Medford, MA-based Agero, a global leader in driver assistance services and vehicle connectivity innovation, announced today that they have selected Clarksville, Tenn. as the next site for its sixth North American driver assistance call and data response center.
“I am excited to welcome Agero to our state and look forward to watching the company grow in Tennessee,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said. “In creating our economic development strategies last year, we found Tennessee held a unique advantage in the ‘business services’ cluster, which includes call centers, and this announcement exemplifies a promising future for our state’s economic growth.”
The decision comes after a 16 month search for a new contact center. The search included a thorough evaluation of more than 20 qualified locations. Earlier this year, Agero executives announced that they were focusing their efforts on two finalist locations, Florence, SC and Clarksville, Tenn.
“This is great news for Montgomery County and the state of Tennessee,” said Commissioner Bill Hagerty. “The available sites and exceptional workforce in the area made Clarksville the perfect choice for Agero to locate its new facility, and we appreciate the company’s investment in our state. Agero’s choice also underscores Tennessee’s strength in the business services industry – a rapidly growing sector where Tennessee’s unique competitive advantages are strong.”
Dr. Linda Rudolph, Chairman of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Industrial Development Board (IDB) stated, “Agero’s announcement is a prime example of the value the Economic Development Council, the Industrial Development Board, the Aspire Foundation and our City and County leadership place on aggressively recruiting new jobs for our community and creating an incentives model that fit the requirements for incoming industries.”
The facility will be located in FRE Resource’s 53,000 square-foot spec building, which resides in the expanded portion of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Corporate Business Park at 2971 International Boulevard. Agero is slated to occupy the building by October 15 with operations under way by October 29 of this year. The $8.2 million call center will eventually create 500 jobs for Clarksville-Montgomery County, with 250 being hired by the end of 2012 and the remaining 250 hired in 2013.
The Clarksville center, which will incorporate state-of-the-art contact center technology, will be comparable in size to Agero’s other five response centers located in Canada, Texas, Arizona and Florida. The new operation is projected within its first year to handle more than 2 million calls annually from drivers requesting roadside assistance.
“Agero selecting Clarksville-Montgomery County as its next location is exciting news for our ever-growing community,” said James Chavez, President & CEO of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Economic Development Council (EDC). “One of the key factors that helped support their location decision was Agero’s ability to visit with job seekers and create a strong understanding of our qualified and available work force.”
Agero had an overwhelming response to the job fair it held in January, with over 1,500 applicants attending to be prescreened for various positions, including call center operators, trainers and managers. In addition, the availability of office space was a critical requirement and advances their ability to get new operations into the marketplace quickly.
“We are extremely pleased that Agero has chosen to join our business community. They have a long-standing reputation for quality service and will offer good job opportunities to the citizens of Montgomery County,” said Montgomery County Mayor Carolyn Bowers.
“I want to congratulate our economic development team who, once again, prove what cooperation and teamwork can do. Bringing new jobs and a developing industry to our area is certainly good for our citizens and I know that Agero will find a willing, able, dedicated and extremely talented workforce in Clarksville,” said Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan, when asked about Agero’s decisions to locate in the community.
Sandra Savage, Agero’s vice president of Human Resources, said the company would probably start evaluating job candidates in July with new-hire training slated to begin October 15.
Clarksville applicants should send their resumes to resumeclarksville@agero.com. Applicants who participated at the job fair that Agero conducted earlier in the year do not need to reapply.
“This announcement means the creation of a significant number of jobs for the people of Clarksville-Montgomery County and will have a long-term positive effect on the economic landscape of this community,” said Mike Evans, Executive Director of the Clarksville-Montgomery County IDB.
