Zivaro to expand in Colorado Springs; will ultimately create more than 300 jobs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- What's described as a major economic development company expansion that will create hundreds of high-quality jobs in the Pikes Peak region is coming to the city.

Mayor John Suthers, El Paso County Commissioners' chairman Stan VanderWerf, Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Corporation president and CEO Johnna Reeder Kleymeyer provided more details about Zivaro, an existing hi-tech firm, at a news conference Friday morning.

Zivaro co-founder and CEO Greg Byles also was present and said that his planned expansion will create more than 300 job; Zivaro upgrades software, hardware and platforms for the aerospace and defense industries.

He said that the average salary will be around $160,000.

"Strategically, it's going to be an eight-year plan to get that many people employed for what we're looking for," Byles said. "Could that speed up? Absolutely. Could it shrink? I don't think so. So we believe we're conservative in the number of employees who will be on-boarding, with the amount of work that we're doing."

Zivaro started in Denver in 1998 and opened an office in Colorado Springs the same year; the company currently operates in an office building along Interquest Parkway on the city's north side.

Byles said that Zivaro decided four years ago to expand; Omaha, Nebraska and Huntsville, Alabama -- the latter hoping the military will relocate U.S. Space Command there, from Colorado Springs -- also courted Zivaro.

"There was never really any question," Byles said. "We're a Colorado company and we want to stay in Colorado."

Byles and Suthers agreed that if Colorado Springs loses Space Command, the loss will have little effect on Zivaro.

Local leaders also revealed Friday that they enticed Zivaro with $500,000 from a new $3 million "close-the-deal" fund intended as an added incentive to certain companies -- new or existing -- based on a company's goods or services, its size and the number of employees it has.

Zivaro is the first recipient of that fund.

"They're able to use those dollars for whatever they need to ramp up quickly," Kleymeyer explained. "They can use the money for training, hiring or construction."

Suthers said that the fund uses federal money from the American Recovery Plan Act.

“We have joined with the Chamber to put seed money into that closing fund, and we hope to grow it with private investment over the years to come," he said.

VanderWerf said that the expansion announcement builds the city's reputation as being business-friendly.

"And this is a critical part of the mission for the Department of Defense," he said. "Having been a former Department of Defense employee myself, I know how important Zivaro’s work will be, to the defense mission here.”

Byes said he's not ruling out making Colorado Springs the permanent headquarters for Zivaro.

Zivaro also has offices in Alabama, California, Florida and Virginia; 132 of its 175 employees are in Colorado.