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So how exactly did Tampa land Johnson & Johnson? A J&J executive offers some insight

 
Erin Champlin, Johnson & Johnson’s vice president of global services, said the bay area’s talent base was key in the company’s decision to open a service center here.
Erin Champlin, Johnson & Johnson’s vice president of global services, said the bay area’s talent base was key in the company’s decision to open a service center here.
Published Oct. 21, 2016

Luring a company to establish or relocate a corporate headquarters in your hometown is the stuff economic development officials dream of. So there was quite the celebration Wednesday when Johnson & Johnson formally opened its new North America Global Services Center in the Hidden River Corporate Park off E Fletcher Avenue and Interstate 75.

Gov. Rick Scott flew in, and Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn gave his traditional effusive yet boastful rah-rah speech.

Erin Champlin, the company's vice president of global services, lauded the hundreds of new employees gathered in front of Corporate Center One.

"J & J chose Tampa because of the quality of the people here — people with experience in business services. Smart, talented people. People with multilingual capabilities," she said. "This North American regional center is here because you are here."

Related: Leaders celebrate the new Johnson & Johnson center in Tampa and the 500 jobs it is promised to bring

A state and local tax incentive package worth $6.4 million probably helped a little, too. In return, Johnson & Johnson has pledged to create 500 jobs averaging $75,000 by 2020 and make a capital investment of $23.5 million into the region.

Champlin talked with the Tampa Bay Times after the event to add a little more insight into Johnson & Johnson's decision to settle in Tampa. This has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Are you confident you can find the caliber of people that you need in the Tampa Bay area?

We are really confident. We held one recruiting event here several months ago where we invited talent from the across the area, both right out of the universities as well as experienced talent. And we found that the education levels, the interest in careers in finance, human resources, operations and technology was absolutely here. The interest in working for a company like Johnson & Johnson, which gives back so much to the community, was really a pull. We've been able to attract more than 250 people already to our organization, and we know that we're going to be able to find the right talent to grow that to 500-plus by 2020.

There is a lot of development activity planned and under way in downtown Tampa. There are a lot of mixed-use projects going up, the Strategic Property Partners project between Jeff Vinik and Bill Gates' Cascade Investment is on the drawing board. … Was there any temptation to locate downtown?

We did look at downtown, but I'll tell you, this was our No. 1 choice of a location. We considered proximity to universities, proximity to where folks live, transportation, availability of day care, hotels, fitness centers, quality of life — all those factors. This was just a great location for us.

What about that transportation issue?

You know what, we did some research on that, and found that this state tends to be a driving state. So it wasn't a concern about getting the talent here to this location. We had good data on that.

You received a significant incentive package. With the next legislative session in Florida coming up, it's not looking too good for corporate incentives — the governor said he's going to request $85 million, but that's already running into opposition.

Two questions: How important was the incentive package to get you guys here, and second, what would you say to lawmakers, voters and members of the public who tend to refer to this as corporate welfare?

First of all, the tax incentive was absolutely a factor. We were looking for a place to do business on behalf of our North American businesses that would be in an economically stable, great place to work. The tax incentive certainly made that attractive. We also have several business here as Johnson & Johnson in the state of Florida. (Its Vistakon eye care business is based in Jacksonville and its surgical, consumer and pharmacy businesses are in South Florida.) The state has been good to us, so we wanted to leverage that infrastructure.

We also looked at the availability of talent, we looked at location and proximity to the rest of our businesses, multilingual capabilities — so it was one factor, but not the only factor.

In terms of your second question, I'm not sure I can comment. I can just tell you that it is a factor as businesses consider where to locate and where to grow, and that they consider the economic environment.

Contact Jerome R. Stockfisch at jstockfisch@tampabay.com.