Today marks my first day as the new Chief Executive Officer for the Birmingham Business Alliance. It is an honor to step into this role for an organization whose mission I deeply believe in, and whose team I deeply admire.
Steve Ammons has been named CEO of the Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA), the region’s primary economic development agency. Ammons will be responsible for leading collaboration between BBA and its community partners across the seven-county region to ensure the alignment and achievement of strategic objectives. He will begin his new role on May 30.
We are thrilled to announce that Tquila Automation, a leading automation software company, is expanding its map to the Greater Birmingham Region. This new location will create 200 new high-quality jobs with an average wage of $65,000 and expects to generate up to $21.51 million in overall economic impact over the next 20 years.
Birmingham was named one of Indeed’s top five cities for job seekers in 2019.
The worldwide employment-related search engine named the Magic City No. 4 on its list, chosen for being a city where job seekers face the least competition for jobs, command the highest salaries, work at the highest-rated companies and face a low likelihood of unemployment.
Garrison Steel said it will invest $2.5 million to upgrade the fabrication equipment in its Pell City facility, allowing it to have the latest high-tech steel fabrication equipment available.
Birmingham-based full-service web company Infomedia Inc. has moved its headquarters downtown.
The company, which supports over 600 websites and turns 25 this year, marked its quarter-century with a move last month from Vestavia Hills to 2717 Third Avenue South in Birmingham’s design district near Pepper Place. Infomedia is also adding four jobs this year in areas ranging from web developer to videographer to strategist.
Additionally, Infomedia has moved its spinoff marketing company, Uptick Marketing, which it acquired in 2014, into the same space as its parent company, consolidating 26 employees into the new 5,000-square-foot space.
Governor Kay Ivey recently signed into law legislation that will encourage economic and industrial development within the region and will result in the creation of jobs.
HB 396, sponsored by Representative Rod Scott of the Jefferson County delegation, allows Birmingham’s Industrial Development Board (IDB) to charge a small administrative fee to companies applying for tax abatements – on a rolling scale and determined by capital investment of the project.
Tené Dolphin’s daily focus is making Birmingham a small business-centered city.
Dolphin, the deputy director for business diversity and opportunity at the City of Birmingham, spoke last week at the Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA)’s Birmingham Regional Enterprise Council (BREC), comprised of mostly small business owners, about the ongoing work the City is doing to back small businesses.
Legislation that will aid in the recruitment of tech companies to urban areas in Alabama has been signed into law by Governor Kay Ivey.
HB 540, also known as the Alabama Incentives Modernization Act (AIMA), was strongly supported by the Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA). The legislation was introduced by Representative Bill Poole (R-Tuscaloosa) and is an update of the Alabama Jobs Act and the Growing Alabama Act Income Tax Credit, both of which were set to expire soon.
As Birmingham’s need for information technology (IT) talent grows, Central Six AlabamaWorks! is launching the first officially registered consortium-style software development apprenticeship program in the state this week, thanks to $150,000 in funding from the Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation. Central Six is a provider of workforce services for the Birmingham region.
Birmingham’s thirst and energy to develop and support small businesses is what drew Tené Dolphin to the city after 30 years in Washington, D.C.
But there is still work to be done, she said.
Dolphin, the deputy director for business diversity and opportunity at the City of Birmingham, will speak to the Birmingham Regional Enterprise Council (BREC), comprised of mostly small business owners, at 11:30 a.m. on May 30 at the Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA) about the ongoing work her office is doing to back small businesses.
Last week, 50 local officials and people involved with bringing the $325 million Amazon fulfillment center to Bessemer – along with Bessemer native and former professional athlete Bo Jackson – attended a hard hat tour to see construction progress.
If you know Birmingham, you know it’s a first-rate place to live, work and play. At the Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA), our chief goal is to enhance the quality of life for all citizens of the Birmingham seven-county region, and that includes doing so through the public policy arena. Here are some bills that the BBA is watching that pertain to quality of life and, if enacted, will enhance our economic development and talent attraction efforts.
