Talk of the Town

Growth at Akron teleservices company InfoCision Management Corp. has been so rapid that it has new employees sitting in the hallway, senior executives using secretarial desks and workers traveling between two buildings.

"Fortunately, we're growing as a company, but we'd be in deep trouble if we didn't do something," says InfoCision President and CEO Carl Albright, whose 700 Akron employees are only a portion of the 4,000 workers throughout Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

The space crunch, however, won't persist indefinitely. In August, the firm announced its plans to build a $20.8 million headquarters next year on 15 acres across the street from its current facility for occupancy by late spring of 2009.

The 160,000-square-foot building in Bath Township, designed by Akron's Team 4 Architects, will have the capacity to hold at least 1,000 employees and include an auditorium and an expanded fitness center.

Shortly after the headquarters opens, InfoCision will see its name on another major structure in the Akron area: the new University of Akron football stadium. The $55 million InfoCision Stadium is expected to be ready for the Zips' home opener against the University of Kentucky Wildcats on Sept. 12, 2009.

The naming rights sponsorship, which will cost the company an undisclosed amount, was inspired by InfoCision founder and university alumnus Gary Taylor, who, in 2004, launched the Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing at the university.

"It was more than just getting our name out there," Albright says. "It's more about helping the university and city of Akron by putting the stadium downtown."