The city of Chandler landed Pearson, one of the nation’s largest producers of educational software, and 700 employees, and celebrated this week with a grand opening of its new innovation facility on Ray road off of Loop 101.
The company consolidated work groups from Mesa and Scottsdale.
While the economy is on the ropes, Chandler is still chalking up wins and leaving city officials beaming.
What’s wrong with Scottsdale and Mesa? Good question.
Chandler officials say the British based company’s workforce largely lives in Chandler so the new facility is closer to home for employees who might not enjoy sitting on the 101 every morning and every evening.
One Chandler official said Scottsdale’s Skysong tried to attract the facility, but if software engineers want to live near work, south Scottsdale is not a starter.
So what about Mesa? Good question. I’ll look into it, but one private sector developer who moves in Mesa circles said the city didn’t try because it didn’t know what it had on Southern Ave. near Alma School.
Well, here’s what Mesa and Scottsdale lost: educators, graphic designers and technology specialists who will develop classroom software to teach English, math and other subjects.
The center includes a computer-equipped testing lab where school children interact with the software and are observed for their reactions and learning success.
Hey we even have Covance coming –something you should be happy you don’t have in your city. I’m not sure that this is what you call good stuff
Corrected version (sorry):
Yeah, right, Jeff, thanks for coming through with a negative comment that helps nobody and adds nothing to the topic. Your Mommy must have told you that you were the best at everything all the way until you were out of school. The world is not a black-and-white place. For all the energy people have wasted trying to convince the rest of us that we are wrong and that animals are just as important as people, think of what UNDENIABLE GOOD could have been done had that effort been directed at helping OTHER PEOPLE!
Chandler is doing quite well, thank you. I remain proud to live here.
Pearson is a good company and apparently they are listening to their employees about location !! GOOD for Chandler !! Chandler has always been business friendly. A city needs to have mid- large size companies to support your tax base. Gilbert has very few. You can not run your economy on stores and resturants.. you need to make a products and sell them for profit. THANK YOU Pearson for choosing this location.