Today, World Duty Free, Inc., a global leader in airport duty free retail, announced Orlando as its U.S. headquarters. World Duty Free is part of the Italian-based Autogrill Group, the world's foremost provider of food and beverage and retail services for travelers, with over 350 national and international brands in its portfolio, spanning 37 countries and operating on major motorways, airports and railway stations worldwide.

The decision to locate its U.S. headquarters in Orlando was decided after an extensive national search of major U.S. duty free markets, including Atlanta. Major factors that drove World Duty Free to choose Orlando included the region's status as a world-class destination, its convenient location for international business and its collaborative business environment.

EDC President and CEO Rick L. Weddle said, "We are happy that World Duty Free has decided to locate its headquarters in Orlando. We look forward to supporting them in any way we can and are pleased they have chosen to expand their involvement in the community by becoming investors in the EDC."

World Duty Free currently employs more than 100 corporate and retail employees in the region, expects to hire approximately 5 to 10 new jobs at their Orlando headquarters as well as dozens of retail positions for each retail store opened, spurring economic growth and new jobs for the region.

Maitland-headquartered AcAe Software, LLC has announced plans to expand their Central Florida operations, a move expected to create 93 new positions within the next three years. The company provides high-tech design, consulting, and support services for companies using electronic design automation software.

The EDC first worked with AcAe on relocation of their corporate headquarters from England to Maitland in 1994. Since then, the company has enjoyed steady growth and has diversified its product and service offerings. Most recently, the EDC's business development team assisted AcAe with a Qualified Target Industry (QTI) grant request, which has been approved by Orange County, the City of Maitland and the State of Florida.

AcAe's proprietary "Universal, Neutral Format Translator" helps computer programs talk to each other and work together more easily. One catalyst for the company's recently announced expansion has been the nationwide move to streamline electronic health care records; AcAe's Software Translator, named DART™, simplifies and streamlines the migration of electronic design data across multiple platforms. The company's services also include electronic design automation consulting and training, and its clients include multinational companies worldwide.

Team Cymru, a specialized Internet security research firm that helps organizations identify and eradicate criminal activity online and in their networks, announced this week that they will relocate their corporate headquarters from Illinois to Metro Orlando.

EDC business development representatives Brian Walters and Tracy Turk were in Chicago late last week, along with EDC board member Bill Vogel, superintendent of Seminole County Public Schools. They met with the company's 25 headquarter employees and their families, most of whom will relocate to Central Florida. Company operations are expected to be up and running here by August 1st, with the move completed by the end of the year. Negotiations are underway for a location in Seminole County.

Relocating with Team Cymru will be a talented team of individuals who have experience in systems development, IP network engineering, security architecture, systems and network administration, network and hard drive forensics, malware analysis, penetration testing, and a variety of other areas.

Together, this Team delivers some of best security insight and services in the industry, including many no-cost services offered for the benefit of the Internet community. In addition to its headquarter employees, the company also has researchers based in the UK; Poland; New Zealand; Australia; Arizona; Washington D.C.; New York; Missouri; and California. The company has announced plans to hire an additional six employees immediately, and expect to make additional hires within the next two years.

In fact, it is the ability to recruit the skilled UNIX system engineering and development talent that attracted Team Cymru to this market. "We've assured our clients of two things," says company CEO Rob Thomas. "In the short term, we can and will accomplish this move with no disruption to their or our business. In the longer term, the move will permit our company to grow. We are confident that the Orlando market gives us access to a plethora of candidates with the skills we need, as well as the ability to recruit and retain the best and brightest talent."

Though Team Cymru specializes in sophisticated computer security applications, they say that the most frequent question they answer is this: "What is Cymru?". Pronounced "kum-ree", it is the Welsh word for the country of Wales. The company name, along with its distinctive dragon logo, is a nod to two of the Team Cymru founders, who have strong ties to Wales.

Economic development occurs in a variety of ways. While the attraction of new companies to the region generally grabs headlines, the expansion of existing local companies, especially expansions that result in additional jobs, is equally important to economy building. Two recent EDC project announcements reflect economic development success on both of those fronts.

New corporate headquarters coming to town. The American Academy of Optometry (AAO), an international association of optometrists and vision scientists headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area, has announced plans to relocate their association headquarters to Metro Orlando in 2012. The relocation is expected to create 10 new jobs within the next three years. The EDC has worked on the AAO headquarters relocation since 2009. When their move is complete, AAO will become the newest in a growing number of associations that have chosen to call Central Florida home, including; American Automobile Association (AAA), Institute of Internal Auditors, Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals, and Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), among others.

