Saint John Telegraph Journal, 9/28/5: CenterBeam adds to Saint John workforce

Commitment to hire made as part of government loan requirement

By Kevin Barrett
Telegraph-Journal

CenterBeam, an IT outsourcing firm, is increasing its Saint John workforce to 150 people because of a doubling of its client base over the past year.

The California-based company opened its Saint John office in April 2004 and will hire 50 new staff over the next two months.

It manages automated networks and servers and the new jobs are for engineers, both to run the systems and to provide customer support.

"Staffing frontline positions with such senior professionals means each member of the staff can solve more problems faster for more people," said company CEO Kevin Francis in a prepared statement.

Microsoft recently named CenterBeam as a gold partner in recognition of the company's management and technical expertise.

That accolade puts CenterBeam in the top 4 per cent of Microsoft's partners worldwide.

Mr. Francis was named the industry person of the year at the New Brunswick Knowledge Industry Recognition and Achievement (KIRA) Awards last May.

CenterBeam also won a KIRA award for employment growth in 2004.

"We make more money the faster we solve problems for our customers," said company spokesman Brian Johnson. "It costs us less money. That's why we need to have highly educated, highly trained people like the folks we find in Saint John to get that work done."

Last April, the province gave CenterBeam a $1.7 million forgiveable loan if the company creates 300 jobs by April 2007 and maintain them until 2012.