Albuquerque, NM - Today, Governor Susana Martinez announced that National American University (NAU) has chosen Albuquerque as a location for its Distance Learning National Operations Center. NAU will hire 30 to 50 workers immediately, and add approximately 50 employees every few months, creating up to 300 new jobs over the next few years. The news comes just a day after the Governor announced 300 new high-tech jobs in Albuquerque.
During this summer's special legislative session, Governor Martinez fought to grow New Mexico's closing fund, known as Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) funding, to $50 million, up from nearly zero when she took office. The closing fund is a valuable tool for recruiting new businesses to New Mexico and helping those that are already here grow and thrive. NAU will receive $500,000 in LEDA funds for building improvements. Mayor Berry also committed to at least $250,000 to incentivize the company to choose Albuquerque.
“We’re proud that our increased competitiveness and business friendliness brought NAU to New Mexico,” said Governor Susana Martinez. “They could have gone anywhere in the country, but their decision to grow in Albuquerque shows the progress we’re continuing to make in growing and diversifying the private sector in New Mexico.”
Opening in December 2015, NAU’s Distance Learning National Operations Center will occupy 35,000 to 40,000 square feet of space in Albuquerque at full build out, and will hire employees to support students and their families in enrollment and registration, financial services, planning and consulting. During its search, NAU examined 110 metro areas. They gathered data on 26, before narrowing the search to 7 metro areas. Albuquerque was selected over the two other finalist locations of Fort Worth and Phoenix.
“National American University has had a long standing relationship in the Albuquerque community; having served the needs and interests of students and employers through our campus based operations in the community for over 40 years,” said Dr. Ronald Sharpe, CEO of NAU. “We look forward to building on this relationship and launching our new Online 3.0 initiative in Albuquerque in the very near future. We are excited about this initiative and look forward to continuing to grow and serve populations from across the state and around the world.”
Today’s announcement comes on the heels of yesterday’s news that local high-tech manufacturer Skorpios will expand in Albuquerque, also creating up to 300 jobs over the next few years. Albuquerque Mayor Richard J. Berry, New Mexico Economic Development Department Secretary Jon Barela and representatives of Albuquerque Economic Development, Inc. and NAU joined Governor Martinez for the announcement.
“New Mexico continues to gain national attention for Governor Martinez’s bipartisan reforms that are making New Mexico more competitive and business friendly, and NAU’s decision to locate here after an exhaustive search represents that,” said Secretary Barela. “We welcome NAU to New Mexico as we work to build on our momentum to attract new companies from around the country to New Mexico.”
“Albuquerque is thrilled to welcome NAU’s Distance Learning National Operations Center and the 300 jobs being added to our community,” said Mayor Richard Berry. “We’ve worked hard to make Albuquerque competitive in our efforts to attract good jobs, and the commitment of NAU is evidence of that. I know that NAU will have great success in our city, and I look forward to continuing to build a strong relationship with them as they encourage students to pursue higher education.”
The project was initiated on March 2, 2015, when a Colliers International real estate broker who represents the company nationally, contacted Albuquerque Economic Development, Inc. NAU employees will provide enrollment, financial services, planning and consulting support to students and their families served by National American University at its forty locations from Portland to Indianapolis. NAU is headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota, and celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2016. NAU has two campus locations in Albuquerque.
Those interested in applying can visit http://www.national.edu/about-nau/careers/.