A new industry is coming to Auburn.
“It seems like I’m always announcing new job opportunities for Lee County,” Gov. Robert Bentley said today as he introduced the opening of a new Equifax facility at a press conference in the Auburn Airport.
Equifax is a consumer credit report agency that first opened it’s doors in Atlanta in 1899. The company has 40 locations and employs 3,000 people. Soon they will open their 41st location in Auburn.
The company decided to bring the new branch at Auburn after looking at several different college towns across the Southeast.
David Webb, CIO at Equifax, who also spoke at the press conference, discussed what they looked for when deciding, and why Auburn was the perfect choice for their new location.
“We were looking for people prepared for the workforce or people who would require minimal retooling to be ready for the workforce,” Webb said.
Though they did consider grade point averages, Webb explains that that was not their main concern.
“A GPA doesn’t necessarily mean a graduate is grounded,” Webb said.
Brandon Holcomb, who assisted in deciding where the new location will be, is an Auburn alumnus and will be in charge of the new Equifax location.
Holcomb, who graduated from Auburn in 1998 with a bachelor’s in management information systems, first started working with Equifax in 2012.
“I got a call from a friend three years ago when Equifax was looking for someone to work on their computer cloud, at the time I was in Montgomery, and since they are a global company they were fine with me doing my work from there,” said Holcomb.
The press conference included speeches from Gov. Robert Bentley, David Webb, Auburn University President Jay Gogue, Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard, Auburn Mayor Bill Ham, and Holcomb himself.
Bentley gave Webb a bronze Alabama seal as a symbol of the state and Equifax’s new partnership. All the speakers expressed their excitement for the new partnerships.
Gogue discussed the importance of graduating students who can adapt in the modern IT workforce.
“Our objective is to develop our students to become top talent entering the workforce,” Gogue said.
The press conference closed with a visit from Aubie, who gave Webb a framed Auburn jersey.
Webb responded by giving framed Equifax jerseys to Gogue and Bentley.
“The Auburn Equifax Center is an important investment in our state and in Auburn University,” Bentley said. “The Auburn Equifax center will be a successful facility for years to come.”
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