Winter Park company acquires South Carolina competitor. Wheeled Coach Industries, Inc., the world's largest manufacturer of ambulances and emergency-rescue vehicles, headquartered in Winter Park, has purchased a competing company from South Carolina. The acquisition will result in the merger of operations at the company's Orange County facility, a move expected to eventually result in 105 new manufacturing jobs and over $2 million new capital investment here in Central Florida. EDC representatives worked closely with the growing local company, coordinating incentive support from Orange County and the state of Florida.

This week, Orlando-headquartered AirTran Airways hosted the grand opening of their new System Operations Control (SOC) Center at Orlando International Airport. This 16,000-square-foot, $6.9 million, state-of-the-art command center serves as the 24-hour nerve center for the entire airline, which manages over 700 flights per day.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty were on hand to help Bob Fornaro, Chairman, President and CEO of AirTran Airways, officially open the new building. In his remarks, Fornaro announced plans to also open a pilot base in Orlando, which is expected to create 100 new jobs in Orlando this fall.

"The opening of our new SOC and announcement of an Orlando pilot base are both significant signs of our plans to continue to grow here in our hometown," said Fornaro. "We are fortunate to be part of the fabric of Central Florida and look forward to continuing to increase our presence here both today and well into the future."

The company employs more than 1,000 crew members in Central Florida at several facilities, including its corporate headquarters, the SOC and a maintenance facility, in addition to its passenger operations at the airport.

After considering putting the SOC Center in Atlanta, where AirTran has its hub, the decision was made to expand the facility here, adjacent to AirTran's headquarters.
Together with the City of Orlando, Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, Enterprise Florida and the State of Florida, the EDC worked closely with AirTran to ensure the SOC Center remained in Central Florida.

Fast-growing, Orlando-headquartered Intelligent Global Pooling Systems (iGPS) has announced plans to expand its operations into a larger 23,000 sf facility in downtown Orlando. With this expansion, the company also intends to hire 75 new employees over the next three years, adding to their current workforce of 79.

iGPS is a global logistics company that has revolutionized the pallet rental industry by installing radio frequency identification tracking devices in their plastic pallets so that goods can be traced throughout the entire transportation process. These innovations have led to the company's rapid growth over the last few years. After considering relocation to Dallas, where iGPS also has an office, the decision was made to expand here in Orlando.

Together with the City of Orlando's economic development department and Enterprise Florida, the EDC worked with iGPS to ensure the company remained in the region and worked with them through the Qualified Target Industry (QTI) incentive process.

When Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced a list of companies selected to receive awards from the U.S. Department of Energy for ambitious research projects that could fundamentally change the way the country uses and produces energy last week, it was good news for Central Florida. Among those receiving grants is Orlando-headquartered Planar Energy Devices, Inc., which will use the award for further development of their solid state lithium battery. They are the only award recipient in Florida.

Through a partnership between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the University of Central Florida, the University of Florida, the University of South Florida, the University of Colorado, and the University of California San Diego, Planar is seeking to develop an ultra high energy, long cycle life, all solid-state lithium battery that can be manufactured using low cost techniques. The Florida High Tech Corridor Council also played an integral role in assisting Planar establish a 3-way partnership between the participating Florida universities.

The potential of this local company's innovations is far-reaching. For example, Planar's battery technology could one day soon revolutionize the auto industry by providing a lighter weight, longer lasting battery designed to reduce automobile reliance on fossil fuels. The Department of Defense is also interested in applications as a power source on the battlefield and numerous other industries are interested in the ramifications of the technology.

Funded through DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), the grants are awarded to projects that could produce advanced biofuels more efficiently from renewable electricity instead of sunlight; design completely new types of batteries to make electric vehicles more affordable; and remove the carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants in a more cost-effective way.

Darden Restaurants, a Fortune 500 company, recently celebrated the opening of their new 469,000-square-foot headquarters operation in south Orange County.

Well known for its commitment to its people, the company's three-story building, situated on a 57-acre campus, is designed to maximize staff performance, interactions and efficiencies. It will house 1,300 Darden employees who provide support to nearly 1,800 Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52 restaurants throughout North America.

Joining in the ribbon cutting were (left to right): Bob Abberger, Trammell Crow Company; Jim Lawrence, Darden; Mayor Crotty, Orange County; Clarence Otis, Darden; Drew Madsen, Darden; Mayor Dyer, City of Orlando; Don Reynolds, Perkins+Will; and Steve Rivers, Hardin Construction.

