Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. is building a new headquarters in Jacksonville, which is expected to bring 500 new jobs to the area over the next decade, and the company’s CEO wants to make it the greenest building in Florida.
Governor Ron DeSantis was in the River City Friday to make the announcement.
“We are excited that FIS has chosen to expand its headquarters presence and employee base in Jacksonville,” he said. “FIS is one of the world’s leading providers of financial technology and their commitment to building this new headquarters will stimulate the local economy and provide 500 high-wage jobs for Floridians. This important investment for our state and the Jacksonville community reaffirms Florida’s position as a hub for the financial services industry.”
We are excited that @FISGlobal has chosen to expand its headquarters presence and employee base in Jacksonville. This important investment for our state and the Jacksonville community reaffirms Florida’s position as a hub for the financial services industry. pic.twitter.com/AQSJyRFxdQ
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) November 1, 2019
FIS has been headquartered in Jacksonville for more than 15 years. About 1,300 associates currently live and work at the existing FIS buildings.
FIS Chairman, President, and CEO Gary Norcross said three existing facilities in Jacksonville will be consolidated to make way for the new 12-story, 300,000 square foot facility.
“It's going to be state of the art in every way, fashion, and form,” he said. “We're going to lean in heavy on environmental issues, and we hope it will be the greenest building not only in Jacksonville, but possibly in the state.”
He said they considered building the new HQ elsewhere, but decided it was best to stay in Florida, and ultimately to stay in Jacksonville.
“It is a very tax friendly state. It's a very business friendly state. It's a great place to live and raise a family. We have ease of recruiting people to the state,” Norcross explained. “When you look at what Jacksonville's done at a city level and what they've done to embrace FIS, and frankly what FIS has done to embrace Jacksonville… all of those things just make private and public partnerships work very well. So we're thrilled with the decision and look forward to continuing to be here for many decades in the future.”
Norcross said they’ll look to recruit the best talent from all around the world, but FIS will also explore local resources and the company is open to partnering with local universities.
“We have no limitations on where we look for talent and we've actually had great success hiring talent in the city of Jacksonville,” he said.
The new headquarters announcement is a result of the Project Sharp incentives package that the city and state have been working on. WJCT News partner the Jacksonville Daily Recordreports the incentives package is worth $29.9 million.
Brendan Rivers can be reached at brivers@wjct.org, 904-358-6396 or on Twitter at @BrendanRivers.
