BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Ameritas Technologies said Tuesday it will open an information technology center in Baton Rouge, a move they expect will create at least 300 direct jobs with an average pay of $63,000.
The startup company’s CEO, Brian Keane, said Ameritas will receive a state economic development grant of $125,000 per year over a 10-year period to offset leasing costs at the Chase Tower in the downtown area. The company will also get tax breaks through the state’s Quality Jobs and Digital Interactive Media and Software Development incentives.
“Our goal is to bring IT jobs back to the United States. Our goal is also here in Louisiana to be attracting youth that might have left Louisiana,” Keane said.
Keane said the company’s goal is to create software development centers in metropolitan areas throughout the country that partner with local schools, colleges and technology schools to create IT professionals. He said he sat down with chancellors and faculty at local schools and they were enthusiastic about tweaking their curriculums so they would be more relevant to the IT world.
Gov. Bobby Jindal said Ameritas will start hiring in September and open by October and that the company expects to reach the 300 mark on staffing by 2016.
He said Louisiana has had a history of losing its students to other states because they weren’t able to find employment close to home, but lately the state has been leading economic recovery in the South.
“For too many years we’ve watched companies expand and invest in other states and even countries. Our state didn’t offer a competitive business environment. Louisiana wasn’t aggressive enough in its economic development,” Jindal said.
Jindal said the state’s “strong business climate and world class workforce” was what attracted the company to Louisiana. He said its decision to open in Baton Rouge is “further proof our state is becoming a beacon for the digital media and technology services.”
Ameritas has also been looking into expanding their software development technology centers to Maine and western Massachusetts. Their office in Baton Rouge will be the company’s first location.
“Baton Rouge is a vibrant community with fantastic educational institutions and an engaged and active government, all of which make it an ideal location for our software development facility,” Keane said.
