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>>WILL EGLIN: All right, good afternoon everyone and welcome. It's been a long journey, but
we have finally made it here to RTP, and everyone is very excited. For those of you who I
haven't had the opportunity to meet yet, let me introduce myself. My name is Will Eglin.
I am IEM's CFO, and myself and many others in this room have recently moved here to North
Carolina from Baton Rouge along with my wife and my two young kids.
So, it's my privilege to welcome you all here today to our grand opening as we celebrate
the opening of this new facility and we gather to thank all the wonderful people in North
Carolina. Many who are here today, who have been supportive of us as we have transitioned
our office here to Research Triangle Park. So, thank you all.
Without further ado, I'd like to introduce our first speaker of the day, Governor Bev
Perdue. Governor...
[applause]
>> GOVERNOR PERDUE: Thank you. Good afternoon. It's a great day for IEM and for North Carolina.
Madhu Beriwal, we are really glad this day has come. I am delighted to be here with Will
and with Congressman Price; I said "welcome home, Congressman Price." He is back with
us for a long time now, and we really thank you for your leadership on this latest vote
last week to help North Carolina schools and their Medicaid program.
We thank you for that and your leadership on that.
[applause]
And now this day is all about Madhu Beriwal and IEM. Keith Crisco and I, in our earliest
day as a team, had the opportunity to talk to you and to your leadership team about what
it is that North Carolina could do for a company like IEM. And this was a big sale; it was
an important sale, because it was one of our first times putting together the state collaboration
with the locals, with all of the players in the Triangle and across the state.
You know, it didn't just happen. Back in 2007, I had the opportunity to lead the military
initiative for the state during the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. And I was audacious
enough, if your recall, to make some people mad, when I reminded them that we were the
third largest state in America with Boots on the Ground.
But at that time we ranked either 33rd or 34th in the number of defense contracts and
the real jobs that were affiliated with the non-Boots positions, and that the defense
industry was ripe for the picking in North Carolina. That, together, we could build a
whole different platform and we convinced a lot of generals and admirals and a lot of
companies in North Carolina to form something called the Military Foundation. 2007 was a
red letter day. Its goal was very simple: the state was in the military defense business
and once we get in, we intend to do more than dog paddle. We intend to swim with the sharks.
And that's what we are doing.
The decision by IEM to locate to North Carolina represents the first major win for the North
Carolina Military Foundation, for the military defense team that Secretary Crisco has put
together in the Department of Commerce that is very strong and very focused, for the local
partnerships with Durham's elected and private sector. So, when I talked to Madhu, we talked
about the company. I said, tell me what you do. And I remember that cold afternoon. She
said, this is a company that is unique. We provide advice around terrorism and homeland
security, if I quote you correctly, for not just the Federal Government, but we do that
same kind of strategic advice and counseling and program setup for cities and for ports
and to private companies as well. And how they respond to threats from something as
usual as a natural disaster to something as unprecedented as a pandemic or a terrorist
attack. They do it all. And I said, well, could you tell me how many employees it takes
to do all that, because that sounds like a big job. Keith Crisco was salivating and Madhu
said, about 450. And we began the dance with this company in North Carolina.
We worked hard and aggressively as a team, the locals and the state and many of our friends
who are here today from the private sector, to show them that North Carolina was the right
location for this 21st century kind of company.
That we not only had the workforce, but that we had a history of innovation and entrepreneurship
and we were as good as anywhere in the world for these public-private partnerships. And
she listened very respectfully and then she did her homework.
As one would expect a successful CEO to do. And she was sought after by other states,
so this was not a sure thing, but we wanted it to be a sure thing. And after several months
and several visits to North Carolina we began to think that perhaps we were first on IEM's
dance card, but we continued to dance until late this spring, when IEM shook hands with
the Secretary and said we are coming to North Carolina. And so, today they are here with
430 jobs. They have stood up a company within these walls. They understand that North Carolina
is serious about this defense industry, this homeland security cluster that we are in the
process of building that is dynamic and being talked about all across America.
Let me remind you, if you have forgotten, about what skin is in the game, Madhu. A 23
1/2 billion dollar impact, military and defense. The Department of Defense spending in this
state last year grew by 10%. It didn't do that in all states. Very few states saw that
kind of growth.
And if you happened to pick up this morning's edition of USA Today, you will see their lead
frontpage feature article is about communities like Jacksonville and Camp Lejeune and places
like right here who not only do Boots on the Ground, but also do defense contracting and
homeland security jobs. IEM fits the bill there.
You know, in the past year, for all of you who understand about this recession and this
new normal, and for Madhu and IEM and other companies it's been a hard time in America.
I've been very upfront about that. It's been a hard time in the entire world with this
global recession.
We feel like North Carolina is in the early growths of recovery. There will be a new normal
in North Carolina and America. It will be slower than many of us want, but it indeed
is happening as we speak. And this past year, the Department of Labor has just announced,
that out of the top 5 states in America for job creation, you happen to be sitting in
the state that's the 3rd most successful.
Where many other states lost 100,000+ jobs, North Carolina gained about 30,000 jobs.
That's because of the team we put together. The team that has been very focused and targeted
and is aggressive as any economic development team in North Carolina's history to grow jobs
in this state, to keep companies like Madhu's and IEM coming here, and once she gets here
to be sure they understand we are quite serious about helping them and making sure that regulations
and government intervention doesn't interfere with the work that they do day to day to keep
their customers happy and satisfied and to keep our world safe.
Thank you, Madhu, for choosing North Carolina. We are excited about you being here. I, personally,
am excited to have another successful woman corporate CEO in North Carolina,
that's important to me.
I thank the Military Foundation, and I really do look around this room and thank so many
of you from the private and the public sector who stepped up to make this first big win
a real potential reality for the Secretary and I in our first year of service. So, this
is a big day. And my only challenge to IEM and to Congressman Price and Secretary Crisco
and to Madhu Beriwal is that you've got 430, it seems like the world would be a whole lot
safer with 860. So...
[laughter, applause]