Fiserv CEO says firm is committed to Wisconsin
Company still looking for new HQ location
Fiserv Inc. still is analyzing where to locate a new corporate headquarters, but the company is committed to Wisconsin, the top executive said Wednesday.
In spring of 2017, the financial technology firm said it was evaluating where to put up a new headquarters that would accommodate its needs as a technology company better than its current three-story brick building at 255 Fiserv Drive in Brookfield. The company has been headquartered in that building since 1992.
At Fiserv’s annual shareholder meeting in Brookfield on Wednesday, Jeffery Yabuki, chief executive officer, was asked for an update on the search for a new headquarters site.
“We do believe that we need to have a more technologically savvy location, and so we’re working on that,” Yabuki said. “We’re disappointed at how long it’s taken to make the decision, but we know this is a once-in-a-multi-decade decision. We want to make sure we make a good one.”
Yabuki added: “We are committed to Wisconsin, so we will continue to be engaged here, and we’re looking for what’s the right location, given the demographics of the city and our need to be able to recruit.”
Fiserv initially was evaluating sites in Brookfield, Wauwatosa and downtown Milwaukee for a new headquarters and was thought to also be considering Alpharetta, Georgia, where it already has a big presence.
In an interview after last year’s annual shareholder meeting, Yabuki said it was difficult to recruit millennial tech workers to its current headquarters building just south of West Blue Mound Road. He suggested that downtown Milwaukee might be “a good solution” for the company.
But Brookfield city officials have pushed to keep Fiserv and its more than 600 local employees from leaving. They quickly suggested a 10-acre spot just off of I-94 near North Calhoun Road as a place to construct a 120,000-square-foot, millennial-friendly building.
The State of Wisconsin would provide millions of dollars in tax incentives for Fiserv if it stays in the state and retains more than 90% of its jobs in Wisconsin. Legislation aimed at keeping Fiserv in Wisconsin, passed last year, says the company could receive tax benefits of up to 10 percent of its capital expenditures for the headquarters project.