PR Newswire announced today that it has selected Cleveland, Ohio, and Albuquerque, N.M., as locations for two new Operations and Customer Service Centers to process news releases for thousands of organizations.
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Staffing, including editorial and customer service representatives, will exceed 125 full-time positions in each of the 24-hour complexes. Completion of the Cleveland location is scheduled for December. An Albuquerque ground breaking for a new building is expected in November, with occupancy in Spring 2007.
"Government and economic development officials in both New Mexico and Ohio have been extremely accommodating," said Dave Armon, chief operating officer of PR Newswire. "There is a genuine appreciation that we are bringing highly desirable media-related service jobs to these communities."
Established in 1954, PR Newswire created the first conduit to disseminate company news releases directly into newsrooms. The company, which has long been recognized by the regulators and stock exchanges as a means of achieving disclosure for market-moving corporate news, is relied upon by approximately half of all publicly traded U.S. companies.
Opening of the new facilities is part of a larger initiative to deploy technology and organizational strategies that will enable PR Newswire to provide enhanced sales, customer and editorial services to the issuers of news releases, said Armon.
"Conversations with customers and recent surveys revealed that the features they most appreciate from PR Newswire are fast turnaround time for processing news releases, editorial accuracy and outstanding problem solving," said Armon. "Our new organizational design, combined with the technology advances we are employing in Cleveland and Albuquerque, will create a more collaborative environment for our editorial and customer service employees, giving them better training support and infrastructure that will allow them to focus more proactively and strategically on superior account management and continue to deliver what's most important to our customers, superior service."
The new centers will include world-class resilient power facilities with multiple battery and generator backup, 45Mb dual telecom feeds from independent vendors, a next-generation editorial system, sophisticated communications technologies including voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephony linking all of PR Newswire's U.S. personnel, dedicated on-site technology support and training staff to ensure premium customer service. Each facility will be fully staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round.
The Cleveland site will be located on a full floor in the Penton Media Building, at East Ninth Street and St. Clair Avenue. Approximately 20 employees now housed in an existing sales and service office in One Cleveland Center and an additional 15 staff members occupying a temporary training center in the IMG Center will be consolidated once construction is completed. They will be joined by more than a dozen current PR Newswire employees who have already elected to relocate from Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Sao Paolo, Brazil, before the end of the year. Consideration is being made by additional staff to relocate, with all remaining positions to be hired locally, according to Armon.
Among the organizations that assisted PR Newswire in selecting Cleveland were the Ohio Department of Development, the city of Cleveland and Team NEO.
"Cleveland presented PR Newswire with a more cost effective major U.S. downtown location than they expected," says Cleveland Director of Economic Development Brian Reilly. "With our legacy of railroads, we are one of the best fiber-connected hubs in America, enabling their global information flow to media outlets. We were also pleased that our offers of Workforce recruitment and talent assistance were a factor."
Recruitment is expected to begin this month in Albuquerque. Several existing employees from Los Angeles are relocating immediately to oversee recruitment efforts.
Deciding factors in selecting Albuquerque were the low cost of living, affordable real estate, strong pool of qualified employees and the success of other companies in establishing customer service centers in the area. The Albuquerque Economic Development, Inc. assisted in the effort.
Albuquerque Economic Development Chairman Carolyn Monroe said, "We're thrilled by PR Newswire's decision to locate this important center in Albuquerque, rated by Forbes magazine as the nation's #1 city for business and careers. PR Newswire will continue its superb service to customers throughout the world through the sophisticated professionals it will employ in the Albuquerque region. Dozens of New Mexicans assisted the company during its analysis of our market. Special thanks go to Governor Bill Richardson for his support and to the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department for its prompt action in addressing key questions important to the company's operation."
As part of the creation of the new Operations and Customer Service Centers, PR Newswire will consolidate East Coast editorial bureaus into Cleveland, under the leadership of Director of Eastern Operations Glenn Frates, a six-year veteran of PR Newswire. Washington, D.C. will remain an Operations Center for all policy-related news, while the West Coast and Central region editorial bureaus will consolidate into Albuquerque, under the leadership of Director of Western Operations, Janine Caldwell, who has been with the company for 10 years. All three Operations Centers will continue to report to Senior Vice President of Operations Dave Haapaoja.
Steven Lurie, who joined PR Newswire as Director, Call Center in the Spring, will oversee the customer service personnel in each of the new service centers, reporting to Senior Vice President of Sales Nancy Sells.
Sales operations will be unaffected by the creation of the Cleveland and Albuquerque facilities. PR Newswire employs account managers and media relations personnel to provide personal service to customers and media in all 50 states.
About PR Newswire
Now in its 52nd year, PR Newswire Association LLC (http://www.prnewswire.com/) provides electronic distribution, targeting, measurement and broadcast services on behalf of tens of thousands of corporate, government, association, labor, non-profit, and other customers worldwide. Using PR Newswire, these organizations reach a variety of critical audiences including the news media, the investment community, government decision-makers, and the general public with their up-to-the-minute, full-text news developments.
Established in 1954, PR Newswire has offices in 11 countries and routinely sends its customers' news to outlets in 135 countries and in more than 40 languages. Utilizing the latest in communications technology, PR Newswire content is considered a mainstay among news reporters, investors and individuals who seek breaking news from the source. PR Newswire's leading services include ProfNet Experts(SM), eWatch™, MEDIAtlas™, Search Engine Optimization, MediaRoom, MediaSense™ and MultiVu™. PR Newswire is a subsidiary of United Business Media plc of London.
CONTACT: Mark Nowlan Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications PR Newswire +1-212-596-1570mark.nowlan@prnewswire.com
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