Jerry Mallot calls it great timing.
When the JAXUSA Partnership president and other officials walked into a mid-October meeting with Resource Solutions in London, he knew Jacksonville was on a short list for possible expansion.
After some questions, the company gave them the news.
Yes, we’d like to go to Jacksonville, they told Mayor Lenny Curry, City Council President Greg Anderson and others.
“I think they were waiting to actually sit down with the mayor and business leaders for last questions,” Mallot said Thursday, hours after it was announced the recruitment outsourcing and technology solutions company wanted to bring a global service center to Jacksonville and create 75 jobs.
“Of course, it was an excellent meeting,” Mallot said.
Kirk Wendland, city Office of Economic Development executive director, said walking into the meeting he wasn’t sure if any deal was ready to move forward.
Some meetings the Jacksonville group had over the three-day window were only for introductions. Resource Solutions, however, turned out to be more.
Negotiations with companies often take months, Mallot said. With the company being that close to a decision, the stop lined up nicely for an answer.
Janine Chidlow, the company’s managing director for EMEA-Americas, said it was the “appetite” of the local delegation that helped the decision.
The company had a matrix with 50 or so points to analyze factors, such as transportation and education.
However, she said, it wasn’t what was on the scorecard that intrigued the company. It was “things we hadn’t even considered,” she said Thursday.
Jacksonville officials talked about the work-life balance of employees and the city’s quality of life.
Those types of benefits help companies hold on to skilled employees and save money on training from turnover.
“Those small things, the nuances and appetite to have us here is what clinched it for me,” said Chidlow.
The short list wasn’t so short when Jacksonville entered the mix. Chidlow said about 20 cities were being reviewed for the global services center.
Mallot said Mike Breen, a senior director in the JAXUSA international department, helped make the connections months before the Jacksonville contingent made its way to London as part of the annual Jacksonville Jaguars game.
The relationship grew enough that the meeting happened to coincide with Resource Solutions’ final decision.
“It was very fortuitous,” Mallot said.
The London trips have been successful, he said.
The trip two years ago was “very important” to the development of the Deutsche Bank expansion. The company is scheduled to grow its local operations by 475 jobs in return for $5.5 million approved in October.
Part of the growth meant expanding to the former PHH Mortgage building, which was announced Thursday.
Another London trip success Mallot points to is the expansion of a Greencore USA subsidiary. The Ireland-based company decided to add 283 jobs at its Northside plant after Jacksonville delegates and company officials met in 2013 in London.
The ongoing trips, Mallot said, have made Jacksonville and officials more recognizable to the business leaders across the pond. The “home” games and presence of team owner Shad Khan at many of those business meetings also has been key, he said.
As for other announcements from the trip, Mallot and Wendland said they were hopeful but didn’t provide other details.
Wendland said sometimes meetings with officials net interest a year or so down the line.
That’s the way economic development works, he said.
Sometimes, the timing doesn’t always line up for a quick turnaround. This time, it did.
@writerchapman
(904) 356-2466