Wyoming Creates Successful Platform for Growth
Published Nov 03, 2009
Jerad Stack is CEO of Firehole Technologies, which has grown from a start-up to a 20-employee operation.
Wyoming’s diverse business base has always done well in a strong economy; the fact that it kept prospering during a national slowdown is testament to the state’s many pluses.
Incentive programs, lack of personal and corporate taxes, a well-trained workforce, superior technological capabilities and a highly desirable quality of life make Wyoming an appealing place to start, grow or relocate a company.
“For a long time we waved the flag of our low cost of doing business in terms of our tax statues, because we have a pretty friendly tax structure,” says Bob Jensen, chief executive officer of the Wyoming Business Council. “But the state has also taken revenues generated during the last oil and gas boom period and reinvested them into infrastructure that will provide a foundation for growth for years to come.”
Included in that infrastructure is a beefing up of educational opportunities from kindergarten through college, additional scholarships and investment in new facilities.
Firehole Technologies creates simulation software for composite engineers in the aerospace, defense, automotive and energy industries.
The company began in 2000 in the Wyoming Technology Business Center at the University of Wyoming in Laramie and grew into its own offices in 2008 with about 20 employees. Since then, it has tripled its business, says Jerad Stack, chief executive officer.
“This is an incredibly business-friendly state,” he says. “We’re not the stereotypical Wyoming business, but they were very interested in us. We are six blocks from a major research institution and are creating a kind of tech cluster here in southern Wyoming. There’s definitely some synergy going on here.”
Wyoming Machinery Co., a Caterpillar heavy equipment dealership, celebrated its 40th birthday in 2009 with a 166,000-square-foot expansion at its Gillette location and a new sales and service center on tap for Rock Springs. The Gillette location will serve as a prep facility with a shop for final drives and components, and preparing over-the-road trucks, says Darin Rodgers, marketing manager. The company is also a major parts distributor, service operation and components rebuilder.
“We’re going to continue what we’re doing in Wyoming, and we’re committed to staying,” Rodgers says.
Cheyenne has landed German robotics company Vulkan Technic GmbH, which develops and manufactures customized robotic machinery for many mass-production industries. The new office will mark its first North American operation.
Growth is the watchword at Cody Laboratories Inc., a provider of pharmaceutical products to U.S. and global drug companies, which has benefited from the state’s approach to helping businesses grow.
“State agencies are helpful, not a hindrance,” says founder Ric Asherman, who has built the company to 74 employees and a 73,000-square-foot facility.
The state’s efforts, past and current, have built a foundation for strong growth in the years ahead, regardless of global conditions, Jensen says.
“We have communities that are conducive to a less hectic pace but are connected by fiber-optic and broadband highways to anywhere,” he says. “This is a place where people want to live and work, and work globally. They can do that, and their business gets done.”
Story by Joe Morris
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