InfoCision expands facility

By ELISE FRANCO

AUSTINTOWN — InfoCision Corp. cut the ribbon and expanded its presence in the Mahoning Valley, adding 300 additional local jobs.

Steve Brubaker, senior vice president of corporate affairs, said the 25,576-square-foot, $5 million expansion on Interstate Boulevard makes the Austintown facility the largest in the Mahoning Valley.

He said the addition of 300 new jobs brings the total in Austintown to almost 800.

“We’ve had very nice, consistent growth over the years,” Brubaker said. “We have employees who care about each other and about the customers, and that seems to make a big difference.”

Celina Williams, human resources coordinator, has been with the company for almost four years.

She said one of the most exciting additions is the new fitness center and the wellness program that offers an on-site physician for employees and their family members.

“It’s provided beautiful amenities, such as the fitness center, and it will bring needed jobs to the area,” Williams said. “I also think with the wellness program, it provides a good work and life balance.”

Several Mahoning County and township officials, as well as employees of the call center, lauded the project during Tuesday morning’s event.

Austintown Trustee Bo Pritchard said he is proud to have InfoCision as a major business in the community.

“It provides good, solid jobs here,” he said. “It’s important to keep the young people here, and [InfoCision] is a good leader and provider for the community to do that.”

Brubaker said Austintown was chosen for a new facility location back in 1997, because of where it sits in relation to Akron.

“I took out a map and drew a one-hour radius around Akron,” he said. “Youngstown stood out, and Austintown specifically was a straight shot. It had a lot to do with the great infrastructure of the highways.”

State Rep. Ronald Gerberry of Austintown, D-59th, said the expansion wouldn’t have been possible if not for the tax abatement recommended through the trustees, Mahoning County commissioners and the state legislatures.

“The reality is, tax abatements couldn’t happen unless the Legislature allows it,” he said. “It’s a pleasure as a state legislator who represents Austintown to be able to do this.”

Gerberry said he remembers when the land that’s now home to InfoCision, as well as several other area businesses, was all farmland.

“It’s thrilling for us to see things change and grow,” he said.

The Akron-based company was founded in 1982 and employs about 4,000 in facilities in Youngstown, Boardman, New Castle, as well as other areas in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

“We don’t have offices in India, South Africa, California or Texas,” Brubaker said. “All of our employees are right here because this area has been good to us.”

He said the Austintown facility now has six separate call centers, each with a specific focus: Christian fundraising, communications, nonprofit fundraising, political fundraising, financial services center and media.

InfoCision employs 1,300 people in the Mahoning Valley, with plans to expand that soon to close to 2,000 with growth in New Castle, Pa.