Stock Market Symbols
GIB (NYSE)
GIB.A (TSX)
www.cgi.com/newsroom
Since 2006 dedication, Lebanon
center has transformed community through investment, education and
more than $650M of economic
impact
LEBANON, VA, May 6, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Joined by U.S.
Senator Mark R. Warner and dozens of
community and business leaders in Russell
County, Virginia, CGI (NYSE: GIB) (TSX: GIB.A) today
marked the 10-year anniversary of its Southwest Virginia
Information Technology Center of Excellence, a full-service
software development and systems integration facility in
Lebanon that has created 400 jobs
and generated a regional economic impact of $68.5 million per year since its dedication in
2006.
"Today, we are proud and honored to have become a part of this
great community," said Dave
Henderson, President, CGI U.S. Operations. "Thanks to the
commitment of leaders like Senator Warner and others who helped
make our Center of Excellence in Virginia a reality, we can look back on this
decade and say with confidence that Russell County had the right location,
infrastructure, resources and people to join a network of
leading-edge U.S. facilities that continue to provide the best IT
services to CGI clients around the world."
"Ten years later, the innovative economic development approach
that helped bring solid IT jobs to Southwest Virginia continues to be a
significant success story," said U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA). "It is not an overstatement
to say the opportunities here at CGI have helped change perceptions
about opportunity and success for an entire generation of young
people.
"And CGI now cites Russell
County as a national model – a model for a smart way to
create good software engineering and IT jobs outside of expensive
and congested urban and suburban centers – a model for bringing
opportunity and greater stability to rural communities like this
one," continued Warner. "We should not—and cannot—give up on
our small towns and expect the rest of the state to prosper. And
what you have done here in Lebanon
is a success story – a success story that's worth rewriting all
across America."
Heralded by then-Governor Warner in 2006 as "the best
announcement in a decade for Russell
County," and by Governor Tim
Kaine in 2007 as "an anchor of new economic development in
the region," the Lebanon center
reflects CGI's commitment to invest in full-service IT resources
based in American communities offering competitive economic
benefits and access to outstanding local talent. Like those in
Alabama, Louisiana and Texas, CGI's onshore delivery center in
Virginia provides high-quality,
high-value IT services at costs significantly below the averages
for major metropolitan areas.
"Onshore delivery is an integral part of CGI's global delivery
model, which offers best-fit solutions using onsite, onshore,
nearshore and off shore locations that today's global clients
need," continued Henderson. "Working with our account teams,
the talent in this Center helps CGI deliver both the steady-state
IT services as well as the transformational digital innovation our
clients are demanding."
For its Virginia center, CGI
selected Russell County for its
geographic proximity to commercial and public sector clients; its
access to a large, qualified talent pool from local universities,
colleges, and technical institutes; and the strong business
incentives and tremendous collaboration among the Commonwealth,
local government, industrial and economic development agencies,
academia, and local businesses.
As early as 2005, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership
worked with the Russell County Industrial Development Authority and
the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority to secure the
Center for Virginia. A grant was
approved by the Governor's Opportunity Fund to assist Russell County with the project, and the
Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization
Commission supported the effort from the Tobacco Region Opportunity
Fund as well. The Virginia Department of Business Assistance also
committed to provide training assistance through its Workforce
Services Program.
"Nowhere has the cooperation between public leaders and the IT
sector been more successful than in the cause of bringing our
Center of Excellence to Southwest
Virginia," said Tim
Hurlebaus, President of CGI's U.S. Federal Government
operations. "The coalition responsible for making CGI's
Lebanon facility a reality serves
as a model for what communities can do when they share a commitment
to innovation and economic growth."
Today, the 42,000-square-foot facility in the Russell Regional
Business and Technology Park houses 400 CGI software developers,
analysts and consultants – surpassing an earlier estimate that
predicted a total of 300 jobs at the Center. It is considered
a boon for a region beset by high unemployment over the past
several decades.
About CGI
Founded in 1976, CGI Group Inc. is the fifth
largest independent information technology and business process
services firm in the world. Approximately 65,000 professionals
serve thousands of global clients from offices and delivery centers
across the Americas, Europe and
Asia Pacific, leveraging a
comprehensive portfolio of services, including high-end business
and IT consulting, systems integration, application development and
maintenance and infrastructure management, as well as 150 IP-based
services and solutions. With annual revenue in excess of
C$10 billion and an order backlog
exceeding C$20 billion, CGI shares
are listed on the TSX (GIB.A) and the NYSE (GIB).
Website: www.cgi.com.
SOURCE CGI Group Inc.