Lockheed Martin, 350 jobs move into WorldCom’s old home

Article from the Clarion Ledger

CLINTON— By year's end, Lockheed Martin's new mission support center will have fielded a quarter-million calls from those needing help from federal government agencies.

And the center's 350 employees - a number that's expected to grow - will make up a highly qualified workforce that attracted the defense contractor and technology giant to Mississippi in the first place, officials with the state and Lockheed Martin say.

"We're not only pleased for these 350 jobs, but we're pleased for the quality of these jobs," Gov. Haley Barbour told a crush of elected officials and business leaders who converged Wednesday at the South Pointe Business Park to help usher in Lockheed Martin's newest Mississippi-based facility.

It's occupying 33,000 square feet on the fourth floor of the spacious building that formerly housed WorldCom - and there's plenty of room for expansion, officials noted.

"The entire state of Mississippi has welcomed Lockheed Martin with open arms since we began planning" the center, said Lockheed Martin president John Mengucci.

It will handle hundreds of thousands of calls from the public as a provider of information technology services for a bevy of federal agencies.

Among those at the celebration and ribbon-cutting were 2nd District U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, Clinton Mayor Rosemary Aultman and others who formed a partnership that brought Lockheed Martin to town.

"We have a long history in Mississippi," Lockheed Martin vice president Darrell Graddy told a standing-room-only crowd gathered under a large white tent to escape a chilly wind.

The company employs more than 800 at Mississippi operations in Clinton, Biloxi, Vicksburg and the Stennis Space Center in Hancock County.

By the end of 2012, the company is expected to bring an annual payroll of $12 million to the community.

Billy Newson, Lockheed Martin's director of mission services, told Clinton Chamber of Commerce members in August that a "hiring event" in the fourth quarter will bring the Clinton employee base to 150. Another in the first half of 2012 will bring it up to 350. The company also has been taking applications on its website, he said.

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Over and over, those who led Wednesday's event celebrated the company.

"Jackie Gleason used to start his show by saying, 'How sweet it is!' " Thompson recalled. "I want to say how sweet it is for Lockheed Martin to look at this part of the state for mission support."

Not to be lost in the pomp of the occasion, however, was Lockheed Martin's other prominent mission - building F-22 Raptors and the F-117 Nighthawks.

"I don't want the morning to end without saying thank you for what you do for our military," Barbour said.

Many entities and government officials - among them the city of Clinton, the Mississippi Development Authority and the Greater Jackson Partnership - worked to bring Lockheed Martin to Clinton.

The state's leaders may have their political differences "until it comes to economic development, and then you will see this great body in the House and Senate pull together," Bryant said. "What a tremendous team we have here in Mississippi."

Aultman took her time to tout South Pointe.

"We've always known we have a world-class facility here that can attract international companies," she said. "You'll find that this is a wonderful place to operate."

Trustmark Bank vice president and Clinton resident Nolan Aikens, among dozens in the business community at the event, believes Lockheed Martin's arrival signals more jobs and income generated in the community.

"Other large companies are going to realize that Clinton is a great place to come look at," he said. "We've got what they need."