Scottsdale sees 25% increase in new jobs
Business attraction and expansion efforts by Scottsdale’s Economic Development Department netted a 25 percent increase in new jobs for the fiscal year that ended June 30.
At a recent meeting of the City Council’s Subcommittee on Economic Development, Danielle Casey, the city’s economic-development director, said city-assisted projects included 22 new companies that relocated to Scottsdale, creating about 544 jobs.
In addition, 14 companies expanded in Scottsdale, resulting in an additional 1,045 jobs.
“This is a positive sign for the local and regional economy, but businesses remain cautious in terms of new large capital expenditures, and competition for business attraction continues to grow,” Casey said.
The report did not track jobs lost or businesses that closed or left the city.
Among the company expansions were financial firm Vanguard adding 300 jobs; healthcare services and informationtechnology company McKesson adding 200 jobs; online consumer-review site Yelp adding 175 jobs; and cruise agency ICE hiring 140 people.
“Technology and software companies represented the largest percentage of expansion activity in Scottsdale business last year, for projects the city was involved in assisting,”
Casey said. “These included companies seeking a young educated workforce like McKesson, Tallwave, Vanguard, Ethology and I.C.E.”
Among the new companies locating in Scottsdale were Maya Day & Nightclub, developer Shawn Yari’s downtown beach club, with 100 new jobs; Portillo’s Restaurant with 77 new jobs; physician-dentist locating firm ZocDoc with 65 new jobs; and Jobing, an online company that connects employers and job seekers nationally, with 55 new jobs.
Guardian 8 Corp. relocated to Scottsdale Airpark from Kansas City, Kan., when it was ready to launch its product line. The company develops and produces non-lethal weapons that, when fully depressed, de- ploy pepper spray.
Paul Hughes, the company’s chief of operations, said with Smith & Wesson and Taser International located in Scottsdale, “we knew there were a number of folks here with the talent needed to grow the company quickly.”
“We’re hiring now for our sales and marketing departments, and will be adding shipping and warehousing capabilities to the company as well,” he said. “And then we’ll be hiring customer-support roles, as well.”
Guardian 8 plans to hire 10 more people before the end of the year, bringing its Scottsdale workforce to 18. It plans to have about 26 employees by next summer.
“We do business internationally, and this is a very highgrowth phase that we’re in right now,” Hughes said. “We also will be hiring some specialized positions that are import/ export related, people who can help us get product shipped internationally.”
The company’s primary customer base is hospitals, security companies and school administrators.
“Our lease already comes up at the end of March, and we’re seeking out additional space,” Hughes said.
Yelp has been steadily growing its workforce in downtown’s Galleria Corporate Centre. The Scottsdale office opened in summer 2010.
Most of the positions are account sales executives and account-management positions, said Erica Galos-Alioto, vice president of Yelp’s Scottsdale operations.
“We continue to hire 30-40 people per month, and have added approximately 175 new heads in our Scottsdale office this year,” she said. “Our current headcount in Scottsdale is a little over 600 employees.”