Universal Marketing Group is opening a new call center in Ann Arbor this month, an investment that is expected to created 150 new jobs much sooner rather than later.
"We're planning to have that staffed with 150 people by the end of the year," says Jason Birch, partner & CFO of
Universal Marketing Group.
The 10-year-old company has grown at its Toledo headquarters each time it has needed to expand. This time it the company decided it needed a second location to help supplement its growth. Its founders spend a lot of time in Ann Arbor. They like its proximity to the company's headquarters and the depth of Tree Town's talent pool.
"We needed scalability and a community of Ann Arbor's size and diversity gives us that option," Birch says. He adds that all 150 jobs are open now and that they range from call center operators to supervisors to administrative. Interviewing for these jobs is expected to begin before the end of the month.
Universal Marketing Group will occupy the former Borders headquarters in a deal brokered with the help of
Ann Arbor SPARK. It received $600,000 in incentives from the
Michigan Economic Development Corp to make the $575,000 investment to create the call center. The project could expand to 400 new jobs by 2016.
Source: Jason Birch, partner & CFO of Universal Marketing Group
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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