COUDERSPORT – An initial group of 50 workers has been hired at
Potter County’s newest employer, Empereon Marketing.
It’s the first wave of a staffing plan that is forecasted to
produce as many as 600 new jobs in Coudersport by the end of 2008.
Approximately 100 of those jobs will be filled over the next two
months, according to an Empereon spokesman. By June 2008, the
workforce should hit the 400 mark.
Empereon will operate a modern customer contact center at the
former “tennis center” in west Coudersport, which was headquarters
for a call center operated by Adelphia and, later, Time Warner.
Time Warner has donated the building to the Potter County
Redevelopment Authority, which is leasing it to Empereon. The
company does expect to buy it eventually.
Empereon, based in Phoenix, Ariz., is an outsourcer handling
customer contacts for large cable companies and major
newspaper/media chains. The Coudersport agents will handle
telephone and Internet contacts for customer service, technical
support and marketing.
Delays in the installation of high-tech Internet and telephone
equipment delayed the center’s forecasted late October opening, but
those obstacles have been overcome, according to Jamie Evens,
general manager for the Empereon facility.
The first 50 employees are scheduled for training later this
month and will then report for their first day of customer care
responsibilities. Training of new employees will continue while the
center expands.
Another Coudersport employer has also announced expansion
plans.
AP Wagner, an appliance parts supplier that opened a customer
contact center in the Coudersport Industrial Park earlier this
year, will relocate to the former International Paper Company
office complex on East Second Street.
That building has been purchased from the Adelphia estate by the
Potter County Redevelopment Authority.
AP Wagner will move there to solve a space crunch at its current
location and add to its current work force of 35.
AP Wagner services a growing network of appliance dealers,
service technicians and do-it- yourselfers.
Corporate offices are located in Depew, N.Y., with 18 branch
locations in the U.S. and Canada.