The new facility is also designed to maximize energy efficiencies. Development partners Hardin Construction, Trammell Crow and Perkins+Will developed the building in accordance with Gold LEED certification for new construction from the United States Green Building Council. Upon final certification, Darden's corporate headquarters will become the largest LEED Gold NC building in Florida. Construction elements include use of high-efficiency heating and air conditioning systems; an automatic lighting system that dims or brightens according to the amount of sunlight entering the building; increased use of natural light made possible by a 114,000 square-foot glass curtainwall exterior; a highly reflective roof system that helps maintain the building's interior temperature; restrooms and irrigation systems using reclaimed water; and use of native trees, plants and grasses that require minimal water.

Florida Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp was in Maitland last week to help announce the expansion of Digital Risk LLC, a leading risk mitigation solutions provider for the mortgage industry. Headquartered here in Central Florida, the company also has offices in New York and Dallas.

In a new era of mortgage risk awareness, this company is experiencing explosive growth. It recently increased its employee base to 400 and 240 new high-wage, knowledge-based jobs are anticipated with the expansion announced this week. "When we talk about targeted industry growth and diversified job creation, this is just the type of company that makes it happen," said Lt. Governor Kottkamp.

In addition to the job creation, the company has committed to a minimum of $1.2 million capital investment in equipment, research and development.

Over the last eight months, the Metro Orlando EDC led coordination between the Governor's Office of Trade, Tourism and Economic Development (OTTED), Enterprise Florida, Orange County, and the City of Maitland to secure this project. Digital Risk qualified for a Qualified Targeted Industry (QTI) tax refund, as well as for support through the state's Quick Action Closing Fund program.

More jobs

Orlando-based Gen2Media Corporation - a fully integrated digital media, technology and marketing company whose clients include Microsoft Xbox and Coca-Cola, among many others - recently expanded into nearly 6,000 square-feet of office space near Kirkman and Sand Lake Roads in the City of Orlando. Capital investment is estimated at $150,000 and the company plans to add 40 new jobs within the next 36 months.

One of Metro Orlando's hidden gems; Gen2Media's proprietary Digital Video Publishing Platform enables companies of all sizes to create and deliver video via traditional, online and on-location media. Most recently, the company provided all digital video production and technology for Grammy® award-winning artists Black Eyed Peas' concert performance during the "NFL Opening Kickoff 2009 Presented by EA Sports" pregame show, which aired Thursday night.

The EDC assisted Gen2Media throughout their expansion with regional industry information, facilitation of applications for various incentive programs, introduction to key local contacts, and workforce resources.

Still more jobs

In Seminole County, Pinnacle AMS has been approved to receive $52,324 in Quick Response Training funds. The company, which currently employs 160, will use grant dollars to train 50 new full-time employees over the next two years. Pinnacle provides property management and accounting services for clients worldwide. While based in Seattle, the company's Central Florida location serves as their East Coast Regional Office and headquarters for company-wide accounting services. Seminole Community College and EDC staff assisted in the application process.

And, Lake Mary-based Laser Photonics' expansion into 100,000 square feet has resulted in 72 new jobs, bringing the companies total employment to 102. Capital investment for new equipment and tenant improvements is estimated at $7 million. Laser Photonics is an industry leader in developing high-tech fiber and CO2 laser systems for various manufacturing applications. The EDC assisted this company with financing, incentives, utilities, training, and workforce.

Metro Orlando has a lot to be proud of in our own Darden Restaurants. The Orange County-headquartered company was recently deemed "the most successful restaurant chain in the world" by FastCompany.com and named one of the nation's "best companies for diversity" by Black Enterprise. The operator of Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, Season's 52, Capital Grille, and Longhorn Steakhouse was noted for the leadership that has helped the casual dining chain continue to grow, and hire, despite tough economic times.

The growth of Darden mirrors the growth of Central Florida, which this company has called home since Bill Darden opened the first Red Lobster in 1968. Darden's popular concept was eventually acquired by General Mills; the company was re-named in his honor when it spun off from General Mills in May 1995,at that time becoming a publicly-traded company. The chain has since grown to Fortune 500 status, currently ranked #374 and the only Orlando-headquartered company on that list. Last year, Darden solidified its ties to our region, moving into an all-new, expanded campus on Lake Ellenor Drive in South Orange County.

Though by far the largest, Darden is not the only restaurant chain headquartered here. Sonny's Real Pit BBQ, based in Maitland, operates 137 restaurants in nine states. Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, which moved their headquarters to Lake Mary in 2004, operates 132 restaurants in the U.S. and abroad. And the growing Tijuana Flats chain now has locations in Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Indiana, as well as throughout Florida.

The presence of all these great corporate headquarters is good for our economy and good for our community. We are proud that they call Metro Orlando home.