abroad at the University of Bamburg, Germany. West Virginia operations in Munich were established in March 1999 in Amerika Haus.
Hardesty new director
of coalfield office
Paul Hardesty is the new director of the Office of Coalfield Community Development.
The vice chairman of the Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College Board of Governors, Hardesty is a member of the governor’s PROMISE Scholarship Board.
The Office of Coalfield Community Development was created by the 1999 Legislature to further economic development in post-mined southern West Virginia.
China Coal & Mining Expo 2001
opens in Beijing
Five West Virginia companies participated in the China Coal & Mining Expo 2001 in Beijing.
“West Virginia is an undisputed leader in coal mining technology,” said Gov. Bob Wise. “Our companies approach business from a global standpoint, sharing their expertise and experience with the world and in turn creating jobs and revenue for West Virginians at home.”
The China Coal & Mining Expo 2001 has drawn more than 18,000 visitors each of the eight times it has been held since 1985.
“The West Virginia Development Office routinely sponsors trade missions and encourages the participation of small and medium-sized businesses,” said Debra Martin, manager, international trade.
Participating companies include Almeda, Inc., Parkersburg; Kanawha Scales and Systems, Poca; Phillips Machine Service, Inc., Beckley; Phoenix Scale Technologies, St. Albans; and Preiser Scientific, Inc., St. Albans.
United, MTR named
Forbes standouts
Forbes ranked West Virginia-headquartered United Bankshares, Inc., in the Forbes 500. This prestigious list includes America’s largest corporations by sales, profits, assets and market value.
The company operates nearly 90 offices - some 50 throughout West Virginia, more than 30 in the Washington, D.C., area, and three in Ohio.
MTR Gaming Group, Inc., parent company of Mountaineer Race Track & Gaming Resort in Chester, West Virginia, has clinched the No. 7 spot on the Forbes Magazine list of the 200 Best Companies.
W.Va. leads nation
in home ownership
According to the new U.S. Census Bureau report, West Virginia maintains its position as the state with the highest proportion of owner-occupied housing.
In West Virginia, 75.2 percent of the population owns their homes. West Virginia also held the top position in the 1990 U.S. Census Bureau report.
Home ownership in the state has increased 8.6 percent since then with nearly 44,000 additional residents becoming homeowners.
Education department receives
national technology award
The West Virginia Department of Education has received the 2001 Recognition Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Information Technology.
The award was given to the Digital Divide Bridging Blocks project, a statewide telecommunications initiative for all West Virginia schools.
The project has provided more than $26.5 million in e-rate discounts for the state schools.
The Telecommunication Act of 1996 required discounts for schools to access the Internet. The WVDE Office of Technology and Information Systems completed an application for every school in the state, ensuring that 100 percent of the state’s schools would have Internet access.
NETL named power
plant of the year
The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in Morgantown recently won the “Power Plant of the Year” award from the trade journal, Power Magazine.
The award is the result of a nearly decade-long effort that successfully produced gas turbine technology for future power plants. This joint effort between government and the gas turbine industry began in 1992 and culminated in commercial introduction of a new generation of advanced utility turbine systems that demonstrates breakthroughs in efficiency and environmental performance.
It is the first time the agency’s research and development team has received the annual award.
Maryland high-tech firm
expands to Jefferson County
PROSystems, Inc., a company that pioneered technology used on NASA missions and robotic manufacturing, expanded to Jefferson County.
Located in a new 4,600-square-foot facility in the Burr Business Park, the company manufactures a mirrored reflecting device used on satellites that precisely reflects a laser beam and measures time, distance and many more items. PROSystems, Inc., is headquartered in Washington County, Md.
Firm builds center
in Jefferson County
Beverage distributor Royal Crown Bottling of Winchester and Hagerstown has begun construction on a 100,000-square-foot distribution center in Ranson.
The $3.5 million facility will employ 33 people in three years and eventually will employ 75.
West Virginia region earns
“Well City USA” designation
The Wellness Councils of America awarded the prestigious Well City USA designation to the Kanawha Valley. The Valley joins only six other cities in the nation to receive this honor.
Well City USA is conferred to cities or regions that have at least 20 designated “Well Workplaces” employing more than 20 percent of the county’s work force.
Companies with employee wellness programs that meet the stringent standards of excellence set by the Wellness Councils of America earn Well Workplace designations.
Twenty-three Well Workplaces in the Kanawha Valley employ more than 21,000 workers.
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