YesVideo Finalizes Agreement with Quick Start for 300-Job Expanion in Gwinnett County

Gwinnett County, Metro Atlanta, Augusta 27, 2009 – YesVideo, the leader in digital video publishing technology, has sealed the deal with Georgia Quick Start, finalizing a partnership agreement with the No. 1 workforce training program in the nation for the 300 jobs it plans to bring to Georgia and Gwinnett (Metro Atlanta) over the next three years. With the program already underway in YesVideo's Gwinnett facility, Quick Start has developed a fully customized training program for YesVideo's initial hires and will continue to provide training support as the company grows. Already, over 70 employees have been trained in just 6 months. Gwinnett Technical College is a third partner in the training, and will provide ongoing workforce development support to YesVideo as needed.  Gwinnett Chamber Economic Development and the state of Georgia worked with YesVideo to expand its East Coast operations into Norcross earlier this year.
'Georgia is ranked tops in the U.S. for the strength of its workforce, and Quick Start is a big reason why,' said Ken Stewart, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. 'No one in the nation trains company workforces more efficiently or thoroughly, and with QuickStart's assistance, YesVideo will be well on its way to becoming another Georgia success story.'

YesVideo transforms consumer and professional video content from the format in which it was originally captured into new, evolving digital formats, allowing the content to be viewed and enjoyed for generations to come. The company uses highly automated production technology that not only digitizes the video media to contemporary formats, but simultaneously indexes the content so it can be easily viewed, organized, edited, shared and archived.

'This is a new operation for us, an expansion into a new region of the United States, and we found the Georgia Quick Start program to be one of the key factors in our decision to come to Gwinnett and Georgia,' said Bill Embleton, vice president and general manager – Service Division, YesVideo. 'They have worked long and hard for us and are a true testament to their product. We are thrilled to be making this business partnership official today.'

For more than 40 years, Georgia Quick Start – the nation's top workforce training program – has provided customized workforce training free-of-charge to qualified businesses in Georgia. Quick Start delivers training in classrooms, mobile labs or directly on the plant floor, wherever it works best for a company. In YesVideo's case, Georgia Quick Start is assisting the company as it hires workers for its digital media transfer facility and seeks to mirror its West Coast operations here in Gwinnett.

'Quick Start is working with YesVideo to design custom training programs for a variety of positions,' said Jackie Rohosky, Technical College System of Georgia assistant commissioner for economic development programs, and head of Quick Start. 'It is an honor to be working with such an innovative company that is providing so many great jobs for Georgians.'

Gwinnett County District 1 Commissioner Shirley Lasseter said, 'YesVideo is a terrific example to all companies relocating and expanding in Gwinnett and the state of Georgia. They are taking the best of what we have to offer – programs like Quick Start – and using it to their full advantage." Lasseter went on to congratulate the two parties on this exemplary collaboration and urged other companies looking to relocate to put Georgia and Gwinnett County on their short lists.

YesVideo's new, 30,000-square-foot site at 5300 Oakbrook Parkway (Suite 140) in Norcross and the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District (CID), officially opened in March. The company plans to create nearly 300 jobs here in the next three years.

Lauren Salas, corporate office business development manager, Gwinnett Chamber Economic Development, commented, 'YesVideo was a great project win for corporate business in Georgia and Gwinnett. The collaboration and productivity demonstrated by YesVideo and Quick Start is just the beginning of what already is an excellent success story for economic development in Georgia.'

This release was provided to GDEcD by YesVideo.