Loss of Teradata won't be as bad as NCR, Ohio officials say

DAYTON, Ohio -- Teradata's announcement that it is moving its headquarters and hundreds of tech jobs from Miami Twp. to San Diego is seen as a discouraging event in the Ohio region's efforts to grow as a technology employer, but leaders say the impact will likely be much less than when NCR and other corporate giants disappeared from the region years ago.

That is because, they say, the region is in a better economic position than it was for most of the early 2000s -- when NCR, Mead and Delphi shed thousands of local jobs. The area also has a more diversified economy that's less dependent on a few large corporations and their supply chain.

"We're stronger than we were. We have more eggs in more baskets from an economic standpoint," said Montgomery County Commissioner Dan Foley.

Officials hope other tech companies will hire Teradata workers who opt to stay in the area because the local unemployment rate is low. Commissioner Debbie Lieberman said the county's workforce staff are reaching out to the employees to help them find other jobs in the community.

Lieberman said it's disappointing but not shocking that Teradata is moving its headquarters; company leaders had previously threatened to leave, she said.

Teradata, a data analytics company with thousands of jobs worldwide, was an early anchor company for Miami Twp.'s Austin Landing development, moving its headquarters and 400 jobs there in 2010. The company was precisely the type of tenant that local development leaders had in mind when they sought to build the Austin Pike interchange and Austin Landing development in the 2000s.

Now, Teradata's departure could open room for another employer in a high-demand area.

"I think it gives us an opportunity to locate a company that would love to move into their spot quickly," Lieberman said.

Julie Sullivan, Dayton Development Coalition vice president, said there is high demand in the Dayton region for workers with similar skills to Teradata's staff.

When NCR left in 2009 it took 1,250 jobs with it and the unemployment rate in Montgomery County was 12.4 percent and nearby Warren County was 9.3 percent. Now unemployment in both counties is below 4 percent, upping competition for tech workers.

"There are opportunities in the Dayton region. Their skills are in demand," Sullivan said.

The Dayton Development Coalition is the regional arm of JobsOhio, the state's privatized development arm, and is tasked with job creation and company retention.

Sullivan said the DDC meets regularly with local companies to stay connected and hear concerns, but the upcoming Teradata move was a business decision and the resources the Dayton area has "don't align with their needs."

JobsOhio spokesman Matt Englehart said, "We are disappointed with Teradata's business decision to consolidate its operations on the West Coast, where the company currently has a large campus with significant capacity, impacting jobs in the Dayton region."

But he said the company "will also leave behind an outstanding facility within a supportive business community, and we will work closely with our partners at the Dayton Development Coalition to return jobs to this site."

Teradata was acquired by NCR in 1991 and in 2007 was spun off into a separate company with a Miami Twp. headquarters.

"When it spun out of NCR, it was a proud moment for us in the community," said Phil Parker, president and CEO of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.

Parker said when top decision makers aren't rooted in the Dayton community, he thinks it makes a difference compared to companies with "local leaders with a stake in the ground."

State Sen. Peggy Lehner, a Kettering Republican, said she learned of Teradata's planned move on Tuesday. She said she would do anything she could to help some of the company's employees remain in the Dayton area.

"I was saddened to learn yesterday that Teradata will be leaving but I was not terribly surprised given the company's deep roots in California," Lehner said.

State Rep. Niraj Antani wrote to Gov. John Kasich, JobsOhio CEO John Minor and Teradata CEO Victor Lund about the company's planned move.

Antani asked Lund for a meeting to discuss what can be done to keep the company here. His letters to Kasich and Minor encouraged them to also contact Lund about keeping Teradata in the Dayton region.

"Unfortunately we got the news yesterday that they would indeed be moving to San Diego at the end of the year," Antani told the Dayton Daily News. "Obviously I'm very disappointed. I still think there are things that we can do."

Teradata plans to move 275 of around 317 jobs to the West Coast at the end of the year. Employees who do not move with the company are expected to receive a six-month severance package.

Antani praised Kasich for his administration's attention to job growth over the last eight years but told the governor that the loss of Teradata "would be one of the largest for the Dayton region in recent years." With the company not planning to leave until the end of 2018 though, Antani said he thought there was still time to convince its leaders to stay in Miami Twp.

In his letter to JobsOhio's Minor, Antani referenced a Feb. 12 meeting during which he expressed concerns to Minor's staff that Teradata was planning to relocate. Antani said he and Minor discussed "what we could to prevent this from happening" but specific details of their conversation were not included in the letter.

"I think that our priority has to be jobs and the economy and to do anything we can legislatively or through the administration or through JobsOhio to keep these companies here," Antani said.

Kaitlin Schroeder, Thomas Gnau and Max Filby write for the Dayton Daily News. Email: Kaitlin.Schroeder(at)coxinc.com.

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